Shayna Bordy ’03: Interior Designer, Urban Pioneer

Math teacher Heather Lipman helped ignite that spark of creativity. “The way Mrs. Lipman structured my math classes was exactly how I needed to learn,” Shayna says. That level of understanding allowed Shayna to excel in mathematics at Windward School and beyond. Her love of geometry still inspires her designs today.

Dedicated to urban communities, Shayna is working to revitalize and reuse buildings in Downtown Los Angeles, such as her most recent project, the Sears Building in Boyle Heights. Sharing concepts with clients and enabling them to see her vision, is something she looks forward to every day.

“It’s a puzzle that you’re piecing together — schematic design, interior plan, fixture arrangement, and especially the feeling you create within the space,” she says. “The best part is seeing it all coalesce.”

After graduating from Johns Hopkins University, Shayna first pursued a different creative field: film. She joined the creative development team at Walt Disney Studios. “Working at Disney was magical given that the seven dwarfs were holding up my building,” she says, referring to the iconic and playful Disney building in Burbank. She met many Sinai Akiba grads in the industry along the way.

Shayna soon realized that the design aspects of the creative process held her true calling — and that the most creative people call on the power of community. “When you bring people together in a beautiful space, relationships grow, a better community is built, and a better world is created,” she says, noting that these lessons began at Sinai Akiba.

Moreover, as someone proficient in spoken Hebrew, Shayna feels that the community the School gave her extends beyond the walls of the School — into Israel and beyond. “Israel is the coolest place you can go,” she says. “The culture there is so inviting and welcoming. It’s a bigger version of what Sinai Akiba was to me.”

She still reflects on the warmth, care, and support she received from Sinai Akiba’s staff and faculty as she moves forward in her career and builds a family with her husband, Eric King. “My Sinai Akiba experience showed me what the ideal community should feel like,” she says.