Wine After Work is designed for women who are ready to embrace their autonomy and take full ownership of their careers. Join us as we learn from one another and dive into meaningful conversations. In a landscape where women remain underrepresented across various industries! While I focus on the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction sectors, our discussions feature an incredible lineup of women from diverse fields—female founders, CEOs, entrepreneurs, creatives, and inspiring trailblazers. Hosted by Bryce Batts, this podcast inspires and empowers you to attract and retain top talent!
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November 11, 2026Episode 3822 min
Why AEC Firms Can't Find Candidates: The Four Reasons Behind Open Seats
A senior civil PE seat has been open for eight months, and the firm's explanation is "nobody's applied." In this solo episode, Bryce Batts takes on the most common thing AEC firm leaders say about hiring: the candidates just aren't out there. Drawing on 20+ years of AEC recruiting and a database of 171,000 architects and engineers, Bryce explains why the headline jobs numbers say nothing about the person you need to hire. She covers the four system failures that keep firms from finding people and walks through a real week of "recruiting on offense," from the search to the phone call to the hire. This episode is for AEC owners, principals and leadership teams with a seat that's been open too long, and for anyone who suspects the problem might not be the market. About Bryce Batts Bryce Batts is co-CEO of Career Collective, an AEC-only recruiting firm, and founder of Bryce Batts Consulting. She has 20+ years of recruiting experience in architecture, engineering and construction and has personally placed 800+ professionals. She's a certified career coach, the Amazon bestselling author of The Career Architect, and host of Women in AEC: Wine After Work. What We Cover Why "the candidates aren't out there" is the most expensive belief in AEC hiring What the national jobs numbers miss about licensed, specialized talent How "they disappeared" differs from "they stopped applying" Four reasons firms stop finding people: posting as the only net, searching for the resume instead of the person, slow decisions, and no clear owner How slow hiring quietly filters out your strongest candidates A week of recruiting on offense: the 50 to 15 to 5 to 1 funnel Why Career Collective chose not to use AI for first candidate calls Three free things to do before next Friday Career Collective is hiring recruiters for 2027 Key Takeaways Applicants usually make up 5 to 10 percent of the people a real search ends up talking to. The rest have to be found. Split every job description into must-haves and nice-to-haves, then search on the must-haves only. If a decision takes six weeks, your best candidate is already gone. Name one person who knows every Monday who the firm talked to last week and who it's talking to this week. Use technology for the search and keep a human on the first conversation. Resources + Links Career Collective: https://www.mycareercollective.com Bryce Batts Consulting: www.brycebatts.co The Career Architect by Bryce Batts Interested in recruiting with Career Collective? Message Bryce on LinkedIn.
November 4, 2026Episode 3835 min
The Confidence to Speak Up: Lessons in Career Growth in Architecture
Maria Skoutari never planned to become a mentor, a Part 3 examiner, or a podcast host. She started with a love of art, found architecture almost by accident, and later created Part3 With Me because no one had explained to her what the final qualification would ask of her. In this episode, Maria tells the story of how a podcast she expected no one to hear turned into mentoring, mock interviews, and invitations from universities. She talks candidly about being an introvert in a predominantly male industry, what good mentors did to bring her forward, and the advice she gives the young architects she mentors. She also describes the moment she was handed site monitoring and payment certificates with a colleague about to leave. This episode is for women building careers in AEC, early-career architects heading toward qualification, and firm leaders who want to understand what helps junior talent stay and grow. About Maria Skoutari Maria Skoutari is an associate architect in the UK with a decade of experience across residential, commercial, and mixed-use projects, from large masterplans to bespoke high-end homes. She is a Part 3 External Examiner at the University of Westminster and The Bartlett School of Architecture, has mentored through the RIBA Future Architects Student Mentoring Programme at Oxford Brookes University, and leads an internal program for architectural assistants at her firm. She founded and hosts Part3 With Me, a podcast for architectural assistants and emerging architects. She is also the first architect in her family. Find her