Mani Farhadi is a Senior Facilities Planner at Stanford University School of Medicine in the Office of Facilities, Planning and Management. A global thinker and creative thought leader, Mani has three decades of experience in planning and architecture, and in collaborating with both public and private institutions. She enjoys combining her passion for education with her extensive planning skills to bring about stakeholder consensus and thoughtful solutions.

Mani’s leadership extends into volunteer duties as well. She is a former Board of Trustee member at Los Gatos Union School District, and Chair of the Bond Oversight Committee, for which she received the ‘Citizen Architect’ award. Mani also volunteers for the AIA Silicon Valley Women in Architecture Committee, as well as for various Iranian-American cultural and advocacy groups.

In this episode, we talk about:

• Mani’s experience of growing up in Iran, and how she came to embrace her intersectional identity

• On feeling in-between

• Bonding with other Iranian-American architects

• The duality of being a mother and working professional, and Mani’s advice for how to merge the two sides of yourself

• How Mani made the transition from working at private architectural firms to becoming a Senior Planner at Stanford University School of Medicine

• Mani’s volunteer work with the Women in Architecture Committee for the AIA Silicon Valley, and how organizations like WIA have evolved to become more than just about women’s issues

• Mani’s experience during COVID and having her two adult sons at home (they made a Tik Tok video!)