Heather Brown is building up
Take a drive past campus on Stadium Boulevard, and they’re hard to miss. Two tower cranes dominate the skyline, reaching up 150 feet in the air before stretching across the complex of buildings and construction sites at the University of Missouri Hospital and Clinics. Somewhere in a trailer below is a woman who’s been doing a little reaching of her own.
Heather Brown, project coordinator for JE Dunn Construction Company, has been in the business since she was 19. With two years of college under her belt, she and her husband, Dale, owned and ran a commercial construction company. They had started a family, and the long hours and travel forced them to step back and reevaluate.
Sort of. Dale qualified to drive for UPS, while Heather remained in construction, albeit working for someone else. The change meant that she spent most of her days in town rather than on the road, which allowed her to see a lot more of her children.
“Having kids has changed my attitude,” Brown said. “Things come up, and you have to adjust. You have to let go of the perfectionism.”
It’s hard to imagine what she let go. Brown is the mother of four children between the ages of 5 and 11 and works eight to 10 hours a day coordinating a $203 million construction project. She also completes her bachelor’s degree from William Woods University in May. And she’s training for a marathon.
She reveals her secret by opening a vast calendar, the byproduct of what is surely an impeccable gift for organization. Inside, a rainbow of highlighted appointments and activities jostle for attention. She has created the calendar for her grandmother, parents and in-laws who help raise her children, but it offers a peek into her professional life as well.
“In my job I get to be the glue that pulls everybody together,” she said. “It’s like managing kids with everyone’s schedules and deadlines and all the interactions with individuals. There’s squabbling sometimes, too, but everyone’s working together with the same outcome in mind. It’s a lot like raising a family.”
The best thing about her job, Brown said, is getting to watch each project grow and progress. No one project is alike, and the different layouts, techniques and technologies keep her engaged and motivated. The recent move toward sustainability is one example of how fluid and dynamic her work can be.
“It’s like piecing together a complex puzzle of work by all these different craftsmen,” she said. “Later we get to step backward after years of working together with a group of people. We can say, ‘Look, this is what we did.’”
One of the things Brown has learned about working in a male-dominated field is that respect has to be earned. Having a thick skin and keeping a sense of humor are invaluable and can guard against taking things too personally.
“What I do like about men is their open, upfront personalities,” she said. “They can chew each other out and then go out and have a drink together.” Having grown up with male cousins, Brown always felt like one of the guys. She said it all comes down to treating others honestly — and not being afraid to try new things.
“I tell my kids there are no limits, only the ones you put on yourself.”
Heather Brown, project coordinator for JE Dunn Construction Company, has been in the business since she was 19. With two years of college under her belt, she and her husband, Dale, owned and ran a commercial construction company. They had started a family, and the long hours and travel forced them to step back and reevaluate.
Sort of. Dale qualified to drive for UPS, while Heather remained in construction, albeit working for someone else. The change meant that she spent most of her days in town rather than on the road, which allowed her to see a lot more of her children.
“Having kids has changed my attitude,” Brown said. “Things come up, and you have to adjust. You have to let go of the perfectionism.”
It’s hard to imagine what she let go. Brown is the mother of four children between the ages of 5 and 11 and works eight to 10 hours a day coordinating a $203 million construction project. She also completes her bachelor’s degree from William Woods University in May. And she’s training for a marathon.
She reveals her secret by opening a vast calendar, the byproduct of what is surely an impeccable gift for organization. Inside, a rainbow of highlighted appointments and activities jostle for attention. She has created the calendar for her grandmother, parents and in-laws who help raise her children, but it offers a peek into her professional life as well.
“In my job I get to be the glue that pulls everybody together,” she said. “It’s like managing kids with everyone’s schedules and deadlines and all the interactions with individuals. There’s squabbling sometimes, too, but everyone’s working together with the same outcome in mind. It’s a lot like raising a family.”
The best thing about her job, Brown said, is getting to watch each project grow and progress. No one project is alike, and the different layouts, techniques and technologies keep her engaged and motivated. The recent move toward sustainability is one example of how fluid and dynamic her work can be.
“It’s like piecing together a complex puzzle of work by all these different craftsmen,” she said. “Later we get to step backward after years of working together with a group of people. We can say, ‘Look, this is what we did.’”
One of the things Brown has learned about working in a male-dominated field is that respect has to be earned. Having a thick skin and keeping a sense of humor are invaluable and can guard against taking things too personally.
“What I do like about men is their open, upfront personalities,” she said. “They can chew each other out and then go out and have a drink together.” Having grown up with male cousins, Brown always felt like one of the guys. She said it all comes down to treating others honestly — and not being afraid to try new things.
“I tell my kids there are no limits, only the ones you put on yourself.”
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