Dominique Papa

Someone at a conference yesterday told me I'm probably one of the hardest-working women he's ever met, and that it's intimidating. He said over the last 3 days, he's seen me at a booth or somewhere talking to someone different every single day, and I'm early and literally the last one to leave every day. He said I have this contagious energy that makes people just want to talk to me. I actually have to start every conversation myself because I think I'm intimidating and no one comes up and talks to me first. I would say it's definitely my bubbly personality that knows how to start the conversation, direct the conversation, and then end the conversation. It's my hard work, my energy, my confidence, and my ability to connect with anyone. I'm 100% extrovert and I can talk to anybody. I understand my audience, so I know who my client is, what I should say, and how I should present myself. I also think that as a woman, I definitely treat people differently than a man would. I want the people underneath me to love their job and appreciate what they do.

I didn't have any mentors and I haven't received formal career advice. What shaped my approach was working for two companies as a subcontractor and just seeing what they did wrong. The first company I worked with had one boss who ended up stealing the drones in the company and it was a whole lawsuit. So I was like, okay, definitely don't do what he did. And that company just didn't treat their pilots right. I learned that you do have to make the people at the bottom happy and pay them enough to live so they're not stressed out or burned out. So no, it was mainly just common sense. I saw what people were doing and how it was failing, and I think as a woman, I definitely treat people differently than a man would.

You definitely have to be confident and strong to be able to deal with the misogynistic men that we have to talk to all the time. You need to go in knowing that you definitely know more than them. Also, understand your clientele. I hire men between the ages of 50 and 70 because they can talk to the older male clients a lot easier. I have a 70-year-old pilot who has been there since the first day, and because he's retired, he has a lot of free time and he's excited to work with me. He can talk to all the people on the construction site, and just having a male with you makes your life a little bit easier.

The biggest challenge is navigating a very male-dominated industry with men who are typically 50 to 70 years old in construction. It's about learning how to talk to them, deal with them, and listen to their gross, misogynistic, disgusting comments and pretend that it means nothing. I'm a subcontractor and I go to so many meetings just by myself, and I am one of the only women in most of these fields. They'll come and talk to me, but that doesn't mean they'll hire my business. The hardest part is definitely having them look at you as an equal partner. They're so used to being around men and not talking to women that when they talk to women, they just sound dumb. I know that I'm being sexualized all the time, so I keep conversations short and straight to the point. I know they go off on tangents, so I definitely try and just keep it within limits before people say dumb things.

I would definitely say being respectful and having good morals. I also believe in appreciating all the people that helped you get to where you are, because a lot of people, when you first start your business, they help you out and they expect nothing in return. They just believe in you. I actually have a list of all the people that I want to pay back. I want to show them, thank you for believing in me these last 4 years and helping me get to where I am today.