at part3withme.com and on LinkedIn. What We Cover Maria's path from art to architecture How the UK route to qualification works, and why it takes seven years Why Part 3 felt like a brand new world, and why she started the podcast How a podcast became mentoring, mock interviews, and an examiner role What it was like to be one of few women in a predominantly male profession How introversion held her back, and how experience and her podcast changed that What women entering the profession struggle with now What good mentorship looks like, and what she is learning from mentors today Networking advice for people who dread big rooms Saying yes before she felt ready, from concept design to site inspections Large practices versus small practices Where to find Maria and closing thoughts Key Takeaways Good mentors play to your strengths. Visibility that comes from what you do best lasts longer than visibility you fake. Many mentees don't need answers. They need someone to listen while they think out loud. If big rooms are hard, look for rooms of about eight people. Smaller groups make conversation easier. Most people are more concerned with how they come across than with your question. Ask it. Stretch roles feel terrifying, but there are usually colleagues willing to sit with you through the learning curve. Resources + Links Maria on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariaskoutari/ Part3 With Me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/part3-with-me/ Part3 With Me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/part3withme/ Part3 With Me website: https://www.part3withme.com/ Part3 With Me podcast: available on Spotify, Apple, Amazon, and other platforms Career Collective: https://www.mycareercollective.com
October 28, 2026Episode 3735 min
Hire Smarter, Let Go, and Lead: Building a Sustainable Business as a Woman in AEC
What happens when you realize being a great leader doesn't mean being the smartest person in the room? This week on Women in AEC: Wine After Work , Bryce Batts sits down with Annie Bevan, founder and CEO of the Sustainability Management & Strategy Collaborative (SMSC), for a candid conversation about entrepreneurship, building successful teams, navigating leadership as a woman, and knowing when it's time to let go. Founders often feel like they need to do everything themselves. Annie has built her business around a different philosophy: hire people who are better than you at something, give them ownership, and trust them to do their jobs. But trust also requires accountability, clear expectations, and a willingness to have the difficult conversations that many leaders avoid. Annie shares how her unexpected unexpected path from being afraid of thunderstorms to studying climatology eventually led her into sustainability leadership and entrepreneurship. She discusses her work helping advance the Common Materials Framework, why collaboration is critical to making meaningful changes in the built environment, and how she's built a business that operates across multiple industries. Bryce and Annie also get into the realities of growing a company: balancing autonomy with accountability, recognizing when a talented employee may no longer be the right fit for the business, and understanding that the people who help you launch a company aren't always the people who will help you scale it. They also explore what changes for women when they reach executive leadership, why trusting your own expertise matters, and how priorities shift after decades of working hard to build a successful career. Whether you're an entrepreneur, a woman working toward a leadership position, or a firm leader trying to build a stronger team, Annie's perspective offers practical lessons about leadership, growth, and knowing when to get out of your own way. Because sometimes the most important thing you can do as a leader is recognize that you don't have to do it all. About Annie Bevan Annie Bevan is the founder and CEO of the Sustainability Management & Strategy Collaborative (SMSC), a company working across the built environment, life sciences, and EPR and packaging industries. Through its divisions, Parallel and Verico, SMSC provides fractional sustainability staffing, strategic consulting, and independent third-party verification services. With more than 20 years of experience in manufacturing, ecolabel and standard development, certification, and nonprofit and for-profit leadership, Annie has helped shape the conversation around sustainable products and materials. Previously serving as President and CEO of mindful MATERIALS, Annie helped lead the development of the Common Materials Framework (CMF), an industry-wide approach to organizing sustainability information that informs leading building standards and initiatives, including LEED v5, WELL v2, the Living Building Challenge, and the AIA Materials Pledge. A former competitive soccer player, Annie brings a team-oriented perspective to leadership. She believes in hiring people who excel where she doesn't, creating clear accountability, and building organizations where everyone has the opportunity to contribute their strengths. And in a particularly relatable leadership moment, Annie admits that her managing director has officially banned her from Excel! Connect with Annie: Website: https://www.smscollaborative.