Latest / ChangeMakers with Katie Goar / Episode 156: Cariño Maldonado, Chief of Staff at ICON Builders & Founding President of the Arizona Chapter of the Women’s Affordable Housing

Transcript

Episode 156: Cariño Maldonado, Chief of Staff at ICON Builders & Founding President of the Arizona Chapter of the Women’s Affordable Housing · ChangeMakers with Katie Goar

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is Changemakers with Katie Gore, finding the right solutions
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: for the affordable housing community.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Today's changemaker is Carino Maldonado. Carino has spent 25 years
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: in construction and more than a decade working in the
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: affordable housing industry. She's the chief of staff at Icon Builders,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: founder and president of the Arizona chapter of the Women's
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: Affordable Housing Network. We're going to talk today with Carino.
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: Carino about the realities of building affordable housing, developing future leaders,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: and creating more opportunities for women across the industry. Welcome
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: to Changemakers.
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Katie. It's an honor and my pleasure to
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: be here with you.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: You know, we first met a couple months ago in
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: San Diego at the Women's Affordable Housing Network, and you
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: and I were on a panel, and I want to
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: get to that in a little bit, but I was
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: so impressed with exactly how you were showing up for
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: your industry. So this is a good chance for us
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: to reach a larger audience than just who was in
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: that room in San Diego. So I do appreciate the time.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: First of all, I'd like to start with having our
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: guests just share a little bit about your personal journey
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: or your on-ramp into affordable housing. Do you mind starting
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: us from scratch or just a piece of the chapter
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: of how you got into the construction industry related to housing.
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: Do you mind starting there first?
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm actually going to backtrack all the way to
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: my first days in construction, which was almost by accident,
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: which I hear a lot in the industry, especially amongst
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: the women in the industry that, you know, my dad
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: brought me in or my uncle or my brothers. And
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: so it's really cool to hear the beginnings and hear
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: the stories.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: I was.
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: 19 years old, a full-time college student, undergrad student at
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: Arizona State University. And I still didn't know what I
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: wanted to do with my life. My dad worked for
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: a construction company. And one evening he said, you know,
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: they need somebody to help keep the department organized, data entry,
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: follow up and getting plans, you know, doing blueprint copies.
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: And he goes, I think you'd be perfect for it.
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: And they're willing to work around your schedule with your
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: college courses. And I was sold, you know, so. I
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: went in, did the interview, they brought me in, and
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: I always thought about, you know, construction as the hammer
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: and nails. I never really had a grasp that, you know,
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: it's a business just like any other business. And I
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: think you've mentioned before on a podcast, whatever it is
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: that you're doing in your career, whether it's accounting, finance, IT, marketing,
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: like there's a place in affordable housing for all of
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: those passions. And so I came into construction and kind
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: of worked my way up and just realized, like, this
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: is where I want to hang my hat. This is
• 2:59
  Speaker 3: where I want to continue learning and growing. And I
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: did that for multiple years. And then I had the
• 3:05
  Speaker 3: opportunity to come over to Icon Builders in 2013, still
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: thinking I'm, you know, it's similar. It's a construction company
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: doing contracts at that time. But little did I realize
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: how much I was going to take from it, you know,
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: having the impact of on communities, on people's lives, it
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: really opened the door for me with the philanthropy that
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: I do now and being the liaison for that as
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: well with our company. So it just really opened my
• 3:36
  Speaker 3: eyes a lot. I grew up, we always had a
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: roof over our heads. We always had food on the
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: table and beds to sleep in, which I'm very fortunate,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: but very humble beginnings that we were probably one emergency
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: away from ending up needing you know, to use the
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: resources that we're a part of in this industry, you know,
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: one job loss away, one, you know, one sickness away.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: So we weren't that far away from it. A lot
• 4:04
  Speaker 3: of people in our communities, you know, were struggling. And
• 4:07
  Speaker 3: so it feels good to kind of pay it back
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: to the communities that I grew up in. And we're
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: all so very close to it. And, you know, things now,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: the price, you know, of everything is a lot more.
• 4:22
  Speaker 3: And so being in affordable housing, that's where I got
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: my start, you know, in 2013 and still here and
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: just happy to continue growing because I feel like I
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: learn something new every single day.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: So let's talk about your role at Icon, your chief
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: of staff. What is it that you do? And tell
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: us a little bit about Icon Builders, where you guys are.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: So why don't you Tell us some more details about that.
