This week, News Ten is highlighting women in our community who are examples of how to overcome life’s challenges with grace and perseverance. All of them are women Impacting Acadiana. 

Today we introduce you to Maureen Foster. Her positive, push forth attitude has taken her to great heights in her career, literally.

Basically if you ever go to the football game and you look straight up in the center of the field, we had to climb all the way up into those little cat walks.

Lafayette Architect Maureen Foster’s work on the Mercedes-Benz Superdome after Hurricane Katrina still stands out as a highlight of her career.

Then I got to go on the roof of the Superdome.

Putting things back together seems to be what Maureen excels at both professionally and personally.

During a time of struggle in her life, she decided to embrace the opportunity and created a group for women in her field.

“Designing Women started out just to become like a support group like hey what do we need as women in architecture because women make up 20% of licensed architects in the united states and we’ve been able to engage most of the women around here and say hey what do you guys wanna learn about, what to you want to do, what can we do to promote architecture.”

Maureen is committed to that cause, so much so that she served as an artist in residence at the Hilliard Art Museum teaching elementary and high school students about architecture.

“For me to fully diversify the career field of architecture, we have to start with the children and expose them to architecture because unless we start doing that, how are they going to learn? You know some kids will never hear the word architecture until they go to college.” 

So how does one woman make such an impact?

“I say my super power is manifesting abundance. Focusing on positivity whether good or bad because yes bad things happen all the time but how do we spin it and make it all right?”

Maureen is currently working with a group to revitalize buildings in the Mccomb-Veazey area.

Join us Friday at 6:30 p.m. here on News Ten for a 30 minute special honoring more women whose contributions have had a great impact on acadiana.