Welcome Matthew, please tell us about yourself.

• Cerebral: I literally cannot stop thinking about EVERYTHING & ANYTHING
• Creative: stimulated by design, architecture, engineering and construction. 
• Curious: whether it’s the History of New York, the newest exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, reading a new book, or listening to a podcast about the tech economy. 
• Outgoing: Willing to try everything twice. Put myself in uncomfortable situations, almost regularly. I happen to be a complete introvert and prefer not to be in the spotlight or meet new people. But I have learned success and reward comes from doing the exact opposite of your fears and insecurities. You never know what you might learn about yourself or what you’re potentially capable of. 
• Community Member: Nurture and prioritize long-term relationships. Advocate for those less fortunate than myself, 
• Hobbies: Pop Culture, Politics, Female, Black & LGBTQIA Stories, Reality Television, live performance art, vacuuming, museums, parks. 
• Work Ethic / Professional Licensure: Always producing, always growing, always improving, always striving to reach my highest potential. I am a licensed Landscape Architect.

2. Where do you work and what is your role? When/how did you get started there? 

Ore Design – Business Development, specifier & design services. I help landscape architects specify site furnishings for their projects.

           -I was referred to via an old client, I started two months ago. 

3. List some factors that contribute to your success.

Resourcefulness, kindness, helping others, gumption, accepting rejection, and work ethic. 

4. Give advice to those starting their careers in Business Development

Embrace discomfort, be available & accessible, say yes, a lot, learn from every person you interact with professionally and personally. Leverage everyone you know and everything you do as a future opportunity. 

5. What is your passion?

My professional passion exists in custom design and manufacturing space, with New York being such a massive market that predominantly specifies custom whether it’s furniture, planter walls, pavers, always expect the unexpected on a landscape project in NYC. I find it so rewarding to be alongside a design team to help form their spec on a site element while having those real time conversations with the factory engineers. Prior to CD submission, the landscape architect can walk away feeling confident about the constructability & cost of their custom designed element.

6. Please tell us about the range and type of projects you are involved in.

• Chicago RiverWalk
• The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• The Morgan Library 
• Jones Beach State Park
• Chicago Botanical Garden