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-bevan-78402b31/ What We Cover Annie's unexpected journey from a childhood fear of thunderstorms to climatology, sustainability, and entrepreneurship. Why sustainability must work within the economic and business realities companies face today. Maintaining an abundance mindset even when the news and industry challenges feel overwhelming. Why Annie founded SMSC and how she's built a business that works across industries. The letter from 95 building product manufacturers that challenged architects to rethink sustainability conversations. Why the building industry needed a common definition and language for sustainable materials. How the Common Materials Framework is helping create healthier, more sustainable buildings, including schools and hospitals. Why clear job descriptions, accountability, and RACI charts are essential when growing a team. The employee who said "not yet" to a promotion and what that taught Annie about changing career priorities. Why Annie believes everyone she hires should be better than her at something. Recognizing when a talented employee isn't necessarily the right person for the company's next stage of growth. Having difficult conversations early instead of allowing challenges to grow. The unique experiences and challenges women face in sustainability, construction, and executive leadership. Why confidence and trusting your expertise become even more important as you advance. What Annie wants her next chapter to look like after years of demanding work schedules and building successful organizations. Key Takeaways 1. Great leaders don't have to be great at everything. If you're the most knowledgeable person in every area of your business, you've created a ceiling for growth. Hiring people who bring expertise you don't have is how you build something bigger than yourself. 2. Trust and accountability go hand in hand. Giving people autonomy doesn't mean removing structure. Clear job descriptions, defined responsibilities, and a RACI chart help employees understand expectations while giving them the freedom to succeed. 3. The right employee for one stage of business may not be the right employee for the next. Growing a business requires different skills at different stages. Someone can be incredibly talented and still not be the right fit for where the company needs to go. 4. Career growth looks different for everyone. Not everyone wants the next promotion, the bigger title, or additional responsibility. Great leaders recognize that employees have different goals and that respecting those goals creates stronger teams. 5. Difficult conversations are part of good leadership. Avoiding uncomfortable conversations doesn't help your employees or your business. Addressing challenges early, clearly, and respectfully creates opportunities for growth and better outcomes. 6. Women in leadership need to trust their expertise. Reaching the executive level brings new opportunities, but also different expectations and challenges. Knowing your value, speaking with confidence, and surrounding yourself with the right people are critical to continued success. 7. Collaboration can create greater impact than competition. Annie's work in sustainable materials demonstrates what happens when organizations come together around shared goals. Progress doesn't always come from owning the solution; sometimes it comes from creating a structure that helps everyone move forward. Resources + Links Sustainability Management & Strategy Collaborative (SMSC): https://www.smscollaborative.com/ Annie Bevan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-bevan-78402b31/ Common Materials Framework (mindful MATERIALS): https://www.mindfulmaterials.com/a-common-language mindful MATERIALS: https://www.mindfulmaterials.com/ WELL Building Standard (International WELL Building Institute): https://www.wellcertified.com/ My Green Lab ACT Ecolabel: https://mygreenlab.org/programs/act-ecolabel/ About Women in AEC: Wine After Work Women in AEC: Wine After Work , hosted by Bryce Batts, brings together women from across the architecture, engineering, and construction industries for candid conversations about careers, leadership, entrepreneurship, personal growth, and the experiences that shape their journeys. From navigating challenges and breaking barriers to celebrating successes and sharing lessons learned, each episode highlights the stories and perspectives of women making an impact in the AEC industry. Pour yourself a glass and join the conversation!
