(April 28, 2025) — Rice Fergus Miller is proud to announce that Kenya Jones-Lowell, Interior Designer and City Planning Commissioner, has been named one of South Sound Business Journal’s 40 under 40 honorees for 2025. The recognition honors rising leaders who are shaping the South Sound’s future through innovation, advocacy, and service, and Kenya’s story exemplifies all three.
From her work designing spaces for tribal nations across the Pacific Northwest to her leadership on the Puyallup Planning Commission, Jones-Lowell is reshaping how we think about community, inclusion, and the built environment.
Jones-Lowell’s portfolio spans aviation, hospitality, and planning for aging populations, but her most powerful work has been in collaboration with Indigenous communities. At Rice Fergus Miller, she plays a leading role in designing culturally significant spaces in partnership with tribal nations.
“We don’t work for tribes, we work with them,” says Jones-Lowell. “There’s a mindset shift that needs to happen in our industry. We approach each project with cultural humility, knowing that what works for one community may not work for another. Our job is to listen, honor the story of the land, and design with the next seven generations in mind.”
Jones-Lowell is a “boomerang” employee of Rice Fergus Miller, having returned to the firm after gaining additional experience with large-scale hospitality and community environments projects. What brought her back, she says, was the firm’s unwavering commitment to empathy and equity in design.
“At RFM, we lead with empathy. That’s not just lip service – it’s embedded in how we design. We’re asking the questions our clients haven’t thought of yet, because we know that what we create will shape their community for decades,” she says.
This approach, championed by founding partner Steve Rice, continues to influence the firm’s culture, where values drive every decision and long-term partnerships are prioritized over one-size-fits-all solutions. Some of RFM’s tribal partners have worked with the firm for over 20 years, expanding from single-use buildings like casinos to full community planning that supports elders, children, and generations to come.
Beyond her project work, Jones-Lowell is a tireless advocate for equitable development through policy. As Chair of the Puyallup Planning Commission, the first woman of color in that role in the city’s 135-year history, she is actively shaping land use and housing policy to make communities more inclusive.
“So many of the inequities in our built environments aren’t the result of poverty, they’re the result of planning,” she says. “We must be intentional about zoning, land use, and codifying protections that reflect the needs of diverse communities. Representation in those conversations matters.”
At Rice Fergus Miller, Jones-Lowell is a valued member of a team that is not only designing award-winning spaces, but also staying informed and engaged in how policy affects the future of the built environment.
“RFM is a design firm founded on the concept of building community. Kenya, embodies that ethos like few others: her commitment to her work community, the communities of her clients, the community she lives in, the community of the State of Washington, and her own personal community are a display of her leadership and dedication to lifting those around her,” says RFM Principal, Greg Belding. “She is a model of what we should all strive to follow.”
About Rice Fergus Miller
Rice Fergus Miller, Inc.—a B Corp., is an architecture, interior design, planning, and vizlab firm based in Bremerton, Washington. Established in 1987, it is the only architecture firm in Washington State with Certified B Corp status. The firm is committed to performing meaningful work that builds and strengthens communities and is housed in one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the United States. Rice Fergus Miller blends the personal aspirations of its nearly 60 team members with a vision for a more sustainable future. To Learn more about Kenya Jones-Lowell and Rice Fergus Miller, visit www.rfmarch.com.