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LETTER FROM THE CHAIRS

Jennifer: Hey Renae, what should we write about this month for the chair letter?

Renae: Jennifer, my son (he is 5) just came running into my video call with the Dallas Cowboys naked after he yelled from the bathroom that he had poop on his shirt….so I have no idea…

Jennifer: Hahaha - What if we wrote about the struggles we are all having and the Together More Than Ever series and how great it's been?

Renae: We did that last month…

Jennifer: We can highlight pictures of all our online group connections NWIR is making?

Renae: Nah, everyone is tired of the pictures of Hollywood Squares and the bingo games we make from it.

Renae: We have so many hard working women in roofing right now during this COVID, we have to write something exceptional this month.

Jennifer: The webinar with Leila G. this month on tips to staying sane was good. Do we have that on the website?

Renae: We will and councils can share that too. Recruitment and Membership have new campaigns they are working on for our industry. Let’s highlight those!

Jennifer: Brenna already submitted that and so did Christee.

Renae: Sometimes I run out of my own inspiration after juggling all the lists of “to-do” from work to home to work and kids…

Jennifer: I have no inspiration today and I am tired of staying home and not interacting with other humans outside of my house.

Renae: I am hungry, I need a nap, and I just want an adult hug from one of my friends.

Jennifer: Me too, I think we will have cereal for dinner tonight. What are you making?

Renae: Take out…totally take out.

Moral of the story: Sometimes you have to let things go. Sometimes inspiration doesn’t hit even when there is good shining all around. Sometimes you have to give yourself grace to just get through the most important things. Occasionally you don’t make the deadline because your mind is mush with kids to teach and to keep yourself balanced, webinars to produce, events to re-book, full time day jobs, families to care for and poop to pick off shirts while you try to negotiate with a big client.

So with that said: Please open the links, follow us on social media channels, read the newsletter stories of the women who everyday are making a difference in the roofing industry. We are all better because of their work.

Be well,

Renae & Jennifer

Renee Bales, KPost Roofing & Waterproofing and Jennifer Stone, Johns Manville; NWiR Co-Chairs

We are compiling photos of NWiR members transitiong to the new normal over the past month. Post yours on social media and tag it #nwir

TOGETHER MORE THAN EVER

Together More Than Ever: coming up this week and beyond

Coping with these challenging times can be made a little bit easier by gaining knowledge and receiving support from each other. To that end, NWiR is creating a series of online-based meetings that focus on both of these aspects of navigating this new normal. In the beginning of COVID times, we were hosting between 2-3 webinars/virtual meetups every week alternating between substantive educational content and light-hearted chatting around some issues we have in common. Almost all of those are recorded and are available for members on the webinar archives page. Moving forward, we will cut it down to one meetup/webinar per week; all of these webinars and meetups will be publicized on the NWiR calendar, will be sent to members via email, and shared on social media.

Coming up on May 21 is the Empowerment in the Face of Uncertainty Part 3:The Courage to Live an Empowered Life and then on May 27 is Wine-d Down Wednesday: Next Generation Roofing Women.

Surviving the Summer with School-Aged Kids

Michelle Boykin, Renae Bales, Jennifer Long led a great discussion and strategy session on working from home with school aged kids and preparing for the summer time! You can see the recording on the webinar archives page.

Meet the NWiR Writer's Guild!

NWiR is thrilled to introduce the Writers Guild, a brand new group within the Communications Committee! The group consists of six volunteers from all over the country and is led by Esther Ehrenman from Beacon Building Products. The writers aim to produce excellent blog posts, social media content, and think pieces that inspire, educate, and empower women in the construction industry. The first piece from the group, written by Chelsey Line from Versico, covers the timely topic of work-life balance for moms in roofing. Stay tuned for more writing covering topics like family, leadership profiles, and much more.

Calling all Photographers

#NWiR is looking for photographers with minimum of 2-3 years experience to promote our amazing members! If you enjoy taking photos and sharing others journeys, highlighting their successes, we could use your talent! Our communications team will take care of sharing and socializing the content so you can focus on taking photos. Interested? Please send an email to Anna Anderson.

Membership Monday!

Please submit your Membership Monday videos to our membership committee! We'd love to hear why you became a member or how you've benefited from being a member of NWiR. Please limit to a 10-15 second video.

Passwords for member only pages on the website

Several of the pages on the website are restricted to members only. Active members were sent an email on May 14th with details on these passwords. If you didn't see it, try searching your email for "passwords" and make sure to check your spam and junk folders too. If you still don't see it, then log onto the member database and check to make sure we have the correct email address on file.

