by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
The Associated Builders and Contractors Women’s Council met last month for a luncheon at the offices of Rogers Towers in Riverplace Tower to offer alternative career path ideas to young teens from The Bridge of Northeast Florida’s Bridge Works program, one of their philanthropic interests.
Bridge Works’ goal is to provide opportunities for youth to gain skills and competencies that will help them to secure meaningful employment as adults.
“We are just trying to get young girls to realize this is an exciting industry,” said Michelle Tappouni, president of the group and general manger of Breaking Ground Contracting Co. “If you are interested in something that is different every day, this is a great industry to be involved in and it also pays fairly well. I think sometimes it’s just not on people’s radar.”
Tanzy James, program manager of The Bridge of Northeast Florida, Inc.’s Bridge Works Job Skills Training program, brought a large group of high school students interested in the field of construction.
“We are trying to offer the young ladies a look at the different opportunities available in construction,” said Mary Tappouni of Breaking Ground Contracting and chair of education and outreach for the ABC’s Women’s Council. “I think there is a stereotype about construction so we are here to show you a lot of different ways our members are not only immediately in construction, but support construction through different services. We just want to open your eyes to a world of possibilities in the construction field. This is something we want to do regularly. We want to do different tours of different buildings with our members.”
Michelle told the group how she started in the construction field and worked her way up. She was in an administrative position and worked her way to project manager, then general manager.
“It can be done,” she said. “If you work hard and if you are interested, it is a really exciting industry and there are so many things you can do.”
With a laugh, she added, “Some of us really do like putting on boots and jeans and bossing a lot of guys around!”
During the luncheon Gray Meredith, assistant project manager of Auld & White Constructors, Inc., the company that did the tenant build-out for Rogers Towers, gave a rundown of his current projects including mechanical, restroom, hallways, lobbies and Plaza level renovations and tenant-build-outs for several companies in the Riverplace Tower.
“There are lots of moving parts, subcontractors and materials to keep track of,” said Meredith. “There are so many team members that make things happen.”
Elizabeth Howard, a construction law attorney at Rogers Towers, explained the intricacies of becoming an attorney and the excitement of working in the construction field.
She also gave the girls options if seven years of school — college and law — didn’t fit their future plans.
“You could become a paralegal after only 18 months,” said Howard. “Or you could work as a attorney’s assistant, in the information technology department or even in the data processing department. There are many different positions that are still related to construction.”
After the presentations, the girls and members were invited to tour the building to see current projects underway and to meet people in the construction industry and hear more about construction-related career opportunities.
The ABC Women’s Council just celebrated its 10th anniversary.
“It was originally formed outside of ABC,” said Tappouni. “There was a group of women that said they really wanted to partner with the construction industry. They approached ABC because the felt they had a similar philosophy about work and business.”
The group’s goal is to promote and educate women in the construction industry.
“We do encourage our members to be involved in ABC at-large because they have other things that they can offer,” said Tappouni. “But, we feel we can tailor our presentations to some of the challenges women specifically face in the construction industry. Things are not like they used to be, but we still face a lot of challenges like stereotypes, especially for women who want to be a project manager and want to be in a field position on down.”
Each month, the group allows its members to speak to the group on different construction issues. They also do two after-hours events a year for women who can’t get away at lunchtime. Upcoming speakers include a labor law attorney and a certified public accountant who specializes in construction.
“We change it around,” said Tappouni. “We average about 30-60 attendees each month depending on the topic.”
All of the group’s meetings this year will be held at the Rogers Towers office’s conference room.
“We try to keep it in an office space environment because we like the intimacy of it,” she said. “We’ve been growing so much over the last couple of years. This is our third space in two years.”