Designer and builder Jasmine Roth won’t back down from a challenge and that trait has served her well navigating a career in skilled trades. Navigating leadership and motherhood have all taught her something unique about her career in construction.
What has your journey into construction and home renovation taught you about the value of skilled trades?
They are irreplaceable. I mean, the need for skilled trades is greater than I think anybody realizes. And there’s never enough people for the amount of work that there is available. And that’s in some ways great for an upcoming generation of people that are looking to join the workforce. In other ways, it makes it really hard for us to be able to do our jobs because, you know, as builders and designers and developers, you’re only as good as the people you work with, truly.
And so the skilled trades are irreplaceable, but there’s a huge barrier to entry in regards to entering the skilled trades. There isn’t maybe quite so clear of a career path as, say, a doctor or a nurse where you know you have to do X amount of schooling, then X amount of on-site training, and all of that. Some of the trades have pretty clear career paths, but others, you just have to be on the job.
And the word “skilled” is so important, because it does take a long time to get that skill level to where it needs to be for some of these trades. I have a huge amount of respect for skilled trades. And, again, we’re only as good as the people that we work with. I hope that more people will choose to join skilled trades as a career, because there’s going to be even more of a need. It’s a constant demand.
What do you wish more people understood about people in skilled trades?
If people have made a career out of doing something, it’s because there is a career to be made out of it. You can’t DIY the things that these folks are doing. I think the do-it-yourself mentality is booming because of social media. That’s great if you want to do or try something yourself, as long as it’s within your skill set. But all of us have a different threshold for where we should be DIYing and where we really need to be calling a professional.
To me, it’s when it has anything to do with safety. Also when somebody has done this for their whole career, it’s ridiculous for us to think that we can watch a few videos and be as skilled. I think that understanding that the people who work in skilled trades are very skilled and that experience matters. It can’t be replaced in a DIY scenario.
Can you tell us about a tradesperson or mentor who has had a lasting impact on your career?
I didn’t go to school to be in design or to be a home builder. I went to business school. I accidentally fell into the world of construction, and to this day, the folks who were on the job site are the ones that I look up to. They taught me everything I know.
I had transferable skills that I was able to bring from corporate America into the construction world. But on the flip side, I knew nothing about building, and I knew nothing about what the trades did and how they actually did it. And I still feel like I know nothing. I love this job, because I get to learn every single day.
I’ve just sat, listened to, and asked questions of so many people. How are you doing this? How did you learn this? What if it didn’t work this way, and you had to do it this way? Just understanding a little bit of what they do and how they do it has helped me immensely in my career.
Also, a few general contractors who really have been great mentors to me and help me understand how to scale or not scale my business, how to take risks or how to not take risks, and how to connect trades. Any construction project is going to have so many people working together — it’s like building a pyramid. You have to have this strong foundation, but then you have to keep building. And each step has a different group of folks. So understanding how people work together and what they need to be happy in their individual roles has been huge for me.
What excites you most about the future of the skilled trades industry?
I think there is a bit more of a career path or path to success, whereas in the past, it was generational. “My dad does this, so now I do it.” It’s more acceptable to go into the skilled trades. It needs to be seen as a viable career path, because it is.
And also working to make sure the workforce is fair for women. That different needs are met like appropriate bathrooms and places to pump. I am excited to see women entering into the skilled trades though — that’s a big deal.
As a woman in a historically underrepresented industry, what has your experience been like, and what changes would you still like to see?
I accidentally entered this industry, and never once did it cross my mind that I shouldn’t be doing it because I’m a woman. But after getting into it, I realized that was a common thought. I realized how unique it was to be a woman in the construction industry. Now that was 15 years ago, so a lot has changed in that time. But it is nice to see that the lines have blurred in the sense that you don’t have to fill limited roles in the construction industry. You can do anything you want. And that’s really cool.
But also seeing a shift in folks being supportive of family life, which inevitably comes with being a woman. I’ve had to feed my baby on a construction site. I’ve had to leave work, because I have to go take my baby to the doctor. There are things that come up, and I feel like the acceptance of that is not where it should be, but it’s closer.
So I think for me it’s been hard in some ways, but it’s also been nice in some ways to have that challenge because that’s something that I thrive on. Being able to prove myself has really been kind of helpful to me. While there definitely have been days where it’s been very clear that I wasn’t welcome because I was a woman, there have been way more days where it’s been very clear that I have every right to be there, because I’m a woman.
Being able to differentiate myself in that manner has been hugely fulfilling in my career. It’s fun. I get to work towards that moment where somebody is like, “She should be here. I need her here.”
How do you hope your work influences the next generation of people considering careers in the trades?
The more representation we see, the better off we are. If we see somebody who looks like us, sounds like us, has something in common with us, suddenly that becomes an option for us.
Being able to be that person for so many folks, whether it’s somebody who’s never worked in construction, somebody who is a woman, or somebody young, and now, as I’m getting older, maybe it’s somebody older who’s thinking of getting into the trades.
For example, my oldest daughter is six. In her mind, women own warehouses, and they wear tool belts. They drive trucks, they run crews, and they get up early. Those things are just common to her, because that’s what she’s grown up with. I think that’s really cool, and I think that’s where we want to get to. If you want to be in this industry, there’s nothing holding you back. You go and do it.
