Dalvine remembers being at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the first public school project she worked on in the south Bronx, observing underprivileged and underrepresented children entering their newly constructed school for the first time. “That was when I discovered my WHY and my sense of purpose in this profession,” she says. “The excitement and joy in their eyes, along with their instant gratitude and passion towards learning, was priceless—it was a reflection of myself at that age.”

Growing up in the Caribbean and the Bronx, Dalvine never thought about being an architect until she took her first technical drawing class in high school and realized that “I was actually good at it. I was then motivated by my teachers to consider this profession,” she says. “While practicing architecture, I started to get fascinated with the construction aspects of the profession; the making process and the molding of the structure; the journey. That’s where I find my niche for construction.”

Dalvine been practicing architecture since 1999 and has experience in architectural design and construction-administration management. As construction director for Kliment Halsband Architects—A Perkins Eastman Studio, she has overseen construction administration on numerous projects for both public and private clients, working on a wide range of historic, cultural, and educational commissions.

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Dalvine focuses on collaboration with people across disciplines in her work—mostly on New York City school projects. Since she moved from the Bronx to Waterbury, CT, in 2005, she’s been involved in the Waterbury Black Giving Circle—an organization of individuals who pool their collective charitable dollars to have a greater impact and make a difference in their community.