Duro-Last® Supports National Women in Roofing Day

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

The company not only donates toward the organization, it lends the expertise of its employees to this yearly event.

The second annual National Women in Roofing Day is set for Saturday, February 9, 2019, just prior to the International Roofing Expo. A lot goes into planning that day as Duro-Last Marketing Manager Tara Gerhardt knows firsthand as vice chair of the NWIR Day committee. Her extensive event planning background was behind the success of the first NWIR Day that was held in New Orleans in 2018.

Because NWIR is an all-volunteer organization with limited staff, it relies on its members to manage and plan ongoing activities. This requires the understanding and cooperation of employers whose employees might be spending some time on the job working on NWIR tasks.

One of the challenges of event planning is figuring out each year how to make the event better or different than the one the previous year. After the success of the first year, the committee knew that they would have their work cut out for them.

“There is definitely a lot of brainstorming and behind-the-scenes work that goes into creating a day that will be educational, inspirational, memorable and valuable to the women and men attending,” explained Tara.  “One of the new things that we added for this year is an orientation session to welcome new NWIR members, answer questions and share information about the association.”

The keynote speaker this year is Sherry Holmes of DIY Network’s show Holmes Makes it Right. Sherry is a contractor, part-time designer and weekend DIYer. She supports and mentors women in the skilled trades and recently became an Ambassador for Habitat for Humanity’s Women Build.

NWIR Day will also feature an afternoon filled with breakout sessions, roundtable discussions and educational classes. The day closes with a soon-to-be-announced, fun evening event.  Learn more about the day and how to sign up.