LEED and WELL AP Lauren Wallace has been the Certifications Department Manager at Epsten Group since 2010. Her team has tremendous experience with Architecture (including Zoo Projects), LEED Consulting, Third-Party LEED Reviews, Commissioning, and more. Not just LEED, she is out in front with SITES, TRUE, and more rating systems/certifications. Today, she shares the story of her architectural journey as well as her love for a community running on sustainability, with our host, Charlie Cichetti. Lauren Wallace - A Series of Changes Originally from Long Beach, California, Lauren grew up mostly in San Diego. Over 25 years ago, though, she transferred to Atlanta, where has spent most of her life. Lauren lives intown and walks to Epsten's LEED Platinum HQ. She had a passion for the medical field back in high school. Lauren had biology-based classes, trained to get certified as a lifeguard, and even volunteered for the hospital. Lauren knew she was going to become a radiologist, but a drafting course in her last semester of high school changed it all. Meant for Architecture Taking a drafting course for additional credits opened Lauren to her creative side. Designing, which has always been in her blood thanks to her father's genes, became something that she embraced. "When it's science and math, there's always an answer. And doing something in the design field tickled my brain in different ways because you're never done." - Lauren Wallace While she signed up for both medicine and architecture, her letter of acceptance at Georgia Tech was all that she needed to know that she was meant to design. An After-College Sustainability Mindset Lauren spent a lot of her college years in studios. At these studios, there were a lot of people who influenced her to explore sustainability, the community, and built environment, but she didn't get heavily into sustainability until after college. By the dawn of LEED rating systems, she'd gotten her degree in architecture. It all began from there. "I think there were some projects that kind of pushed those buttons, but there was not a lot of connection from the studio to the real world. And about that time, it was the birth of the LEED rating system... I think I'm not surprised that as soon as I graduated is kind of when I started to explore some more of that." - Lauren Wallace To hear more about Lauren's story and her passion for the environment and sustainable communities, download and listen to the episode! Learn more about Lauren Wallace: Connect with her on LinkedIn Epsten Group Profile Serenbe - Sustainable Community Connect with Charlie Cichetti and GBES: Charlie on LinkedIn Green Building Educational Services GBES on Twitter Connect on LinkedIn Like on Facebook Google+ GBES Pinterest Pins GBES on Instagram Don't forget to leave a positive rating and review on iTunes if you truly enjoyed the show. We have prepared more episodes for the upcoming weeks, so come by again next week! Thank you for tuning in to the Green Building Matters Podcast!