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Attraction Marketing Plan for 2010

No doubt you’ve heard about the Laws of Attraction from everyone from Oprah Winfrey to your local bookseller. Laura West, Attraction Expert and Business Coach will show you how to finally harness the power of attraction into creating success in your business. Even with attraction you need to do more than go with the flow you need a focused plan.
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Farshid Moussavi

Co-Founder, Foreign Office Architects

Imagine being eight years-old and on vacation with your family in England while your home country of Iran is in the midst of a revolution. It’s 1979 and your parents make the decision to enroll you in a UK boarding school to keep you safe while they return to Iran. Not only are you young, alone and having to adjust to being in a foreign country’s boarding school, but all the classes are taught in English, a language which you now have to learn. For Featured Lady Farshid Moussavi, this was her reality.

Farshid describes this period of her life as, “not an unhappy time” and continued her international education, studying architecture in Scotland, Holland, Italy, England and the United States, where she earned her master’s degree from Harvard University. At age 26 she and her husband opened a practice, Foreign Office Architects. Farshid started teaching at the Architectural Association International School for Architecture in 1993 and won an international architectural design competition in Japan in 1995, at age 30. Her firm’s work has been showcased at venues including the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Max Protetch Gallery.

The win was widely published and Foreign Office Architects received industry acclaim; however, as Farshid explains, “Unless you have a commission, you’re always starting from a blank canvas. When doing competitions, you lose many and win few. It gets demoralizing.”

Describing her company culture as creative, demanding, ambitious and friendly, Farshid makes it a point to surround herself and her employees with people from other places so they can share experiences, learn from each other and approach discussions from differing angles.

In fact, Farshid deliberately designed her company to reflect diversity of thought. Foreign Office Architects embodies the concept of being unfamiliar with a certain context, and the creative freedom that allows. According to Farshid, “When something is foreign, you don’t know the rules so you aren’t constrained by them. You are distanced from the way it’s usually done. It’s unfamiliar so you challenge yourself.”

As a result, the London-based company is known as one of the most creative design firms in the world, integrating architecture, urban design and landscape in their projects. Having won many critically-acclaimed and award-winning international projects, the most notable is the Yokohama Ferry Terminal in Japan, which was completed in 2002.

On American soil, Foreign Office Architects was commissioned in 2006 to design the new Cleveland Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) building. The structure will be in the University Circle, the city’s cultural center, anchoring a planned arts and retail corridor adjacent to Case Western Reserve University. According to Farshid, “Foreign Office Architects is delighted that its first major project in the United States, and its first museum anywhere, is the design for a new building for MOCA Cleveland.”

Farshid’s vision for MOCA is to develop a concept that will accommodate diverse art forms, include ample and inviting public space, work within and contribute to an exciting urban area, and maintain high environmental standards – all while ensuring that the building will serve the needs of future generations.

Between being an international business owner, teacher and mother, there’s little time for a break, but for Farshid, the break has been teaching. She enjoys the freshness of thought provided by the students, which helps her generate business ideas. Teaching also gives Farshid perspective from outside the walls of her company. Since projects can take years to complete, she “can get too close” and needs to seek an outside viewpoint. Through teaching, her perception is enhanced.

In fact, Farshid is recognized as an outstanding and committed teacher, and has served as a visiting professor at UCLA, Princeton, Columbia and at architectural schools throughout Europe. In 2006, Farshid became a tenured professor at Harvard Graduate School of Design where she published The Function of Ornament, based on her research and teaching at Harvard. She has just released a second volume titled The Function of Form.

Foreign Office Architects, together with a group of their contemporaries formed United Architects to submit a design for the World Trade Center in 2002 following 9/11. In 2012, the world’s eyes will be on London for the Olympics, as well as on Farshid’s company, with Foreign Office Architects having played a central creative role in the master planning of the Olympic Park.

What we learned from Farshid: “Women need to believe in themselves. We have many skills for making successful businesses and creative ventures, plus we look at things differently. Women should have no fears and be fearless. ”

Balancing Act

“My biggest personal challenge is dividing my time among being a principal of a company, teacher, mother and woman. All these roles are enjoyable, but it’s about finding the right balance. I’m always planning and being efficient so I can make the most out of one moment to the next.”

Just Be You

“Men and women are not the same anywhere. The older I get, the more I just become a woman and can just be me. It’s less of an issue. I don’t have to speak, act or dress like a man, even though the world of architecture is 90% men. It’s refreshing.”

Be Unpredictable

“We’ve been successful because we try to listen, look and develop ideas through what’s happening around us and also add personal style. As a result, we’ve developed a certain skill. We strive to be less predictable and more interesting.”

This Featured Lady was profiled by Megan L. Reese, WORDrobe™ Stylist for Her Write Image in West Grove, PA.

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