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Last month’s “Women Leading Construction & Real Estate Development” panel gathered an inspiring group of women to talk about their careers in industries that many women are still breaking through —construction and real estate development.
Chair of the Women’s Network Advisory Board, Susan Penta, moderated the panel, with panelists Elizabeth Grob, New England Real Estate Market Leader at VHB, Marie Morisset, Founding Partner of Morisset Real Estate and board member of the Builders of Color Coalition, and JC Burton, CEO of general contracting firm Maven Construction.
These construction and real estate industry leaders are committed to bringing more women into these male-dominated industries—an industry that benefits from the unique lens, voice, and approach women can bring. If there was ever a time to see women in places they haven’t been before, it is now. We are living in a transformation. Currently, the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Auditor, Treasurer, and Mayor of Boston are all women. As Mayor Wu says, “women cannot seize what they cannot see,” and that is precisely why panels like this are so important.
JC Burton shared that she “loves working at the skyline and knowing she had an impact,” but for many women that look at the skyline, they don’t think “the sky’s the limit for me.” The skyline makes them think of men in work boots and tradesmen (and less often women) building the physical buildings themselves.
To bring more women into this industry, it starts with mentorship. JC shared the personal responsibility she feels for the future of the industry: “People are looking at what I do. I need to bring a group of women and women of color with me. I want some to go ahead of me. I take this as my responsibility.” The first step is going into high schools and colleges and teaching students—especially female students and students of color who don’t see themselves as well-represented in this industry—the full services of real estate and construction jobs. Students need to understand the breadth of what these careers offer, beyond the work being done in the field, to see themselves as a part of these industries.
For Marie Morisset, the barriers to entry in an industry that she found hard to penetrate as a woman led her to start her own firm and launch a fellowship to train developers of color in a way that made sense to them. To her, “opening doors and welcoming people starts with networking, that’s how we create community.” JC added that “to make it accessible, we have to make it more realistic” and to market it differently. This is exactly what the Builders of Color Coalition and other similar organizations do. Marie noted the need for culturally-sensitive training and education on important topics like obtaining funding and the need to help advocate for others.
Diverse communities like Boston require a diverse group of people to support it. Susan adds that “if communities want to be innovative, they need diverse points of view. Women need to know they have something special to offer when they sit around the table.”
If we want to see a change in client relationships and priority in the importance of diverse teams, we need to talk more about diversity in development projects. While BPDA is a voluntary program, Elizabeth implores, “if we want change, we need organizations to step up and offer this information.” It can be as simple as asking the question and making it visible. Without transparency, there is no incentive to report on these initiatives.
Elizabeth continues by saying that 4-5 years ago you wouldn’t have heard much about DE&I efforts, and today that is part of everyday conversations. Diversity is both in thought processes and people. She advocates for “radical inclusivity” and develops teams in her organization that embody this. Gathering in powerful groups like this panel helps to keep the conversations going, and the work still to be done visible.
Boston is one of the oldest cities and as a result there are many fourth and fifth generation construction companies. As JC points out, “people do business with people they know and like, when networks multiply and there are no women in there, you are an outlier.” It took Marie three years to navigate the industry in Boston and Elizabeth had to forge her own connections in Boston, an area where she didn’t have an expansive network. She points out that the stereotype of women challenged to manage work and motherhood to be alive and well, but that the pandemic helped to “soften the edges.” While JC says that the “ceiling is still made of glass and it wasn’t ready for all the innovation bottled up in me,” she wanted to “normalize excellence that looks like her.”
Marie sums things up by saying that “cultural shifts can be uncomfortable, and we have to be ok allowing it to be uncomfortable, on the other side is change.” She advocates for us to recognize and name the barriers and partner with networks to address the issues—from access to capital to getting a job.
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