Paving the way as a female leader in commercial roofing

By Dani Sheehan. 

Learning to embrace authenticity is as much a part of the journey as learning about roofing. Hear Lauren Morley’s passion for the roofing industry and the value of mentorship, networking and self-discovery in her professional growth. 

In a recent episode of Stories from the Roof, brought to you by Ruby®, the leader in virtual reception, Lauren Morley joined Megan Ellsworth to talk about her passion for the commercial roofing industry. She is currently the president and majority owner of R3NG based out of Colorado and has been with the company for the last 10 years. 

Lauren started working for her dad in 2014 and was mostly focused on their new construction division, but she was quickly asked to become an owner at all the companies. Not knowing anything about roofing at that time, she dove in for six months of cross training and quickly was introduced to National Women in Roofing where she tried to get as much education as she could. 

She shared, “If I feel like I know what I’m talking about, then I enjoy myself more. And I think over the years I kept getting more and more involved with things like National Women in Roofing or associations like IIBEC and it just gave me that sense of camaraderie and I think that geve me the confidence to keep taking further steps towards where I am.” 

Feeling intimidated when she first started out, she quickly found her place in the industry. When asked what she’s learned from her experiences, she said, “I think it's just learning how to be yourself, not trying to hold yourself to what everyone else thinks you're supposed to be. I think especially being a female in construction, it's easy to think you need to be a certain way or act a certain way.” 

She laughed as she reminisced about some past experiences and her fear about fitting into a male-dominated industry. “It’s funny thinking back, they used to call me the Ice Queen. Because I think there's something about being the boss's daughter and being younger and being female, that I felt like I had to be this rigid, strict person, which was obviously so not who I am. And I feel like once I started just embracing who I was is when I hit my stride a little bit more.” 

Having found her tribe and taking over her dad’s company, Lauren doesn’t think she would have done anything differently in her career.  

Read the transcript or Listen to the podcast to hear more about her past experiences and the unique perspective she brings to understand her customers and employees.