Meet Akilah Aina Swan | Director and Lead Architectural Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Akilah Aina Swan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Akilah Aina, what’s one piece of conventional advice that you disagree with?
Hustle, Hustle, Hustle! I’d like this mantra to die a slow death. We are not machines. We need time to rest, reevaluate, restructure and honestly just be. Healthy lives breed wealthy lives.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
My business is Aina Curated, an Architectural design and Creative Interiors boutique. The greatest goal of Aina Curated is to bring wellness and transformative beauty through design. To curate a built environment that is uniquely personal to each of our clients, whether it be their home or business. This desire has been fed from years in the industry where I worked at other Architectural Firms and watched clients leave not only with the same cookie-cutter design but also they often felt lost in the process and unsure of design decisions that were being made on their behalf. It honestly hurt my heart at times and really made me wonder, how this could be done better. How could I do better? Customer service, I call it Client Stewardship, is one of the business’s core values. As a Jesus follower I cannot help but bring the love and transformation that Christ has brought to me to others and it is hugely important that this level of care and compassion, Stewardship, is instilled in the way that we interact with our clients, contractors and vendors.

The other piece that has fueled the way that I have structured Aina Curated is a majour health crisis that I experienced back in 2016. I was working in a toxic work environment and consequently a toxic building. I watched my health erode before my eyes and that certainly changed my perspective on the value of the life I’ve been given, the legacy that I want my life to leave, but also, as it relates to the built environment, how the spaces that we dwell and work in detrimentally affect our physical and mental health, for better or, unfortunately in my case at the time, for worse. That is why I am so passionate about infusing into our designs what I call our 7 fold design philosophy. Imbedded in this philosophy are pillars that the business uses to ensure that designs incorporate nature, texture, flow among other staple elements that lead to a healthy environment.

It is so crazy the journey that life takes us on. I have certainly experienced shut doors, a desire for more than the 9-5 experience that I was living, and greater purpose and even validation as a young black woman in the field of architecture. I recall so many years crying to God to understand where I should be, what is my story meant to say, how much of this mundane life am I to keep enduring. I love how God uses our pain for purpose, because those experiences of difficulty, at times rejection, and mediocrity birthed tenacity, humility, understanding, a desire to mentor others and of course design innovation. And every day that I was waiting I was dreaming, little knowing how much those dreams would be the foundation of my new business. Now I get to showcase a brand narrative that is sophisticated, bold and elegant, but equally important to me a company where my clients feel heard and respected and where their space reflects them.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m a big nature lover, so a visit to the park is a top priorities. Parks like the Historic Fourth Ward and Sweetwater Creek State Park are at the top of the list for an early morning stroll or to lose yourself in nature for a while. For my favourite meal of the day breakfast at Highland Bakery is a must and a great stop before heading to the Martin Luther King Jr. National park or to the Georgia Aquarium. End the day with dinner at South City Kitchen.

Walking tours are also great like Atlanta Black History & Civil Rights Tour and the Midtown Atlanta Food & Cocktail Tour. To unwind we’d head to The Spa at the Peachtree Center.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I Shout-out my sisters – Aisha Rymal and Alandra Swan

I am incredibly blessed to come from a supportive family as a whole, but these two women have held my hands up so that I would not quit or loose the battle when it came to starting and now running my business. I love them with all of me.

Website: https://ainacurated.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ainacurated/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/mwlite/in/akilah-swan-141a4720b

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ainacurated

Image Credits
Alandra Kaliyma Swan Aina Curated