Professional Profile: Krista Manna - 2015

Family: Robert Manna (works for Stantec) & my daughter Isabella

College: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

First job unrelated to your current field: Sales associate for Priceless Kids

First job in current field: Working to help build housing developments.  AKA floor sweeper & shingle picker-upper for the summer.

What your firm does now and its plans for the future?  Bergmeyer currently works on retail and education projects.  Most of our projects involve the retail portion of banks, restaurants, coffee shops, bookstores, clothing stores, etc. 

Hobbies: Knitting, singing (I’m a member of both the First Baptist Church of Abington’s choir and the Abington town choir), skiing, and gardening.

Favorite novel: The Bible 

Favorite film: “Dirty Dancing”

Keys to success: The key to my success has been setting overall goals continually and achieving them, first hand construction experience, and last is patience and understanding.  Understanding that each project is just as important to your client as it is to you and being understanding and patient enough to work through the design multiple times with them in order to get it just right.

Person(s) you most admire (outside of family): Hands down the person I admire most has to be my mother.  With her passing away last year, I’ve come to realize even more than I did before how wise she was.  Her motto she lived by which I remind myself of whenever I get stressed was: God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

As far as someone outside my family: Either Zaha Hadid and Denise Scott Brown; Two women whom, despite the odds against them, have forged their way into a field where women are the minority when it comes to being in positions of authority.

If you had to choose a different profession, what would it be? 

Working for Habitat for Humanity.  I really enjoy helping people realize their dreams.