• 4:50
  Speaker 3: So my role at Chief of Staff, I sit at
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: the intersection of many parts of the company. So I'm
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: able to bridge together operations and people and HR, contracts, compliance,
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: risk management, to be a part of how decisions affect
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: the organization as a whole, to work closely with our visionary,
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: our founder, Kelly Sands and our president, Brad Wright, and
• 5:16
  Speaker 3: they're thinking big picture. They're planning the future of our
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: company five, 10 years out. And I get to work
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: closely with them and execute all that needs to be
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: done today so that we can get to that point
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: in the future of our company. And just making sure
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: that the why is understood throughout the company and that
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: our mission is understood and carried out in the way
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: we do everything here.
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: What communities are you mostly involved in as far as,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: you know, your, your physical footprint, where are you guys
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: located and what communities are you working in?
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: So we're headquartered in Arizona, but we've been all over,
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: we've been all over the country. Our main footprints in
• 6:02
  Speaker 3: the West right now. So we have a lot of projects,
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: active projects in California and Texas and other, other projects
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: coming up in other regions and, But that's our main
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: footprint right now. And we've been icon builders was started
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: in the 1980s. And then we are exclusively doing affordable
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: housing in 1992, the early 90s. And so that's been
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: our footprint, you know, preserving the homes that already exist
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: for the residents and communities.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: What's your favorite part about what you do on a
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: day to day basis or Maybe what's your favorite part
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: that if you could future cast where Icon Builders is
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: going to be or your role? What would, could you
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: like give us some ideas if you can put something
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: into a bucket as neatly titled as favorite though?
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Construction is so focused on timelines and budgets and inspections
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: and all of that's very important. Yeah. But for me,
• 7:05
  Speaker 3: it's that we're in someone's home. A lot of most
• 7:08
  Speaker 3: of our projects are occupied renovations.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: So, you know, unlike new construction, you know, in your
• 7:15
  Speaker 3: building for the residents who will someday occupy the units,
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: we're in someone's home that, you know, they already live there.
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: Their lives are here. So being in someone's home, there's
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: a lot of trust, you know, that they have to
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: have in us. And that means everything because your home is,
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: I mean, there's nothing more personable than being, you know,
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: than having your home and sharing it and allowing people
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: to come in. So being in someone's homes is probably
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: one of the most important things. You know, even though
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: most of our projects are in other states, there's a
• 7:57
  Speaker 3: program we partner up with here that I've made a
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: great relationship with, Sleep and Heavenly Peace. I came across
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: their program about six or seven years ago. They're building
• 8:08
  Speaker 3: beds for kids that don't have beds. So, you know,
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: a lot of we were building, you know, affordable housing.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: But then, you know, there's still a lot of services
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: that need to be met. There's, you know, beds that
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: kids need to sleep in. And so we partnered up
• 8:28
  Speaker 3: with Sleep and Heavenly Peace, their Phoenix chapter. They're all over.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: So we do a bed build. We commit to a
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: bed build at least once a year. And we just
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: did one a couple weeks ago. So with our construction
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: partners here locally, we built over 200 beds in about
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: four hours.
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Oh, wow. Yeah.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: So these kind of opportunities... that we get to do
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: even outside of your normal day to day, you know,
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: the work that we do in this industry, we're always
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: seeking opportunities to how can we meet the vulnerable communities?
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  Speaker 3: How can we meet them even further than we're already doing,
• 9:07
  Speaker 3: you know, to make an impact. So that's been for me,
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  Speaker 3: the biggest impact in my world is being exposed to
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: these organizations and opportunities that we get to, because I
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: always say we get to do this, you know, it's not,
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: something that we have to do. We get to do this.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: And I think it's incredible to be in this industry
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: and that we all have this shared mission. You know,
• 9:33
  Speaker 3: at the end of the day, I mean, what do
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: we all want is that every single person has a
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: safe place to call home. And I think that's the
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: end goal for all of us in this industry. And
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: how can we work together to get there?
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: Mm-hmm. What a beautiful example of how you guys are
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: doing above and beyond types of work and really impacting
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: the community. I've actually never heard of a service outreach.
