Built By Us | FLUID Mentee Esha's Story

I studied Maths, Physics and Art at A’Level and got the idea to study architecture from a book I came across while doing my A’Levels and thinking about university and what I was going to study there. 

I come from an Indian background and there is absolutely nobody in my family who works in any of the creative industries. My family mostly works in finance, so there was nobody to ask about a career in anything else, let alone architecture.

I did architecture at Nottingham University because in the Open Day presentation there was an option to go and build a school in South Africa in the second year and this really appealed to me. 

My first year at university was a struggle because I’d gone from being one of the best in the class at school, to being among a lot of amazing and very talented students. I found the different mind-set of study at university very challenging.

For my second year I managed to get into the South Africa project but I had to raise money to pay for flights and materials. South Africa was an unbelievably good experience. We all worked collaboratively in teams to come up with concepts and drawings. I found the whole process really stimulating and my group won! We built our school!

I soon realised in my third year that the downside to having gone to South Africa was that I had missed out on the software programme side of the course, photoshop, CAD etc., which I’d only touched on, and I discovered I had a big gap in my knowledge. This, coupled with a difficult time in my personal life, led me to suspend my course and find an undergrad job at MAKE where I stayed for six months, instead of the planned three weeks!

After this, I went back to Nottingham University to complete my Part I and I graduated in June 2015. The break from my course turned out to be the best thing I could have done. I went back to university refreshed and with a much clearer headspace. I got a First Class degree and I had gained valuable experience in the workplace.

After graduating I went back to MAKE for a year and worked on the Rathbone Square site. I applied for a Masters at UCL and was delighted to be accepted, especially as I had been turned down for my undergrad degree there!

My first year Masters was difficult. Having said that, I won the history and theory prize, but I wasn’t as successful at the design side of things. 

The second-year was also hard but I managed it better with some CBT sessions to help me. I came back to MAKE for my Part III and I’m due to complete my case study in June 2020, when I will qualify. 

I heard about FLUID through HR at MAKE and started my mentoring course in January 2019 when I began my Part III.  As a woman in the construction industry and as an Indian woman I experience all sorts of pressures, including from my family who want me to settle down and marry. They had no idea, when I started out on this career path, how long it takes to become a fully qualified architect.  

When I met with Danna and her team at Built By Us for the FLUID mentoring programme I asked to be paired with a woman and preferably an Indian woman who would have had similar experiences to me, had overcome them and was now in a senior role as an architect in the industry.

While being mentored I was experienced a very diverse number of roles within the office. During the course of 2019, I had nine different managers and I was being moved from project to project and so found it very difficult to settle.

With my mentor’s help, I was able to take a step back and look at the projects I was working on, think about what I was learning through each of them and look at the different managerial styles I was experiencing. This made me focus on the positives of my situation and learn from them.

My mentor and I met every month where possible or every two months when things were busy. She would ask me things like - What would it take for you to go from being an architectural assistant to being an architect? With hindsight, I can see that it was the period between August and October 2019 when I was able to bring to play the insights and reflections gained during my mentoring sessions.  Having been handed 425 drawings to put into Revit while working directly with the Revit team, I found I was able to produce output and to have a solid role in the project. As a result of this, I was asked what area of the team I’d like to work in and I got what I asked for!

I have found my FLUID mentoring experience invaluable. It’s really personal because it’s one to one. I benefited hugely from having a more senior Indian woman who is at a different stage in her career, but to be honest I’m sure I’d have found benefits from any mentor. The process in itself is so worthwhile, irrespective of who is doing the mentoring. Having someone I could relate to so well was just a bonus and I have nothing but thanks for being given this opportunity.