The professional woman I most admire is Nicola Sturgeon. She is a powerful woman and an inspirational speaker who delivers her messages with clarity and passion.

To juggle my work and life I have a very supportive husband and business partner. One of my mottos is “Women and men together make better architecture”.

My biggest career break was when I become the president of RIBA, representing 44,000 RIBA architects between 2011-2013.

The biggest influence on my career was being asked to present The Home Show on Channel 4, with an international section showcasing six cities of my choice, including Copenhagen, Marrakech, and Paris.

One thing that makes me mad in business today is procurement frameworks – which is a way to find new work. It unfairly favours the larger firms and makes it very hard for SMEs to get onto them.

Are boardroom quotas are necessary or nuts? Absolutely necessary to have representation of women on all boards. As then president of RIBA, all my panels had at least 50-50 balance.

My one tip on negotiating a pay rise is to ask colleagues what their salary is, and if you are being paid less than them for the same job, ask for a raise.

In five years I see myself continuing with our architectural practice, undertaking more public artworks and TV design documentaries.

My number one piece of advice to young women starting their careers is to always do something new to improve your career and learn from others.

My favourite wind down activity is to make some fuse glass designs. I have two exhibitions on in Ireland at the moment.

The last book I read was The Battle for Home. It’s the memoir of a Syrian Architect, by Marwa Al-Sabouni, which I reviewed for the RIAI bookshop in Dublin. It’s an account of a woman architect living in a war torn city of Homs, as she watches the destruction of her city and all it stood for historically.

The one thing I can’t live without is my iPhone with all its social media apps and taking my office and contacts with me wherever I go.