Today we are going to be listening to the story of Anastasia Elrouss, where she comes from, her childhood, all the steps that she took in life to be the successful architect and designer that she is today, but always keeping her humanity. And we are going to be talking about the struggles, the challenges, and the not so beautiful side of being a woman in a profession that is sometimes referred to as "a man's career," but she will also be explaining how she fights for equity in the profession, and also all the amazing things she does to share this mentality to students.

A little bit about Anastasia, she has been actively working in the architecture field for nearly 15 years. She holds a degree in architecture from the American University of Beirut, which she attended from 2000 to 2005, and where she currently teaches design courses. She first worked in Beirut at Samir Khairallah & Partners (2005-2006) and at Jean Nouvel in Paris (2007). In 2008, she became the head of YTAA and soon after became a founding partner and general manager of the architecture firm (2011-2017).

In November 2017, upon exiting YTAA, she founded her own architectural practice ANA-Anastasia Elrouss Architects. At her new firm, Anastasia continues to uphold her main design philosophy: that architectural and urban thinking can never be stagnant. For her, architecture is about exploring options and about opening a dialogue, while encouraging an ongoing conversation.