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: opportunity like you described. So it must, I mean, you
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: said it's all over and not just in Phoenix, but
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: I'll do some research on that because I've never heard
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: of that particular one. And you think about a service
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: a real solid way that people need help and building
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: the beds. You know, there's a lot of focus on other,
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: you know, types of arenas and every single one of
• 10:28
  Speaker 2: them are worthwhile.
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: But what a, what a.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: Great niche of meeting a real need because, you know,
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: I've been in several units doing inspections and bed frames
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: are not always present. So great, great project you guys
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: are doing there.
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah. It's a great organization. And I just, you know,
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: a lot of this industry, it's relationship building, you know, and,
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: and sometimes maybe I can't be a solution for someone directly,
• 10:59
  Speaker 3: but I love being able to connect people together. You know,
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: you have this problem and this person might have your
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: solution and just being a connector. And I feel like
• 11:08
  Speaker 3: you're someone as well in the industry that that's always
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: connecting people together. Yeah. Yeah.
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: What, what, other types of developments that you see on
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: the horizon or something that's got you really excited that
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: you're working on right now? Maybe it's a current project
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: that you guys are building or rehabbing. Anything you'd like
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: to share with us on that front?
• 11:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah. So we are, we're working on a project in
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: California right now in Anaheim and it's Transitional housing for kids, well,
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: now adults, but they're kids that have aged out the
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: foster care system. So it's giving them, it's about 40 units,
• 11:51
  Speaker 3: but it's a motel conversion. Okay.
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: So there's a lot of work to be done, converting
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: those units to homes for these children have aged out
• 12:03
  Speaker 3: of foster care. And there's going to be a lot
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: of other services added. provided for them, but just things again,
• 12:10
  Speaker 3: that we don't think of, I think in the general community,
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: you don't think of what happens, you know, and it
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: kind of, I kind of thought about it. I'm like, yeah,
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: what does happen to these kids? You know, they, they
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: age out and you know, and I'm sure every city
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: and jurisdiction is different in the services they provide, but
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: to provide a home, somewhere safe for them to live.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: And they're kind of in a community with each other, So,
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: you know, they have probably a lot of shared experiences.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: Well, that one definitely, it gets bonus points, so to speak,
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: for creative reuse of a facility. It's a great space
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: plan as far as, you know, the size for the
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: people that you're going to be moving in. And what
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: a wonderful niche to be able to provide this sort
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: of like this interim housing, even though I don't want
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: to say interim housing, but, you know, they're, you know,
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: age size and at this point in their life where,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: you know, home ownership may not be the best thing, but, um,
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: this is definitely a really good safe alternative for so many, um,
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: people in that specific age category. So what a great project. Uh,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: thank you for sharing that. Um, I want to also
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: mention here, um, when you, you, you said something about,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: you know, this, this next piece of, um, being able
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: to serve in the community. And you mentioned that. But
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: I want to highlight here that you're the president of
• 13:42
  Speaker 2: the Women's Affordable Housing Network, the chapter specifically in Arizona.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: And what a great, great organization that is. Are you
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: seeing sort of an uptick in what people are saying
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: in these particular hallways or in this particular chapter about housing?
• 14:04
  Speaker 2: Is there some consensus that you're hearing or something you
• 14:07
  Speaker 2: want to speak to what that chapter is specifically targeting
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: to do?
