A construction professional's journey from cleanup crew to project controls reveals how starting at the bottom provides invaluable perspective on interconnected project systems and real-world operations.
Her Story
About LaKreshia
I am very proud that my construction career started on a cleanup crew as a laborer. I didn’t come into this industry through an office or management position—I started in the field. That experience gave me an appreciation for the people doing the work and taught me that every position on a project matters.
From the cleanup crew, I moved into equipment and purchasing, where I began learning another side of construction. A few years later, that experience led me into office management. Today, I work with procurement, equipment coordination, workforce support, reporting, and the many day-to-day responsibilities that help keep a project and its people moving.
As I’ve grown in the industry, I’ve become increasingly interested in Project Controls. I enjoy learning about the numbers behind a project—budgets, forecasts, schedules, reporting, and how decisions made today can affect a project later. Those responsibilities aren’t currently part of my assigned position, so I’ve made a point of learning as much as I can independently and continuing to build those skills.
My continued growth in construction has also inspired me to take another step professionally by starting my own business, Parker Project & Business Solutions, LLC. The business allows me to build on the skills I’ve developed throughout my career by helping businesses improve organization, reporting, administrative processes, procurement support, and day-to-day operations. For me, entrepreneurship isn’t about stepping away from construction—it’s another opportunity to use what I’ve learned, continue developing my skills, and create solutions that help businesses operate more efficiently.
I’ve never wanted a title just to have a title. I want to understand the responsibility first. I believe in asking questions, getting hands-on, learning from mistakes, and never becoming so comfortable that I stop learning. My goal is to keep building on everything I’ve learned—from the cleanup crew forward—and eventually bring that experience and perspective into Project Controls.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with LaKreshia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my family, perseverance, and never being afraid to start over when I knew I needed something better. I became a mother at a young age, and from that point forward, my decisions were never just about me. I later opened my own salon and worked as a hairstylist, but as a single mother, I knew I needed to create greater financial stability for my family.
When my children were old enough, I made the decision to get on the road and enter construction. I was starting over in an industry I knew very little about, and I started at the bottom on a cleanup crew. I learned by working, watching, asking questions, and taking every opportunity I could to learn something new.
My children and my family have always been my biggest motivation. They gave me a reason to keep going when things were difficult, but along the way I also learned that I was capable of much more than I originally gave myself credit for. Every challenge, every change in direction, and every opportunity to learn has helped build the person and professional I am today.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Some of the best career advice I’ve received is to never stop learning and never be afraid to ask questions. You don’t have to walk into a room knowing everything, but you should be willing to listen, learn, and find the answer.
I’ve also learned the importance of taking responsibility for your work. If you make a mistake, own it, correct it, learn from it, and keep moving forward. Knowledge builds confidence, but staying humble enough to continue learning is what allows you to grow.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don’t chase titles. Learn the responsibility behind the title first. Construction is still a male-dominated industry, so be willing to get hands-on, ask questions, and learn from the people around you. You don’t have to know everything, and you should never be afraid to say you don’t know something and ask someone to teach you.
Learn the field, but also learn the business behind it. Get into the reports. Learn how projects make and lose money. Understand how labor, equipment, purchasing, schedules, and everyday decisions affect the overall project. The more you understand how all the pieces connect, the more valuable you become.
You’re going to make mistakes. Own them, fix them, and learn from them. Be confident enough to speak up, but humble enough to keep learning. Don’t measure your growth only by the title beside your name. Learn the job first, and make sure you’re capable of carrying the responsibility when the title comes.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
One of the biggest opportunities in construction is the ability to grow beyond one specific role by learning how all parts of a project connect. Field operations, labor, equipment, procurement, schedules, reporting, budgets, and Project Controls all affect the success of a project.
One challenge I’ve personally experienced is that when you become dependable and perform your current role well, people naturally become comfortable relying on you in that position. Growth then becomes a balance between continuing to support the people who depend on you while also preparing yourself for the next opportunity.
For me, that next area of growth is Project Controls. I want to continue developing my understanding of budgets, forecasting, scheduling, reporting, and project performance. My goal isn’t simply to move into another title; it’s to develop the knowledge necessary to step into that responsibility when the opportunity comes, while also helping prepare others to succeed in the role I’m eventually leaving behind.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Trust, integrity, accountability, and keeping my word are some of the most important values to me, both professionally and personally. If I tell someone I’m going to do something, I believe they should be able to trust that I will follow through.
