My place in the construction industry should have been obvious when I was a kid, hopping from one empty pallet to another on dad’s building sites - I loved watching the buildings grow out of the ground, from a drawing on paper to a real house - I was captivated. Starting out as a rep for Austral Bricks, I moved to Business Development Manager for Brickworks Building Products, and then spent a couple of years as the Membership Experience Manager for Master Builders Tasmania. I am now working in partnership with Sally Bevis at District Strata Services.
I am loving the change I’ve seen in our industry, from feeling lonely out onsite and harassing every woman wearing high viz - “who are you, what do you do, who do you work for?” – now there are women crawling all over sites in Tasmania and we are no longer oddities in construction. But we still have work to do to before we really belong.
As the founding President of the Tasmanian branch of NAWIC, I am so proud of the work NAWIC has done in our industry and the direction we are moving in. I think Monique is the perfect person to lead NAWIC Tas towards our goal of total gender equity and opportunity in the construction industry, and I am excited to support her and the committee.