October 21, 2026Episode 3640 min
Prioritization Beats Productivity: Autonomy, Appreciation, and Culture
Firms promote their strongest technical people into leadership and then give them almost no training. When a team struggles, leaders often blame the team. Amanda Van Der Heiden has seen this play out across dozens of organizations, and she argues the problem usually starts with how people are being led. Amanda and Bryce talk about how to get to the real reason someone wants out, and how to make core values stick after the launch. They cover how to adapt your leadership style without losing yourself, and what has to be in place before a leader can hand over real autonomy. Amanda explains appreciation styles and the platinum rule. She makes the case for prioritization over time management, and she shares how a 75-person company with no budget got a big initiative done anyway. This episode is for new managers, firm owners, and anyone who has been promoted for their technical skills and now leads people. About Amanda Van Der Heiden: Amanda Van Der Heiden partners with organizations on strategic learning, leadership development, and culture transformation. She has 20+ years of experience across people, project, and process management, and has led enterprise rollouts for 40+ companies in 15+ countries and 12+ industries. She's an award-winning speaker, consultant, coach, and author, with a master's in industrial/organizational psychology, CPTM certification, and credentials from ATD, SHRM, and McKinsey. She started her career in early childhood development and education, and today she's a working mom of two who blocks off 8 a.m. for the school and daycare run. What We Cover: Introduction and Amanda's background across 40 clients, 15 countries, and 12 industries What to do when someone says "this isn't for me anymore" Why a high performer going quiet should get leadership's attention Getting 3,000 people in five countries to live the same five core values Why a values poster on the wall doesn't change behavior The three stages of leadership: yourself, individuals, then teams Adapting your communication style for engineers, techies, and salespeople Why your C players might just need a different leader What has to be true before you hand over autonomy Appreciation styles and the platinum rule Why prioritization matters more than time management The Eisenhower matrix and the "one thing" question What a people-first culture actually takes The biggest mistake leaders make with culture change Boundaries, working in global markets, and parenting two small kids The career advice Amanda would retire for good Where to find Amanda and her free goal workbook + closing thoughts Key Takeaways: Before labeling someone a C player, check three things. Are they in the right role? Do they have processes that set them up to succeed? Do they have the support and tools they need? Autonomy needs structure first. Give people a clear picture of what good looks like, a plan with the right amount of management, and regular evaluation. High performers still want feedback on what to do better. Use the platinum rule when you give praise. Treat people the way they want to be treated. Public praise can make an introvert want to hide, while a quiet email can make an extrovert feel overlooked. Adapting your style isn't being fake. Amanda lowers her voice, shortens her sentences, and leads with data when she presents to technical audiences, because the goal is to be understood. Ask what one thing would make everything else on your list easier or unnecessary. If a task is neither important nor time-sensitive, take it off the list. Resources + Links: Amanda's free goal development workbook: GoGTDS.com Amanda on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandavanderheiden/ The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace by Gary Chapman and Paul White The Eisenhower Matrix The ONE Thing by Gary Keller (source of the "one thing" question Amanda references)
October 14, 2026Episode 3529 min
Nobody at Work Is Your Friend: Relationships, Boundaries, and the Right Fit
Every career advice list says to protect your relationships. Almost nobody explains what that looks like day to day. Julia Hurley has built a real estate business, a political career, and an athlete management company on relationships, so she knows the how. Julia and Bryce compare matchmaking in real estate and recruiting, and why buyers and candidates are both getting choosier. Julia explains how she teaches college athletes to be the CEO of their own lives by separating the people who support them from the people who manage their money and careers. She shares her rule of thumb for rental property and the "asset or liability" game she plays with her kids. She also explains why she believes nobody at work is your friend. The conversation ends with an honest look at what it takes to lead as a woman in the South. This episode is for professionals managing their own career moves, anyone who has blurred the line between coworkers and family, and women who are often one of the few in the room. About Julia Hurley: Julia Hurley is a broker and the owner of Just Homes Group, a boutique real estate firm in Knoxville, Tennessee, with fifteen years in the industry and a business built almost entirely on past-client referrals. She is a former elected official, an author, and the founder of an athlete management and mentorship company. That company helps college athletes build investments, financial literacy, and professional teams that last beyond their playing days. She's a die-hard Tennessee Vols fan and plays "asset or liability" with her kids to teach them how money works. Website: thejuliahurley.