Welcome to the mentorDINO YouTube Interview Series, your go-to destination for in-depth conversations with professionals in the fields of architecture, engineering, construction, and adjacent fields. I’m your host Katelyn Rossier, and I’m on a mission to uncover the fascinating stories, insights, and expertise of individuals who have shaped the built environment.
In each episode, we delve into the unique career journeys of our guests, exploring their educational backgrounds, professional experiences, specializing, and what they do. Whether you’re a budding Architect, an aspiring Engineer, or a construction enthusiast, you’ll find valuable advice, inspiration, and a deeper understanding of these professions.
If you’re new here, consider subscribing to our YouTube channel and hitting that notification bell so you never miss an interview with our incredible guests. And for our blog readers, we’ll also provide a mini-transcript below the video to make it easier to follow along. Now, let’s jump right into today’s conversation and get ready to be inspired by the remarkable individuals who have made their mark in architecture, engineering, and construction.
Katelyn
Welcome everybody back to the Mentor Dino YouTube channel. I’d like to welcome Gloria Kloter, architect, owner and CEO of Glow Architects in Tampa, Florida. So thank you, Gloria, for taking the time to speak with me today.
Gloria Kloter
Thank you, Katelyn, for having me and I’m excited to have this conversation with you.
Katelyn
Yeah, so before we get started, I know I gave you a very short intro, but you are so busy doing so many different things down in Florida with the AIA and other different organizations. Would you mind introducing yourself and just everything you’re doing involved? I don’t want to miss out anything.
Gloria Kloter
Oh no, we’re gonna like spend the whole interview on this.
Katelyn
It’ll be a half an hour, just introduction.
Gloria Kloter
Okay, a little summary. So I am, as you said, I’m originally from the Dominican Republic, but I live in Tampa and I own my business, Glow Architects here in Tampa, but I am part of the AIA Tampa Bay, part of the board of directors on the current treasurer, but I’ve been serving with them since 2018 in different positions. I also serve in AIA Florida.
As the licensing advisor for the state of Florida. I am the founder and mentor for Foreign Architects. That’s like an online community that I founded to help immigrants in this process of getting licensed here. And I’ve served in different areas like architecture and education, Architena, and others where I kind of either go and teach about architecture to little kids that are like, fourth and fifth graders.
Arquitina is an organization that is for women architects from Latin America that are trying to get a license here. I’m also part of the Immigrant Architect Coalition with Graciela Carrillo. Like I’m co-author of the book they just came out with and just part of what they’re doing, we kind of give presentations. conferences and things like that. So that’s kind of, I will say that’s kind of like more of the summary of what I’m doing right now.
Katelyn
Yeah. And so we’ll start to unpackage everything during our conversation today. So let’s first start with Glow Architects. How did that start? And it looks like you partnered with your husband, who’s not an architect or engineer. So how did that start? How did that flourish into creation?
Gloria Kloter
So what happened was I used to have a business back in the Dominican Republic. As soon as I got my license, I was up and running because I had to work while I was in school back in the Dominican Republic because I didn’t get to get a loan to pay for my school. It’s really not that of a scene back there to get a loan for going to college. So I had to pretty much work.
And what happened was I got out of it and I had enough experience because I was working for years in this architectural firm and that had, it was mixed with engineers too. So I have a lot of access to information and really learning from everybody there. And then I got an opportunity to do this project that was not related to what we were doing in that office. And my boss said, we won’t take that, but if you want to do it on your own time.
And that opened a door for me to say, oh, okay, well, I’m gonna do it, because I wanted to do it. But that business or project better said brought me more business and more business. At some point I had to just quit and just kind of do my own thing because I was making more money out on my own than what I was doing in my job. So when I came to the United States, I thought I was gonna be able to just bring my business here because I met my husband in 2013 and he was in the middle of saying that he wanted to change careers because he used to be a Marine. That’s how we met overseas. So I said, okay, don’t worry, baby. Like if you want to change careers, I will support you. Like I can take care of, you know, bring my business to the States, keep working as an architect, and you can figure like, you know, what you want to do, how you want to do it in, you know, the first year or two. But that’s not what happened because as you know, architect licenses are a different story.
0:00 Introduction
0:25 Welcome!
2:21 GLOW Architects
13:04 The Name Glow
16:56 The Glow Team
22:30 Foreign Architect Licensure
33:30 Advice for Firm Owners
38:15 Foreign Architects Facebook Group
43:46 Advice for Young Architects
49:46 Parents in Architecture Facebook Group
Check out Gloria’s book “The Architecture of Motherhood“
No matter if you are an Architect, Designer, Engineer, or another professional in the AEC industry. Adjusting to parenthood is not easy and she gives some great advice for parents.
Check it out if you are thinking of starting a family, expecting, a new parent, or a current parent just looking for some more advise from within the industry.
Written by
Katelyn Rossier, AIA, NCARB, LSSBB
