City designer
Laura Lizette Flores
Age: 37
Title: Director of Operations and Interiors
Name of Organization: JGMA
Laura Lizette Flores is an architect and director of operations and interiors at JGMA. She manages all of the firm’s employees, helps establish goals, and has a leadership role in all of the firm’s major projects.
Flores is originally from Guadalajara, Mexico and immigrated to the United States while in her teens. She received her degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago and studied design in Florence, Italy. Flores has dedicated her career to inspiring Latino youths and Latina women to achieve their fullest potential. She is currently the director of operations and interiors at the firm JGMA. Her responsibilities include management of all employees, establishing short- and long-term goals and holding a leadership role on all the firm’s major projects.
Additionally, Flores has led several projects in disinvested communities where her work as an architect is helping to transform lives. She is one of the founding mentors of Arquitinas, a nonprofit whose mission is to reach above and beyond the 1% mark of licensed Latina architects in the United States while creating equitable and inclusive opportunities in the architectural profession. Most recently, Flores was appointed by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot to chair the Chicago Plan Commission, which she has been a member for the past six years. It is the first time a Latina architect has ever held that position in the history of the commission.
WORDS OF WISDOM: “Architecture is powerful. I invite other Latinas to join me in this profession so we can create and curate an environment that’s by us and for us.”
