Kyrah Coker, Sara Donneys & Tim Wyka - Empowering the Future of Roofing - PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Editor's note: The following is the transcript of a live interview with Kyrah Coker, Sara Donneys and Tim Wyka of NRCA. You can read the interview below or listen to the podcast.

Intro: Welcome to Roofing Road Trips, the podcast that takes you on a thrilling journey across the world of roofing. From fascinating interviews with roofing experts to on-the-Road Adventures will uncover the stories, innovations and challenges that shape the rooftops over our heads. So fasten your seatbelts and join us as we embark on this exciting Roofing Road Trip.

Megan Ellsworth: Hello everyone. My name's Megan Ellsworth here at RoofersCoffeeShop.com, and you are listening to a Roofing Road Trip episode. I'm so excited because we are talking about empowering the future of roofing today through scholarships at the NRCA, and I have amazing people with me today. I have Kyrah, Sara and Tim here to talk about the Empower All scholarship. So hello everyone, how are you?

Tim Wyka: Hello, how are you?

Sara Donneys: Hi.

Kyrah Coker: Very good. Excited.

Megan Ellsworth: Yay. Me too. So Kyrah, let's start with you. Can you just introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about you and your company?

Kyrah Coker: Sure. Kyrah Coker, I'm with National Roofing Partners. We're a single source commercial roofing solution, and why I'm here today is because my day job allows me the opportunity to be involved with the NRCA, along with other organizations like National Roofing and RT3, which I'm very fortunate to be involved in.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome. Sara, can you introduce yourself?

Sara Donneys: Hi. Yeah, of course. My name is Sara Donneys and I'm the safety coordinator for Miles Square Roofing. We are a commercial roofing company.

Megan Ellsworth: Awesome. Tim?

Tim Wyka: My name is Tim Wyka. I'm the president of Miles Square Roofing, and like Sara said, we're a commercial roofing company based out of New Jersey.

Megan Ellsworth: Awesome. Incredible. Well, welcome all to the podcast. I'm so glad to be chatting with you and talking about this awesome scholarship. So Kyrah, could you give us just a quick overview of the Empower All scholarship and its goals?

Kyrah Coker: Absolutely. It's a scholarship program. Last year was our first year, kind of the inaugural year, as you might say and the purpose of the program is to Empower All, right? And just like the word says or the name of the event says, and the scholarship is to give everyone an equal opportunity to be able to attend IRE, which is the International Roofing Expo and have the opportunity to also be able to network with manufacturers and other roofing companies and suppliers and really be able to push their knowledge and their networking and their career that much further. And so the scholarship helps pay for the airfare of the attendants of the show, along with their hotel and travel accommodations.

Megan Ellsworth: That's awesome. Do you talk a little bit more on why the NRCA created this scholarship and how important it is that people get to attend IRE without racking up their credit card bill?

Kyrah Coker: Yeah, absolutely. So the NRCA has diversity, equity and inclusion committee and that committee is constantly looking at different things that we can do as an industry and part of the NRCA to kind of push everyone forward and be inclusive and really focus on diversity and inclusion. And so this was a program that we thought of and we somewhat mirrored it off of what the National Women in Roofing has been doing for several years. They have a similar scholarship program. So the NRCA looked to them for some guidance on how they were able to do it in the past. It is somewhat modeled after that, but the idea is just to give another opportunity. When you're talking about traveling to some place and what that looks like for someone that's working within a company, it's not available to everyone. And so we wanted to make sure that we were able to provide that opportunity. We feel like the more people we can get to attend events like IRE and see like-minded people, we're able to push the industry further and really show that there's a place for everyone within the roofing industry.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, truly. So Sara, you received the Empower All scholarship. What has that meant to you personally and professionally?

Sara Donneys: Well, when I learned about this scholarship at the time, I just thought that it was a great opportunity for me to learn more about the industry, to get to know more people in the industry, to attend the IRE, to visit the floor. So I apply, once I received the award, the scholarship, I talked to Tim and of course he approved it because he was part of their requirements as well. And just to be part of it, to participate, it was a great experience. Also, I wanted so badly to attend to the NRC Safety Leadership Workshop, which was fantastic. Cheryl and the other members, they did a great job with this and I really hope that they continue with this initiative. And I got to listen to these amazing speakers, Trent, I remember Theo, Kara. That was for me, very helpful and great to see them and listen to them and getting more knowledge from them.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's awesome. So you attended the 2024 IRE with the scholarship.

