Helen Diemer, President of The Lighting Practice in Philadelphia, PA, started her career as an electrical engineer, but was quickly drawn to lighting design. After graduating from Penn State University as an architectural engineer, she joined the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) and International Association of Lighting Designers(IALD) and blazed her career path in lighting design. She joined The Lighting Practice in 1994; five years after Al Borden founded the firm.