Her Story
About Caroline
Caroline Showers serves as Senior Product Manager at Trimco Construction Product Groups, where she oversees approximately $160 million in products across the roofing industry, including rooftop environments, vegetative roofing, safety, and single ply offerings. Based in Tampa, she has spent the better part of 10 years in the building materials industry after a two-year detour into sporting goods, with prior experience including marketing for a regional home builder in the Richmond, Virginia market, product management at Devant Sports Towels owned by Dynamic Brands, contract work with Virtuous Management Group for a national home builder, and brand product marketing manager roles at Prime Source Building Products focused on perimeter security markets such as exterior locks and gate hardware. She joined Trimco about three and a half years ago. Caroline earned her degree from Roanoke College, majoring in communication studies, sociology, and information analysis, and received an Outstanding Student Award more than 10 years ago. She is a board member of SPRI, the Single Ply Roofing Industry, serves on the Planning and Zoning board for Safety Harbor, and sits on an advisory board for BayCare. She attributes her success to her family, support system, education, and the leaders and mentors who have guided her. Caroline values loyalty and honesty in both her professional and personal life and advises young women entering the industry to listen three times as much as they speak, ask questions, join meetings, shadow others, and absorb as much information as possible.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Caroline
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think my family, my support system, the education that I was so privileged to have, going to a small school really set me up for success in today's world, and then the leaders that I've had. I don't think you get where you can unless you have a good leader or mentor, and I have been very privileged to have great leaders before me who have opened their worlds to teach me all they can.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice. Kindness goes a long way.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Listen 3 times as much as you speak. And ask questions. Join every meeting you can, shadow every person that you can, take in as much information as you can, and be a sponge when you're first starting out. To learn those keywords, to learn the acronyms you might not know. And then when you do have time to bend someone's ear, ask as many questions as you can.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Politics and tariffs are the biggest challenges we're facing in the global economy right now, and as far as the building market. Raw materials are going up in price, lead times are going up because of where raw materials are coming from and the cost of getting them. There is so much technology and so much creation that you're constantly trying to be the first person to get something launched on the market.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Loyalty and honesty are huge. I think it's rare to find people who are loyal these days. Someone who has your back, or a company or some sort of industry that has your back. And then honesty. You treat others how you want to be treated, and you should be honest with how you're doing, where you're going, what's happening at the company and in your role.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.