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Based in London, Elsie Owusu OBE runs her own firm (Elsie Owusu Architects), is a national council member at\\xa0the Royal Institute of British Architects,\\xa0and is vice chair at the London School of Architecture.\\xa0But it\\u2019s likely that many Archinectors hadn\\u2019t heard of Owusu until December of last year, when we reported on\\xa0claims of institutional racism and sexism she had made against RIBA, alleging that they had rigged an election she was up for in favor of another candidate, who wasn\\u2019t an elected RIBA council member.

In my correspondence with Owusu to arrange our interview, she analogized the issue this way (paraphrased here): an African-American or minority ethnic female actor (her) being nominated for an Oscar, only to have a white actor who hasn\'t even made a film "parachuted in" and given an award for Best Supporting Actor.

I wanted to speak with Owusu about her work\\xa0alongside issues of diversity and exclusion in practice generally, and also at the institutional level of RIBA. We discuss the allegations, but Owusu is quick to point out that these conversations need to happen regardless of any publicized incidents \\u2013 keeping these discussions going is vital if the profession is ever going to improve.