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juliahurley What We Cover: Introduction and Julia's path from public office to real estate to athlete management Why every industry Julia has worked in comes down to relationships How one athlete client turned into an athlete management business Why a burned bridge travels fast in niche industries like AEC What makes someone say yes to a move right now, and why buyers are getting choosier Real estate and recruiting as matchmaking Knoxville's growth, and what it can learn from Nashville's boom Teaching college athletes to be the CEO of their own lives Support system vs. management system The "asset or liability" game, and why your home is a liability The 1% rule for rental property The worst career lesson Julia learned: nobody in business is your friend Leading as a woman in the South Where to find Julia and her books + closing thoughts Key Takeaways: Separate your support system from your management system. The people who helped you get here deserve your loyalty. They don't automatically get a vote on your next move. Hire your advisors independently. When one stops fitting, you can replace that person without unraveling everything else. Work relationships need boundaries. You can golf with your boss and go to dinner at their house, but when "we're family" replaces clear expectations, people get hurt. The right fit has to line up on every front at once: location, people, money, and timing. That's true for a house and for a job. For women who are one of the few in the room, stepping into the conversation is not optional. If you don't insert yourself, you're out of it, even if no one meant to leave you out. Resources + Links: Julia's website: thejuliahurley.com Julia on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/juliahurley Just Homes Group: justhomesgroup.com Julia's books, a children's book and a real estate coaching book, available at thejuliahurley.com This episode includes discussion of real estate and investing for informational purposes only. Nothing in it is financial advice.
October 7, 2026Episode 3431 min
Leadership Is a Craft: High-Agency Leadership in AEC
Most AEC professionals move into leadership without any training for it. Engineering school didn't teach it and architecture school didn't either. So we copy whoever led us and hope it works. Zack Tomlin argues there's a better way, and that architects and engineers are wired to learn leadership as a craft. Zack built Maple Engineering from a two-person operation at a Raleigh public library into a 20-person firm and sold it after 12 years. He explains why leading highly technical experts calls for high-agency leadership instead of command-and-control. He walks through the five levels of his Mountain of Why and why emotional intelligence is only one leg of the stool. He gives principals a concrete exercise to try this week, and he lays out the ROI math on developing your leaders. This episode is for firm owners, principals, studio leads, and any technical professional who just got handed a team. About Zack Tomlin: Zack Tomlin, PE, is a mechanical engineer and 20+ year AEC industry veteran. He founded Maple Engineering and led it for 12 years, growing it to about 20 people through a successful acquisition. He is the national award-winning author of Craft: The Expedition of Business and founder of Your Craft Your Climb (YC2), a leadership development practice working exclusively with engineers, architects, construction managers, and other AEC professionals. His wife is an architect, so the industry follows him home. Website: yourcraftyourclimb.com | LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/zack-tomlin What We Cover: Introduction and Zack's background, from the Raleigh public library to Maple Engineering The shift from "an engineer with support staff" to a real organization at six to eight people Why designing an organization is human-centered design, like designing a building The Mountain of Why: five levels of decision-making, from copying others to first principles High-agency leadership and why sports and military analogies can stifle technical experts The leader's job: clarity in the face of external confusion, order in the face of internal chaos Why every firm needs a compelling story, and how that creates cohesion across offices Why emotional intelligence is only a third of effective leadership The staff experience journey, and the project folder that wasted everyone's time The ROI of leadership development for small and mid-size firms How engineers, architects, and construction managers tend to lead differently The leadership advice Zack thinks is wrong: "hire people smarter than you" Where to find Zack and his book, plus closing thoughts Key Takeaways: In AEC, your team often knows more about their piece of the work than you do. Your job is to create the conditions for them to make good calls on their own, not to direct every move. Leaders owe their teams two things: clarity about where you're going, and order around standards and accountability. Think traffic lights. Everyone knows the rules and what happens when you run one. Emotional intelligence is the price of admission. You also need a stronger mental model of people and organizations, and an understanding of how people prefer to work and solve problems. Walk your staff's workday like a customer journey this week. Open the files, find the SOP, wait on the software, and fix one point of friction. You're paying for very expensive brains. A studio lead running six or seven people oversees $700K to $1M in payroll. A $2,000 to $5,000 investment in that person needs well under a 1 to 2 percent improvement to pay off. Resources + Links: Your Craft Your Climb: yourcraftyourclimb.com Zack on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/zack-tomlin (subscribe to his biweekly newsletter on high-agency leadership) Craft: The Expedition of Business by Zack Tomlin: free copy at yourcraftyourclimb.com, you just pay shipping. Reach out to Zack directly for a signed copy.
