Designing a new Chicago
Joanna Ruiz
Age: 39
Title: Vice President
Organization: Wallin/Gomez Architects Ltd
Joanna Ruiz is the Vice President of Wallin/Gomez Architects, where she has worked her way up since 2007. Her consistent leadership, hard work and eagerness to learn led her to grow within the company.
She manages teams throughout an entire construction project with clients during design, followed by permit and construction drawings with internal teams and engineers, and finally with contractors in the construction phase. She has successfully completed over $180 million dollars (construction) thus far. Her ability to re-design scope well into the construction phases and stay within budget has led to create strong work relationships with several clients. She is an accredited professional in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED® AP) and consults on all aspects of sustainable design.
With her vast knowledge, she started an architectural consulting firm in 2020 called Prism 312,LLC which is WBE and MBE certified. She hopes to grow the business and is excited to see where it will take her.
She is a founding member of the Auxiliary Board for The National Museum of Mexican Art, which launched in 2015. It fosters the growth of young professionals into philanthropic leaders who volunteer and plan fundraising events that help support the museum and maintain it free to the public. Joanna helps the museum with endless volunteering hours, selling tickets for annual events such as the Day of the Dead Ball and Copitas fundraisers as well as securing gifts for silent auctions and raffles.
Joanna is also a board member of the Center on Halsted, which is a big asset to the LGBTQ+ community. It’s important to bring awareness and shed light on the center, as it provides numerous programs, including but not limited to counseling, employment training, housing assistance and other important resources to youth, seniors, and everyone in between.
Joanna received her architecture degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology in 2017. Being a first-generation US citizen with both parents of Mexican descent, she is one of the first from her extended family to receive a bachelor’s degree. She now lives on the northside of Chicago with her wonderful wife Evie, who is an early childhood educator, and their cat Tigger.
WORDS OF WISDOM- “Be your own advocate and believe in your potential. Everyone’s dealt a different set of cards, but it’s up to you to decide what to make of them.”
