Her Story
About Michelle
Michelle Brisita is a professional in the construction industry with five years of experience in project management, construction management, real estate, and permitting. Originally from New York and now based in North Carolina, she transitioned into construction after working at Tesla and previously spending ten years at BMW. She earned her real estate license and completed OSHA training, building on her education that includes high school, a graphic design associate's course in Plainview, and training at Aveda in SoHo, New York, where she also worked as a cosmetologist and makeup artist for celebrities and media. Brisita credits her success as a go-getter to her parents, particularly her mother who independently ran a 3,500 square foot salon in Hempstead, Long Island for 30 years despite having no prior experience. She values honesty, loyalty, and transparency in both her professional and personal life, and she is passionate about helping women enter the construction field by creating their own lanes in areas like administration and project management. Brisita emphasizes continuous learning, including topics like AutoCAD and engineering, and follows the advice that it is never too late to pursue one's intuition and manifest goals.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Michelle
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think what contributes to me being such a go-getter is having parents that were go-getter. My mom had a salon in Long Island for 30 years, on her own, a huge salon, like, 3,500 square feet. She did it on her own, and she didn't know hair. ... Just from a dream. No experience, nothing she knew about business. Just because she had an intuitive feeling that this was gonna make her be able to support me and my brother.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
It's never too late. ... We can definitely always ... And no matter what is going on in your life, you could always manifest that little spark into a big fire. ... It's important to follow your, you know, your intuition, your spark. what makes you happy, and what God gives you.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
To make a lane for themselves. It doesn't necessarily have to be, you know, a blue-collar worker. If you're good at administration, you're really, really good, detail-orientated, get into the admin. ... If you're good at project management, again, another rate. Salary, you know? You just have to give a little bit of credentials and stuff like that, and you can manage, you know, small residentials to a commercial to a high-rise. Like, whatever trait you have, you can correlate it to some part in a construction industry, because there's so many different facets.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Knowledge, you know, because there's so much to learn that when you think you learn, then it opens up another plethora of stuff. So, knowledge is the one thing, and I would just say knowledge, you know? You have to stay open to continue... continue... continue education. ... I'm, like, on this mission of just, like, learning as much as I can with processes, project. AutoCAD, like, engineering, architect, like, other states, just... I'm just, like, always, you know, researching it.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think the biggest value for me would be honesty, loyalty, and transparency. And I think that goes across the board for personal, work, professional, whatever. If you create a circle where you know that you have loyalty, there's transparency, the area's there for you to grow, and for you to help other people. You're not defensive, you're not... Focusing your energy on stuff that is actually... pushing you back. If you're in a positive environment, no matter the problems, no matter what you go through, you're able to push through.
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