While Norwalk is racially diverse, it’s also an example of the racial wealth disparity that exists all across our country. Norwalk’s median household income is a drastic $100,000 less than its surrounding mostly white, wealthy towns. This same disparity holds true between Norwalk’s neighborhoods, creating a quiet, modern segregated city.
This dynamic in the environment that raised me taught me very early in my life that the trajectory of one's life can be tied closely to their proximity to equity, diversity, and access to resources - all of which is often heavily influenced by one’s zip code. This early lesson sparked my interest in communities, spaces and homes, and is what keeps me committed to learning more about people and the spaces that they inhabit.
Philippe became engaged in the Carver community by the 4th grade and never left. He participated in Carver’s after-school and summer programs and most of all the opportunities in between. He worked for our K-5 after-school program called CASPER and our summer camp at the Carver Community Center during his high school years. He fondly remembers Carver staff such as Brian Acevedo and Rhea Gorham as being especially inspiring and helpful.
These two always exuded an inexplicable, consistent, and reliable love and light that was paramount for me during that time, in retrospect. I never left either one of their presence without feeling even better than I did before. They were my pillars in the Carver community. There were others as well, for sure.
Philippe is forgiving and compassionate in his effort to look beyond the futile divisions people make that scream from today’s headlines. Though his eyes miss nothing, and with the attributes of a sharp-eyed geographer, art historian, ethnologist and multilingual poet, Philippe is on a mission.
In my current role at Fairstead, I focus on brand development and strategy. In my position, I use my comprehensive understanding of the vertically integrated approach that our company takes to acquiring, developing, and managing communities across the nation and to strategize methods of leveraging media, press, digital platforms, and print collateral to tell the story of Fairstead to its various stakeholders. Through this role I’m gaining first-hand insight into the broad ecosystem that is the housing market.
In my daily life, through these roles, and in my commitment to exploring the intersection of people and their homes, I am striving to create a dynamic career in the realm of urban planning and housing policy that allows me to lend my interests [in podcasting, reading, fashion, architecture, history, design, policy, and digital content creation] and professional experience to an industry that has a hand in shaping the future of my community by curating homes, spaces, and environments that serve as a catalyst and tool for success.
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