Vanessa is a Fulbright Scholar, recipient of a prestigious scholarship awarded by the U.S. Department of State in 2022. She holds a Master’s degree in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Bachelor of Architecture from the Lebanese American University. Her academic and professional background is rooted in architecture, complemented by a specialization in Sustainable Community Development, an interdisciplinary field that reflects her passion for the intersection of sustainability, design, and community development.
Before joining LAU, Vanessa worked as an Urban Planner at MSA Professional Services, a leading architecture and engineering consultancy firm in Wisconsin, USA, where she contributed to projects addressing the complex relationships between the built environment, communities, and regional development. Prior to moving to the United States in 2022, she worked as an architect at Accent DG, leading architectural projects from conceptual design through execution and gaining extensive experience across different stages of the design process.
Vanessa believes that architects should look beyond what happens inside buildings and pay equal attention to what happens between them, on streets, in public spaces, and across cities. Her work is grounded in a cross-disciplinary approach to design that bridges architecture and urban planning, recognizing that the quality of the built environment is shaped not only by individual buildings, but also by the broader social, economical, environmental, and political systems that govern them.

Planning Excellence Award, American Planning Association - Wisconsin, 2024

Jack R. Huddleston award for Best Professional Project, UW-Madison, 2024

Fulbright Scholarship, USA Department of State, 2022