Mothers In Construction (M.I.C.)

Check out Season 4, Episode 50 of Mothers In Construction Podcast with Atianna J. Cordova. She is an award-winning designer, entrepreneur, and educator from New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2018, she founded WATER BLOCK™, a design and creative studio that works to advance racial and environmental justice through community-led design and planning.

Atianna is also the founder of WATER BLOCK Kids™, which teaches youth about architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and real estate through educational programs and products. Atianna’s introduction to architecture after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and journey in the design field has inspired her work including the release of her first children's book entitled What is Architecture?

In this episode we discuss another journey of turning tragedy into a rose. During Hurricane Katrina Atianna was a curious child wondering why her community was so greatly impacted.  After developing an understanding of the injustices faced by her community, she developed a passion for advocating for justice through design.  She is an amazing, forward- thinking trailblazer that is making moves in our industry. Listen to her story!!!

WATER BLOCK Kids™ website: https://www.waterblockkids.com/

Check out Season 4, Episode 49 - The Power of Words, with Twyla Garrett an exceptional serial Entrepreneur, motivational speaker, homeland security strategist, and compelling author. Twyla is the founder of Growth Management Services (GMS), a Construction Program Management Firm with revenues of over one million dollars within three years of opening, and Integrated Responders Group (IRG), a Full Services Independent Claims Management Firm. She currently resides between Washington, DC and Raleigh, North Carolina, where she manages her multi-successful businesses. Her new book My Mother’s Words is a motivational study on how individuals can turn their worst experiences into their greatest triumphs. We discuss turning pain and adversity into triumph. Twyla details how she took the pain of her childhood and used it as fuel and motivation to become a successful black woman in the construction industry. Listen to her story!!!

Twyla is known for her notable (oftentimes 100% self-funded) business deals, and she strives to provide excellent opportunities for individuals faced with immense personal and social challenges, especially related to abuse. At GMS, she seeks out the homeless and ex-offenders for a second chance and offers them full-time sustainable work. With her ability to speak on delicate and motivational topics, Twyla has been personally invited to The White House to speak on issues relating to creating jobs, economic growth, and the controversial fiscal cliff of 2012. Twyla is also passionate about helping individuals become meaningful persons in life and writes books on how young and emerging entrepreneurs can scale their businesses, so they are big enough to create sustainable employment to those living within their communities.

Check out Season 4, Episode 48 - Build Better with Sharron Halpert, founder and owner of Halpert Life Safety Consulting LLC, a leading provider of firestop-related life safety and passive fire protection solutions. “If you want to build better, we want to help.”  That’s not just some catch phrase behind Halpert Life Safety Consulting,  those are words Sharron lives by. Over 20 years in construction focusing on firestop and passive fire protection, $20Billion of new construction covering some 27 million square feet~ if she can’t help you, she probably knows who can.

We talk about her start in construction, her passion for her trade and important communication methods that we all can use to diffuse situations in construction.  Listen to her story!!! 

Link to training - https://firestop-coffee-break-training.mykajabi.com

Free training: You Tube Channel - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUnPQnrAN9sPlGKQlsGbl_w

Check out Mothers In Construction Podcast's Season 4 Episode 46  - Tough Decisions with Katelyn Barrett. Katelyn is a Marine Corps veteran, a marine welder and a Mother In Construction from North Carolina. She's a single mom raising a beautiful six year old boy.  In order to pursue her career as a commercial diver and tender, Katelyn made the tough choice to relocate away from her child to work throughout the week  and return home on the weekends. Katelyn is not alone as many women face these tough decisions while in pursuit of their careers. Katelyn's story will encourage other moms to hold on and keep their eyes on the light at the end of the tunnel. Listen to her story!

Check out this week’s episode of Mothers In Construction Podcast dropping Thursday .  Season 4 Episode 45 is with Christine Merdon. Listen to her Story!

Christine Merdon is the CEO/President of Merdon Strategies, LLC, a woman owned small business providing management consulting to federal contractors for strategy, growth, organizational leadership and optimization of team performance. In addition, she is pursuing her Ph.D. in Civil Engineering at the University of Maryland.

Ms. Merdon is a professional engineer, with significant public and private industry experience. She has a master’s and bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Maryland.

