July 18, 2015 marked the ten-year anniversary of Environ
Senior Architect Leticia Mimila. To celebrate this milestone, we sat down with
the tenured employee for a conversation about what makes her tick.
It all started with shapes. As a child, Lety was chosen to
attend a special program for a select group of students who were bused across Long
Beach to receive an advanced curriculum. In middle school she was inspired by
an exercise in 3D. The more complex the shapes became, the more excitedly she
welcomed the challenge. The final assignment was the design of a house, and her
path to pursuing architecture was born.
Having grown up in an impoverished neighborhood, Lety
struggled to fit in with her less ambitious peers. Sometimes she even found
herself hiding her scholastic achievements from friends. This, however, did not
keep her from staying the course to prove to certain elders that she would
overcome the stereotype of a life that often results from a low-income,
single-parent home. The low expectations that some adults in her life had only
made her more determined to become the successful, independent woman she is
today.
