A Day in Jersey City With Madame Architect Editor Gail Kutac

By Gail Kutac

Gail Kutac is a Marketing Manager at Silman and an Assistant Editor for Madame Architect. Her typical day involves skimming through industry headlines, Cuomo Briefing BINGO, a roof garden, and a new home renovation.

7:00am: My day typically begins with a wake-up call from two hungry cats. Once they’re fed and back to napping, I make coffee and for breakfast have oatmeal or yogurt with fruit. Before COVID-19 and working from home, the mad dash to get out the door in the morning meant I usually grabbed something and would eat a delayed breakfast at my office desk! In the background I listen to WNYC to catch up on what’s going on in the city and the world. My husband and I know that we are lucky to have jobs, and to be working from home right now is a privilege that we don’t take for granted.

8:00am: Start checking email and planning out immediate action items for the day. The nature of working for a firm that’s typically a subconsultant is that many new, immediate requests come up daily. I can’t always anticipate which direction I’ll be pulled, but it keeps me on my toes!

8:30am: First meeting (call) of the day. The current events and economic climate have prompted a small “task force” in the company to check in daily to collaborate and share potential leads, news, and resources.

9:15am: Skim through The Architect’s Newspaper, ArchDaily, Bisnow, GlobeSt., Commercial Observer, LinkedIn, etc. for any major industry headlines; make the rounds reviewing public solicitation sources for New York City and State. Review our internal marketing team deadline calendar.

10:00am: Twice a week I lead a Microsoft Teams call for the marketing team to share general updates and news within the firm, report on major pursuits and noteworthy wins, and gauge whether we need to rebalance any of the workload. We’re a small group but we cover four offices: New York City, Washington, DC, Boston, and Ann Arbor.

When we don’t have our team call, I’ll check in with individual team members to see how they’re doing, divide and conquer incoming requests, or review deliverables.

11:00am: The cats are hungry again - they are totally taking advantage of this situation with humans home 24/7 to feed them!

11:30am: If I don’t have any conflicting deadlines or meetings, I’ll turn on the governor’s briefing, maybe play some Cuomo Briefing BINGO if I’m feeling lucky (not really, but the person who created it is pretty clever!) https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/lets-play-governor-cuomo-briefing-bingo

1:00pm: The morning has flown by and before I know it, lunch is past due. Just like in the office, lunch is a quick affair and consumed at my desk (and these days my “desk” is the kitchen counter so it works out pretty well!). I’ll eat something left over from last night’s dinner, paired with a salad or fresh fruit.

On the less hectic days, now that I’m home, I’ll take a quick break to water plants on our roof deck and get a few minutes of fresh air. For the past five summers we’ve been able to grow a robust vegetable and herb garden on our roof, but since we’ll be moving soon, right now we just have a few seasonal annuals, an Arborvitae, a dwarf Alberta spruce, and some hearty, persistent scallions that come back every year and require no maintenance!

2:00pm: It’s usually time for another internal Teams call, virtual pre-proposal meeting, or industry seminar. AIA NY has had interesting and topical seminars, and although many of us are experiencing “Zoom fatigue” these days, the accessibility of seminars and panels has been a great benefit of this virtual transition. If my afternoon is free of meetings, I may have a small window of time to focus on some “deep work.” One big project we’re working on now is a website relaunch for later this summer.

3:00pm: Check in with individuals on the team; update our opportunity and lead database; work on qualifications documents and responses to RFPs. There’s likely another meeting late afternoon before the work day ends. By this time there’s usually at least a few “by the end of the day” or “first thing tomorrow morning” requests, so I try to keep up or stay just a little bit ahead, if possible.

Gail and the in-progress mantel restoration.

6:00pm: Although my husband and I aren’t parents yet, we already have a “second shift.” In anticipation of our baby’s arrival in September 2020, we’ve been renovating a home a few blocks from where we live in downtown Jersey City. We make daily CA visits to check on the progress and plan for the next decision we’ll need to make (there are so many!). The house was built in the 1870s and it was quite a fixer upper when we bought it, so early on we did some work on our own - one project was restoring three marble mantels that were painted over and over again, literally for decades.

7:00pm: After CA, we’ll take a walk for some exercise and stop in at a new Italian market in the neighborhood, Cangianos, to pick up something for dinner. They have a great butcher stand, fresh pastas and breads, and produce. While my husband cooks, lately I’ve been bouncing between the Emily Oster books on pregnancy and parenting (Expecting Better and Cribsheet; https://emilyoster.net/) - she’s an economist and offers a fresh perspective on the genre. There’s so much to research and learn! When I need a break from that world, I’ll catch up on my backlog of periodicals like The New York Times, The New Yorker, Texas Monthly, and Architectural Record. Sometimes there’s an interview to transcribe or proofread for Madame Architect, which is always fun to do and a nice change of scenery!

9:00pm: Eat dinner, clean up the kitchen, and shower. Maybe squeeze in the latest episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

11:00pm: I aim for an earlier bedtime, but 11ish is the reality. I hear that people with young children don’t sleep, so we’re trying to get all that we can now, and it’s especially important in these strange circumstances to get ample rest in an attempt to stay sane and take one day at a time!