Ms. Merdon had a leadership role for 9 years at the Architect of the Capitol (AOC) as the Acting Architect of the Capitol and Chief Operating Officer. She was responsible for construction, facilities maintenance and operation of the historic U.S. Capitol Building, the care and improvement of more than 570 acres of grounds and the operation and maintenance of 18.4 million square feet of buildings including: the House and Senate Congressional Office Buildings, the Capitol Visitor Center, the Library of Congress Buildings, the U.S. Supreme Court Building and U.S. Botanic Gardens. As Acting Architect of the Capitol, she was a member of the Capitol Police Board, and the President's Advisory Council on Historic Preservation.

Before joining the AOC, Ms. Merdon worked in private industry as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President of Program and Construction Management with McKissack & McKissack. She has been responsible for successfully managing more than $15 billion in major construction projects and programs including: Washington Nationals Major League Baseball Stadium, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, National Museum of African American History and Culture, O’Hare Modernization Program, and Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson Memorial Renovations.

Her private industry experience also included time spent as a Project Manager and Site Superintendent for Clark Construction.

She began her career with the U.S. Navy for a total of 17 years, which included an assignment to White House Military Office as a Project Manager.

Throughout her career, Ms. Merdon has won many projects excellence awards and she is the proud recipient of the 2016 D.C. Professional Engineer of the Year. She is a distinguished member of the National Academy of Construction. She is also a member of the Society of Women Engineers, Society of American Military Engineers, former Chair of the Board of Visitors for the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Maryland, and the past president of the National Capitol Region ACE High School Mentor Program. She is a distinguished member of the National Academy of Construction.

She resides in Alexandria, Virginia with her husband, Michael, and daughter Nadya.

Check out this week's episode of Mothers In Construction Podcast with Kathryn Tyler Prigmore.  Listen to her story!

Kathryn Bradford Tyler Prigmore, FAIA, NOMAC, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, CDT Ms. Prigmore has over 40 years of architectural experience as a practitioner, educator, and regulator. Her strong project management skills include an inimitable understanding of the dynamics that facilitate project delivery. Ms. Prigmore has provided design, technical oversight, and project management for award-winning projects of a wide range of sizes, types, and delivery methods – including those with sensitive and classified defense and federal missions. She has overseen project teams with more than fifteen consultant firms and up to two hundred staff for clients in the federal, defense, civic, and private sectors. 

Active in professional and civic affairs, Ms. Prigmore has served on AIA and NCARB committees at the national level that serve to bridge the chasm between education and practice. She has been a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) since 1982 and was elevated to Fellowship in 2002. A member of AIADC for 30 years, she transferred to AIANOVA to help develop the Fellows Committee, a position she held for many years while an AIADC member.

Ms. Prigmore is the Founding Collaborator (with Barbara G, Laurie, AIA – deceased) of Riding the Vortex: African American Women in Practice. Beginning in 2007, this initiative provides inspiration, mentoring, and public speaking opportunities for African American women at all levels the profession in venues throughout the United States. Ms. Prigmore and her three collaborators – Kathy Dixon, Katherine Williams, and Melissa Daniel – received the AIA Whiney M. Young, Jr. Award in 2022. Many of the young African American women currently active in the profession are part of the expanding Vortex network. Prigmore is in the process of reviving Black Women in Architecture, an organization with its roots in the early 1980s. Ms. Prigmore served as a Trustee of the Branch Museum of Architecture and Design and as past Chair of the AIA National Ethics Council; National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) Committee on Examination; and the Virginia Board for Architects, Professional Engineers, Land Surveyors, and Certified Interior Designers and Landscape Architects. Awards and honors bestowed upon Ms. Prigmore include a Lifetime Achievement Award – Women of Color Magazine; President’s Medal – NCARB; Outstanding Faculty Member – Howard University College of Engineering, Architecture and Computer Sciences; inclusion in several Marquis Who’s Who publications; and inclusion among the Outstanding Young Women in America. In 2018 the National Organization of Minority Architects Council (NOMAC) inducted Ms. Prigmore into the Council of Elders. 

Ms. Prigmore was recently selected to lead the Washington, DC office of Moody Nolan as Studio Director/Principal. Recently an Adjunct Professor of Practice in Virginia Tech's Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center, Ms. Prigmore is a former Associate Dean and Associate Professor of Architecture for the Howard University School of Architecture and Design. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Building Sciences and a Bachelor of Architecture from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, as well as a Master of Science in Engineering from The Catholic University of America. Notably, she was one of the first 20 African American Women registered to practice architecture in the United States, and maintains licenses in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC. Ms. Prigmore is also a LEED Accredited Professional with a Building Design + Construction specialty; an NCARB certificate holder; and a certified Construction Documents Technologist.

