Angela's 30 year career included time as a FIFO (fly-in, fly-out) worker in a 2000 person remote camp with 100 women working 28 day rotations. She shares her passion for ensuring our industry values everyone and that no person should have to endure the challenges she and others face. Angela's advice for industry leaders is to engage with grass roots change agents, and that we must "all band together" to make this work. We need everyone to "be a good human"

Howard challenges organizations to consider a powerful question: What if inclusion were approached with the same rigor and accountability as safety in the construction industry?

Drawing from decades of experience, he shares insights on recognizing bias, strengthening leadership responsibility, and building cultures where inclusion is embedded — not optional.

This conversation offers practical perspective for leaders committed to driving lasting cultural change.

Denise shares candid reflections on often being the only woman of color in the room, navigating bias, and persevering through intense scrutiny — including 1,200 audits on a major project that ultimately found no wrongdoing. Her story is one of resilience, integrity, and staying grounded in your values.

This conversation underscores why listening to lived experiences matters. It builds empathy, exposes unconscious bias, and strengthens leadership. Denise’s advice is powerful and practical: be true to yourself, truly hear others, and actively practice allyship.

Such great advice from three extraordinary leaders in the construction industry. While each of us wants to be known simply as a leader who is good at her craft, women thriving in construction requires a long-term investment in women—a vision that supports women not at the expense of men but in support of everyone—to make it work. And it requires out-of-the-box thinking. When Elizabeth came back to work thirteen years ago part time in the field it was unheard of, but it worked.

The vision for this podcast began when I saw a picture of the all female Mortenson Construction winning proposal team for the Denver Summit women's professional soccer program. Men will lead and thrive on this team as well, but a long-term investment in women made it possible. Many thanks to Maya Erickson, Elizabeth Erfling, and Jessica Ostoyich for sharing your wisdom with our audience.

At an industry conference, APGA CEO Steve Davies publicly acknowledged the absence of women on a senior leader panel — and challenged the industry to do better. That moment led to the creation of the APGA Women’s Leadership Development Program, modeled after a similar initiative at the American Gas Association.

The program, designed to retain and advance women in the pipeline industry, sold out its first cohort in 24 hours. Seven cohorts and 175 participants later, 90% report increased confidence, and many have experienced measurable career growth.

This conversation highlights how courageous leadership and intentional investment can drive meaningful progress in inclusion and workforce development.

WMFDP partners with leaders to build cultures rooted in courage, consciousness, and competency — environments where people feel seen, connected, supported, and proud to belong.

Bill shares the origin of his work, recognizing that people experience systems differently, and emphasizes that inclusion is not about blame or shame. It’s about acknowledging systemic unearned advantages and equipping leaders to steward meaningful, sustainable cultural change.

This conversation challenges leaders to engage thoughtfully and lead inclusively.

We’re joined by Erica Jones, Vice President of MMC Corporation and Founder of On The Rise, a program designed to elevate women in construction through focused leadership workshops. In addition to leading marketing for a $1.2 billion organization, Erica actively champions mentorship, advocacy, and intentional support for women and minorities across the industry.

She shares practical insights on building strong teams, scaling marketing operations during significant company growth, and why lifting others up ultimately strengthens the entire industry.

Her message is simple: advocate for one another, mentor intentionally, and embrace the diverse perspectives that make organizations better.

IIWIC is not here to replicate efforts to attract, develop, and retain women in construction. We bring passion, we support effective strategies, we accelerate efforts. We share the success stories that inspire action and move needles. 

This pilot project finished on time, on budget, and people worked 21 days less with no loss in take home pay and no loss in productivity. RMIT's academic research showed an improvement in engagement and wellbeing. The project had 21% women and over 8% women in the trades versus the typical 2-3% (a third of the senior leadership was female as well). 

With A$118 B in infrastructure projects in the state over the next four years, NSW is committed to creating a more gender balanced construction industry to facilitate success. An initial A$20.2 million investment has been renewed, funding strategies such as choosing 23 pilot projects with a full time person dedicated to the effort and over 30 $300,000 entrepreneurial grants to fund trail strategies to attract and retain women. As Margot says, this is not a challenge that will be solved in three years, and men must be a part of the conversation.