Building the scaffolding for a successful initiative

Turner Construction Company’s Vivienne Bross, Breana Roth and Shannan Plogsted participated in The Women’s Fund’s Corporate Mastermind Program, and have now started a group within Turner that is focused on developing women employees’ skills and creating opportunities for mentorship.

“When I entered the field, there were not many women for me to look to as a mentor,” said Roth, an Assistant Superintendent with Turner. “I knew that it would be important to participate in the Mastermind program to ensure that young women do have role models in the field.”

Through the focused Mastermind sessions, the women started exploring the culture for women in the construction field. 

“We started with roundtables,” said Bross, Turner’s Marketing Manager. “We wanted to get a baseline, and understand what topics would be relevant for the women in our company and our industry. Based on that, we set up lectures, and decided on our big goals.”

The Corporate Mastermind program showed them the importance of collecting data and setting a plan with measurements. At each turn, they evaluated their progress and worked through obstacles with other Mastermind participants. 

“One of my biggest aha! moments of the program was hearing that there are female-centered issues in other fields,” said Plogsted, a Project Manager with Turner. “I thought that some of my day-to-day challenges were isolated to construction. It was nice to know that other people face certain challenges as well, and it was even better to learn ways to tackle those challenges.” 

Understanding how to recruit and retain talented women doesn’t happen overnight. But these women from Turner have certainly built the scaffolding for a successful initiative. 

Vivienne, Breana, and Shannan, for your dedication to improving the work environment for women, you are THREE Strong Women!