Iva Mema, Director of Design at Adriatica, finds her work deeply intertwined with gratitude for family, colour and nature. As the daughter of two immigrant parents working to build their careers in Canada, Iva Mema remembers how it was both wonderful and scary to witness their struggle. Through them, she learned the significance of kindness and hard work from a young age.
She would often accompany her father to work, watching buildings transform into homes and developing an early love for construction and architecture.
That early fascination grew into a career in design, leading Iva to become Director of Design at Adriatica, where she established the architecture and design branch, building upon the company’s more than two decades of experience in construction, safety and engineering.
Since childhood, she loved mathematics and physics but was equally interested in the arts. Architecture became the natural intersection of these disciplines, bringing together creativity and technical precision.
For Iva, architecture is a way of influencing how people feel. She pursued her education at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture, where she paired her studies with hands-on experience on construction sites and smaller projects.
The privilege of taking over her father’s business was a meaningful way to contribute to her father’s legacy while forging a path of her own, but the journey has not been without its challenges. Being a young woman in a male-dominated world of construction has invited many assumptions about her work.
She looks to her mother for inspiration, who reminds her that softness can be a strength. She recalls her mother’s words, “How lucky am I that I get to work and be paid to learn.”
From party rooms to high-rise buildings and now international projects, Iva is becoming increasingly confident in taking the firm on a global scale. She believes in delivering the best quality of work where each design speaks for itself.
She shares advice for aspiring designers to keep learning and ask questions. “Confidence isn’t about knowing everything; it’s knowing that when you don’t know something, you are capable of asking the right people and getting work done.”
At the heart of her passions are family, colour and nature, and she brings all those elements into her work. While she helps clients with their design needs, she feels God is the greatest designer of all. Her dolce vita is not waiting for a perfect future; it’s gratitude for her faith, family, and work.