Check out the Season 3 Finale of Mothers In Construction Podcast with Lashanna Ingraham!  Lashanna, known as the Fashion Welder, is a multi-certified master welder , ironworker and a M.I.C. Lashanna entered into the trades in 2008, when plumbing and pipe fitting weren’t enough. She switched over to structural steel welding, equipped with the certifications and training that she needed to break many chains and boundaries throughout her experience as a woman in the field. Lashanna has taken part in restoring and building various historical buildings throughout her local city of Sacramento all the way to the Bay Area. She has built Sacramento’s golden one center, Marriott hotels, hospitals, high-rises even a BART station just to name a few. Lashanna is married with a 5 year old son. 

Raised by her grandparents in Dunnigan, CA, growing up on a farm was the best thing that could have ever happened to her; it was where she learned first class work ethic from her world war two veteran grandfather. Nowadays when Lashanna isn’t hanging iron she advocates for women in the trades and shares her experience as a woman in this male-dominated field. Standing as a conduit to women all around the world who have a desire for more, Lashanna is the CEO of “Ingraham”, a brand whose mission is to provide comfort fit workwear for women who work in the trades. Lashanna is looking to break the chains to stereotypical bondage by using her story and voice to encourage Women that this is her world too. Lashanna Ingraham has been featured in several recent blogs, including The Fabricators Magazine you can also find her on her YouTube channel and social media Instagram page. @thefashionwelder

Check out Episode 42 of Mothers In Construction Podcast - Move Over Bob with Angela Cacace. Angela has spent the last fifteen years tackling male dominated trades work. Originally from Guam, Angela spent most of her life in the Washington D.C. area where her love for skilled trades began as a classically trained barber. It was in 2013, with the purchase of her first home in NC, that she began her pursuit into her construction career and her mission to find and thank women who have paved the way before her.

She is the creator of Move Over Bob, an online publication, www.moveoverbob.com, that features stories of bonafide trailblazers to encourage and empower women to pursue construction and trades careers. In addition to her work and commitment to Move Over Bob, Angela operates her own remodel, design, and custom carpentry business out of North Carolina, A. Marie Design Build LLC, (www.amariedesignbuild.com) where she works with homeowners to create one of a kind spaces of their dreams.  

Move Over Bob is a movement that encourages women to roll up their sleeves and take their place within the industry. It represents confidence, strength and power. Listen to her story ! Subscribe so you don’t miss a beat and if you like what you hear please leave us a review. 

Check out  Episode 41 of Mothers In Construction Podcast - Girls Can Do Anything with Mollie Elkman, author of The House That She Built and Amanda Jewell , author of Panda the Project Manager - Builds Her First Home. Both of these ladies have authored books that encourage representation of women in the construction industry through children's literature. It’s important for us to normalize women being in our industry by showing our children it’s possible. Reading about it allows them to dream and explore endless possibilities.

Mollie Elkman is a mom and the owner and president of Group Two, a national full-service marketing partner for home builders. With a deep understanding of new home marketing and a forward-thinking approach, Mollie has helped continue to keep Group Two at the forefront of the industry for over 50 years. She has shared her thoughts with thousands across the housing industry, including business owners, builders, and sales and marketing professionals. Mollie is the author of the children's book, The House that She Built, published by NAHB Builder Books. She is passionate about proactively sharing the successes of those in housing in order to diversify and grow the number of people in the skilled trades.

Amanda Jewell is a mom of two girls, who are growing up around the construction industry and are fascinated by the home building process just like their mom. Her family has been in the home building industry and has been for over 40 years, French Brothers Homes. Amanda's father is currently building his personal home and does not have time to do many of the tasks involved, so he asked her for help. She became Panda the Project Manager. During this building process, and through the family business, Amanda has seen first-hand the challenges women face in construction, as well as the fascination little girls have with home construction.

Additionally, Amanda has a Masters in Mental Health Counseling, and am a Nationally Board Certified Counselor. She has worked with adults, children, and teens individually and facilitated group counselors for teens and adults. With a family history in construction and a background in counseling Amanda combines STEM themes with emotional and social development in children’s literature.