24 the educational and networking opportunities UAPA provides. Members go to events such as golf tournaments and conferences to make connections and meet clients. Attending gets us more asphalt jobs. How did you get involved with Women of Asphalt? Darlene Batatian, our Client Development Manager, has many connections and told me about Women of Asphalt. She was really excited about it, and our Materials Manager, Sy Winkelman, was very supportive. I’ve been a member since January 2021. She also suggested that I get involved in another association, Women in Safety, in 2020. I went to a couple of their meetings before the pandemic shutdown. I’ve been able to get the newsletters and things from Women of Asphalt, but I haven’t gone to many events because of COVID-19. I’m excited to go to those soon. Why did you join the association? I joined UAPA for the connections. Working with asphalt can be a lot of fun, and it is always changing. When industry practices change, UAPA helps us learn what’s going on in the industry. That helps us to stay on top of changes with our testing. I wanted to join Women of Asphalt when I found out about it after joining Women in Safety. The construction industry is not tailored for women. These associations give women a chance to get together, learn and grow, and make things better as women in the industry. How has Women of Asphalt been benefited you? The information in the newsletters has been really nice. When the pandemic eases up and I feel safe going to their events, Women of Asphalt will help me learn more about asphalt and help me make connections and network. I would have liked to go to the Staker Parsons tour. Has anyone mentored you? If yes, please tell us about that. Darlene Batatian has been awesome. She reaches out with suggestions to help me grow within the company. Another person I have appreciated is our Lab Manager, Cory Schwendiman. He hired me even though I had no experience, and he has been great about teaching me everything I needed to know. Over the last 1.5 years, he has helped me get my lab certs by helping me enroll in the classes. He is always helping me improve. If I don’t know how to run a test, he teaches me, and I get certified in it. He has helped me grow quite a bit. What advantage is there for women members of UAPA and Women of Asphalt? I think it’s valuable because the networking opportunities and the connections you make put your name out there in the industry. You get to know other companies and individuals, and sometimes there are opportunities to help the people you’ve met. Once you have shown you are a good resource, you can become a mentor to other people. If you could talk to other women about a career in your industry, what would you tell them? It’s empowering. My work was a struggle for me at first because my job involves a lot of heavy lifting. I have to lift asphalt chunks that weigh 30-50 pounds over and over and move them around every day. It was tough to do that initially, but looking back, I can do a lot more than I used to. Also, I had never used power tools. Now I am totally comfortable with them. I recently used a power drill and put together a playhouse for my children. Would you please tell us about your family? I have two children. My son is four years old, and my daughter is eight years old. My son loves taking me to the park. He has a really cool toolset that is better than mine because he has to have real tools. He takes apart everything he can. What’s fun is that I know when he plans to do something because he asks for his safety glasses. He is definitely going to be building things or taking them apart to figure out how they work when Terracon has grown in Utah because there was a lot of time to look for projects after the pandemic shutdown started. We have gotten busier and busier and busier since the pandemic started. continued from page 23
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