Hailing from East Kansas City, Ayana Belk was drawn to landscape architecture as a means to heal her community. Much of her work has focused on improving the Black experience in environmental design and increasing the number of Black landscape architects. Equipped with a Master of Landscape Architecture degree and Minor in Regional & Community Planning from Kansas State University, she is gaining experience in youth education and researching the experiences of Black people in the environmental design industry as a means to equitably increase diversity. Today, Belk's companies Troost Studio and Troost Pathways aim to improve people of color's experiences in the environmental design industry through K-12 education and career coaching.