Her Story
About Lesa
Lesa Gibson is the District HR/PD Advisor at PCL, representing the Houston, Texas office and supporting the company's US operations in solar construction and battery energy storage. She has spent three years in solar construction after prior experience in general construction and human resources, where she scaled teams from 17 to over 200 employees and craft workforce from 100 to over 700. Gibson's path to HR began after owning a hair salon, earning a paralegal certificate, and working in employment law at a law firm, which sparked her interest in proactive talent management, employee relations, training, and policy development. She holds an SPHR certification, a master's degree, an MBA, and is currently pursuing a JD to better navigate contracts and multi-state regulations. Gibson is affiliated with SHRM, serves on the board of HRCI where she contributes to SPHR exam questions, and is a member of Zeta Phi Beta. She volunteers with Zeta Phi Beta's Stork's Nest program for young mothers, the Boys and Girls Club, and the YWCA supporting children aging out of foster care. She attributes her success to recognizing personal choice after a challenging upbringing and emphasizes respect, speaking up, and authenticity as core values.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Lesa
01What do you attribute your success to?
I come from a very poor background. Both of my parents were incarcerated, and they both died in prison. And for me, what I said is, I never want to go back there. And so that motivates me, because I have the opportunity, I have the choice. Knowing that I have a choice. Each day, I can make a choice to do whatever it is that I want to do.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Speak up. That was one of the things when I first got into it... the national director said to me, speak up, I can't hear you. And I took that to heart. And so from this standpoint, even being in the male dominant field, I tend to speak up.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Be yourself, everyone else is taken. I think a lot of times when we join industries, especially in construction, sometimes what we do is we try to mimic what we think success looks like, and I don't think that's the proper way to do it. I think you be your true, authentic self.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges, first of all, is the growth spurt that we're having and building those relationships and building them quickly. But also with those challenges comes opportunities because people are getting into this industry and they're able to grow a lot quicker just because the industry is growing so fast.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Respect. I think respect is super important. You have to have respect for yourself, respect for others, respect for the work that you do, the respect for your work product, respect for your mates, family members. You must have respect, and once you have that, if you build things around that respect, you can move forward to every other thing that there is that's available to you.
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