WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH SPOTLIGHT | SHARMILA TANKHA

To celebrate Women’s History Month, we sat down with our very own Founder of Starq Design inc, Sharmila Tankha to discuss her journey founding and running a multidisciplinary design practice.

Why did you start Starq Design Inc?

For many of my previous works, I was leading international projects in Asia and the Middle East, with projects moving at a frantic pace. Early in 2020, I realized that I wanted to turn my focus back on the craft of design and work on projects that have positive social and environmental impacts on our communities, as well as engage in efforts to raise the visibility of women and minorities in our industry. I also wanted to finally partner professionally with my life partner of 25 years – Sanjeev Tankha - and build something that leverages both our complementary strengths of design and delivery. About a year ago, all of these factors came together and led me to establish Starq Design Inc. in its current form.

That’s great, what have you been working on?

I am working on a few multifamily projects in the Bay Area and Southern California, but by far, my favorite has been a 5-acre, 155-unit affordable housing project in San Bernardino County. It has been so rewarding working with a municipality that deeply cares about the quality of their built urban environment and looks very closely at how any new project will further improve the lives of their denizens. Through this partnership, we have had the opportunity to thoughtfully craft a community design that is beautiful, safe, healthy, and connected to its context.

What else is going on in your professional career?

I have had the good fortune to carve out the time to volunteer on multiple initiatives. I am part of Urban Land Institute’s Women’s Leadership Initiative and I recently initiated an Internship program for women students in real estate-related majors for our regional colleges and universities. We had a very healthy response from students and industry professionals, and I hope to evolve this even further in the coming years to reach out to underrepresented minority groups as well.

In addition to ULI, I am also getting involved in AIA’s Women in Architecture initiative and looking forward to participating in a panel discussion in April that guides women architects on starting up their own businesses.

Any other highlights from the past year?

We are a registered DBE with the California Unified Certification Program – this allows us to partner with larger practices like Gensler, RDC, and others on larger scale projects. Having a diverse team with a rich mix of expertise, points-of-view, and cultural affinities enables us to enhance the design process and ultimately the design product. We have a few active projects with this type of team structure, and I am excited to see the outcomes when these projects are realized.