Born Engineer Brittanie Campbell-Turner’s Path to the Construction Industry

In this episode, we talk to Brittanie Campbell-Turner about her career and the future of design and construction. 

More About the Show

The Build Perspectives podcast shares insider knowledge to build connections and community in the building materials industry. Tim and Carolina are friends, colleagues and former coworkers who love the construction industry and their clients, and want to share their passion and insights to attract future talent to the industry.

In this episode, Tim and Carolina talk to Brittanie Campbell-Turner, host of the Constructrr Podcast and Workplace Innovation and Construction Manager at American Family Insurance, about her career, what’s she’s doing now and what she sees for the future of design and construction.

What Brittanie Is Doing Right Now

Currently, Brittanie has several irons in the fire. As the host of The Constructrr Podcast, where she talks about the future of the built environment. She talks to guests about how to make the process more efficient, how to build relationships within the industry and how to respect people and use technology that’s smart in order to improve the process itself. She has over 100 episodes released!

Brittanie just changed her daytime role. She was previously working as a project management consultant or a program manager as well. And now she’s at American Family Insurance as the Workplace Innovation and Construction Manager. She leads a team of construction project managers to deliver internal construction projects within the real estate portfolio at “Am Fam.” 

She’s spent the majority of her time at her previous job, and now at her current company, designing and focusing on workplaces. She focuses on all the nuances associated with it, such as sustainability, trying to densify and open up the way of working with open floor plans, helping different types of spaces support different types of workers. This includes creating different sized conference rooms and including video conferencing, as Zoom is a large part of most workforces today. 

“It’s how to make sure to supply the many different types of spaces that support different types of work to enable people to be their best at work and be fulfilled at work. Because at the end of the day, businesses want to support their employees in order to get the most out of them,” says Brittanie. 

Getting Started in the Building Materials Industry

Brittanie was about 7 or 8 when she started her path to the built industry. Her mother bought a new faucet for their kitchen but didn’t change it out right away, saying she was waiting for the current one to get clogged first. So Brittanie took it upon herself to change it out, by herself, as a child, without parental supervision. 

Her brother turned off the water main, Brittanie changed it out, and when her parents came home, her father said she did it perfectly. All he needed to do was add a little putty. And after that, Brittanie was sold on building things. She even got her own toolset for Christmas one year (real tools, not pink toy ones — she was thrilled).

When she was old enough, Brittanie went to college and studied architectural engineering. She didn’t quite understand what the degree entailed, but she knew she wanted to do something in buildings, to help create and design them. She ended up loving the major she chose, as it went into the details of every single building system. She learned how to design lighting, how to design HPAC plumbing and how to create an electrical building envelope. 

Brittanie graduated during the economic downturn, so she wasn’t able to find a permanent job in the industry. Instead, she went back to school and got her master’s degree in architectural engineering. 

Most Memorable Career Moment

Brittanie’s memorable moment was particularly challenging to her. 

She was working as a schedule manager, and the process of reviewing schedules for every single contractor that submitted to this particular program was very complicated. She wanted to simplify the process for the contractors, as the ones supporting this program tended to be minority and women-owned businesses, who were not very skilled at developing and creating schedules n the format the company was asking for.

So Brittanie wanted to create a training and a process that was easy for contractors to follow but also met all of the requirements her company required. She put everything she wanted to do together in a presentation, her boss approved it and let Brittanie pitch it to their client … who completely shut her down for several reasons. It was an eye-opening experience for her. Her boss stayed encouraging even after the client rejected the idea, so Brittanie was able to realize that she did have good ideas and that she needed to get people to hear them. It also helped her realize that there are other opportunities available to her, and she started to look into those more. 

While not a great experience, Brittanie is glad it happened. She didn’t let this one bad experience ruin her career, and she advises others not to let it ruin theirs either. When asked what advice she would give to others who have a similar experience: 

“There’s so much opportunity. That is what I would say to them. There is so much opportunity in this industry to be relevant, to make an impact, to be heard and to, and to make lasting. And this is just one scenario. This is just one person. This is just one company. Look at the world. There is so much there.” 

Don’t let one horrible experience deter you from your life’s purpose or your goal and the things you really want to do and are meant to do. Be resilient. Try again. 

Mentors

Brittanie has had a number of mentors over the years. One was her high school basketball coach, who also happened to be an electrical engineer. He was the person who put the bug in her ear about engineering. And after she went to college, he helped her get several internships with different companies, which gave her exposure to the industry and design. 

Other mentors include Rex Miller, who has written several books on workplace design and Paul Doherty, an architect who has developed several software programs that have been acquired by Autodesk. Both are big thinkers and both have been great supporters of Brittanie. 

Advice to Industry Newbies and Those Expanding Their Career

First, pair up what you like outside of design and construction with design and construction. If you are interested in tech or health or cooking, pair that up with what you like about design and construction. If you can figure out the synergies, you can create the types of spaces to support incredible new things. This is especially true for veterans who have been in another industry already. 

And don’t forget, when coming into this industry, there are tons of paths you can take. You don’t have to go into design. You can go into project management, or carpentry, or any of a number of different avenues in the industry. So pick what you like best. There’s always an opportunity. 

What Needs to Be Talked About in the Industry

According to Brittanie, we need to talk more and listen to more ideas and be more inclusive. “We might just be used to the way that we’re doing things and there’s a conversation about unconscious bias that’s taking place and it has started and I think it’s taking place, but I don’t think it’s happening enough when regards to women in regards to minorities, I think it’s exposing individuals to the fact that there aren’t enough people in the industry.”

We need to show people that they can be heard and make a difference. 

You can get in touch with Brittanie on LinkedIn or via email at brittanie@constructrr.com.  

Join the Conversation

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