Construction DEI Talks

ABY: Welcome everyone to the third season of Construction DEI Talks. We're excited to be back with fresh content and new guests. We are your hosts, Abby Combs, Inclusive Diversity Program Manager at Granite Construction. STEPHANIE: Stephanie Roldan, Vice President of Learning and Development at Rosendin. JORGE: And Jorge Quezada, Chief Diversity Officer at Granite Construction. And in this season, we're bringing you the construction DEI conference, building an inclusive future. STEPHANIE: We'll be featuring conference keynotes, and we'll have breakout sessions where we will speak with construction company CEOs, cover topics around organizational readiness, supplier diversity, and economic equity. [We'll also discuss technologies for inclusive construction. Highlight individual’s experiences in construction industry and share information on measurement for DEI success. Along with that, we'll bring awareness to political and legislative issues and amplify next generation education programs just like you'd experience at any industry conference. ] ABY: This podcast is available through the generous sponsorship of Granite Construction and Rosendin. However, please note that the views and opinions expressed on this show are those of the host and the guests themselves. And do not reflect the official policy or position of Granite, Rosendin, or its employees. JORGE: You can find our podcasts on Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Spotify, and all other major listening platforms. So be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you don't miss out. STEPHANIE: So sit back, relax, and join us as we explore how we can build an inclusive future for the construction industry. ABY: Hi, welcome everyone to Season 3 of Construction DEI Talks. We are so excited to be back in 2024 with new content, new ideas, and new guests. And I'm your host, Abbey Combs, Inclusive Diversity Program Manager at Granite Construction. And with me today is Stephanie Roldan, the Head of Learning and Development at Rosendin. JORGE: And Jorge Quezada, Chief Diversity Officer here at Granite Construction. ABY: And I said, you know, we have some new ideas. So, we're going to be doing things a little differently this year. We've decided on a new format. Do you want to share a little bit about that, Jorge? JORGE: You know, it is crazy. I leave on season two for a couple of episodes, and I come back to the two of you having constructed an amazing season three outline. And I want to share it right on this episode here as a trailer. We're going to provide our listening audience with what we're calling the construction DEI conference, and the theme of it is building an inclusive future. I I'm really excited in the work that the two of you did in developing season three for us, and I think that the beauty of it is because of the experiences that we have, right, Steph, that we constantly go to these career conferences or industry conferences as well. And sometimes we get to see people, sometimes people can make it, sometimes they can't, but this platform allows us to do some really cool things. [STEPHANIE: It's interesting, right? Because we get into those conference settings and sometimes DEI makes the agenda, sometimes it doesn't. This is probably what's going to help move the construction industry in the future. The workforce is changing every day, both in terms of our generations, the demographics. Those that are attracted to the industry and so what we're hoping to do is provide people with information in this format where we can bring in keynotes or panels and just have discussions to make this industry stronger. No better time than when there's more construction work than we've ever seen. And not enough labor to fill those spots. Right. So, we're even going to talk about those workforce challenges and how we might be able to address those in this season. So, I'm really excited. You know, we're stacking up the guest list, you know, trying to bring the best of the best that we've seen at the conferences to our listeners. ABY: You had said, you know, when you go to a conference and one thing that we were talking about too, is that not everyone can go to every conference, not everyone gets to go to any conference. So, we wanted to make some of this great content to be accessible to you, to our listeners, not have to take the travel time to go to, you know, I know I got, I live on the West coast and got invited to two different events in New York this year. And it's like, I'd love to go, but it's so much time to get there and back, you know, so it can make it a hindrance on the opportunities we're able to take. So, we're hoping to bring some of these, you know. Big name keynote speakers that we can't release yet and other breakout sessions and bring this learning to you and your home and your office wherever you're able to listen so that you can be a part of the conversation. You know, Jorge also had talked about engaging with us in our, you know, liking and subscribing to the podcast. So, you know, we'd love to hear some ideas that you might have if you have guests or people in the industry that you think need to be highlighted. Drop us an email. We'll put that contact information in the show notes or on our social media. And, uh, we want to engage. JORGE: Yeah, I think that's the key word. I think engage. One of the things that we've learned from season one and season two is, is that the more the industry works together, the better the industry becomes. And so, here's the call to action, right? If you want to have your CEO, be part of one of our episodes, please reach out to us. You could reach us out via email or social media platforms, like Abby mentioned, they're all going to be on the show notes for you to access, but engage, give us ideas, give us content, because that's the beauty of this platform. It allows us to talk about things throughout the entire year based on the feedback that we get. So, one of the things that we want to do in season three also is write a comment, rate us. We do hope you give us a five, right? Five stars, because that way we can bring the podcast up in the directory so that more people in the industry can listen to it. So, to be honest, I'm really excited because it was a wonderful way of, of thinking differently about how we were doing season three. And so, kudos to the two of you for the work that you did for laying it out and just in concept, I think it's unique and it's going to be really cool. ABY: Thank you. I'm excited. I would tell our listeners, stay tuned, like, and subscribe so you can stay up to date. We'll be releasing our first keynote to kick the conference off and many more. And as we, uh, you know, finish our final guest list and other things, you know, we're looking to have maybe some sort of type of expo or networking hour. So, we want to make sure that you're on the list so you can get into that group so that you could meet the other professionals and industry people in this call. So, uh, thank you so much for listening in today and we hope to see you later this year, as we always say. Be inclusive. JORGE: Thanks for joining us for today's episode of Construction DEI Talks, and we hope you'll join us for our next episode. If you'd like to learn more about how you can make the construction industry a better place to work, please visit our website at constructiondeitalks.com or reach out to us on X, formerly known as Twitter, LinkedIn, or Instagram. There you will find more information on the latest developments in diversity, equity, and inclusion. Thank you. You can find our webpage and email address and links to social media in the show notes. We'd love to hear from you. So be sure to rate us, give us a review and subscribe to the podcast so you don't miss any future episodes. We'll catch you next time on Construction DEI Talks. Thank you for listening and as always be inclusive.