Featured Producer Member of the Month: Banks Construction Highlights Women in the Asphalt Industry!

Women currently comprise 9% of the construction industry as a whole. At Banks Construction from the field to the office, women make an indispensable contribution to our teams and projects. As truck drivers, on road crews, and as a part of our traffic control team we recognize that we need women to join the industry and rise in the ranks within our workforce to close the labor gap and increase performance and productivity. We interviewed a few of our top ladies on their experiences in the Asphalt/Paving industry and this is what they said…

Questions and Answers:

Q1. How did you get into the asphalt industry?

• “My mom!” (We love our mother-daughter driver duo!) (Takreem & Keturah)
• I drove a garbage truck and handled 1,200-2,000 garbage cans per day. I started driving for a rental trucking company for Banks a few nights a week and loved it. (Vanessa Grant)
•  I started as a temp when I was 19 and worked my way up! (Carline Taylor)

2. What do you like about the asphalt industry?

• The sense of pride knowing you are helping improve your community’s roads. (Collette Bracey)
• Every day is different. Roles at the plant can change daily based on the production needs, and tri-axle drivers often travel various routes to multiple jobs. (Lou Mizell)
• Traffic Control employees are the first on the job and the last to leave. They are extremely important to our crews AND the traveling public! (Angela Gadsden-Townes)

3. What words of advice do you have for women looking for a career in the paving industry?

• “Go for it!” - All the women interviewed each said these exact three words, and we completely agree.
• You can do anything you put your mind to. The men you work with may be skeptical at first, but it’s a fun challenge to prove that you can keep up. They’ll come around quickly! (Carline Taylor)

Banks Construction women pictured:

Angela Gadsden-Townes (Traffic Control)
Carline Taylor (Traffic Control)
Lucinda Mizzell (Plant)
Savannah Hathaway (Logistics)
Keturah Kemmerlin (Transportation)
Takreem Collins (Transportation)
Collette Bracey (Transportation)
Solo shot: Vanessa Grant (Transportation)

And Banks colleagues:

Brent Evans
Johnny Leviner
Bill Zobel

Thank you Banks Construction for your continued support of Women in the Asphalt Industry!