Hello! My name is Emily Wright and I am happy to introduce myself as your new IIDA Oregon Chapter President for the 2023-2024 board year! Thank you again to everyone who was able to join us at the Color Block Party Annual Celebration. It was such a fun and inspiring night for us to celebrate the chapter’s achievements and look forward to our progress for the next year. I could not have asked for a better way to kick off my presidency!

I am stepping into this role after seven and a half years serving on the IIDA OR Board of Directors, previously having served on the Sponsorship team as the Director of Annual Sponsorship and the Advocacy team as both a Director and Vice President of Advocacy. I am passionate about the profession of commercial interior design and am thankful everyday for the opportunity to work alongside so many other passionate members of our profession. 

Community
As your 2023-2024 IIDA Oregon Chapter President, my theme for this year is community. In an industry known for its ups and downs, it can be hard to look to the future with any certainty, but that does not mean the future is out of our control. I firmly believe that by continuing to focus our energy into cultivating meaningful connections, we can foster a strong and welcoming community. This also includes commitment to our ongoing work with social justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion and as well as continuing to build on our efforts for outreach to students in K-12. 

Community and connection also does not end just with our members. There are many opportunities for us to be collaborating within Portland and Oregon with other organizations and I look forward to finding ways for us to connect to share resources, build our networks, and work towards a more resilient community that everyone feels they are a part of.

Advocacy
In the spring of this year, IIDA, ASID, and CIDQ came together to form the Consortium for Interior Design. I am so encouraged by the momentum that we are already seeing behind this effort. We have already started meeting monthly with representatives from each group at both the national and local level and the power that that collaboration is going to be able to bring to this effort is already apparent. That, coupled with the work that our advocacy team has been doing in education and advocate building, along with the changing of attitudes within AIA, it really feels like we are on the precipice of something big.

Pushing forward on this initiative means continuing to work to advance our strategic plan, which outlines the steps that will need to be taken in order to pursue legislation. The effort may feel daunting at times, but we have an incredibly passionate and hard working advocacy team and I look forward to continuing to be involved in their efforts as we keep pushing forward.

Upcoming Events
We have a full calendar of programming and we can’t wait to see you there! Looking ahead into August, we will be hosting our first SOCIAL for the board year. In addition to your chance to meet and mingle with members of the A&D community, there will also be a photographer on site to take new professional headshots!

Also in August, we will begin our call for submissions for the 2023  Design Excellence Awards, as well as nominations for the 2023 Industry Award. This year’s awards will be held at the Melody Event Center on October 19, so we are excited to be bringing this event to a new venue to celebrate the amazing and inspiring interior design from Oregon. Our call for submissions will be opening at the end of August, so keep your eyes peeled for that and we hope you will join us.

You can find our full calendar of events on our website and I  look forward to seeing you all at our upcoming events this year!

Lastly, I’d like to thank my firm, SRG Partnership, for their support of my involvement in IIDA over many years and now especially as I step into this new role. SRG continues to be an advocate for Commercial Interior Design and IIDA, not only supporting my involvement and presidency, but also the current President of the IIDA Northern Pacific Chapter, Sarah Larson. Thank you again to SRG and my colleagues for your support, I could not be here without you!

In addition to SRG, many firms and companies commit time and resources to the Chapter by supporting Board members. Our 34 member board is a diverse group of individuals who come from different design backgrounds, but who are all passionate about community engagement and Commercial Interior Design.

Board members and IIDA Oregon Chapter members, I look forward to collaborating with you this year, and I am honored to serve as your 2023-2024 IIDA Oregon Chapter President.