Tailgate Talk

Women of Team Arizona

In an industry often perceived as male-dominated, Chamai Shahim has some advice for women thinking about working at Vulcan.

“You show up and work hard, and it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female,” said Shahim, a Project Manager in the Mountain West Division in Arizona. “You get where you’re going based off of your work ethic, your knowledge and how you treat people.”

Vulcan has been a trailblazer when it comes to providing opportunities for women in the construction industry. Deissy Araiza, who works as an Outside Sales Representative at Vulcan in the Mountain West Division, delights in dispelling gender myths associated with the industry. 

 “I love hearing when I go on a job site or when I meet with the customer, ‘oh wow, you’re in the industry? You’re at the job sites?’” said Araiza. “I’m out at the job sites! It still surprises a lot of contractors when they see a young female show up at a job site and know what they’re talking about, what they’re doing and we’re able to talk in detail about how we make our materials, how we meet spec, environmental, operations, dispatch. It’s like we’re slowly changing that perspective.”

Left: Deissy Araiza is an Outside Sales Representative at Vulcan in the Mountain West Division. Right: Chamai Shahim is a Project Manager in the Mountain West Division in Arizona.

Providing an environment where learning is encouraged and team members are motivated to succeed is what attracted Raquel Rivas to Vulcan. 

“Learn everything you can learn and continue to grow,” said Rivas, a Dispatch Supervisor in the Mountain West Division. “You can never stop growing or learning. Another thing that’s been helpful as a young person coming into this industry is having a great team that supports you and helps you get to where you need to go…We have the resources here and I don’t think I’ve experienced anything where I was held back because I was a female, or because I was young.”

All three women share the goal of generating interest among young people – especially young women – to pursue careers in the construction and mining industries – and with Vulcan.

“I think it’s just changing the perspective of the general public that construction or mining is just for men… it’s not,” said Araiza.