Our Story

"You just haven't met the right women in industry yet."

This was my response to a developer friend who was frustrated with trying to connect with other women in the building industry ... and was being met with cold shoulders and a scarcity mindset from other women.

Rewind a couple years before, where I was on a panel of women in construction. I didn't know anyone in the room, and I arrived early. Another women arrived early too - I smiled and said hi. She mustered a tiny hello with pursed lips, and then ignored me for what felt like 15 minutes until the others arrived. The others came in - warm, energetic, sticking their hands out to shake mine.

I didn't know it yet, but these other amazing, talented, encouraging women on the panel would later become some of my favorite people in the building industry. (The chilly first girl and I did not become best friends and have yet to cross paths again.) These women were inspirational, successful, driven, encouraging - and wanted to exchange information and meet up.

Sitting next to me on the panel was a woman who would later become so pivotal in my career as a mentor and friend that we call each other "industry sisters." We had similar career pathways. Our kids were the same ages. We had the same BIRTHDAY.  We lived 10 minutes from each other ... why hadn't we met before? 

We met 10 years into my career.  10 years that I missed out on having other industry-women speak into my life. 

Where were these women when I was younger in my career? They were in the industry. But we weren't ever in the same room together. (Unless it was at a prebid, in which case we do NOT talk to them ... we work for competitors. They are the enemy!)

In 2019, four women in the industry started meeting as a group, hungry for a place to connect and grow both ourselves and each other. We all desperately needed mentors, so we decided to create a group to mentor one another. We huddled around a little table in a restaurant after work and talked about what our struggles were, what we needed to grow, and challenged each other's ideas.

Word started spreading in our day-to-day conversations within the industry and we continued to hear from other women “I wish I had that.” or "How do I find that?"

So, we found a bigger table.

On paper, our competitors were sitting next to us in a room. Gasp! That was unheard of in construction.

We were inspired to change this perception. Behind that logo on a jacket is another human with similar challenges and lessons learned who desires to find connection, grow, mentor and be mentored. We were inspired to build community over competition.