Bulletin Board Magazine, 2017 Volume 4

Professional Women in Building

PROFESSIONAL WOMEN in Building By Giovanna E. Pergola

Giovanna E. Pergola

I just want to say WOW! When we charted the Professional Women in Building of the Garden State at the NAHB National Convention in January 2016, I never imagined just how far we would come in such a short amount of time. Just one year later our small council was presented with two awards at the 2017 Nationals, we expanded our community outreach with multiple donations and collections efforts, and provided an amazing educational program for one of our new community organizations. So much has happened this past year, which I believe will lead to even bigger and better things for 2018. As part of the NAHB National Awards, PWBGS entered and won two awards for Innovative Programs, and the other for Community Outreach. As part of the award, NAHB provided funding for a scholarship program which we created the criteria for, and awarded locally. We are pleased to present scholarships to Georgette Kyriacou of FWH Associates who is studying Surveying Engineering Technology at NJIT & Luiza Pessoa Guazzelli of Dynamic Engineering who is majoring in Civil Engineering at Rutgers University. Congratulations to these scholarship recipients and we look forward to watching these two rising stars continue to flourish in our industry.

During 2017 we contributed to several community organizations as part of our philanthropic efforts. Over the summer we collected school supplies for the United Way of Monmouth & Ocean Counties. We partnered with a student from Manasquan High School, Marilyn Bolderman, and were able to almost double our donations over the previous year. During our annual BBQ on the Beach our members were asked to bring donations for the Monmouth County SPCA Pet Pantry, and our members were as generous as ever. Thank you to Marlen Kroll for spearheading this donation drive! And lastly, our members formed a team and walked to benefit HOPE Sheds Light, a local resource for addiction and recovery. One of my favorite community programs this year was our “Girl Power!” Event with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Monmouth & Middlesex Counties that took place on Saturday, September 30th. Myself, Kelly Flillar, Kristin Marzarella, Georgette Kyriacou, and Jackie Giordano worked with several “Littles” & their “Bigs” to share our experiences and the opportunities that exist for women in the building industry. After our short presentation, we sat with the girls and helped them create their vision boards. It truly was an inspiring and fun day!

We literally hit the ground running and have gained a tremendous amount of momentum and membership growth. As I am stepping down as President of the council, I would like to take a moment to thank Shore Builders, Gina, Chris, and all the PWBGS members for their support with all of these programs and events we have successfully administered the past two years. I would like to wish our incoming President, Georgette Kyriacou, and Officers, Vice President Stephanie Shaffery, and Secretary Kelly Flillar, as well as the new committee chairs the best of luck in 2018. As Immediate Past President, I will look forward to working with the council to promote our mission, which is dedicated to promoting and supporting all aspects of building and empowering women within the industry.

Bulletin Board | 35 | www.shorebuilders.org

Bulletin Board | 36 | www.shorebuilders.org