Nearly 11 years ago, I could count on one hand how many women I knew in construction. Today, it is much more common to see brave, beautiful women rocking their leadership positions in our industry. For me, this is a huge win. 

My grandparents were immigrants from Mexico and Spain. My grandfather started in agriculture and had the opportunity to get into the roofing trade in the South Bay, where most of the homes were Spanish-style with tile roofs. Not many people knew how to fix the Spanish tile roofs, but he did. My grandfather would have my Dad help him on the weekends, starting when he was 9 years old. My dad has been roofing ever since! He worked for one of the largest roofing companies, in its time, as a Production Manager, running 150+ employees and winning several production awards for his efforts. He eventually left and started his own company – Bravo Roofing, Inc. 

I never wanted anything to do with roofing. Back in the day when hot roofing was popular, I would remember the smell of tar and thought it was gross. My older sister actually did tear-offs on the weekend with him, but I never stepped foot into the business until 11 years ago. 

At the time, I was in the aftermarket auto industry and had recently sold my company and took a year off, not knowing what was next. My Dad kept telling me to think about coming into work for him, but I was very skeptical. I remember going to visit my parents one Sunday, my Dad had a newspaper clipping (I still have it) and it was a group of women in commercial real estate and he said, “If they can do this, you can do roofing.”

I decided to take a leap of faith and see what I could do in the roofing industry. Today, I serve our clients as the VP of Client Partnerships and have been here for 11 years. 

Both of my daughters have worked for the family business as well.  

My older daughter, Alexis, who is 27 and has two little ones of her own, so she is really working now! My younger daughter, Mckenzie, who is 18, is a Senior in high school and just recently started working in our office. 

When McKenzie started, she was in shock we had paper in the office and that we stapled the papers. We still laugh about it, watching her the first few days holding paper like it was contagious was classic! Since her involvement, we are on a mission to go completely paperless … needless to say, she has been doing a lot of scanning. (Lesson here: BE careful what you complain about.)

It is so amazing to see multi-generational involvement here at Bravo. Especially since the latest two generations of our family who are in the business are women. 

For the last 27 years, our family has bragged on the fact we are still family-owned and operated. We take great pride in knowing our business partners on a first-name basis and serving repeat customers for many years. 

Today, I am proud to not only be a woman in construction and leadership but a mom and a grandma in the industry too. 

If you are a woman in construction or have a generational family business in the trades, I would love to meet with you. Email me here to set up a time to visit!

– Christie