In August of 2020, John Wheaton, CEO of Wheaton Sprague Building Envelope, launched a podcast featuring wide-ranging conversations with leaders spread across the AEC industry. The Creating Structures podcast brings together personalities from all corners of the building and design world to celebrate the energy and ideas that drive our practice forward. From publishing, manufacturing, engineering, consulting, technology, business development, and more, Wheaton has built a community and assembled quite a broad view of our industry. In early November, Creating Structures reached a milestone of over 25 episodes.
Last week, AN Media Group’s president, Diana Darling, joined Wheaton in a career-spanning conversation on how she built AN from the ground-up and created the many offshoots within the AN Media Group umbrella including Facades+, C|E Strong, AN Interior, and TECH+.
Darling and Wheaton discuss her trajectory as a multifaceted entrepreneur, publisher, founder, idea generator, president, influencer, event developer, and more. Like that of many of John’s guests, Diana’s is a unique path that brought her from Grand Prairie, Texas, to London, to New York, with some stops in between. They talk through her early interests in accounting and fashion, to a successful career in fashion marketing with the likes of Neiman Marcus and GAP, to finally bootstrapping and building a marketing and publishing powerhouse.
Wheaton noted of the episode:
I met Diana through one of the first Facades+ events in San Francisco, one of her education and networking platforms. I have enjoyed getting to know her over the years. Diana, with her husband and business partner, William “Bill” Menking (1947-2020), founded the AN Media Group and The Architect’s Newspaper. Diana’s energy is a big draw and her influence is measurable. As typically is the case, we discuss quite a few things and romp through various topics.
Be sure to listen to the whole episode to learn about Diana’s journey and a personal history of The Architect’s Newspaper and its many programs and offshoots that continue to serve the AEC Industry today.
Listen Here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1236827/9526822
