Name: Ayesha Mohammed

Title: Project Associate

Company Name: The Falcon Group

What advice would you offer to other women getting into the construction industry?
I completed my Bachelor of Architecture in India. Coming to the U.S. for my master’s degree in urban design had been a dream of mine. After I graduated from New York Institute of Technology in 2020, I started looking for jobs. Getting my first paid job in the U.S. was very assuring for my career. When I first started working with the Falcon Group, I was a little hesitant seeing the male majority at my workplace and I had to immediately mentally prepared myself to see a similar misbalance even on the job sites. Initially this made me quite uncomfortable, but later I came to realize that this is probably one of the only fields where women still need more encouragement to join.

One day I went to get work boots for myself and checked out almost all brands, I couldn’t find single brand that made the right work boots for women. That is the day I noticed that instead of taking this whole thing as a drawback I should be taking it as a pride to be working in a male dominant industry and carving my way into it. It’s like you’ll be an inspiration to some girl somewhere seeing your on-site dedication. Many a times on site, my capabilities and caliber are judged based on my gender, but I know soon there will be women not only working in the teaching and medical profession but also in the construction field. So, my advice to any women getting into the construction field is give them the benefit of the doubt. Just like it’s a new field for women, it is also a new thing for the world to see women take over a male dominant industry. Be confident and don’t let anyone undermine you professionally.