Most Podern Podcast

Once captivated by design's allure, how do those shaping our built environment tap into the compounding power of sharing knowledge, honing their skills, and seamlessly blending beauty with efficiency? Andrew Kao is a licensed architect, a former Product Manager at WeWork, and a former Vice President at both CBRE/Hana and MillerKnoll. He discusses the challenges and frustrations he faced in the...

How can one develop a rewarding and meaningful career as an architect? Jacki Schaefer, an architecture career specialist, discusses her journey in the field of architecture and how transitioning away from it led to creating value for others. She highlights the disillusionment she experienced in practice and the disconnect between academia and the profession and how she turned both into a force for...

On the inaugural season of Most Podern, where we embark on an exploration of a fundamental question: How do we shape the world around us professionally? Join hosts Minkoo Kang, Libo Li, and Alex Yuen as they guide us on an insightful journey into the dynamic landscape of careers in and around the built environment. Through candid conversations with professionals from an array of fields and pursuit...

Alex is an urban designer and architect from San Francisco. He’s a founding partner of Collective Operations (CO) and teaches urban design at Harvard GSD. In this conversation, Alex discusses how he fell in love with cities, how Steph Curry inspired his approach to his career, and his motivations as a teacher, urban designer, architect, and developer. Highlights 1:17 When and where Alex fell in lo...

Libo is a Data Engineer at Meta. He trained as an architect and worked in a wide variety of roles across different companies. In this conversation, we discuss his move from design into technology, the motivations and challenges in career transitions, and the relationship between a title and one’s identity. 8:45 Transitioning from design into “tech” 12:15 The culture shock of going to WeWork 18:05...

Minkoo Kang  is a designer and developer from Seoul. In this episode we talk to Minkoo about his journey into design, what motivated his move towards finance, and discovering the value of design. 1:00 How Gaudi inspired his journey into design 4:08 The limitations even at the highest levels of design 9:58 Burning out at OMA 16:41 Money as the missing element 19:55 Experiencing different discipline...

Welcome to the Most Podern Podcast! In this episode, we discuss why we are starting this podcast and what we think is missing from the conversation around the built environment. 1:10 : What makes us a good trio to start a podcast 3:14 : What does “establishing convening power in the build environment mean?” 6:32 : Bridging conversations and culture 9:40 : Agency and time as a key constraint of Arc...