Opening the door for women in metal

MCS Influencer Renee Ramey says that when she was getting into roofing 30 years ago, male mentors were key to pushing open doors for women in the industry. 

Editor's note: The following is a transcript of a conversation with Renee Ramey of the Metal Roofing Alliance (MRA). You can listen to the interview or read the transcript below.

Jenny Yu: Hi everyone, my name is Jenny Yu and I'm here with MetalCoffeeShop for an influencer response. Today we have Renee Ramey, the executive director of Metal Roofing Alliance. How are you doing today, Renee?

Renee Ramey: Great!

Jenny Yu: So this month we're talking about women in metal and we were wondering if you could share your thoughts specifically about the role of male allies and leadership in advancing women in metal.

Renee Ramey: Yeah, that speaks very closely and near and dear to my heart. I started out in this industry almost 30 years ago, and at the time there were not a lot of women in the industry. And through a variety of reasons, I ended up being able to participate in several trade associations. And I think a game changer for me back then in my level of involvement and gaining experience was definitely tied to mentors, male mentors that were in the associations, in the industry, owned companies, worked at companies that were just there to help lead and guide and in some cases push and open doors.

And because of those wonderful mentors, I was able to establish some experience, make some strong connections, you know, network and ultimately where I am today as the executive director of the MRA is very strongly tied to a lot of those male mentorships and friendships that I developed early on.

Jenny Yu: Beautiful. Thank you Renee for sharing and it's so important that we have leaders, male and female, know, lifting us all up. Thank you so much for sharing your response.