Around this time last year, when the 400th African American woman was licensed as an architect in the U.S., designer Tiffany Brown learned she was a finalist for a Knight Arts Challenge grant. A Detroit native and employee of SmithGroup, Brown is a passionate advocate for increasing diversity, focusing her energies on growing the numbers of African American women in the profession. Her initiative, 400 Forward, which won the award—a $50,000 matching grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation—aims to provide mentoring and support for the next 400 black women to become architects. Brown spoke with RECORD about her work and the ways architects can promote diversity.

What first drew you to architecture?