Jessica Steel

I am a senior project manager and have been in this role for the last three years. I've worked on projects that range from performing arts spaces, art installations, community spaces, private residences, corporate buildings, and industrial facilities - just a wide, wide range of different project types. My day-to-day involves project imaging, communications, budgets, schedules, and coordinating project team members. We fit in wherever the client needs us to be. I've been an owner's rep for seven years, but I've been in the construction industry since 2012. I got my start when I had a young son and was looking for something closer to home. I was actually looking for a job where I could make a little bit of money to save up before I went to nursing school. I got an office manager position with a custom home builder in the town that I lived in. They were a very small company, so I was able to very quickly learn a lot of different positions and really got to see the full life cycle of a project. I helped with warranty work, design processes, and even had to step in for the salesperson from time to time. It was really interesting to me, and I realized that I was actually kind of good at construction. It came very natural to me, and I decided that maybe nursing wasn't the career path that was chosen. It wasn't really until I got to my current firm that I was able to really see this as a career path for me, and not that construction was a stepping stone to get into something else, but this is really where I was meant to be.