Narda Reyes

I attribute all of my success to always pushing myself. If I don't know something, I would always ask, I would always make sure that if I made a mistake, I recognize the mistake and see how I can make things better, or to avoid that mistake in the future. I always make sure to be on any training or refresher so that I know what I'm doing. But I think the most important thing is having a supportive team behind you that will guide you and help you with any questions you have. My boss now and the team I have at LJ are very supportive. Having faith in you, trust in you - if they think that you can do something, then that gives me the motivation to prove them that, yeah, you know, they were right. I can do what you guys need me to do. Like my boss believed in me before I believed in myself, and that's been crucial to my success.

The best career advice I've ever received came from my boss when he hired me for my current position with zero technical or ceiling experience. He said that knowledge would come with exposure, and that he would be there to help, and for me to believe that whatever I want to do, I'm capable of doing. He told me not to doubt myself. I think that the right boss hires you not necessarily for what you already know, but for what you can become. That advice has stuck with me and helped me push through the challenges of transitioning into project management.

What I would tell any woman is for them to not think that they don't belong. We belong as much as men do in that field. When I tell people I work in construction, they always say, 'oh, but in the office, right? You're never in the field.' But knowledge, whether you're a man or a woman, there's no gender distinction. If you want to be a part of the construction industry, go ahead and do it. Right now, there are a lot more women, even tradeswomen, than there was ever before, so just do it. Be confident in yourself, and you belong. You belong at the table, you belong at the scaffold, you belong along with the tools. And definitely join organizations like the National Association of Women in Construction, because that organization offers mentorship and education. There are women who are presidents of construction companies, owners of construction companies, tradeswomen, all types. Even if you want to do IT, marketing, law firms that deal with construction defect and construction law - if you want something, there's a space for you in construction. Whatever aspect you want to do, whether it be out in the trade or in the office, marketing, accounting, there's a space for every woman that wants to do something in construction.

The biggest challenge currently is the labor shortage. We're not seeing a lot of people, a lot of tradespeople wanting to go into the construction industry, and there's also the aging workforce. This newer generation, we've seen a lot of turnover - people go into construction and then they don't like it and leave within a few months. There's also a lot of competition where people go from one company to another. I think people don't necessarily want to go into the trades anymore because there are other opportunities out there. Even with AI, they're starting to do construction takeoffs with AI, and using drones for taking pictures, so I think that will create even more labor shortage in the future. But with these challenges comes real opportunity for women. With labor shortages and the transforming of our industry, there's more real opportunities for women, bilingual professionals, and first-generation workers for us to step into the field. Diversifying our workforce is now not optional - I think now it's essential. So I think there will be more opportunities now for women to enter and grow in this field.

For me, I would say integrity, your legacy, and service are the values most important to me. I've been in the industry for a long time - 16 years is a long time - and I've met a lot of general contractors. We cross paths with different projects, and they know my level of work in the admin side, and I want to bring that legacy forward to the project management side. As a Latina mother, I want to build a generational legacy for my kids and for my community with my notary work, and for my community within the women from our chapter with NAWIC. Legacy is such an important part of me because we were five living generations at once in my family, so carrying that forward means everything to me.