Her Story
About Patricia
I've been in my field for over 40 years, and my journey has been anything but a straight line. I was the first female in Suffolk County BOCES for carpentry, and I had to force them to allow females into the BOCES Carpentry courses. There were no female bathrooms in the building I was in, and even the president of BOCES offered to let me use his private bathroom. I went on through BOCES for carpentry and architecture, then continued my education at SUNY Delhi for drafting and AutoCAD, which brought me into a career in engineering and project management. I worked as a project manager on one of my biggest projects, Long Island Islip Airport, a major project just post-9/11 where the detail to security was intense. I worked for ABC Extreme Home Makeovers locally through Allure Home Improvements as a project manager, and I also worked on Hurricane Sandy relief work as an inspector. I was one of the first New York State females to become licensed as a home inspector as soon as New York State required licensing, and I had my home inspector's license for over 18 years. I was part of MAHI, the Metropolitan Association of Home Inspectors, where I served on the board as treasurer. Ten years ago, I stepped away and opened my own construction document management business that has evolved to also include New York State archive record work. I'm also the immediate past president of Long Island Blue Star Mothers, the mothers of the military, and currently the treasurer for Operation Initiative Foundation, which offers alternative, holistic treatment for PTSD for not just our military, but also our first responders.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Patricia
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Be true to yourself. Really take the time to look inside yourself. Don't let the noise from outside define who you are. You have God-given skills, so develop your talents. Look broad and don't pigeonhole yourself. You're always going to get support and guidance in different areas of your life, whether it be mentors, business owners, employers, or family, but listen to that quiet voice inside of you. Listen to your gut. Listen to what it is that really excites you. Follow your passions. See where you can connect your personal interests to your business, to your career. And be tenacious about it. Because at the end of your career, when you decide that it's time for me to take it easy, you want to be happy with that journey.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
What comes to mind immediately is AI, and it's both a challenge and an opportunity. I would say that it levels the field in any kind of gender bias. If you can learn these skills, you're going to find yourself valuable. If you don't learn these skills, then all of a sudden, you could be replaced. And I think that's across the board in so many administrative positions, doesn't matter what industry. I opened my business so I didn't get pushed into retirement, so that I could escape the gender bias and the age bias. All of those things still exist. But I think we have to take a lot of attention to what's going on with the introduction to AI, because we already have a very precarious job market. And to further damage it with just the willy-nilly launching of AI, and what AI is doing, it's not even that proficient yet. But if in business, and business owners, or in big corporation work, if they're able to introduce AI, there's a lot of staffing that just won't happen. And then that's the whole conversation of, well, how do we plan on pivoting our workforce so that people still have jobs that need the jobs. Otherwise, our unemployment is going to see unprecedented numbers. This is just going to further create the divide between the haves and the have-nots.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Integrity is the first thing that comes to mind. Both with my clients and with any kind of staffing that I'm doing, I want them to feel my word is my bond. Yes, it will go to paper, we will have a written agreement, but my character, my integrity, I think that's what people live and die with.
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