Architect + Startup Founder
Devanne Pena (Deh-vehn Pea-nuh) is the 375th Black-American woman documented in history to become a registered architect. She is a class of 2012 B.Arch graduate from the College of Design at North Carolina State University. Devanne has 10 years of experience in architecture and construction, with an affinity for design concept + strategy.
In 2019, she would embark on a 3-month journey to her ancestral country Cabo Verde (West African Islands) to independently research the sociocultural patterns of how the people lived in hopes to demystify her goal of one day designing a project on the islands. Her work, “Living Monuments: Architecture of Post-Independence” was chosen to be presented at the 2019 University of North Carolina Black Community Conference as well as UC Berkeley’s Black Geographies Symposium in March 2020.
In addition to her virtual practice, Archidev LLC, Devanne is the founder of AfroSpace, a brick+mortar wellness concept. AfroSpace is on a mission to build an ecosystem that culturally responds to the specific lived experiences of black women + all people with afros that makes members feel seen and supports their mental well being by providing a gathering space for habitual self-care.