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: So we're still in infancy stage, you know, this chapter,
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: we just started the beginning of 2026. I know for
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: me personally, a lot of the projects that I've been
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: a part of have been outside of the state for
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: most of, you know, my tenure here. And with AZ-1 is,
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: getting more connected to the local affordable housing community. And
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: I know a lot of the women on my board
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: has expressed the same concerns, you know, to connect us
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: here locally. As contractors, we talk directly with architects and
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: the developers and our trade partners. But we're not really
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: talking so much with the housing authorities directly as much
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: or the lenders directly as much. It might be a
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: little more indirect. with this organization, you know, one woman's
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: affordable housing network, the national level, and then each chapter
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: we're able to bring everyone from, from all the different
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: disciplines within the industry together and to have these discussions
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: and to learn, I think there's so much tribal knowledge,
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: you know, especially for those of us that have been
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: in the industry, you know, 10 plus years. And how
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: do we share that knowledge and get that, get that
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: across the, all the different, again, disciplines in the industry.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: So we have, you know, people involved and on the
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: board that, you know, are part of theirs and the
• 15:37
  Speaker 3: department of housing or part of city of Tucson. And
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: so we're able to learn more of, you know, what
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: are some roadblocks, you know, that are preventing more affordable
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: housing to, to, to be built and developed here in
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: the state? What can we do to help, you know,
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: to help advocate for that. And how can we help
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: each other and build, you know, bridge that knowledge gap
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: that some may have. The next part for us here
• 16:09
  Speaker 3: with the AZ1 chapter is that we want to give
• 16:11
  Speaker 3: back to our community. So a lot of, you know,
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: we've already, we partnered with Sleep and Having Peace and
• 16:18
  Speaker 3: did an all-girls bed build, which was fun. Oh, wow.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: And we've also partnered up with Save the Family, who
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: helps provide a lot of resources and housing also here
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: locally in the community. So some of our ladies partnered
• 16:32
  Speaker 3: up and helped with the backpack drive recently. And there's
• 16:36
  Speaker 3: so much more. You know, we're still, like I said,
• 16:38
  Speaker 3: in the infancy stage and we have so much we
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: want to do. And then a big part of one
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: is women empowerment and to be in that space and
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: to feel so welcomed. Um, because this, this community of
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: one has just been so welcoming and just for myself
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: starting a new chapter, which could be very daunting, you know,
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: to start something like that. Um, the community and I've
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: been able to connect with other, uh, chapter leadership across
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: the entire nation really. And people have been so open
• 17:15
  Speaker 3: to share, you know, Hey, there's some mistakes I made or, or,
• 17:20
  Speaker 3: you know, don't feel like you're, you have to rush,
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: just do it the right way. And so, and then
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: I'm able to even some of the newer chapters that
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: have started even a few months after me, I've been
• 17:31
  Speaker 3: able to connect with them as well. And I'm like,
• 17:33
  Speaker 3: we're doing this together. So it's been really, really awesome
• 17:37
  Speaker 3: experience so far. There's so much we want to do still. Um,
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: and I'm excited to, to learn more about what's happening
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: in my state. Um, and just learn more across the industry.
• 17:50
  Speaker 3: I really, since I've come into affordable housing and I
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: say this, I say this a lot every day, I
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: learn something new every day. I always go home with
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: something that I didn't know the day before. You know,
• 18:03
  Speaker 3: whether it's in construction, whether it's something technical or, you know,
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: how to use some new technology or AI or something
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: that's going to help make my day run a little
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: bit smoother. So, you know, it's building those connections and
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: and just learning it. We're always I feel like we're
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: always students, even if we're teachers, we're still students.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: And the great thing about one is that once you've
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: got that connection and that community that you're talking about,
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: it opens doors for best practice, sharing, training, sharing of
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: resources and. job openings, like it is just like it
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: branches off into so many other value networks. And, you know,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: you may come into the door thinking you want to
• 18:54
  Speaker 2: know people more in the industry or you want to
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: network more, but then you kind of go out realizing
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: how many more resources this Women's Affordable Housing Network has.
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: And it's not just in one genre, for example, it's
• 19:10
  Speaker 2: not just Housing authorities, it's builders, developers, syndicators, like it's
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: like the whole ecosystem of housing right in that room,
• 19:20
  Speaker 2: which I find fabulous because in other industry groups, it's very,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: very siloed. Like it's just the housing authorities or it's
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: just the tax credit people or, you know, like it's
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: just very, very, you know, particular for that niche. But
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: what Women's Affordable Housing Network has done is has brought
• 19:43
  Speaker 2: all of those people in that ecosystem together. How Ashley
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: does it is amazing. So but I think you too, because,
• 19:50
  Speaker 2: you know, you're opening up that state chapter. So you're
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: able to actually get even more people into that group.
• 19:56
  Speaker 2: So great job opening up this Arizona chapter.
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: Thank you. Yeah, I'm excited. And I have, I mean,
• 20:04
  Speaker 3: incredible women, you know, alongside we're doing this together. Um,
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: you know, we're still, still looking to build the chapter
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: up a lot more. Um, but it's incredible. I mean,
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: we started it and we had, I think we have
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: about 450 members already. Wow. Great.
