Meet Garfield Peart | Architect & Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Advocate

We had the good fortune of connecting with Garfield Peart and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Garfield, what role has risk played in your life or career?
Nelson Mandela once said, “there is no passion to be found in playing small and settling for a life that is less than you are capable of living”. Risk is the ability to step out on faith without a parachute or a soft place to land to become the person you were meant to be, live your best life, and contribute to the world as only you can. I am a 51-year-old career architect and project manager with over 25 years of experience. I have managed over $700 million in federal, state, and municipal projects. In my latest position, I was a Program Management Officer for the City of Atlanta making over six figures per year. I felt on top of the world. But things changed. I found myself needing to do a career change. On top of that, COVID hit and shut down everything, so opportunities were few and far between.

So, with the newfound extended opportunity to think – while being stuck in the house for months at a time – I looked at my life and realized that I was not getting the satisfaction I wanted out of life, and, most of all, I felt I was running out of time. I started listening to motivational tapes and heard some say something like – “Do you want to be on your death bed surrounded by all the goals and dreams that are now going to die with you asking – why did you give us a chance?” It forced me to take a hard look at why I was not using all the experience to focus on my passion to help communities, fight for more equity in my profession and more importantly focus on loving myself without needing the acceptance of others. I decided it was now or never – It was time to take the ultimate risk and go out on faith. I left my six-figure job in the midst of a pandemic as a single parent with a teenager in high school, and no financial plan for how my bills would be paid.

I started my own architecture firm back in 2015 to channel my passion for community service and development in a more meaningful way. For approximately five years, my “side hustle” was working on projects with community organizations focus on transforming their neighborhoods into more healthy and beautiful places to live. Now, for the first time in my life, I was going to focus on my dream, pour myself into my firm, and start to realize my dreams. I was ready to take on the architecture world as a new entrepreneur!!(Smile) As you could imagine, with not much moving in the economy and clients not starting any new projects due to the pandemic, it did not take long for things to get real dark, doubt to creep in and me to ask myself – “What the F%$@ were you thinking? I got to a point where I was living from month to month with extremely limited funds to run my business. I want to give up and go back to corporate. I had to double down, focus on what I wanted to do, and develop a new power and passion for life.

In the book Instant Millionaire, it states – “Put yourself in a position where you can’t retreat…. where it is do or die”. I forced myself to remember that adversity is temporary, and glory is eternal. Today, I am not out of the woods yet, but I am on more solid ground with over eleven clients and project fees worth over $100k. My clients range from county governments to mission-driven small community non-profit organizations. I am now using my extensive experience to work on projects that are making in difference in communities all over the Atlanta metro and beyond. So, I guess if I was to state the point of this dissertation (smile) I would say that you must have the confidence to love yourself, the courage to face the whirling winds of adversity, and the strength to not let go of your dreams – that is what taking risks are about to me!

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, and growing up in New York City, Garfield founded Syntony Design Collaborative in 2015 as a dream to help create more healthy buildings and communities for everyone who lives, works and plays in the built environment; especially in our under-served urban centers. At Syntony Design Collaborative (https://syntonydesign.com) we are committed to design excellence, innovation, and growth. Our firm mission is to design healthy, integrated buildings that create a more sustainable future and transform lives in the communities we serve. As a full-service architecture and design firm, we work to redefine the architect’s role to become a design leader, advocate, and promoter for sound and equitable place-based building design and development practices. Through the use of a “systems thinking” framework, we leverage a project’s economic, environmental and social resources while being sensitive to a community’s cultural fabric in the complex-built environments of today. We have a very effective business model by providing a customized experience for each project with highly specialized collaborations of like-minded design professionals who are committed to the good stewardship of our built environment. Our Market focus is Commercial Office/Retail, Community Development, Historic Preservation, and Government. If you want a partner to help you realize your dream for a healthier and safer community where you live, work and play; we love to hear from you.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
First of all I am an ITPer (Insite the Perimeter) and live in Grant Park. So we would start in the Sweet Auburn neighborhood for sure – the MLK Jr National Historic Site, SCLC, Odd Fellows Building, historic churches, culture, etc. Then we would move down to Krog Street Market and Atlanta Beltline over to Ponce City Market, have a beer at New Realm Brewery, and stroll up to Piedmont Park. We would have to jump in a Uber now and head over to Howell Mill and the bustling Westside of Atlanta and then take your pick – The Works, Top Golf, the Optimist, Barcelona, etc. We would finish up back in East Midtown with live music at Kats Cafe.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I have a long list of shoutouts for those who have made me the person I am today and able to weather the storms of entrepreneurship but here are a few – God (First and Foremost), My Parents – Greta and Raphael Peart, Oscar Harris FAIA (Former CEO of Turner Associates), Doug Hooker (Former ED of Atlanta Regional Commission), Cheryl McAfee FAIA (Principal McAfee Architects), SPIKE Studio (My Education Non-Profit), The National Organization of Minority Architects and Atlanta Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Website: https://syntonydesign.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/syntony01/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garfieldpeart/