It was an idea born of an observation from her mother. A career in architecture. Perhaps, subconsciously, the idea was already percolating. But it was Cassie’s mother who helped her launch the next phase of what has been an interesting life journey.

Cassie was born in Pittsburgh. At the age of three her family moved to Lagos, Nigeria. Her father’s occupation – consultant engineer for an electrical company – required another international relocation when she was 10, this time to Leicester City, England. Along the way, in this early life’s journey through different cultural experiences, Cassie developed her interest in the arts.

In her teens, Cassie delved into photography, and though she may have been shooting whatever she found interesting, her lens often focused on buildings. Reading between lines as perhaps only a mother can, one day she posed the question to Cassie, “Have you thought about being an architect?”

It was an epiphany of sorts. “Architecture? Yes!” A high school internship with a firm in Leicester City formalized Cassie’s new direction. Upon graduation, she returned to the U.S. to pursue an architecture degree at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston.

Cassie met her future husband, Drew, during their first year at Wentworth. Later, as graduation neared, they made a pact to move together when one or the other found employment. Drew landed a job in San Jose, California, and Cassie did the same soon after they relocated.

With her career in architecture underway, Cassie hit the ground running on a number of projects. Among the highlights during her time in the Golden State was a master plan for a school district that encompassed nine different schools, and a 120,000-square-foot office renovation.

In 2016, Cassie and Drew decided to return to New England and settled in Connecticut. She went to work at Kenneth Boroson Architects in New Haven and he founded a business in Chester that makes leather goods. Cassie primarily concentrated on multifamily housing projects, including an 81-unit, three-building project using Passive House principles designed to achieve net-zero energy efficiency.

Cassie joined Centerbrook in February 2018. She and Drew now reside in East Haddam, Connecticut.