September 30, 2026Episode 3329 min
The Leaky Bucket: Why Women Leave HVACR and What Leadership Can Actually Fix
Bryce just got back from Women in HVACR in Indianapolis, where she spoke to a room full of owners and managers about a number that should keep them up at night: women are leaving the trades at roughly three times the rate they are getting hired into them. Every job fair booth, every high school program, every recruiting push is water poured into a bucket with a hole in the bottom. This is not a DEI session. There is no slide arguing that diversity is good for business. This is a retention conversation built for the owner who has one woman on a crew of nine and cannot figure out why she is already looking, and for the leader watching a $22,000 replacement cost hit the P&L for the third time this year and calling it a fluke. Bryce walks through the real representation numbers, the four reasons women actually leave, the single factor that moves retention more than everything else combined, four shifts you can start this week, and a 30/60/90 day plan you can run without anyone's permission. There is also a self-audit exercise in the middle, so grab a pen or hit pause when you get there. For HVACR and trade firm owners, field managers, operations leaders, and anyone in AEC who is tired of paying to replace the same role over and over. About Bryce Bryce Batts is the co-CEO of Career Collective, an AEC-focused recruiting and coaching firm, and the founder of Bryce Batts Consulting, where she runs a 16-week engagement helping firms rebuild hiring, retention, and leadership systems. She has spent more than a decade recruiting in the built environment, is a certified career coach, the author of The Career Architect, and the host of Women in AEC: Wine After Work. She speaks regularly on talent systems, leadership, and women in the trades. What we cover Why women leaving HVACR is a leadership problem, not a pipeline problem The real representation numbers, and why the 45% growth stat is misleading What turnover actually costs, and why it never shows up on the P&L as turnover The four explanations leaders give, and what exit research says instead Reason one: harassment, and the 80% number that does more daily damage Reason two: isolation and why being the only one compounds everything Reason three: childcare, accommodations, and PPE that does not fit Reason four: the promotion path nobody ever wrote down The single biggest retention lever, and why most managers have never been told about it Four shifts, each with something you can do this week The stay audit exercise, and the one question to end it with A 30/60/90 day plan Key takeaways Recruiting harder makes a retention problem worse, not better. If the back door is open, more spend at the front door just means you lose more people faster while every metric on your recruiting dashboard says you are winning. The manager is the retention strategy. A positive relationship with a direct manager is consistently the number one retention factor for women in the trades. Not pay, not benefits, not the values page on your website. Turnover is a margin problem that got miscategorized as an HR problem. Replacing a skilled trade employee runs $15,000 to $30,000, and construction turnover can run 50% to 200% of the departing person's salary. It hides in overtime, recruiting spend, and callbacks. Practical barriers are operational fixes, not cultural ones. Properly fitting PPE, scheduling, and parental accommodations require someone to place an order and update a document. That is exactly why it is damning when they do not get done. Fix the system, not the individual. An arrangement you build for one person and never write down leaves when she does, and the next person fights the same fight alone. Do this week Pull your last three complaints and read what happened after they were filed. If the answer is "I talked to them," that is a conversation, not a resolution. Ask every person on your team what their next role is. If they cannot answer, neither can you. Pull your PPE and scheduling policies and ask who each one was designed for. Then go look at what is physically in the supply room. Name one connection point you can create in the next 30 days for anyone who is the only one on their crew. Put a date on it. Sources referenced CSG Talent, IWPR, ACHR News, She Builds the Nation, Construction Owners Association (2025), People Element (2025–26) Resources + links Career Collective: https://www.mycareercollective.com Women in HVACR: https://www.womeninhvacr.org Connect with Bryce LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryce-batts-recruiter Email: bbatts@mycareercollective.com Instagram: @brycebatts Website: www.brycebatts.co
September 23, 2026Episode 3236 min