Sara Donneys: Correct. In Vegas.

Megan Ellsworth: In Vegas. Oh fun.

Sara Donneys: That was awesome too.

Megan Ellsworth: I'm sure you ate lots of fun food and had some fun experiences too, which is awesome.

Sara Donneys: It was very fun too.

Megan Ellsworth: Love it. So Tim, as Sara's mentor, what motivated you to encourage her to apply for this scholarship?

Tim Wyka: Sure. When you have someone that is as highly motivated as Sara is in continuing their education within the industry, it makes it pretty easy to want to foster that. I know the IRE had a pretty important impact on my early career, so providing that opportunity to more people, especially Sara, really resonated with me.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, that's so true. Can you maybe talk about how attending a trade show like IRE impacted you and that early career phase that you were in?

Tim Wyka: Sure. Well, the biggest benefit I got from it was the networking. You deal with a lot of companies that are national. There's people from all across the country that you talk to on the phone, but you don't necessarily get to meet in person. So to be able to make those face-to-face connections was really important. Also, the show itself, seeing all the cutting edge technology that they're coming out with, the different types of systems, the different type of equipment in person, get to touch and feel it was very important. And then the coursework. At the time when I first went, there was very few other opportunities to get that kind of educational coursework then through the IRE, we didn't quite have the pro-certification program that you have now with the NRCA, you don't have the GAF Roofing Academy or the CCM University that you have today. So the IRE was really the first opportunity to get that continuing education within the roofing industry for me. So it was really important to have Sara go, and I think it's important for everybody to try to get that opportunity to get out there.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, agreed. One other follow-up question here for you, Sara. How do you think programs like this are attracting new people and younger people to this great industry of ours?

Sara Donneys: Well, I think that every company right now will have people that are eager to learn more and to get these programs, to have them available for them is if you tell these people, "Okay, we have this scholarship, you're going to allow to be part of this events, get to know these other speakers and exchange numbers with them, information you're going to get to us." So I'm pretty sure that these people are interested in this kind of program because I know there are more, we have more people interested in being part of the IRE, for example.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. Yeah. I think having this also as a company as not marketing, but marketing for recruiting more people as just added education is so important. Everyone, like you said, Sara's yearning for education and getting involved in industries and being a part of them in that community. So well said. I completely agree.

Sara Donneys: And I believe it also, I'm sorry, I interrupt.

Megan Ellsworth: Oh no, go ahead.

Sara Donneys: I believe he also gives you recognition too, because Tim mentioned before he saw something and he allowed me to take this position and be part of this. It feels good to be seen and to have the opportunity to get educated in something that I have no idea about before, an industry that I didn't know. So for everybody else that is in this industry and that they don't know about roofing, for example, they can just use this to get to know more and get more knowledge and more skills.
Megan Ellsworth: Totally. Kyrah, how does the NRCA ensure that the scholarship reaches a broad and diverse range of applicants?

Kyrah Coker: That's a hard one, but I would say we try our best, making sure that it's sent out by email to anyone that we have on our email distribution lists for the NRCA memberships and communication. We also send it out through other organizations like Latinos in Roofing, National Women in Roofing, other regional organizations and things like that. We've hosted on social media, LinkedIn, Facebook, those types of platforms. And then we also have partnered with several companies and have added them to the communication, asking them to make sure that they're pushing it out internally. So yeah, it's also in the IRE information, so anything that's going out on that. But yeah, just trying to push it out anywhere we can.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely. And just like this, I hope everyone out there listening, apply. You never know if you're going to get it. You might. So Sara, how has receiving the scholarship impacted your career goals? How do you see your future in Roofing differently now that you've attended IRE?

Sara Donneys: I feel more confident about the importance of education. I do want our supervisors, our foremen, our field workers, our managers to have access to these programs. And if they take these courses, which is part of my goal is that everybody is able to access to this. I will say that the quality of work is better when you know more about it. And as far as my future in the roofing industry, I don't know, maybe one day I get to speak in one of the NRCA events, maybe.

