Your Voice Is Your Brand
Leah Ray leads a hands-on workshop at the AIA Women’s Leadership Summit in Kansas City on November 3.
Architects spend whole careers giving form to other people’s ideas. On November 3, we invite you to spend ninety minutes on your own.
Leah Ray, founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Raygency, will lead Your Voice Is Your Brand at the 2026 AIA Women’s Leadership Summit (WLS) in Kansas City. The session runs from 1:00 to 2:30 p.m. CST on Tuesday, November 3, the final day of the summit.
Leadership asks you to speak for your firm, your team, and your ideas, often before you have had a chance to decide what you stand for. Every bio, pitch, panel introduction, and LinkedIn post carries your voice, whether you shaped it on purpose or not. This workshop gives you the time and the tools to shape it on purpose.
Come ready to work.
Leah opens with a short talk on why a clear, human voice matters more than ever in a profession where anyone can generate a polished paragraph in seconds. Then the real work begins. You will spend at least an hour on two exercises that branding studios use with their clients:
The Seven Whys. You will start with a simple statement about what you do and ask “Why?” seven times. Each answer digs one level deeper, until you reach the purpose underneath the practice.
The Values Deck. You will work through a deck of values cards, choosing, discarding, and debating, until you can name the core values that guide your work.
You will leave with a statement of purpose, a short list of core values, and a foundation for everything you write and say as a leader from here forward.
Why voice, and why now?
“Voice,” Leah wrote recently, “is a byproduct of having lived a particular life in a particular body and having decided a particular thing matters.” No machine can manufacture that. No template can borrow it. Your voice belongs to you, and when you know it well, it becomes the most durable brand asset you will ever own.
Women in architecture, design, and the building industries bring perspectives our profession needs to hear. This workshop helps you say them clearly, confidently, and in your own words.
Who should attend
This workshop welcomes principals shaping a firm, emerging leaders shaping a career, and anyone who has stared at an empty bio field and wondered where to begin. Bring a pen, an open mind, and a willingness to say “Why?” more times than feels polite.
About Leah
Leah Ray is the founder and Chief Creative Officer of The Raygency, a PR and communications consultancy for architecture, design, and design education. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Kentucky and a Master in Design Studies from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She began her career at Harry Weese in Chicago, in an office with four computers for forty-four people, and she has spent every year since helping designers tell their stories with clarity and joy.
WHAT Your Voice Is Your Brand: a talk and hands-on workshop
WHO Leah Ray, The Raygency
WHEN Tuesday, November 3, 2026, 1:00–2:30 p.m. CST
WHERE AIA Women’s Leadership Summit, Loews Kansas City Hotel, 1515 Wyandotte Street, Kansas City, Missouri [room TBC]
REGISTER aia.org/community/events/womens-leadership-summit
Register for WLS 2026 and add Your Voice Is Your Brand to your schedule. Then come to Kansas City ready to answer one question seven times.
Registration is open to all AEC professionals, and AIA members receive special rates.
