Elkus Mandrefi’s materials specialist, Mandy, is the gatekeeper of materials and products for the firm’s library and is a material health champion. Mandy’s curiosity and extensive knowledge of building products comes from years of managing materials, asking questions of manufactures, and developing expertise around products labels and certifications. Her approach to design: the quality of life in built spaces depends not only aesthetics and functionality, but informed and mindful product selections to create healthy environments. For Mandy, being a materials guru means always learning and researching about the materials that produce a product. She revels in raising her material health cheerleading pom-poms whenever given the opportunity to educate and increase the members of the sustainable design pusher’s tribe.