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In our member spotlight, Chelsea Gazaille, Assoc. AIA, CPSM, sat down for a virtual chat with the Society. Chelsea, who’s director of marketing at RNT Architects, has worked in the AEC industry for 14 years.
Please share some recent professional-related news that you’re proud of. At the start of 2026, I was promoted to director of marketing at RNT Architects.
What has been one of your most meaningful projects? When I was a marketing coordinator at CambridgeSeven, in Cambridge, MA, my team was struggling to figure out how to properly announce and celebrate the retirement of one of the firm’s principals, Peter Kuttner, FAIA, who had been with the firm for 45 years. Peter was known for his expertise and passion for children’s museums; his designs were often infused with hands-on gamification. He was also very involved in SMPS Boston and had crafted a hilarious Monopoly-themed presentation that poked fun at common AEC marketing qualms (ex: “RFP requires 50 bound copies. Lose turn.”).
My idea was to create an interactive, web-based digital Monopoly board where each piece of the game highlights a fun memory from Peter’s career, of which there were many! It was a super fun project I got to do by myself with Adobe Illustrator and XD. We shared it in an email newsletter, and it got a ton of fanfare, including from Peter. He called it “inventive and insane” and was really moved by it. I don’t know if I’ll ever have a bright idea like that again.
What’s the best professional advice you’ve received? When I was debating what kind of career move to make next and what company I should work with, my previous marketing manager told me to go where I can best use my unique superpowers. That was the best advice I’ve received and the best advice I’ve followed.
We all have unique superpowers, and some workplaces allow, or even encourage, us to use them while others suffocate and stifle them. Someone’s superpowers encompass all their positive work attributes, such as strong graphic or writing skills or attention to detail. They also encompass the kind of characteristics that may or may not work in one’s favor, depending on the environment, such as being soft-spoken and agreeable, strong-willed and no-nonsense, creative and disorganized, or fearless and confident. An attribute that serves you well at one company may not serve you well at another. Realizing that helped me a lot in my career path.
What’s the best professional advice you’ve given? It’s important to be educated, informed, trained, certified, licensed and all that, but we’re all still just making it up as we go.
Why is SMPS membership important to you? Not to sound hyperbolic, but the SMPS community changed my life. I stumbled into it by simply submitting some of my work for an SMPS San Diego award in 2024; I was still fairly new to San Diego, and I didn’t know anyone in SMPS or any local AEC marketers. I didn’t even really know many other firms in this region.
Walking into the ceremony, I knew zero people in the room, but winning that award put my name on the radars of several AEC marketing titans in the San Diego area – people who are now my colleagues. A few months after that, I joined as a member, got on a committee, and now, only a year later, I’m on the board of directors for SMPS San Diego. I consider the AEC marketing community to be a strong pillar of my professional and social life.
You mentioned that you were planning to take the CPSM exam this year. How did it go? I’m excited to say that I passed and am officially a Certified Professional Services Marketer! The process of studying was very valuable. I would recommend reading the MARKENDIUM books even if someone isn’t planning to take the exam. I knew a lot about each of the topics already, but reading MARKENDIUM and the study materials has given me even more insights, information, and ideas.
Tell us something we’d be surprised to learn about you. My typical icebreaker is that I have three black belts in three disciplines of martial arts. I still teach when I have the time and opportunity to do so.
What’s on your bucket list? I just want to see a moose. Having grown up in Northern New York and New England, I’m pretty disappointed that I’ve never seen one.