Rachel Bell is a board director of Stride Treglown, with business development, defence and infrastructure among her responsibilities. This month she became chair of Women in Property. She talks about the importance of role models and the need to make the industry more inclusive.

Jelena Cousins is creative director of Cousins & Cousins. Her career choice was initially inspired by her parents but, as she explains, she was appalled to be told by a former employer that she could not be a good mother and a good architect at the same time.

Stephanie Edwards is co-founder of Urban Symbiotics and a graduate of the Architectural Association. Her practice has worked on projects around the UK and across the Middle East ranging in scale from strategic masterplans to meanwhile schemes. She explains that she has always been interested in how spaces shape people’s emotions.

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