Young Advisors

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Ariana’s career in preservation began when she served as an intern with the Alliance in 2013. Since then, she has earned a master’s degree in Architectural Conservation from the University of Edinburgh and worked in various focus areas within the field. She was an intern at the World Monuments Fund, she wrote a Conservation Management Plan for the Gropius House in Lincoln, Massachusetts, and she carried out hands-on conservation treatments with EverGreene Architectural Arts and Mount Auburn Cemetery. She now works as a Preservation Planner for VHB, where she gets to focus on her favorite aspect of the profession: research on the historic resources, both modest and grand, that make up our daily surroundings. Ariana has served on the YA board, with various sabbaticals, since March 2014.

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Julian K. Phillips, a Memphis native, found an early interest in art and architecture when he was found painting and drawing buildings and architectural elements at an early age. Paintings and illustrations became more than a hobby for Julian when his paintings were shown in the Memphis International Airport, Brooks Museum (Memphis), Frist Art Museum (Nashville), and the Memphis Heritage House. His collegiate education began at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies.  

After receiving his bachelor’s degree in 2017, Julian worked as an architectural intern for CMArchitects in Nashville, TN working with architects on education facilities, and single-family dwellings. He spent his free time in Nashville volunteering for the Nashville Civic Design Center where he worked to lobby for the 2017 Nashville Transit Plan. Shortly after, he started his master’s degree in architecture at Massachusetts College of Art and Design where he completed his graduate thesis fall of 2019. After two years in Boston, he has taken part in designing/creating art installations at the Peabody Essex Museum (Copa Pavilion), Faneuil Hall (Auction Block Memorial (unbuilt)), and The Institute of Contemporary Art (Bazzaro Beach).

He currently serves as BosNOMA’s secretary. Julian is currently an Architectural Designer at Bruner/Cott Architects in Boston and teaches architecture + design courses for Mass College of Art’s Youth Programs, Summer Intensives, and Portfolio Development. In every instance, from art to architecture, Julian strives to positively impact his surroundings and use the human connection as the strongest and most genuine element of design. 

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Cathryn Haight is a Boston-based writer and editor. She is an associate editor for Dotdash Meredith. She is also a freelance writer for a number of media outlets including Boston.com and WBUR. Prior, she was an editor at the Improper Bostonian magazine. Cathryn joined the Young Advisors Board to advocate for the historic sites and structures around Boston that hold countless stories of the city’s past, and to help share those stories with the public. She can often be found reading, exploring museums, catching a performance by the Boston Ballet or frequenting antique shops. She holds a degree in Creative Writing and Russian Language from Trinity College as well as a certificate in Publishing from Columbia University. She lives in Back Bay.

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Erin Doherty is a Preservation Planner at Epsilon Associates, Inc., an environmental consulting firm located in Maynard, MA. Erin works in the historic preservation group, which focuses on securing project approvals and clearances from local, state, and federal agencies including State Historic Preservation Offices, the National Park Service, and local historic district commissions. Prior to joining Epsilon, Erin spent much of her career in the public sector. Formerly, Erin worked as a Preservation Planner at the Massachusetts Historical Commission where she was responsible for the review and approval of state and federal historic tax credit applications. Previously she worked at the Boston Landmarks Commission where she oversaw the administration of three local historic districts. Erin received a B.A. in Russian and French from Wellesley College and an M.A. in Preservation Studies from Boston University. Erin is a Fulbright Fellow and spent a year in St. Petersburg, Russia researching historic sites following her graduation from Wellesley College.

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Mikaela (Miki) Blair is an associate architect specializing in historic preservation. She supports project teams in drafting, existing conditions documentation, Revit model building, and rendering on a variety of MDS projects. Miki received her Masters of Architecture and Certificate of Historic Preservation from the University of Kansas. She also holds a Masters of Historic Preservation from the University of Colorado. She is now a Designer for EYP Architecture & Engineering.

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During Kate Ford’s first year of architecture school, her class took a field trip to Boston to explore all of the amazing architecture this city has to offer. The most impactful building she saw that day was the MIT Chapel in Cambridge. She loved the way Eero Saarinen designed a seemingly modest building from the exterior, but as you explore the interior, you find celebrated moments of natural light from the undulating brick walls reflecting light from the moat below and a skylight pouring in light from above. This building still remains one of her favorite buildings in this city and beyond! Her professional career thus far has primarily been focused on a large renovation of a 100-year-old building in Downtown Boston. This project preserved the historical podium while replicating the upper façade in modern materials to bring it back to life. She has had the pleasure and good fortune to work on such a challenging, rewarding and transformative project over the past few years, and looks forward to expanding upon the lessons learned as a part of the BPA Young Advisors.

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Devon King is an urban and environmental historian, advocate for LGBTQ+ history and the preservation of modernist architecture, and committed public historian. In May 2021, he received his master’s in history from the University of Massachusetts Amherst as well as a Historic Preservation Certificate from Boston Architectural College. Currently, he worked as an Associate Architectural Historian for the Public Archaeology Lab. He previously worked as Cultural Landscape Planning Associate with the National Park Service’s Olmsted Center for Landscape Preservation. Working with the OCLP staff, Devon is leading projects to complete a Cultural Landscape Report Vol. 3, Record of Treatment, a Preservation Maintenance Plan, and the submission of a Historic American Landscape Survey for the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, Fairsted, in Brookline. Outside of the archives and away from his research, he is an avid hiker, voracious reader, and uncle to two rambunctious kiddos. He is a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, the youngest of five, proudly gay, and an advocate for inclusion, democracy, and social justice.

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Laura is an architectural conservator with a background in archaeology. She received her Master of Science in Historic Preservation from the University of Pennsylvania, where she focused on conservation science, and has developed conservation plans for Holly Tower at Hovenweep National Monument in Utah, and Nyamata and Ntarama Genocide Memorials in Rwanda. She spent 5 years working for Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, where she worked on conservation and 3D modeling projects at the Maya site of Copan in Honduras. She currently works as an Architectural Conservator at Building Conservation Associates, Inc, where she advises on the conservation of historic building materials throughout New England.

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Mr. Pelletier joined Kirk & Company in 2005 and currently leads the appraisal and consulting process, which includes narrative appraisal reports, feasibility studies, acquisition analysis, and customized market research. He leads a team that focuses on affordable housing strategies and policy, adaptive reuse strategies, and complex real estate problem-solving. Kirk & Company provides clients with real estate valuation and counseling services for all types of commercial property on a national basis with a concentration on income-producing property within New England. Clients include non-profit, community, and private developers, non-profit organizations, institutional investors, lenders, municipalities, public housing authorities, and government agencies.

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