Deryl McKissack comes from five generations who worked in construction and architecture. She tells us it started with her great-great-grandfather, who was a slave builder and he passed the trade down to sons, who continued passing it down. Deryl says she started going to work with her grandfather every Saturday at age 6 in the family construction business, and she was producing documents by 13. Rather than work in the Nashville-based family biz, Deryl started her own firm in 1990 in DC after getting a Howard University degree and working in various construction and engineering firms. She says she launched her own firm with $1,000 and “a lot of passion.” 

McKissack & McKissack has carved out a niche designing and building memorials on the National Mall, including work on the Lincoln, Jefferson, and Air Force memorials. The firm’s work paved the way for the company to be chosen as lead builder of the Martin Luther King Memorial and program manager on the African American Museum of History and Culture, set to open in 2015. But the firm has also worked on infrastructure projects in waste water and transportation, as well as K-12 work. Her best advice: Get out of your comfort zone.