The Four Rungs on the Ladder: Why AEC Firms Hire Women and Lose Them Anyway
Barb Allen spent 20 years on commercial job sites, starting as a carpenter apprentice in 1997 and working her way up to superintendent. She was the first woman her company had ever hired out of college for that track. She left the built environment in 2022 after a meeting where leadership told her she was "difficult to work with," then admitted nobody could say how. That meeting became a book. In OneLadder to Leadership, Barb names four gender specific challenges as rungs on an unsafe ladder: missing, broken, sticky, and slippery. In this conversation she breaks down all four, tells the story of the day she stood up to a guy on her crew and changed how the whole site treated her, and explains why "are you the safety girl?" stopped making her blood boil once she figured out what to do with it. This one is for AEC leaders trying to understand why the women they hire don't stay, and for women in the industry who have been handed feedback that sounded like a suggestion and only later found out it was a requirement. About Barb Allen Barb Allen is a keynote speaker, author, and 20 year construction veteran who climbed from carpenter to project executive and operations director on projects including $100MM+ high rise towers. She holds a bachelor's degree in construction management and spent most of her career as a commercial job site superintendent before leaving the field in 2022 to speak and write full time. She is the author of OneLadder to Leadership and hosts the Constructive Behaviors podcast. She is most active on LinkedIn, and yes, she has opinions about golf. Website: https://constructionbarb.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/constructionbarb/ Book: https://www.amazon.com/ONE-LADDER-LEADERSHIP-everyone-ladder/dp/B0GT7MBTGS What We Cover Introduction and how Barb found construction management two majors and one near dropout into college Day one as a carpenter apprentice in January 1997, and the tool bags nobody told her to buy Why the hazing started three months in, not on day one The G.I. Jane moment with Don, and what changed on that site afterward Backstage support and why an apology after the meeting is not the same as backup during it The missing rung: why women get feedback that sounds like a suggestion Whether women leaders are as direct as men, and Barb admitting she was harder on the women who worked for her The broken rung: golf, hunting trips, and where sponsorship actually gets formed The sticky rung: how the industry misreads confidence, and the case for humility, curiosity, and collaboration The slippery rung: unconscious bias, "are you the safety girl?", and the response that actually lands The conversation that ended Barb's 20 years in the built environment Three types of firms when it comes to women, and what each one is getting wrong What Barb would tell a young woman walking onto her first job site Where to find Barb and closing thoughts Key Takeaways If your feedback to a woman on your team sounds like "maybe you could think about doing this differently," you have not given feedback. Direct and actionable, or it goes to the bottom of her list with everything else that is optional. Stop evaluating confidence by who speaks first and asks the fewest questions. Barb's reframe: humility, curiosity, and collaboration. The person willing to say "I don't understand that acronym" in a room of twenty is demonstrating leadership, not doubt. Backstage support is not support. If you apologize to her in the hallway after the meeting instead of speaking up in the meeting, you were part of it. Look at your leadership page. If you are hiring good women and none of them are on it, the problem is not your pipeline, it is how you are evaluating leadership. When someone assumes you are the safety girl, the win is not the comeback. It is leaving them aware enough to ask the next woman on site what she does instead of guessing. Resources + Links Barb's website: https://constructionbarb.com Barb on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/constructionbarb/ OneLadder to Leadership on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/ONE-LADDER-LEADERSHIP-everyone-ladder/dp/B0GT7MBTGS Constructive Behaviors podcast (Barb's show): https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/constructive-behaviors/id1685754635 Mentioned in the episode: the movie G.I. Jane (1997)
September 16, 2026Episode 3136 min
Architecture as a Society-Making Tool, Told From a War Zone
