Anything you can do…

March 7, 2019

Back when I started in this business, I had very few women counterparts or females in the construction business world to look up to and aspire to be like because of the sheer lack of numbers.  It felt very lonely and very much like I was on an island, population one. There were plenty of great...Read More...

The Hard Way Every Time

October 3, 2018

How exactly does one learn to be The Brick Chick?  In a simple and accurate answer that I can say with certainty from my own pain staking yet valuable experiences on the matter – the hard way. I’ll never forget the first IDOT project we were awarded back in 2002 in downtown Western...Read More...

I’m Just a Girl in the World

March 9, 2018

Women are arguably the most powerful beings in the world.  Having to face and rise above adversity, multi-tasking through life and continually problem solving are capabilities that are just about hardwired into our beings.  We are built to overcome and persevere through the world’s most...Read More...

If I Were A Boy (20 Years in the Making)

November 16, 2017

20 years ago I made my sheepish entry into a male dominated industry (that still is today) which I knew absolutely nothing about.  As a matter of fact, I knew nothing at all at that time.  I was still a snot nosed kid that confused my rear end with a hole in the ground.  I was...Read More...

Things that make you go HMM…

September 8, 2017

  In the wake of Harvey (and now Irma and Jose), flooding and the underlying issue of storm water management are at the front of everyone’s brains.  As a society, we tend to react in a heightened emotional state about these matters, as they are usually only ideas that are pondered in...Read More...

She’s Going to Change the World

May 30, 2017

You can take the girl out of West Chicago, but you can’t take the West Chicago out of the girl, as they say.  I have spent some time pondering this notion in the aftermath of our successful grand opening of our new building and while celebrating all of the advances and milestones we have...Read More...

Home Sweet Home

December 29, 2016

As we have come to the end of another fruitful and fortunate year, I reflect back on the changes and exciting things that we have accomplished.  With each passing year, we realize that while some things change, other things inevitably do stay the same.  And that with those changes bring the...Read More...

Everybody’s Workin’ for the Weekend

September 2, 2016

I found myself thinking about labor with the honoree holiday on the horizon and what it means to me and the rest of this country.  To labor has various definitions...   as defined by Webster, we understand that labor means to work and it also defines the process of childbirth (the most...Read More...

I Changed By Not Changing At All

July 28, 2016

It’s funny (in life and in business) how some things change so frequently and with such rapidness while others are timeless and remain unchanged and unaltered for decades, even centuries.  I recently got to thinking about this when we added the latest box truck to our expanding...Read More...

The Brick Chick was born

May 16, 2016

Once upon a time that seems as if it were eons ago (although it was only 2003), when cell phones were walkie-talkies and plans were only printed on paper, I found myself in a trailer on a job site at a beautiful golf course where we were constructing a large amount of segmental block retaining...Read More...