Pa
ving The Way For Women In Construction
PHOENIX, ARIZONA
From starting her own construction company in the Great Recession to becoming a key leader at Haydon and having overseen $800 million of construction in the Phoenix area, Heather Marin is a woman in an industry heavily dominated by men. However, that hasn’t hindered her one bit.
“I believe having run my own General Contracting business for many years, I learned a lot in that time frame, which ties into Haydon’s core values as far as ‘Grit,’ working ‘Shoulder to Shoulder’ with people in the industry, and utilizing the resources that I had,” Heather said.
The National Association of Women in Construction indicates women make up nearly 10 percent of the construction industry.
“I don’t feel like I’ve had a ton of uphill battles as a female because I blend into the team that I’m working with. I become blind to the fact that I may be the only woman in the room. I look at each situation as we’re just a bunch of teammates working to get something done.”
Heather is part of the board of the Women in Construction conference on the West Coast. “That’s been really rewarding,” Heather shared. “I’ve been on the board since inception and that conference has grown significantly over the years. It’s nice to see all the influence and networking that we’re able to accomplish.”
Haydon President and CEO Katie Haydon leads one of the largest female-run construction companies in Arizona. Heather believes that “it’s extremely positive. She’s fully supportive of everyone in the company being successful first and foremost.”
Last year, Katie traveled to New York and attended a series of events on how to assist women with the tools they need to excel in the trades.
Heather’s high school Vice Principal led Heather to pursue a career in construction. He believed being a woman in the construction industry would be a great route for her to take. At that young age, Heather hadn’t considered construction as a career opportunity because it was “not something in the forefront of my mind, and you don’t initially understand it to be a management or leadership position.” She added, “It was nice to have that education and mentorship at that age to learn more about it. It was very enlightening.”
Heather advises women considering construction as a career to GO FOR IT!
“It’s a great industry. There’s a lot of wonderful people that you meet, and a lot of unique projects that you get to build. One of things I like so much about construction is that you’re constantly learning something new every single day. Everyone you work around has different experiences that you get to pull from in order to really excel and be successful”.
“If you really like details and getting into the mix on how to build things, it’s a great career,” Heather shared. “You just have to have a strong backbone to be in this industry because it can be challenging. You just have to have the Grit and tenacity to see it through, but it’s definitely rewarding.