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: And we're still in the beginning stages. So I'm really,
• 20:25
  Speaker 3: and just, I'm grateful for the community just for their patience. And,
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: you know, it takes time. We, you know, we, I,
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: I always want to do things the right way. And yeah.
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: do it the right way the first time, you know? And, uh,
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: so I don't want to feel, feel, ever feel like
• 20:43
  Speaker 3: a rush and in rush putting something out there, um,
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: that we can't completely get behind. And so it's nice that,
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: that the ladies on the board with me, um, we've
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: built these incredible friendships as we're building the chapter. And
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: so it's been really, really cool to get to know
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: them and, you know, being at one summit and getting
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: to know you you and women like you, um, and
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: learn from each other. I think it's awesome.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: Another connecting point I mentioned in the intro was that
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: you also serve on the board of directors at the
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: national association for women in construction. And I'm curious about
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: this particular group. Um, what do employers do differently? Um,
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: or what is, um, you know, is it a normal
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: industry affiliation or is there something in particular that's happening
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: when employers go to try to have women in construction? Like,
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: is there, you know, are there efforts that should be
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: taken or are there, you know, is there a uptick
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: in the women in construction or just, I'm not familiar with,
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: you know, those types of trends and initiatives. Can you
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: give us some insight on what that particular group does? Yeah.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: So NAWIC has been around for decades and I believe
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: the greater Phoenix chapter has been around for probably 40
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: plus years. So it's, it's great to be amongst this
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: group and see, see the growth. I think I've been
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: a member probably for about five years and then being
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: on this board, the current board. I think a big
• 22:32
  Speaker 3: thing you know, for me, which I think I wish
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: I would have been exposed to at a younger age,
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: is that construction is for everyone. And like I said,
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: you know, I always, you think construction, you think, you know,
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: hammer nails, you know, out on the job site. But
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: I would have loved to have been exposed to it,
• 22:53
  Speaker 3: you know, a lot sooner, maybe even, you know, middle school, that, hey,
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: you're just because you're a girl doesn't mean you can't
• 23:00
  Speaker 3: do this. And I think that's a big part of,
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: for NAWIC, is to expose construction to the younger generations
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: early on. So having, you know, events where we can
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: bring in the younger generation and not just to share
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: that women can do construction, but then also to expose,
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: like we said, all the different disciplines that lie within
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: construction companies. And all the things that, you know, if
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: you like marketing, you could do that for construction. If
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: you like, you know, to be a part of finance
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: and contracts and inking bills. I mean, you can do
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: that here in the construction industry. I'm really fortunate. My dad,
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: you know, my dad brought me in the industry, you know,
• 23:51
  Speaker 3: many years ago. And I was able to now bring
• 23:55
  Speaker 3: my son into the industry again. So he just started
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: his his journey in construction about a year ago. So
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: I brought him in. And so he's it's cool to now,
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: you know, we drive, you know, through town and in
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: where he works. They do a lot of construction here locally,
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: I mean, and nationally. But there's a lot of beautiful
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: buildings that that his company has had a part in.
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: And so it's cool to see, because I remember my
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: daddy would say, oh, see that building? I helped do that.
• 24:27
  Speaker 3: And I helped do this. And the pride. And so
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: it's cool now. My son, you know, I'll tell him, hey,
• 24:34
  Speaker 3: did you know, you know, your company did that? And
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: he goes, oh, I probably know the guy that did that.
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: And so it's cool. But, you know, so organizations like NAWIC,
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: you know, obviously women are minority in the industry. And although,
• 24:49
  Speaker 3: you know, we've continued to grow in this industry, we're
• 24:51
  Speaker 3: still a minority. And I think it's just important to
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: expose these opportunities to the younger generations a lot sooner.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: And even though I came in at 19, I wish
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: I would have learned about a little bit sooner because
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: I didn't know what I wanted to do. You know, well,
• 25:07
  Speaker 3: who knows at 19, right? But I didn't know what
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: I wanted to do. And it really helped. You know,
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: I started young and I was been able to grow
• 25:16
  Speaker 3: my career. and see things that I didn't envision for
• 25:21
  Speaker 3: myself in a career path. And it sharing with the ladies,
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: you know, at NAWIC, not just, you know, the early exposure,
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: but kind of getting to see where your career, where
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: you can start, but where you can end up. And
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: kind of breaking the glass ceiling.
