Emily started in our Charlottesville office in November 2024 after graduating from Virginia Tech having earned both a B.ARCH degree in architecture and a B.S. in Business Marketing.

In Emily’s spare time, you’ll find her hanging out with her family or finding a quiet space to read away from her three older brothers. When asked about something – big or small – she’s really bad at, she said she’s really bad at keeping a beat or a rhythm, blaming her dad for passing it down to her! On the other hand, she’s got a hidden talent for being able to draw anything with any media – we’re sure that talent adds to her skills as a designer.

In the future, Emily wants to visit Italy and discover her Italian roots, adding to her travel experience from visiting Ireland in college. She spent a semester abroad but was never quite able to make it over to Italy.

Audrey joined Gaines Group Architects in November 2024 as our Office Manager while she continues to build and run her event management company, AU Events. A Turner Ashby and James Madison University grad, Audrey has been in the administrative industry for over ten years, specializing in travel and expense management, event planning, and executive support.

Of her new role, Audrey says “I tend to wear many hats and catch a lot of the daily administrative tasks. On any given day, I can work on anywhere from office administration (checking the mail, greeting clients, answering the phone, etc.), to planning events, managing our website and blog, dabbling in bookkeeping and human resources, managing marketing and social media, and even offering minor tech support and executive assistance to the partners. The variety keeps each day fresh and exciting.”

In her free time, you’ll find Audrey spending time with her husband, Jeff, and three-year-old son, Raiden, her two cats, Cali and Buster, and even crocheting new baby gifts. As her son gets older, she hopes to continue to instill a sense of adventure in him, having already taken him to Italy, Spain, and Germany, and next on the list is Tanzania, both for the wildlife as well as the culture.

Aimee attended the University of Florida, earning a B.S. in Architecture with minors in Sustainability and Landscape Architecture. Now she works as a Designer at our firm.

She grew up in Palm Harbor, Florida, and is grateful to have come from a family of 6, saying “I am very grateful for this because having siblings is like having built-in friends, and they are some of my best ones.” Now in Virginia, she lives with her 8-year-old cat named Eloise.

Growing up in Florida, Aimee is no stranger to alligators. When asked about interesting facts about her hometown she says that alligators are everywhere, which lends itself to interesting stories such as the one where: “One time when I was a kid, I got out of taking out the trash because there was an alligator on our driveway next to the trash can.”

In her free time, she can be found making pottery, painting, crocheting, and watching movies. Her favorite TV show is NCIS because she loves to try to guess the outcomes and enjoys the suspense, and she also enjoys Parks and Rec when she’s in a lighter mood.

She describes herself as quirky and is appreciative of that characteristic because it helps make others more comfortable around her and creates a more lighthearted and fun environment.

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Meet Aliyah D. White, one of our full-time Designers! Aliyah grew up in Virginia Beach, VA and after attending the University of Virginia School of Architecture, now calls Charlottesville home. As a 2023 graduate from the UVA School of Architecture with a B.S. in Architecture and a minor in English, she brings fresh design experience and skills to the team. 

Aliyah offers her design eye, growing level of experience, and energy to our projects as a Designer (Architect in training) at our firm. In addition, Aliyah brings her writing talents to our team along with organizational and leadership traits that are important for a designer. She is most often working with Ray and Adrienne to develop our luxury living community projects doing unit design, elevation creation, and updating the construction documents needed for a successful project.

While in school, Aliyah was dedicated to equity both in and out of the classroom. Her contributions to the university centered on fairly and accurately narrating Black history at UVA in order to build a more equitable school for future students of color. Her extracurricular time was mainly spent serving on the Cavalier Daily student newspaper as a Social Issues Columnist, the School of Architecture Student Council, and as Social Awareness Chair for her residential college. Through these endeavors, she further developed her skills in leadership, programming, narrative story-telling, and advocacy, all of which are very important aspects to being an architect. Upon her graduation, she received the 2023 Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award in recognition of her excellence of character and service to humanity. 

Outside of the office, she can be found reading, writing, or baking. She may also be found watching The Boondocks which she says is as wildly inappropriate as it is hilarious. 

Two important qualities that Aliyah names are her determination and flexibility. She appreciates these qualities saying that they “allow me to succeed in anything I find interest in and put my hands on”. We’re excited about the addition of her talents and personality to our team and community.

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A Virginia native, born in Harrisonburg and raised in Augusta County, Jarod grew up watching home renovation shows with his parents and looking at houses his grandparents were building. It was from these experiences at a young age that he knew that he wanted to immerse himself in the architecture field, first gaining a BS in Interior Design from Liberty University and now working towards licensure as an interior designer. In the future, his goals are set on becoming licensed architect.

Now Jarod works at our firm as an Interior Designer, helping to guide clients in the right direction when making interior and exterior material or design choices. He knows that there are countless options available to consumers looking to build both commercially and residentially, and he works to narrow down those options to help our clients find the “perfect fit.”  Our approach as a firm is to make the design process fun and as low-stress as possible, so having Jarod’s skills help you through selections aligns well with that goal. He brings organizational and design experience from his previous job as Project Coordinator at W. Boutros and Company, INC.

When you meet Jarod, it won’t take you long to realize that he is an avid car lover. He enjoys all things car-related and one of his favorite pastimes is to go for a drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway with the windows down. It’s no surprise that he has also previously worked as a Product Specialist at CMAs Valley Honda. There he bolstered both his passion for cars as well as experience with customer relations.

Jarod takes pride in his work and, alongside working full-time as an Interior Designer, he works part-time as a graphic designer and digital designer for Standout Arts, LLC. Outside of work, Jarod enjoys spending time with friends and family, exploring nature and going on hikes, and traveling. He also enjoys taking on “some sort of more than likely unnecessary and time-consuming house repair.” 

Finally, a unique fact about Jarod is that he grew up as an only child and an only grandchild. Now, he lives solo with his “obnoxiously large and obnoxiously cute & forgivable Great Pyrenees named Kevin.” He is grateful to live within 5 minutes of his family and usually spends a large portion of his weekends with them.