In honor of Women in Construction Week, we’d like to spotlight Nancy Pacella, Co-Owner and Vice President of Pacella Enterprises, Inc., a Women Owned construction and heavy highway company, and client of EJC’s.
With a master’s degree in psychology, Nancy began her career in the service industry. After taking a break to raise her four children, she returned to work, but this time, assisting her family’s heavy civil construction company. Through this experience, Nancy came to the realization that the construction industry “was consumed by ideological barriers seemingly identifying tough hardworking males as a prerequisite for success.”
This inspired the establishment of Pacella Enterprises in 2012. Nancy and her mother-in-law Mary Pacella had a vision of creating a versatile union workforce, while maintaining a similar culture of growth, productivity and unified achievements that proved successful in their previous capacities. As a testament to their dedication to diversity and compliance, Pacella Enterprises, Inc. proudly holds WBE/DBE certification in Massachusetts and DBE certification in New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Additionally, they have earned federal recognition as WOSB and WBENC certified demonstrating their commitment to fostering inclusivity in the business industry.
“𝑀𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑛𝑐ℎ𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑤𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑢𝑡 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑑𝑜𝑜𝑟𝑠 𝑤𝑒 𝑘𝑒𝑒𝑝 𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑚’𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑜𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑒𝑠. 𝐼 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑚𝑦 𝑑𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦. 𝑁𝑜𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝐼 𝑎𝑚 𝑎 𝑤𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑦 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑎 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑙𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟’𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑎.”
Nancy’s advice for women in construction:
“𝗕𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀. 𝗕𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳, 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀.”