• 25:42
  Speaker 2: Well, a much, much needed organization. So I'm I'm, um,
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: I was fascinated hearing a little bit about where they've,
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: you know, how long they've been around, quite frankly, and, um,
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: what you guys are doing. So much, much needed. I mean,
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: I just think of, um, how many job opportunities there
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: are in that industry. And so, um, you know, we
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: hear a lot about the tech industry. Uh, we hear,
• 26:07
  Speaker 2: you know, a lot about, um, you know, nursing and
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: hospital industry and, and those types of things too, as well. But, um,
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: I'm glad that you're opening up the conversation and you're
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: connected with an organization that's doing this same thing with construction.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: So very, very invigorating. I mean, like I just sit
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: there and think, wow, like all the jobs that are
• 26:29
  Speaker 2: out there. I mean, it's like opening up a whole
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: new job or you didn't even you're right. Like you said,
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: you know, you didn't even know was out there. So
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: thank you for your efforts there. As we're closing up here,
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: is there anything else that you would like to mention
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: or something that we didn't cover about icon builders or
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: what you're working on currently that you'd like to share?
• 26:53
  Speaker 3: So my last about year and a half, I'm also,
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: I'm chief of staff, but I'm also the EOS integrator
• 27:03
  Speaker 3: at icon builders. So I don't know if you're familiar
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: with EOS, but it's entrepreneurial operating system and it's, how
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: we structure our business. And so I'm really proud of
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: what I'm learning in this role as well and wearing
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: this hat. Again, I mean, it coincides with being the
• 27:23
  Speaker 3: connector of all the different departments and being able to
• 27:26
  Speaker 3: turn vision into strategy and execute. But it's really been
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: really helpful and formidable for our leadership team to hold
• 27:39
  Speaker 3: each other accountable And to get to the root of
• 27:43
  Speaker 3: issues and resolve things pretty quickly. And I'm just learning
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: now that I'm juggling a lot more these days, you know,
• 27:52
  Speaker 3: along with my role at Icon Builders and, you know,
• 27:56
  Speaker 3: forming the Arizona Chapter of One. I just finished a book, Essentialism,
• 28:02
  Speaker 3: by Mark McCown, which is great if you're trying to
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: figure out how to balance it all. So that's kind
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: of my my goal is to really, really prioritize. I know,
• 28:16
  Speaker 3: you know, we talk about multitasking and prioritizing. And when
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: we really dive in, you know, not everything can be
• 28:25
  Speaker 3: a 10. You know, everything's so important. And so sometimes
• 28:28
  Speaker 3: you have to say no to things, you know, because
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: you want to be able to do things 100 percent.
• 28:35
  Speaker 3: Like I said, doing things the right way. So I'm
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: learning a lot right now and sharing what I'm learning
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: and getting ideas from other people. And it's not just delegating,
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: but it's just what are really the needle movers of
• 28:52
  Speaker 3: the company that's going to get us to where we
• 28:55
  Speaker 3: want to be, you know, and retaining the culture that
• 28:57
  Speaker 3: we have and the talent that we have and taking
• 29:01
  Speaker 3: that tribal knowledge that a lot of us– You know,
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of people here at the company that
• 29:06
  Speaker 3: have been in affordable housing a lot longer than I have.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: And how do we take with what they know and
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: their knowledge and absorb that and, you know, and memorialize
• 29:16
  Speaker 3: that for everyone else. So those are kind of my
• 29:19
  Speaker 3: goals right now is to just make sure we have
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: the right systems in place and keep growing from there.
• 29:26
  Speaker 3: So focusing on the right things that matter. And at
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: the end of the day, just making things better than
• 29:34
  Speaker 3: when we found them.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: I've been talking with Carina Maldonado, the chief of staff
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: at Icon Builders. Thank you for being on today's Changemaker.
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: Thank you for having me, Katie.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Changemakers with Katie Gore. To find
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: out more about Katie, go to quadel.com. That's Q-U-A-D-E-L dot com.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: This has been a production of of Forbes Books Radio.