Architecture is usually discussed as a service. A client has a need, a firm delivers a building, everyone moves on to the next project. Dr. Marwa Al-Sabouni makes a harder argument. She says the built environment is one of the strongest forces shaping whether people in a place trust each other, and that the consequences of getting it wrong can take generations to show up. She would know. Marwa is an architect based in Homs, Syria, who stayed through the war and wrote about what she was watching in real time. In this episode she and Bryce talk about how decades of zoning and redevelopment separated communities that had lived together, what she believes reconstruction actually requires, why identity and beauty are structural concerns rather than decorative ones, and what it means to keep practicing architecture in a place where the profession's stakes are impossible to ignore. This one is for architects, engineers, and firm leaders who want a bigger frame on what their work does after the ribbon is cut. It's also for anyone in AEC who has started to wonder whether the profession they trained for still means what they thought it meant. About Dr. Marwa Al-Sabouni Dr. Marwa Al-Sabouni is an architect, urban thinker, author, and international speaker based in Syria. She holds a PhD in architectural design and Islamic architecture, and her work brings together sociology, contextual and psychological analysis, and aesthetics to make the case for architecture as a society-making tool. She is the author of The Battle for Home (2016), Building for Hope (2020), and Mosque (2026), published internationally by Thames & Hudson, and a chapter-author in the Getty publication Cultural Heritage and Mass Atrocities (2022). Her writing has appeared in RIBA Journal, Architectural Review, Standpoint Magazine, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the ICRC Journal, Renovatio, Middle East Eye, and others. She received the Prince Claus Award in 2018, was named to the BBC 100 Women list in 2019, and won the World Monuments Fund Watch Award in 2023. The Battle for Home was named one of the Guardian's best architecture books of 2016, Prospect Magazine named her one of the top 50 thinkers in the world, and Architectural Digest listed her among the top contenders for the 2018 Pritzker Prize. Her TED talk has been viewed over a million times. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marwaalsabouni/?hl=en LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marwa-al-sabouni-44a07b21/ What We Cover Introduction and Marwa's background as an architect in Homs How the built environment shapes trust between neighbors What happened to Homs before the war, and what the design decisions had to do with it Writing The Battle for Home from inside the conflict Why identity, beauty, and belonging are structural concerns and not decorative ones What real reconstruction requires, and how most rebuilding efforts get it wrong Mosque (2026) and what a single building type reveals about a whole society Practicing architecture when the stakes are impossible to ignore Advice for architects and engineers who want their work to matter more Where to find Marwa and closing thoughts Key Takeaways The built environment is not a neutral backdrop to social life. Zoning, density, and material choices change how likely people are to know and trust the people around them. Beauty and identity are not budget line items to cut first. They are part of what makes people willing to stay somewhere and take care of it. Reconstruction that ignores what a place meant to the people who lived there rebuilds the buildings and loses the community. Architects have more influence over social outcomes than the typical scope of work suggests, and that influence operates whether or not anyone claims it. A career in this industry gets more durable, not less, when you can name what your work is actually for.
September 9, 2026Episode 3032 min
Burned Out and Anxious? What Your Food Has to Do with It and all the Food Recalls
You've optimized your schedule, pushed through the late nights, and kept delivering — but you still feel like you're running on empty. What if the missing link isn't mindset or time management... it's nutrition? Valerie Hawkins is a nutritionist and self-concept coach who left engineering to help women tackle anxiety, burnout, and brain fog through the power of what they eat. In this episode, she shares the science behind the nutrition-mental health connection and her Self-Concept Method for making lasting, practical changes. You'll learn: How your diet is directly affecting your anxiety, mood, and energy — especially under pressure The link between nutrition and conditions like ADHD, migraines, and burnout What easy and effective nutrition changes actually look like for busy professional women How addressing root causes leads to sustainable weight loss AND better mental health Connect with Valerie: valerieHawkinsnutrition.com | LinkedIn: Valerie Hawkins
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