Voices of Women in Landscape Architecture: Diandre Sunner, Zhimin Ma, and Renee Erez

Left to right: Diandre Sunner, ASLA, PLA, Zhimin Ma, ASLA, and Renee Erez, ASLA

ASLA is sharing the next set of profiles of women in the profession (see the previous installment right here). If you'd like to be featured, the call for submissions remains open, with profiles being shared on an ongoing basis.

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These profiles will appear on the ASLA Women in Landscape Architecture LinkedIn group, Facebook group, and here on The Field. This post includes: Diandre Sunner, ASLA, PLA, Zhimin Ma, ASLA, and Renee Erez, ASLA.

Diandre Sunner, ASLA, PLA

Diandre Sunner, ASLA, PLA

What inspired you to pursue a career in landscape architecture?

My path to landscape architecture feels like a series of small moments that eventually clicked into one clear "aha, of course, this is what I'm meant to do!"

One of my earliest memories is visiting Mud Island in Memphis, Tennessee, a sprawling riverfront park where I was completely fascinated by the scaled-down Mississippi River model. As a kid, it felt like an incredible playground, but now I can appreciate the brilliance behind it and the ability to take something vast and complex and translate it into an immersive, human-scale experience.

I was also drawn to design in less traditional ways. I spent hours playing The Sims and RollerCoaster Tycoon, but I wasn't focused on gameplay; I just loved building. I'd design homes, landscapes, entire parks, and then start over again once I was satisfied. It was always about creating.

In high school, everything began to connect. Through an intro to CAD and an interior design class, I became fascinated with turning 2D drawings into 3D spaces. I could spend hours studying plans and visualizing them in real life. It combined creativity and technical thinking in a way that just clicked.

When I put all those experiences together, choosing landscape architecture didn't feel like a decision, it felt like a natural conclusion.

Who are the female role models who have influenced your career?

My biggest role models have always been the women in my family. My mom played a huge role in helping me piece everything together early on. She's the one who encouraged me to explore schools with landscape architecture when I was starting to think about college.

And while my love for plants developed a bit later, I must credit my Grandma for that. She had such a passion for gardening, and I loved spending time with her in the garden or visiting parks and public gardens together.

Their influence shaped both my path and my appreciation for the work I do today.

What advice do you have for other women pursuing a career in landscape architecture?

There are always going to be parts of the job that aren't your favorite, and that's okay. Every project comes with tasks that challenge you in different ways.

My advice is to try to see those moments as opportunities to grow. The things that feel uncomfortable at first are often where you learn the most. Sometimes you may even realize you enjoy them once you see how they contribute to your overall work. Staying open and curious goes a long way. It helps you grow professionally while building self-confidence over time.

Can you share with us a project you are particularly proud of and why?

One project I'm especially proud of was designing a rehabilitation center for seniors that included several courtyards. At the time, I had been primarily working on high-end residential projects, so this felt like a refreshing shift and an opportunity to think differently.

I really enjoyed diving into the research behind what makes successful memory care and rehabilitation gardens. It was important to me that these spaces offered patients and their families a sense of comfort, a place where they could step outside, connect with nature, and momentarily take their minds off what they were going through.

The client was wonderful and gave me the creative freedom to explore, which led to the design of four distinct courtyards. Each one offered its own experience, with a variety of activities and aesthetics to support different needs. It was incredibly rewarding to create spaces that not only function well but also have the potential to make a meaningful impact on people's daily lives.

Longwood Gardens

What advice would you give your younger self?

My journey hasn't been a straight line. In fact, it's been more of a circle, and that's something I've come to really value. If I could give my younger self advice, it would be to trust that path and follow what genuinely interests you. When you do that, work never really feels like work.

About halfway through my bachelor's at Penn State, I discovered a passion for plants and decided to explore horticulture more deeply. After graduating, I joined the Professional Gardener Program at Longwood Gardens to immerse myself in plant knowledge and gain hands-on experience. A few years later, I found my way back to landscape architecture through residential design, became licensed, and eventually transitioned into larger-scale urban planning and city park projects.

Taking that detour didn't set me back, it made me a stronger, more well-rounded landscape architect with a deeper understanding of planting design.

Zhimin Ma, ASLA

Zhimin Ma, ASLA

What inspired you to pursue a career in landscape architecture?

