It’s Women in Construction Week! I Build America – Kentucky is taking the opportunity to share the stories of the women across the state who make up our great industry. The stories of these women show the diverse backgrounds, interests, skills, and talents that are part of the work we do–and we encourage more women of all ages and interests to consider careers in construction.
You can follow along as the nation celebrates its female construction workforce. Check out the hashtag #WICWeek2022 and #IBuildAmericaKY!
The Women of Kentucky’s Workforce: Meet Stormy
Name: Stormy Brewster
Position: Senior Asphalt Technologist
Company: Marathon Petroleum Company
Years Working In Construction: 9
In your experience, what do women bring to the construction industry?
The obvious answer is diversity. It has been proven over and over that a more diverse workforce is more profitable. In an industry that has been long dominated by men, women bring a different perspective. This can be especially important to troubleshooting and innovation. We will need a more diverse workforce as our industry continues to grow. Women can also be great multitaskers, which is a huge part of my job. Working full time, managing a household in addition to all my children’s activities improves my work. I am prepared to juggle multiple task all day long. Also, the more women we get in this industry, the more we will attract. This will help with the employee shortage.
In what ways does your company support more women joining the industry?
Marathon has many diversity initiatives. Just like many industries, they are trying to and have been working on a more diverse workplace for as long as I have been with the company. We have initiatives in the company where you can be paired with a mentor to help your growth up the ladder. They are also supportive in my personal growth as someone in the industry, even if it may not have a direct tie to my day-to-day responsibilities. As a mom, they are supportive of work life balance.
What do you like most about working in construction?
The people. They are awesome, fun, hard working and incredibly knowledgeable. It seems like people that come into the asphalt industry stick around. There is always someone to call if I am having a hard time understanding something.
If you were to give young women (high schoolers) advice about beginning a career in construction, what would you say?
Look into it. Look at the pay, opportunity to work in many different places and ability to be indoors in an office or outside on the job site. Some of these careers require college educations, but many do not. Sometimes you get on the job training and sometimes you can go through an apprentice program. There are so many careers in this industry. There is something for everyone.
