Melvalean McLemore, AIA

Melvalean McLemore, AIA

McLemore has been instrumental in shaping her firm’s office culture as a leader of its EDI Committee, Licensure Committee, and HBCU Outreach Team. She is also an integral component of Moody Nolans’ hiring, marketing, and business development teams. As a designer, she was the project manager for the new MLK Academy in San Antonio, a $49 million project that keeps the legacy of the civil rights leader alive while helping children in Texas achieve their dreams. Her commitment to shaping positive communities is also evident in projects such as Third Space, for which she led the volunteer design team that won Houston’s Complete Communities design competition. For the project, McLemore imagined a thriving and self-sustaining community through a series of live-work “mom and pop shops” for entrepreneurs, restaurant spaces, and an art gallery.

After completing her undergraduate studies, McLemore created and instructed an “Architecture 101 Program” with the Houston-based Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts. Through the program, she introduced the profession to K-9 students alongside recent fellow graduates she recruited. In 2020, she co-created and co-produced the annual NOMA National HCBU Professional Development program, which creates touchpoints between members of the AIA Large Firm Roundtable and the nation’s historically Black colleges and universities. With two of her colleagues and NOMA’s support, McLemore has helped more than 300 HCBU architecture students connect with hundreds of design professionals through a virtual resume and portfolio review workshop. McLemore hopes to expand her teaching after completing her Master of Architecture at Rice University.

McLemore has long been an active member of AIA Houston, where she is a board member, co-founded its Women in Architecture Committee, and helped lead the development of a compelling exhibition that highlighted women in the profession from 1850 to today and beyond. She is currently the vice chair of the Women of Color Steering Committee, a chapter effort to amplify the voices of marginalized women. In her role on the board, she was instrumental in the chapter’s release of a Black Lives Matter solidarity statement and the formation of its JEDI Collective.

Through JEDI-related initiatives at AIA Houston and the Texas Society of Architects, McLemore has presented and moderated dozens of educational conferences. Throughout all of her work, she endeavors to connect AIA Houston, the society, and NOMA for the benefit all organizations and the profession as a whole.