My habit of painting and drawing led me to major in architecture in college. It was an exciting start, but over time, I began to feel limited by the solid, static texture of concrete, metal, and glass. I found myself drawn to something with more life and change built into it. At the time, without an open landscape architecture major, my school did offer courses on landscape and plants, where I discovered my interest in the "growing material" of plants as a design medium-materials that could shift with the seasons, mature over years, and respond to their environment. It became my starting point for looking into the field of landscape architecture.

My master's studies at UPenn deepened that interest considerably. The program's studios ranged widely, from post-industrial land design to urban revitalization planning and design, working at the scale of neighborhoods and public infrastructure. That range of studio work is what sparked my particular interest in public projects, where landscape design cares about how people move through, gather in, and are shaped by shared public space.

Who are the female role models who have influenced your career?

I had the chance to sit in on a lecture given by Kate Orff, FASLA, RLA, which deeply inspired my commitment to this career. Some of her projects were already reputable case studies from the very first day of my landscape architecture studies, but hearing her talk about how she actually made those gorgeous projects happen was a super inspiring experience. Public landscape architecture is never only about design. I heard about her efforts to participate in city activities, legal discussions, and education, an ambitious practice of embedding landscape architecture into a broader field of influence.

What advice do you have for other women pursuing a career in landscape architecture?

Always look toward a better future. It's a career path full of challenges, both professional and personal, but believe in yourself that you can find a way to conquer them. This is what I always tell myself-it gives me the courage to take one more step forward.

Can you share with us a project you are particularly proud of and why?

I'm honestly proud of all the projects I've participated in so far! But the one I'm most fond of is the Abel De Luna Multicultural Center concept in Healdsburg, CA. It was my first experience bringing deep community engagement into a design outcome. It was a proposal to earn funding for the multicultural center-to renovate both the building and the site so that it could benefit the local Latino community. It was the first time my design results were based directly on workshops with local residents. I still remember my work from the very beginning: I was the one who built the existing conditions model, then updated it after every workshop, incorporated the design revisions, and produced the graphics that were presented to the city council, which approved the project and secured its funding.

What advice would you give your younger self?

The very beginning of my career was tough, with more setbacks than I expected. Luckily, I've succeeded in getting through many of them to become who I am today. It wasn't an easy journey, and I almost lost hope several times. If I could talk to myself three years ago, I'd say: don't panic, it's not your fault, and there's always a path to the next journey. Your health and happiness are the most important.

Renee Erez, ASLA

Renee Erez, ASLA

What inspired you to pursue a career in landscape architecture?

Growing up in the Santa Cruz mountains, the forest was always just part of our house. Everything was built around the trees and rocks; there was even a local restaurant with a creek running through the dining room. It didn't occur to me that the built world should be anything other than a response to nature. And then in school I "discovered" this field that seemed to be built on that same idea.

Who are the female role models who have influenced your career?

Julia Morgan's buildings sparked my love of architecture; Martha Schwartz's Bagel Garden told me I wasn't tied to any one palette of materials; and Barbara Kingsolver's work reminds me of how what we build affects the people who have to live with it every day.

What advice do you have for other women pursuing a career in landscape architecture?

Try everything. There are so many ways to be a landscape architect-so many types of design. And you don't have to aim at being a principal with your own firm (unless you want to). If you love drafting or planting design or irrigation, then go for it and keep doing it. And make sure they pay you what you're worth. AND-you're worth more.

Can you share with us a project you are particularly proud of and why?

One of the first park projects I worked on, almost thirty years ago, involved the rehabilitation of a small tot-lot. We didn't have much of a budget and had to replace the play structure, the surfacing, some paving, and a fence that surrounded the play area. The fence was dark and a bit too tall and offered no play value. The City agreed to let us replace the fence with play panels-tic-tac-toe, a xylophone, a finger maze, etc.-and built-in benches. We had the same footprint, but the play area felt so much larger.

About ten years later, my family and I moved into that neighborhood-across the street from that play area.

About ten years ago, when my daughter was in middle school, she led a volunteer project to replace the aging play panels-newer artwork but the same play experience.

I'm now watching the play area undergo renovation again (unfortunately, I didn't get to work on it). And a more modern version of my idea is being installed-the tot-lot will continue to be surrounded by a play-fence. And I'll get to continue watching new littles exploring the space while their parents enjoy the shade on a nice built-in bench next to the steering wheel panel.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Stick up for your ideas. Yes, the project manager has more experience than you. And, that end-zone would have looked so much better had you fought a bit harder for the row of ginkgos.

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