Making way for female roofing professionals

By Jessica Bravo.  

Beacon’s 2024 Female Roofing Professional of the Year award highlights the success and accomplishments of female roofing professionals from across the industry.

In an episode of Roofing Road Trips®, Megan Ellsworth sat down with Brooke Laizure, Beacon’s 2024 Female Roofing Professional of the Year, to discuss her success on and off the roof.  

The recipient of this award is selected through a public nomination and voting process. Brooke shared, “It was shocking and very humbling [to be chosen]. I'm so grateful to be the winner. I didn't even know I was nominated until they called me and told me I was a finalist. You just really don't know how much support you have in your community and your family and your friends until something like this happens to you.”    

Now the owner of her own company, Whirlwind Roofing and Construction, LLC, Brooke first began her industry career by chance through her dad, who was a roofing sales manager. Shadowing him on the job growing up, she found that the rides along were something she wanted to consider as a legitimate path. "I found it really fun. I really liked talking to the homeowners,” she explained. Brooke noticed that women could participate in the industry in many ways and remarked that it opened her eyes that women could do this as a career, too.   

Brooke emphasized the importance of providing women-owned roofing companies the celebration and recognition they deserve in order to uplift and encourage others. “I don’t think a lot of people realize that this can be a career path for them,” she said. She also discussed her involvement in National Women in Roofing (NWIR), “Women just love it. And just seeing those young teenage girls light up when they know that this is a possibility and that you don't necessarily have to be on the roof to do this job or be in this industry.”   

Brooke is passionate about leaning on the support system and putting oneself out there. She noted, “There are so many different areas you can get into; education, there's YouTube videos on how to get in. My biggest thing is if they're interested in roofing specifically, to go to a local National Women in Roofing Council meeting, because there are so many across the entire United States.”   

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to learn more about Brooke’s roofing journey!