Welcome to the Times of D.C. (During COVID)

The NWIR Mentoring Committee would like to remind everyone that nothing has changed with regards to having a mentor/mentee relationship during these times. B.C. (before Covid) mentoring in many cases were held over the phone or through video calls, and I am sure that A.C (after Covid) this will still be the predominate method. For those that indicated they would like to be a mentor you should have received an email to see if there have been any connections made through NWIR. For those that replied that they have not and would love help finding a mentee we are hoping the names provided gave you a chance to reach out. If you are a mentee, don’t be shy when it comes to reaching out to someone you see marked as a mentor. These women have expressed interest in wanting to provide that guidance.

One such success story is with Co-Chair Renae Bales (VP of KPost Roofing & Waterproofing) and Madeline Cabrera (CEO & Co-Founder of Emmaty, Inc.). We provided both a few quick questions to hear more about what has made this connection work. Read the full article.

We Can Help You Recruit

Are you hiring? We can help you recruit! NWIR and RCS are partnering to help roofing contractors find talent in a different way. Let us use our social network to spread positivity and recruit into the roofing industry.

There are a lot of people looking for a new opportunity and Roofing is Open for Talent! Submit your job posting to National Women in Roofing (NWIR) and RoofersCoffeeShop (RCS), a NWIR Platinum Sponsor, will post NWIR members' job openings for FREE. NWIR and RCS will reshare postings within both networks and run a special premium ad on RoofersCoffeeShop Classifieds featuring all job openings. NWIR and RCS will share job posting on social networks of the NWIR, the NWIR Board of Directors via Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter. Submit your job posting!

Impact Your Community and Lift Your Brand Through Service

We miss our roofing friends during these stay at home times.The idea of gathering with all YOU women in roofing sounds like heaven about now! Let's start to think about NWIR DAY 2021 in Las Vegas. We are looking for both morning speakers and PM Session leaders. No need to just stop at one submission. We also do not need perfection on this round. So get those creative juices flowing and submit content ideas! Yes, you - not someone else, YOU!  Submit your ideas!

Impact Your Community and Lift Your Brand Through Service

How can you, your company, your council impact your community, lift your culture, market your brand during the pandemic - and beyond. Grab a cup of coffee and chat with women across the country sharing ideas of how simple things make a big difference. Led by Susan DeGrassi and Stephanie Baird of the community service committee, you can view the recording of this webinar from the website.

Did you know we have changed the council calls to be more frequent!

The first Tuesday of the month will be the All Council Leaders call where we will have a formal agenda. Please make sure that at least one representative from your Council leadership team is on that call and able to take notes and report back to the rest of the leadership team on what was discussed.

Then, all of the other Tuesdays will be Questions & Check Ins calls where one staff member and one board member (and other council leaders) will be on the call to answer your questions. Information for the call can be found on the Resources for Councils webpage.

We have compiled a list of ideas for holding virtual council meetings to help you continue to get together during this time. We hope these are helpful!

If you have been part of a successful council startup, consider joining the NWIR Councils committee. We meet regularly with councils across the country who are looking for guidance and support to get their own local councils established. Your insight and wisdom will go a long way toward helping others find success. If you are interested, please contact the Councils Committee.

Here’s what some of our councils have been up to lately:

NWiR Oklahoma Council

Submitted by Brooke Laizure

Girl Power

Brooke Laizure’s entrance into the roofing world was unplanned. During a summer break from college, she decided to tag along with her dad, a sales manager for a general contractor, to make some extra money. Little did she know that temporary girl Friday job would change the trajectory of her life. Read Brooke's story here: https://citylifestyle.com/tulsa-ok/articles/home-and-design/girl-power

For more information about the Oklahoma Council visit their website .

CALLING ALL SPONSORS! Take Advantage of Your Opportunities

Michelle Boykin, Rackley Roofing; NWiR Sponsorship Chair

Did you know your sponsorship to National Women in Roofing comes with a host of benefits? As an organization of volunteers, we try our best to keep you informed of these benefits, but many times this information gets lost in a pile somewhere in your office, that you can't access right now due to the current environment. Well, here's an easy way to access the information! Learn more about your sponsorship benefits.

Thank you to all our sponsors, at all levels. You play a critical goal in advancing the goals of NWIR. Learn more about how to become a NWiR Sponsor.

