Women in Construction: Jenna Englund

Summit Homes is grateful to have several incredibly strong female leaders on our team. In honor of Women's History Month, we wanted to pause and feature a few team members.

Meet Jenna Englund, President of Berkeley Building Co. in Boise, Idaho.  

We sat down to ask Jenna a few questions about her career, role models and why she chose the new construction industry.

Tell us about a female role model or leader that helped you become the leader you are today? 

Very early in my career, I had the pleasure of working with a senior-level manager who saw potential in me and made it a point to take a mentorship role in our working relationship versus a management role. The difference to me is she elected to empower me through educating and encouraging me, giving me big picture objectives and allowing me the autonomy to navigate how to utilize my role to help the company I worked for succeed and meet those objectives. There was no ego involved…my success was her success. And to this day that example is how I have looked at building a cohesive team. There is obviously pride taken in building a successful company, but even greater pride in building successful people. In that way, I have been incredibly lucky and am grateful for opportunities in my current role to pay it forward. 

What is a piece of advice you would share with women wanting to work in the construction industry? 

To women interested in or who are starting out in a career in the construction industry, my advice is not to let other people’s preconceived notions stand in your way. Construction offers a myriad of different roles and opportunities, and a strong work ethic and leadership skills are valued in any role. It is often that I am the only woman in a room, but if anything, I add a valuable perspective. Perseverance always pays off and when you meaningfully contribute to the success of any team, you are seen for your accomplishments and not your gender. 

What does your typical workday look like? 

One of the things I love most about my role is that no workday ever looks the same. Leading a successful home building company is in no way just about construction. In any single day, we are working on industry initiatives for home building in general, building collaborative relationships, navigating construction materials, labor and land, building and supporting a team, educating and researching design and market trends, analyzing sales and marketing plans…and always my favorite, working on paying our success forward through philanthropic support for our community. Every day is a new day and I work hard every day to marry these initiatives into one overall big picture goal for our work family and the community we serve. 

How do you think construction can attract more female candidates? 

Showcasing women in the construction industry participating in a myriad of roles is important. When I was young I wouldn’t have even considered construction as a viable path for my future, as I didn’t know any women who worked in the industry. My daughters, on the other hand, have a different experience having a mom that has worked in home building their entire lives. To them there is nothing unique about it…it is their reality that it is an option. We need to do a better job of normalizing it as an option. 

What’s the one piece of advice you’ve been giving that made a big impact? 

One piece of advice I was given early in my career is to remain focused on a big picture goal and not get weighed down by making every detail along the way perfect. If you are always focused on achieving a bigger picture goal, you maintain momentum and you are more likely to achieve it. If you get mired down in making every step along the way perfect, you are less likely to get where you need to be. You can strive for perfection, but you have to be able to accept when things are good enough and prioritize completion. I often have to refocus throughout the day on whether how I am spending my time and energy is beneficial in the big picture.