Mia Lehrer is the founding principal of the award-winning Mia Lehrer + Associates. Ms Lehrer serves on the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s Design Advisory Panel and on a number of boards, including of the Landscape Architecture Foundation, the Latino Urban Forum, and the National Gardening Association.  Below, she answers our In The Green Room questionnaire.

Q. Where would we find you at 10 a.m. on a typical Saturday?

A. At a community meeting.

Q. What music have you listened to today?

A. I didn’t have time today, but I would have listened to Sergio Mendes.

Q. What do you consider to be the greatest simple pleasure?

A. Drinking a cup of coffee and sitting on an urban street relaxing and watching the world go by.

Q. What surprises you the most about your life right now?

A. How intense it is, and how hard I have to work, and how many people I have to worry about.

Q. What is your fondest childhood memory?

A. Being at a lake in El Salvador, where I was born and grew up, and going on a canoe with one of my siblings or my father.

Q. What do you wish you had the nerve to do?

A. Go on a six-month trip around the world.

Q. Who is your favorite fictional character?

A. I love watching “Law and Order.” I design by day but at night I like being a detective, so, Mariska Hargitay’s character.

Q. What is your favorite cocktail?

A. Margarita.

Q. When do you feel most creative?

A. Probably at night, with a little quiet.

Q. What profession would you like to practice in your next life?

A. I like being a landscape architect. Or maybe I’d be a detective.

Q. If you could take only one more journey, where would you go?

A. Africa.

Q. Who is the one person living or dead you would most like to meet for dinner?

A. Michelle Obama.

To read more about Lehrer’s panel on how to create a more integrated Los Angeles, click here.

*Photo by Aaron Salcido.