Natasha Pirogova

I think if you love what you do, it doesn't matter who is around you. When I grew up in Russia, it was always male-dominated, but I said no, I'm a person as well. It's not about whether you're a man or woman doing management, it's the same situation. I just started to prove that we can do a lot, we can hold all the stuff, and we can make great business as well. We're not supposed to just stay at home and cook and take care of our kids. I had a strong character from the beginning, and I grew up as the first child in a small city surrounded by brothers and my father's friends, and they would look at me like 'oh, you're a girl, it's fine.' But no, I'm a person first of all! I just kept trying to prove that we're equals. Of course, I don't mean physical power, but if we're talking about mentally, I think women can hold it, and if you love what you do, it's gonna be easy and impressive. Just enjoy this stuff.

First of all, you need to know who you are and what you like. When you find your strong part of your character, this is what I learned and what I teach my child. If you like art, do art. If you like conversation or building relationships with people, do that fun stuff. Just find what you like, but from the beginning, you need to know who you are. Maybe you start reading psychology books because they help you explore yourself, your reactions, your feelings, your mind, and everything. I think this will help a lot, whether it's the psychology part, books, or people around you. First of all, focus on yourself. Never forget about yourself because you are the boss of your own life. You need to love yourself, you need to be proud of yourself, and treat yourself. If you have any achievement, if you have any goal and you reach that goal, just celebrate. Give your mind and your inner child attention.

I think right now, sometimes people, some men, feel like there's a challenge between men and women because construction is their area where it's always been just men involved. For example, right now in our company, we don't have a lot of women inside. We have me in project management, we have Claire, and another two women from accounting, but they're not from the construction side. They work in a construction company, but they don't take a role exactly where it's supposed to be, like working with the men in the field. In general, it's too hard to grow. You can grow to the engineering part, or architecture part, or coordination part, but it's challenging to take a big step. I think it's very challenging right now. I don't feel the challenge exactly in my company, but in general, yes. I see it from the interviews I've had and from talking with subcontractors.