MacKenzie Blalock

Background

About MacKenzie Blalock

On career day in third grade, I stated I wanted to be an architect when I grew up. At school, I would pour all that I could into assignments involving models or building after spending hours in the craft store picking the materials that were just right (I had a very patient mother). In the hot Oklahoma summers, I would be outside working on building my treehouse. I even have two scars from when I sawed some planks of wood without my parents' permission (again, very patient mother). My belief in this dream plummeted, however, as I struggled through middle school and high school. Like a lot of the neurodiverse and learning-disabled community, I never felt good enough as I struggled to keep up and fit in. One especially tough geometry class crushed my dream of being an architect, and as many young girls experience in math, no one thought about correcting this with encouragement. Instead, I was pushed to pursue the arts, and after graduating from Emerson College with a Visual Media Arts degree, I worked in Los Angeles for three years, acting as a multifaceted Production Assistant and Coordinator in over ten movie television and commercial sets. However, I was miserable. As I continued to refine my career path, I returned to Boston where, after thoroughly explaining the purposeful design of the Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge to my patient husband one night, a lightbulb went off. I determined I would finally pursue my early childhood dream of being an architect - a dream my experience in the tough entertainment industry gave the guts to do. Using the skills I gained from the entertainment industry, I transitioned into the AEC industry as an Office Administrator at Northstar Project and Real Estate Services. Outside of successfully managing the entirety of the office for fifty project managers, I have utilized this opportunity to network with a diverse group of professionals within the industry and sit in on the company's monthly Lunch and Learns and industry development presentations. Outside of work, I am pursuing my architectural career at Boston Architectural College, where I am a candidate for the Master's in Architecture. I also have joined four professional organizations: the Boston Society of Architects, CoreNet Global - New England Chapter, CREW Boston, and the BE+. To me, architecture intimately means utilizing my creativity to design and restore spaces to function equitably and sustainability within diverse communities - and I can’t wait to be a part of the magic!