Melissa Carranza

Melissa Carrazana is an Interior Architecture graduate student that has been studying architecture, art, and design since 2009. Born in New York and raised in New Jersey, Melissa began studying interior design at Brookdale Community College before moving to Florida in 2013. Continuing her education, Melissa enrolled into Palm Beach State College, studying architecture and was the treasurer for the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) at the Boca Raton Campus. In 2016, she transferred to Florida International University where she earned her undergraduate degree in art, with a minor in art history in December of 2018. After graduation and giving birth to a beautiful daughter, Melissa applied and was accepted into the Paul Cejas School of Architecture focusing on a master’s in interior architecture where she can now practice her passion of designing based on research of human behaviors and interactions within the interior environment.

Currently, in her final semester, Melissa has since joined the student chapter of the International Interior Design Association (IIDA) and was rewarded Design Excellence in Commercial Retail Design after completing her first semester in Interior Architecture. Continuing accolades include presidency for IIDA South Florida Student Chapter, winning the 2020 Network of Executive Women in Hospitality (NEWH) Green Voice Design competition for the student project of Canyon Ranch Resort & Spas, passing the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) exam becoming a LEED Green Associate and being inducted into the Tau Sigma Delta National Honor Society; Sigma Xi Chapter. Melissa’s goals, once her studies are completed, are to continue working for her current firm, Interior Image Group (IIG) and continue being a part of the hospitality world working on commercial interiors while implementing LEED standards to interior atmospheres. New goals have also come to light given the hurdles COVID-19 has brought. Therefore, additional interest in considerations towards health and well-being are further motivators.