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Life and career came full circle for third generation concrete sector member Jessica Racovali when she was hired as a concrete tester for Dufferin Concrete in 2013.

As a child of about 12 or 13 she tagged along with her uncle Kevin Stewart on visits to Dufferin construction sites and quarries. Stewart has worked for the company for 38 years and is now a sales and operations manager.

“I was always curious about how things were built and I must have pestered him to take me on those visits,” she says.

That curiosity has taken her a long way. After holding a number of positions, including superintendent, she achieved the distinction of being appointed the company’s first female operations manager in March 2024.

“It was big personal success for me and I received a lot of congratulations.”

In that role she manages five Niagara Peninsula/Hamilton area ready-mix concrete plants: Niagara Falls, Beamsville, Welland, Hamilton and Burlington

Her route into the industry and the position she now holds, however, wasn’t direct and for a time she chose other career paths.

After obtaining an undergraduate degree in religion and anthropology from Sir Wilfrid Laurier University, she discovered the job market in fields she was considering was rather tight.

So, when visiting Prince Edward Island on a summer vacation, she accepted a cousin’s offer of an electrical apprenticeship at his company.

“I stayed there for a year working on residential, commercial and industrial jobs, including a potato factory. It was physically demanding work, pulling wires above hot deep fryers or 50 feet in the air fixing lights in a deep freezer wearing a snowsuit.”

When Stewart told her about a student position testing concrete for Dufferin, she moved back to Ontario and successfully applied. ���ϳԹ��� a year later she was hired on as a full-time tester and subsequently moved on to other positions.

As an operations manager, she oversees daily concrete production, manages inventories and ensures that production/delivery targets and efficiencies are met.

A large component of the job is employee management, including interacting with several different trade unions and negotiating contracts.

Being an operations manager entails working collaboratively with the plants’ distribution, sales, maintenance, fleet and quality departments, she points out.

While overseeing five different plants in five different locations might seem like a grind, Racovali says enjoys the versatility and freedom.

“I have the flexibility to move between my locations throughout the day and week. I enjoy not having a central office and working from the plants. It gives me a good pulse of what is going on with our people and customers.”

Besides her direct work responsibilities, Racovali is a member of the Canadian Association of Women in Construction and last fall spoke about sustainability in the concrete sector as a panel member at a Women’s Trucking Federation of ���ϳԹ��� seminar.

“Both are great organizations advocating for women.”

A question posed to Racovali was focused on the challenges and opportunities women face in construction, especially the concrete industry.

“It can be intimidating entering a male-dominated workforce, especially when they have more industry experience than you do,” she says.

“As a leader, to speak out in a boardroom or site trailer full of men, you have to be confident and know that you belong there and bring value to the business.”

Women in construction have the opportunity to make the workplace more inclusive, she says.

“Each step you take forward in this industry, you hope it will make the path easier for those behind you.”