Kimberly Norman-Rosedam

I would say my dad. He's 80 years old now and was a contractor who showed me everything, even though I was a girl. He was so open to showing me what to do instead of saying, no, this is for your brothers. I love that he didn't exclude me because of my gender - he said come on, I'll show you everything you want to know. That foundation he gave me, treating me as an equal and teaching me the trade, is what allowed me to build this entire career. He gave me the skills and the confidence to pursue this path, and I'm so grateful he never limited me because I was a woman.

The best career advice I received was from one of my dear friends who has since passed from cancer. She told me, do not let your age stop you. Keep going forward. When I was accepted to building official school at 40 or 41 years old, I was hesitant, thinking I'm kind of old and a woman going into the field. But she said, don't let that stop you. She said, you never know how you're going to change yourself and change the world. She encouraged me to go for it if I really wanted to do it, and I did. I can't thank her enough. That advice - don't let anything stop you, not even your age, if you want to do it, do it - completely changed my life and career trajectory.

I would definitely say try to find a mentor in this field, speak to them about it, and learn and listen. That's one of the things I've done and continue to do. The knowledge and expertise from those who've been here for a while is uncanny and priceless - you can never pay for that. Anything you're going through now, someone else has gone through, and learning from them about what worked or what didn't is invaluable. We don't know everything as building officials, but we all talk to one another to try to understand how to do things better. I'll be the first to say I don't know everything, but I will learn how to do it properly and ask my peers for guidance. Most importantly, you don't have to change who you are to be in this field to get respect from your male counterparts. I'm very big on being who I am as a woman - I never tried to become one of the guys to be accepted. You're going to accept me the way I am as a woman, and I think that's something that needs to be stated clearly. Let them know that you don't have to change who you are to be in this field and earn respect.

The biggest challenge is that it's a male-dominated field. A lot of times, they see a woman there and they're like, what are you doing here? What do you know about this? They want to test your credentials, but the minute I start talking about work and job sites, they realize I know more than they do. I never let it intimidate me - I've been in it for so long that after a while, you just don't let it get to you. But the opportunities are tremendous. There are tons of opportunities in this field. We have a severe shortage of building officials in Connecticut - the average age is around 70, and we're at a very depleted loss. Out of 169 counties, we have inspectors doing double duty, working in multiple towns because we're so short-handed. I'm very big on helping people who want to be in this field, even if they never thought about it. I'm always willing to advocate and speak to people about it because you just never know that this may be the field for you and you just never heard about it. Not many people know how to get into this field or even know about the process of becoming an inspector to work for municipalities. I think this is a great field for women - it's been overlooked and not marketed to them. I want other women to see this, read about it, and be inspired to think about going into the field of construction. A lot more women would really validate from it and be good at it.

The values most important to me are having things done in order, being done right, and being done the proper way. In construction and code compliance, we're very big on things being done correctly. Being honest and uplifting is crucial - that's one of the things we look for and represent in our field. We want people to know us, trust us, and rely on us, knowing we're going to give them the best advice possible. Having a great ethics and honor system within yourself that presents out to others is the best thing you could ever want. When people call me up to ask advice on construction projects they're going through or even thinking about, I love that they actually depend and rely on my advice. That trust and dependability means everything to me.