Welcome to Behind the Building with your Host Funlola Obayan. 

Today on the show we have Georgie Marquez's. Georgie Márquez is Principal Owner at Andre + Marquez Architects, Inc., a SWaM certified, Hispanic woman-owned, Architecture and Interior Design firm in Norfolk, VA. The firm was started by her and her husband, Joel André, in June of 1993. Their office specializes in Commercial, Industrial, and Government work. Ms. Márquez received her Bachelor of Architecture degree from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY, when few women were encouraged to study architecture or pursue STEM careers. During her time at Pratt, she received a grant from the John Hay Whitney Foundation to work with a youth gang turned sweat-equity organization: The Renigades {sic}, in East Harlem, NY. Following graduation, she continued working with the group assisting with their urban renewal plans and fund-raising. She later moved to private practice, working at several small firms in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Ms. Márquez is licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia and the District of Columbia to practice Architecture and is certified as a CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) Professional. In June 2018, she completed the Safety Assessment Program Evaluator Training to assist local governments in safety evaluations of the built environment following a disaster.

• Some of her work includes:
•  Project Architect for various Support Buildings in the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel Expansion project
•  Project Architect for the renovation of the 9th and 10th floors of the New Executive Office Building, part of the White House campus, in Washington, DC
• Project Administrator in charge of Interior Design for a 22,000 SF, Silver LEED Certified Dining Facility for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection

She is involved with several local and national organizations, including the AIA, NOMA, the Hampton Roads Chapter of Women in Transportation, HRACRE, and ULI. She served as the 2020 Chair for the Hampton Roads Chamber's Norfolk Division Board. Ms. Márquez was the 2021 Vice-Chair of Small Business and the 2022 Vice-Chair of Diversity for the Chamber's Executive Board. She was selected as an honoree for the 2018 Women In Business Achievement Awards by Inside Business and is a graduate of the LEAD VA Class of 2021. In 2018 Ms. Márquez was appointed by the Norfolk City Council to the Mayor's Advisory Commission on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation. In 2021, she was appointed as an Invited Member to Virginia Governor Northam's Technical Advisory Committee to support developing a Coastal Adaptation and Protection Master Planning process. She currently represents the Hampton Roads chapter of the American Institute of Architects (HR-AIA) on the statewide Disaster Assistance Committee. Ms. Márquez received an M.A. in Biblical Studies from Regent University in 1992. She has taught Church History and World Religions as an Adjunct Professor at the Norfolk Campus of Tidewater Community College. She is also a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program at Babson College and the Inner City Capital Connections (ICCC) Washington D.C. program for entrepreneurs. Born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, she has lived overseas in Mexico City, Mexico, and Madrid, Spain. She now lives in a 110-year-old home in Port Norfolk, a nationally designated Historic District located in Portsmouth, VA. She is fully bilingual (English/Spanish) and can communicate in basic French. She is an active member of St. Paul's Catholic Church in Portsmouth, where she volunteers. Ms. Márquez and Mr. André have been married for 42 years, and have one son: Laurent André.