Megan Ellsworth: Speak it into being. Manifest it.

Sara Donneys: Yes.

Megan Ellsworth: So I'll open this question up to any of you, but maybe Tim, you can kick it off. What advice would you give someone out there that's interested in applying to this scholarship?

Tim Wyka: Well, I would say the biggest thing is to create awareness within your company. I feel like a lot of managers might not even know that this kind of a program exists. So if you are aware of it, bring it to their attention and maybe they can help to get involved and provide you with some insight on how to apply or what kind of information you can include or just a general guidance. Some of your managers might even have been to the IRE before and can provide some advice on what you could do when you get there along with the program. So I would say make it a company affair. Try to get your company involved and behind you and include everybody.

Megan Ellsworth: I love that.

Sara Donneys: And I will add to all of that, for example, if you're struggling, maybe to answer the questions, ask for help, just apply, try, ask for help. But don't be afraid of applying to this scholarship just because maybe you don't think that you have a language barrier maybe. So if you ask for help in your office, I'm pretty sure you're going to get that help and you can maybe get it, because like Kyrah said, they have for Latino, for example, I'm Latina. So that was great to experience as well. So don't be afraid, right?

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, yeah. Right on. Kyrah, any advice for anyone out there interested in applying to this?

Kyrah Coker: I would say just like Sara and Tim said, make sure that you apply. I also would say just advice overall if you are thinking about applying to not only apply, but encourage other people that you know in the industry to apply and get the word out. And for those that have applied, to continue to push that out to everyone else. Because the more we can get people excited about it, the more we can get this out there. I think we'll be able to do a future with more scholarships and more opportunities as this continues to grow. So just push it out there. Apply, don't wait.

Megan Ellsworth: Yeah, absolutely. So just to recap all of this, when you apply and if you win the scholarship, you get transportation, boarding too and to stay at IRE, a full access pass to IRE, all the classes, all the meetings, everything, trade show floor and a great experience. It's truly amazing. And IRE is so cool and so fun. So application deadline is November 8th, in a little under a month because today's October 9th. So get those applications in and you'll know pretty soon after that if you get it or not. Right Kyrah? When will people find out?

Kyrah Coker: Yes. So we will notify winners by December the 8th. So about 30 days out from that, we'll let the winners know. And I would add to that just in case anyone wanted to know the application process and awarding of the scholarships is done as blindly as possible to make sure that everyone has a fair and equal opportunity to be awarded the scholarship. We really want to make sure that everyone understands the NRCA is approaching this to really empower all and make sure that everyone has an opportunity. So even for those that are thinking maybe this wasn't meant for them, this was only meant for one group. No, this is meant for literally everyone to be empowered through diversity, equity and inclusion.

Megan Ellsworth: I love it. So to round this wonderful episode out, how can other industry people get involved? Maybe they're going to IRE, they don't need to apply for this. How can they get involved in support and promote this scholarship program?

Kyrah Coker: So I would suggest that you also plan on if you are going to be at IRE, attending the Empower All reception, which you can look out for more information to come on that, but we will have a reception. We had our first last year. We plan on having another one this year and get involved, reach out to anyone at the NRCA. Beth Keighley from Beacon is the chair for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee. But reach out to anyone and whether you want to get involved financially or you want to get involved from a pushing the word out or just attending Empower All, whatever that looks like, encourage anyone and everyone, we need all the help we can get.

Megan Ellsworth: I love it. Amazing. Well, Sara, congratulations. I hope you get to attend IRE again this year, maybe. And Tim, thank you for leading by such great example. Kyrah, thank you also for leading by such great example and being a part of this great program. Thank you all for chatting with me today. I'm so excited.

Sara Donneys: Thank you. Thank you for inviting us.

Megan Ellsworth: Absolutely.

Kyrah Coker: Thank you.

Megan Ellsworth: For everyone out there listening, you can go to RoofersCoffeeShop.com to the NRCA directory to learn more. Remember that the application deadline to apply for this Empower All scholarship to attend IRE is on November 8th, 2024. So in a month from today and go apply. You never know if you're going to win, if you're going to get it and if you don't do it next year and out there listening. Thank you for listening. Go to RoofersCoffeeShop.com to learn more, and we will see you next time on Roofing Road trips.

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