Person Place Thing with Kia Weatherspoon
Tuesday, December 12, 2023
6:30pm
Person Place Thing with Randy Cohen feat. Kia Weatherspoon
Tuesday, December 12, 6:30 pm (doors 6 pm)
Van Alen Institute
303 Bond Street, Brooklyn
Tickets $15
Humorist and four-time Emmy Award-winner Randy Cohen joins us again to host Person Place Thing, a live interview show based on the idea that people are most engaging when they speak not about themselves, but something they care about. Guests talk about one person, one place, and one thing that are important to them. The result? Surprising stories from great talkers. We’re delighted to welcome Person Place Thing back to Van Alen Institute — our past guests have included Sreoshy Banerjea, Majora Carter, Justin Davidson, Jan Gehl, Alicia Glen, and Michael Kimmelman.
This December, our featured guest is Kia Weatherspoon, Design Equity Interior Designer; President of Determined by Design®, and Van Alen Board Member. As the design voice of impact and change, Kia Weatherspoon, NCIDQ, ASID, has spent the last 15 years defying every design stereotype. The most damaging: interior design is a luxury reserved for a few. For over a decade, Kia has led her firm in creating elevated equitable design outcomes for over 3,500 hundred families, 25 communities, and designed over 165,000 sq.ft of interior spaces for affordable and low-income housing.
Live music by Latin Grammy-winning vocalist Mireya Ramos!
Drinks and light bites to follow.
This event will be recorded for broadcast on Northeast Public Radio. For more information and to hear past episodes, visit PersonPlaceThing.org.
Speakers
Kia Weatherspoon, Founder, Determined by Design
As the design voice of impact and change, Kia Weatherspoon, NCIDQ, ASID, has spent the last 15 years defying every design stereotype. The most damaging: interior design is a luxury reserved for a few. Her voice, advocacy for Design Equity™, and design practice have shifted the narrative, making interior design a standard for all. Kia is challenging the lack of these standards in economically challenged communities. Her presence and leadership have created ripples, prompting housing developers, agencies, and industry partners to not just take notice of her work – but to do better.
As an advocate and educator in business leadership, equity, and diversity, Kia has been recognized by Interior Design Magazine as a HiP Design for the Greater Good – Small Firm and selected as a GlobeSt.com Real Estate Forum 2020 Woman of Influence. She was honored as part of the 40 under 40 classes for both Washington Business Journal and BD+C Magazine. She also received the International Interior Design Association Luna Textile/ Anna Hernandez Visionary Award and the CREW DC Raise Up Your Voice Award.
For over a decade Kia has led her firm, Determined by Design, in creating elevated equitable design outcomes for over 3,500 hundred families, 25 communities, and designed over 165,000 sq.ft of interior spaces for affordable and low-income housing. Communities where the average median income was below $35,000/year per family. Communities that mirrored her, with 95% of the residents being black and/or of color. Kia believes Interior Design should be in service to all people, so every person and community is uplifted by the spaces they inhabit. No matter the project type, her focus is elevating communities—a path that requires advocacy and empathy!
Randy Cohen, Host, Person Place Thing
Randy Cohen’s first professional work was writing humor pieces, essays, and stories for newspapers and magazines (The New Yorker, Harpers, the Atlantic, Young Love Comics). His first television work was writing for “Late Night With David Letterman” for which he won three Emmy awards. His fourth Emmy was for his work on Michael Moore’s “TV Nation.” He received a fifth Emmy as a result of a clerical error, and he kept it. For twelve years he wrote “The Ethicist,” a weekly column for the New York Times Magazine. In 2010, his first play, “The Punishing Blow,” ran at New York’s Clurman Theater. His most recent book, Be Good: How to Navigate the Ethics of Everything, was published by Chronicle. He is currently the creator and host of Person Place Thing, a public radio program.