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Q&A: Harvard MArch II Graduate Leslie Ponce-Diaz Looks Back At The Fellowship

July 23, 2026

Born in Kansas City, 2024 Paul & Daisy Soros Fellow Leslie Ponce-Diaz is the child of immigrants from Mexico. Growing up surrounded by the realities of construction and labor, seeing her father and family members prepare the 24-foot ladder for a day of roofing construction became her norm, ultimately sparking her early curiosity in the built environment.

Leslie became captivated by architecture because of its power to connect design, community, and cultural identity. While studying architecture with double minors in nature sustainability and Latin American cultural studies at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), she pursued her passion for public service by founding First-Gen Chisme, a community organization dedicated to mentoring and supporting first-generation and low-income students across the United States. She was awarded the RISD First-Generation Legacy Building Award for her leadership, and her award-winning thesis, “Rasquachismo,” culturally illustrated how her dedication to community advocacy would co-exist within her professional practice. Leslie recently finished her Master’s in Architecture II as a Dean’s merit scholar at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

You are the child of immigrants. How has that experience shaped the questions you ask in your work or the way you move through the world?

As a daughter of Mexican immigrants, growing up in Kansas City and pursuing architecture at Rhode Island School of Design and Harvard has greatly defined my experiences as a first-generation Latina aspiring architect. There have been many times I have been in a classroom or graduating class where I was one of the few Latinas in the room and what once gave me fear and imposter syndrome now gives me courage and gratefulness. I see architecture beyond what I have learned in my programs. I see architecture through my father’s working hands as he has spent decades working in roofing construction in the United States. I see being able to study architecture as a true gift even through the hard and challenging times. If it wasn’t for my parents’ sacrifices, I would not be in an architecture classroom in the first place and I hope to never take this field and the opportunities I have and will pursue for granted. I am forever grateful for it all.

What drew you to the field or path you’re pursuing? Was there a moment when you knew this was the right direction?

In high school, for the longest time, I had focused so much on soccer that I let go of any other discoveries in my path but the moment I quit my high school’s soccer team my senior year of high school everything changed for me. My high school art teacher, Mrs. Burns, blessed me with the opportunity to work for the Kemper Contemporary Museum in Kansas City as part of the Museum’s Teen Arts Council. I was working alongside other selected teens in the KCMO area to curate an art exhibit in the museum. I fell in love with this position and really focused on developing my art portfolio after school to try and apply to art schools in the area. It wasn’t until Mrs. Burns suggested I apply to Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), which ultimately changed my entire life. As a freshman at RISD, I found architecture after understanding that the reasons I loved to be a part of the art-making space was because of the impact it could provide to other’s. I’ve loved community advocacy, culture, nature, materiality, sculpture and had deep respect for the structure and challenge that math had provided in my life. After speaking with a faculty member about my interest in minoring in the Nature Culture Sustainability pathway at RISD, she asked me, “Have you ever thought about architecture? It seems that all that you’re interested in deeply connects with these architectural projects”. I officially declared architecture as my major at RISD and I noticed how growing up in a roofing construction household and retransforming our ranchito as a family gave me an insight that architecture had always been around me, it was just waiting for me to discover it and give it my all in perfect timing.

What’s something about your background that people might not expect has influenced your work or thinking?

I would probably say growing up tending to the needs of our small family ranch in Kansas City definitely is something that has greatly influenced my architecture work and way of being. I learned from an early age the importance of Roosevelt’s quote, “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are”. As a family in my early teens, we restored what was once an abandoned property in the woods to our family’s ‘ranchito’ sanctuary. That’s where we learned how to reuse wood from my father’s construction jobs into shelters for our ranch animals. I’ve been surrounded by nature, ranch animals, labor and my family’s wisdom to make the best with the life that we have been gifted with.

How has your thinking about your work evolved over the past two years? What are you asking now that you weren’t asking when you started?

I am definitely grateful for the ways I have grown into loving my work. I can spent countless hours continuing to make, draw, build and reimagine. I really am the happiest learning about architecture through cultural immersion travel or spending time alone and reflecting on all the things I’ve learned from my studies and work experience to discover ways that I can improve my work moving forward. The moment I started to make work that felt truly aligned with my values and faith was when everything changed for me. I re-fell in love with the process of making and building again during my second year in graduate school and I am so grateful for PD Soros for helping me find my light again in my field.

What did the PD Soros Fellowship give you that you didn’t expect?

Meeting my cohort of PD Soros Fellows was such an incredible honor! I have made friends with the Fellows and am so deeply inspired by them. There is a special bond that our class has that I am forever grateful for and truly seeing them, sharing stories, laughing and embracing each other’s journey’s during the PD Soros Fall Conferences has been truly a highlight of my academic career.

Is there a moment from the past two years—a conversation, an event, a realization—that has stayed with you?

When I think about the past two years, I am quickly reminded by the beautiful dinners we would have together during the PD Soros Fall Conference that truly felt like a family. It’s a feeling of joy and gratefulness to be in New York City and laugh and celebrate one another in such a special time in our lives. The Fall Conferences are events I will forever cherish and I am so grateful for all the ways the PD Soros community is dedicated to supporting not only our academic careers but also uplifting our spirits in so many beautiful ways beyond!

What’s next for you? What are you working toward in the next few years?

I am currently pursuing a year abroad in Bali, Indonesia, as a Henry Luce Fellow! I will be working with an architecture firm that specializes in bamboo construction to further explore my love for earth-building and regenerative design in architecture and construction!

Is there a problem in the world you most want to contribute to solving? What gives you hope that it’s solvable?

I really care about educational equity, especially in under-resourced and marginalized communities in the United States. I hope that in my architecture career I can be a proud steward of the ways our public educational spaces can be improved to support the well-being of our students. During my thesis at Harvard, I was able to pursue research in Japan by closely visiting their elementary and nursery schools and felt so inspired by the way nature and wood can help positively influence our built educational spaces. I am always interested in the ways a positive education can change the life of a young person’s mind just as it did with my very own first-gen life. Although we might face challenges in architecture construction from a lack of funding and resources, I hope to always believe that a better future will always be ahead of us.

What would you want a newly selected PD Soros Fellow to know going in?

For any newly selected PD Soros Fellows that might feel a bit of imposter syndrome going in, I promise you that you are not alone! All the hard work and dedication you have given to your studies, communities and beyond is deserving of this incredible opportunity. This truly is such a special program. Be open to meeting as many Fellows as you can! From the initial announcement of the cohort to the conference meetings, this is truly the beginning of something so exciting in your career. Enjoy each and every bit of it!