Women in Construction Week: Jodi Raborne’s Journey to AWP

For the past 24 years, the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) has coordinated Women in Construction (WIC) Week. This year, with a theme of “Envision Equity,” NAWIC hopes to empower more women to seek roles in the male-dominated industry of construction.

At AWP, we have always employed dedicated, hardworking women on our teams, and can proudly say that 25% of our workforce is female. This is just one of the many reasons why we happily support NAWIC and WIC Week every year.

Recently, we spoke with AWP team member Jodi Raborne, whose work history includes 4 years as a project manager for a North Carolina construction firm. Raborne’s job was to manage crews who were renovating extended-stay hotel properties. “It was very demanding, and we were usually managing 3 properties at a time,” Raborne says. “You really had to know how to manage the budgets as well as manage people.”

Her hard work paid off, as she was regularly the top-performing project manager for the company due to her ability to stay on task and on budget. “It was always worth it at the end because you would have a beautiful new building to show for it,” says Raborne.

When her family relocated to Florida 8 years ago, she had to leave her construction job behind. Soon after the move, family friend Bobby Fowler, now a regional manager at AWP, reached out to offer her a job at his office doing billing and invoicing for Florida clients. “Bobby used to joke that I would never make it in the field because it was so different than what I did in my construction job,” Raborne says. “Little did he know, within 4 years I would be promoted to an Assistant Manager, working in the field with my team regularly.”

Raborne says that the biggest difference between working at AWP and her previous construction job is the fast pace. “You’re learning something new every day, and always working somewhere different,” she says. “No two days are the same, and that makes it challenging  – and fun.”

The best part of her job, Raborne says, is getting to engage with both her team and her clients every day. “I love that you are never working alone. Whether explaining traffic plans to your customer, working a zone with your partner, or connecting as a team during a safety meeting, there is always someone to share the day with.”

Thank you, Jodi, for sharing your story with us!

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Interested in joining Team AWP? View current job postings.