Earlier this year, The Lighting Practice published a cookbook that acknowledges the gift each member of their team brings. Their LinkedIn post stated, “The firm secret sauce is our team. Each individual’s talent and expertise, combined with our clients’ and design partners’, creates an award-winning combination. In celebration of differences that bring us together, our staff gathered recipes and traditions integral to them, to share with you. Whether you’re a whiz in the kitchen, brave enough to take on any dish, or can only piece together simple snack, this cookbook can be enjoyed by everyone.”
We reached out to Business Development Manager Darcy Veneziale, and Marketing Coordinator Kathleen Keaveny for more insight.
dl: How did the idea for “The TLP Cookbook” come about?
DV/KK: The TLP Cookbook was inspired by our firm culture. Our team frequently connects through food as an opportunity to celebrate one another’s birthdays, heritage, personal traditions, and impromptu kitchen experiments. We also look for planned opportunities to connect through food like our Teamsgiving potluck and annual holiday cookie swap.
dl: The TLP Cookbook is indicative of a healthy, collaborative environment at The Lighting Practice. Where does this culture stem from?
DV/KK: The Lighting Practice’s culture of collaboration stems from the leadership and all of the people that make up our team. The firm values and encourages innovation and an ownership mentality, empowering team members to have a voice and share their perspectives and ideas.
dl: The recipes represent a variety of cuisines. Does this depict the TLP workforce? How important is diversity when bringing people on board?
DV/KK: Yes, the cookbook is a good representation of The Lighting Practice’s workforce. TLP is a highly collaborative firm with our clients, as well as internally. We believe diverse perspectives strengthen our team, resulting in more creative, inclusive, and successful designs and internal work processes. When interviewing potential team members, we prioritize shared values over shared experiences, which increases the diversity of our team (gender, race, religion, age, technical skills, working styles, educational background, etc.). TLP’s geographic expansion has supported the firm’s ability to attract and hire new team members from a variety of educational and cultural backgrounds.
dl: Were all members of the TLP team invited to share recipes/participate?
DV/KK: Yes, our full team of lighting designers, marketing, and accounting professionals were invited to share a recipe special to them. Ultimately 90% of our team participated, submitting a recipe, photo, and their connection to the recipe
Download the cookbook here.
TLP-Cookbook_Downloadable