ATAS's Dedication to their Female Workforce

Submitted by Lee Ann M. Slattery

ATAS is a Platinum Sponsor of the NWiR and is a proud supporter of the ATAS employees who are women. Several are members of the NWiR, and some also serve on various councils and committees across the country. ATAS is also a strong advocate of educating students about potential careers in the construction and manufacturing industries, including young women. Read the full article.

Johns Manville: Finding Community in Unusual Times

Submitted by Chelsea Collins

We are truly living in unusual times. As our “normal” lives are being turned upside down, we’re finding new ways of communicating and working – new ways of doing a lot of the things that maybe seemed second-nature or easy to us. One thing that hasn’t changed but may be more apparent now than ever is the importance of PEOPLE. Each day we decide to keep things moving; we do it for the people in our company, our family and friends, and in our community. Johns Manville recognizes the importance of PEOPLE as one of our four core values; PEOPLE, PASSION, PERFORM, PROTECT.

“WE ARE PEOPLE CHAMPIONS. Our employees and customers are at the core of everything we do. We strive to see the world through their eyes." Read the full article.

Make NWIR Events Memorable and Meaningful by being on the Events Committee! 

We’re looking for those interested in providing creative contribution and logistic execution of trade shows and events for NWiR. As a newly created committee, we are looking for those that want to make a difference and interface with other committees in helping them achieve the goals of NWiR. If you’re interested, email the events committee!

Are you speaking at an upcoming industry event? If so we want to know about it and share that information with our members. Email the information to Communications Committee Chair Anna Anderson .

NOTES FROM THE OFFICE

Ellen Thorp, NWiR Executive Director

Roofing Industry Associations Join Forces to Keep Roofing Essential

Shortly after states started issuing “Stay at Home” orders in mid-March, my colleagues and I who run our industry’s associations jumped into action. Many of us have significant government relations experience and we could see that proactive monitoring and engagement would be needed if we wanted to keep the roofing industry working. We had our first call in late March with the chief staff executives and government relations staff of the "alphabet soup" of associations that you (or your employers) are members of: the manufacturing company associations of ARMA, ERA, PIMA, RCMA and SPRI; and of course NWiR and the NRCA. We all know each other pretty well and have worked together many times, but never with quite such intensity.

That first call wasn’t necessarily a somber mood, but it was solemn. We knew that we needed to mobilize quickly and efficiently to help educate policy makers about the critical nature of roofing. We unpacked where the federal orders and definitions were housed, and then we looked at which states had already issued restrictive orders and where we needed to reach out first. We also researched what other construction and manufacturing related associations and coalitions were doing. We agreed that our ultimate goal was to help policymakers at all levels understand the critical nature of roofing and to offer clear communication and support to the roofing contractors. We also agreed to use the NRCA COVID resources page as the clearinghouse for posting information.

Our first deliverable was a letter to the White House requesting that any federal orders issued included roofing as an essential business. Then we reached out to the Department of Homeland Security, the National Governors Association and other organizations that represent state and municipal elected officials and executive offices. In concert with the regional, state, and local roofing contractor associations we also reached out to specific governor’s offices.

At the same time, each of these associations was also having internal discussions about how best to serve their own individual members in the roofing industry; at NWiR this was the beginning of the Together More Than Ever series.

A couple weeks later, we added IIBEC, MCA, SPFA, SRCA and TRI to the coalition and then Reid Ribble suggested forming a second larger group which included the chief volunteer leader (association members) of each of these associations. Between these two groups, we are on the phone at least once a week discussing the state of the industry, anticipating what might be coming next and how to position the roofing industry, and trouble shooting any unexpected things that have popped up. None of us anticipate that the coalition will be a permanent fixture or become a separate entity in and of itself, it is intended to be temporary and focused on a unified response to the COVID issue.

Now that some states are opening back up and the safety protocols for roofing contractors are well established and available on the NRCA COVID resources page (and of course our manufacturers have their safety protocols in place as well) we are looking down the road. We have developed a document entitled “Back to Work on America’s Roofs” which is intended to raise awareness that the roofing industry is essential to the recovery of the economy and to the wellbeing of millions of Americans. You can read the document in detail on the NWiR blog, but in brief it is designed to reach decision-makers who can influence tax policy, ensure that roofing is categorized as an essential business in all fifty states, and foster an environment that will speed a return to growth of the economy.

We know that our work isn’t done yet, and in the meantime all the regular business of our associations continues as well. I hope it may provide some small measure of comfort to know how often you... yes, specifically YOU are thought about and to know some of the things that are happening behind the scenes to support your business.

Warm regards,

Ellen