Roofing with pride

By Emma Peterson. 

Celebrate pride month by checking out what this amazing panel of LGBTQ+ industry professionals have to say about authenticity in the industry. 

In this Coffee Conversations sponsored by Tremco WTI, RoofersCoffeeShop® celebrates pride month! Join Megan Ellsworth as they host Maureen Greeves and Justin Ray of Tremco, Sarah Lechowich from True North Roofing and Joshua Adams of Roof Scout to talk about the intersection between professional excellence and queer pride. Each of the panelists shared a bit of their experience in the roofing industry and the value of fostering a community of diversity and inclusion. 

Maureen hails from Cleveland, Ohio and has worked in the roofing industry for over 13 years now. She explained a bit of her journey, “I was blessed to be coming into roofing from a company where I was out and proud and my coworkers were with me and my wife when we were having our children.” Moving from that into Tremco was nerve-wracking for her, but she felt warmly embraced by the community.  

Justin, one of Tremco’s corporate paralegals, echoed Maureen’s sentiments. He explained, “I've been with Tremco for two years and I have a pride sticker on the back of my car. I thought for the first time going to the office, I was like, ‘Oh, should I take it off? I don't know. It's a construction company.’” He was relieved to instead find a community that embraced him and his authentic self. 

Unlike Maureen and Justin who transitioned into the industry, Josh grew up around roofing. He shared some of his thoughts about what the LGBTQ+ community brings to a workplace, saying, “They share an internal message out about being authentic that can influence everybody. Whatever side of the spectrum that you're on, bringing an authenticity into the workplace is something that people catch onto and is spreadable.” He emphasized that this helps everyone in the company, queer folks and allies, because authenticity leads to better work. 

Sarah, the owner of True North in Minnesota, also wanted to highlight how queer identity and authenticity is beneficial for entire companies and the larger industry. She explained, “I think being a woman-owned business and then a queer-owned business, it's just not shying away from being in those spaces. I try to create an environment where people are seen, valued and heard both within my company but also my clientele, my homeowners.” By creating these spaces, she aims to make everyone more comfortable so they can work together better.  

Read the transcript, Listen to the full conversation or Watch the webinar to hear more about how these panelists are roofing with pride.