This BFA student puts the capital “P” in perseverance. Her passion and hard work have won her recognition and a chance to work at Gensler.

We’re proud to share some great news in this difficult time. BFA student Cielo Cortes has been named the first-place winner of the 2020 Gensler Brinkmann Scholarship. Gensler developed the scholarship specifically for undergraduates enrolled in a CIDA accredited interior design program. The purpose is to celebrate and invest in the very best emerging talent in the interior design field, and to honor the memory of interior designer Don Brinkmann. Cortes shares, “Winning this scholarship means so much to me on so many levels, including the financial assistance, the positive exposure, and the opportunity to get an internship with Gensler. But what means the most is that such a great firm sees value in my work. This gives me confidence I will carry into every professional experience of my life.” Cortes, who graduates in December 2020, will get to interview for a fall internship at Gensler.

Cortes’ submission, “Lindt Hotel,” bested work from design students enrolled in undergraduate programs all over the nation. In Gensler’s announcement, juror Yishio Kuo, a Design Director in Gensler’s Houston office, said, “The jury was incredibly impressed with Cortes’ work which brings an emotive but strong personal point of view to her project while not losing sight of what is important: a concern around sustainability. Very poised, Cortes has the natural ability of storytelling that can be seen throughout her submission.”

The victory is even sweeter because the road to a college degree has been long for Cortes, and she has fought to support her dream every step of the way. Cortes attended two semesters of college in Colombia, her native country, but when she immigrated to the United States at age 18, she found the language barrier and the need to support herself all-consuming, so she didn’t finish college. Cortes started working in nightclubs in her late teens, and she found that the money she made from tips could be significant and sustaining. Living in Miami, Chicago, and finally New York, she worked for multiple establishments, including three belonging to Tao Group, one of the hospitality industry's largest corporations. When she moved to New York eight years ago, she resolved to get formal training in interior design and discovered the New York School of Interior Design on the internet.

She started by taking the Introduction to Interior Design course in the college’s Institute for Continuing and Professional Studies (ICPS). She loved it so much she took the full 12 credits allowed to non-matriculated students. She forced herself to prepare for and take the TOEFL (a test that terrified her) so that she could gain admission to NYSID. She got the Associate of Applied Science Degree (AAS) first, and then entered the BFA program. She says, “Once I started designing, I forgot to be intimidated. I was obsessed!”

The NYSID faculty recommended her winning project, “Lindt Hotel,” for consideration in fall 2019. Cortes says, “The project, which I did for Contract II, was to create a branded hotel for a well-known brand that had only retail stores. We were given a list of suggested brands for the project, but I wanted to do something a little different and decided to design a hotel for a particular chocolate brand. . .My concept was to create a space that reflected the brand in an aesthetic way so that the visitors would automatically make the connection. I also focused on incorporating elements of sustainable design, specifically in the materials and lighting choices, and in trying to make the retail part of the space plastic-free.”

Cortes’ final semester will be fall 2020, so she is deep into her thesis, using a wide variety of programs and educational tools NYSID has deployed to make distance design learning possible during the lockdown of NYC. Her project is a redesign of Terminal A at LaGuardia Airport, also known as the Marine Air Terminal. “The entrance is a historical landmark, and the gate area is the contemporary site that I intend to redesign,” she says. “I'm calling it the Kious Marine Air Terminal to honor Kious Kelly who was an NYC healthcare worker who helped COVID-19 patients and then became the first healthcare worker in New York to die from the virus. I'm also adding a multipurpose building annex that can provide convenient short-term housing for the airport's workforce and also serve as an emergency area for medical care and quarantine.”

Cortes has worked nights at NYC’s Avenue nightclub all the way through her BFA, until recently, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced her workplace to shut down, like so many hospitality venues. For the first time ever, she is solely devoting herself to her studies. She uses her intimate understanding of how users behave in hospitality spaces to inform her designs. She says, “When you find something you love to study, it’s a pleasure to work hard at it.”