Very few architects are Black. This woman is pushing to change that

Pascale Sablan was once told she'd never become an architect because she's Black and a woman. Now she works for one of the world's most prestigious firms and she wants more people who look like her to join the field. (Aundre Larrow/Pascale Sablan)

There is a devastating story that Pascale Sablan sometimes tells when she talks about the experiences that have shaped who she's become.

It starts in a place of joy. In her case, Sablan remembers feeling elated as a teenage freshman at the Pratt Institute School of Architecture back in 2001 — long before she became an architect and went to work for one of the world's most prominent architecture firms.