I also believe strongly in owning my mistakes. Everyone makes them. What matters is being willing to admit when you’re wrong, correct it, learn from it, and do better the next time. I would rather be honest about a mistake than try to hide it or make excuses for it.
Just as important to me is how you treat people. Titles and positions may change, but they should never change who you are or how you treat the people around you. I believe in being myself, treating people with respect, helping when I can, and remembering that every person on a project has value.
At the end of the day, I want my family, coworkers, and the people I work with to know two things about me: my word means something, and they can depend on me.
Her Content Hub
Articles by LaKreshia
What Starting at the Bottom Taught Me About Understanding the Whole Project
How learning every level of construction work creates better project managers and leaders.
From the Cleanup Crew to Project Controls: Why Starting at the Bottom Matters
I didn't begin my construction career knowing anything about budgets, procurement, equipment coordination, cost codes, schedules, or Project Controls.
I started on a cleanup crew.
At the time, I certainly wasn't thinking about how that experience might shape the way I would eventually understand an entire project. I was learning the job in front of me, working alongside the people in the field, asking questions, and trying to prove that I was willing to work.
Looking back, starting there may have given me one of the most valuable lessons of my career:
There is no unimportant job on a construction project.
The Field Teaches You What a Report Can't
When you start in the field, you see construction from the ground level.
You see what happens when people don't have the materials they need. You see what happens when equipment isn't available when it is supposed to be. You see how one delay can affect several other people who were depending on something happening first.
Most importantly, you learn that the numbers on a report represent real work being performed by real people.
As my career progressed, I moved into equipment and purchasing. Suddenly, I was seeing another side of the same project.
The equipment somebody needed in the field had to come from somewhere. Materials had to be ordered. Vendors had to be coordinated. Deliveries had to happen at the right time. Costs had to be tracked.
Things I had once experienced from one side of the project, I was beginning to understand from the other.
Moving Into the Office Changed My Perspective Again
Eventually, my career led me into office management.
That opened another door.
Now I wasn't looking at just one part of a project. I was working with payroll and workforce support, purchasing, equipment coordination, reporting, cost codes, documentation, and the countless day-to-day details required to keep a project and its people moving.
That's when something really started clicking for me:
None of these things operate independently.
Labor affects cost.
Equipment affects production and cost.
Purchasing affects the field.
Schedules affect manpower and equipment needs.
Incorrect information today can become a much larger problem later.
And sometimes, something that looks insignificant by itself becomes very significant when you understand what else it touches.
I Started Wanting to Know "Why"
Over time, simply completing my responsibilities wasn't enough for me.
I wanted to understand what the information was telling us.
Why did a number change?
Where did a cost come from?
Is something trending differently than expected?
Could an issue we're seeing today become a bigger issue several weeks from now?
Is money being spent somewhere that deserves a closer look?
That curiosity is what eventually drew me toward Project Controls.
I don't currently hold a Project Controls position, and I'm very intentional about saying that. I believe you should understand the responsibility behind a title before you chase the title itself.
So I'm learning.
I'm paying attention to budgets, forecasting, schedules, reporting, project performance, and how all of those pieces connect. I'm asking questions. I'm building my own reports when I want to understand something better. And I'm trying to learn not just what the numbers say, but why they say it.
Understanding the Whole Project Changes How You Do Your Own Job
One of the biggest lessons I've learned is that you don't need to be responsible for the entire project to think about the entire project.
When you understand how your work affects the person before you and the person after you, you make better decisions.
You ask better questions.
You notice problems sooner.
You become more careful with information because you understand where that information eventually goes.
And you stop looking at your responsibility as an isolated task.
That's something I try to carry into my work today.
I may be working on payroll, equipment, purchasing, reporting, or workforce support at any given moment, but I'm always trying to understand what that piece means to the larger project.
Growth Doesn't Mean Forgetting Where You Started
As I continue developing toward Project Controls, I don't want to leave my earlier experience behind.
I want to bring it with me.
I want to remember the person in the field waiting on equipment.
I want to remember the employee who needs their pay to be correct.
I want to remember that purchasing decisions affect people trying to perform the work.
And when I look at labor, equipment, schedules, costs, or reports, I want to remember that every number came from something that actually happened on a project.
My career didn't follow a perfectly planned path.
I started at the bottom, learned one responsibility at a time, asked a lot of questions, made mistakes, corrected them, and kept learning.
And I wouldn't change that.
Starting at the bottom didn't put me behind. It gave me a view of the project that I don't think I could have learned from a title alone.
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