She Didn’t Choose Roofing; it Chose Her

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

The roofing industry has given Paula opportunities for growth and advancement.

Sutter Roofing Human Resources Supervisor Paula Laza-Moreno told me on a recent phone call that roofing found her. “I got into roofing because the previous HR director was looking for a bilingual assistant,” explains Paula. “I wasn’t really looking for a job when he called me and offered me the job. I decided to take on the challenge.”

That was four years ago and since then Paula has risen into an HR supervisor role, which she loves. “After the HR director who hired me resigned, they brought on another person in that role who didn’t work out,” says Paula. “During that time, I decided that I wanted to step up to take on the HR department at Sutter Roofing. I had the support of the Controller/HR Director and former CFO, who helped me make it a successful transition in leading the department.”

Working in HR, Paula works a lot with the crews that are in the field. She would listen to them complain about things like the heat and think to herself that should be expected – it’s roofing in Florida. To better understand, she said she decided to go on the roof at a jobsite to see what it was like.

“I had never been on the roof, so in order to understand what the crews are dealing with I needed to get on the roof and experience it for myself,” says Paula. “After one day I was convinced that I need to work with them more on issues they may be challenged with. Every day is a challenge for them and helping them overcome challenges is empowering. I really admire our hard-working crews.”

Paula says that she really enjoys working at Sutter Roofing. “The owners and my bosses have created a really good team and environment. They are people that I admire, and they have helped me both personally and professionally. I think that we have also created a good HR department that is willing to be understanding and can relate to our field employees.”

One of Paula’s biggest accomplishments has been working with Suncoast Technical College in Florida to help establish the roofing apprenticeship program.  “We worked very hard on this,” Paula said. “With help of other companies and the instructors we were able to launch the program. Of the eight students currently enrolled, four are Sutter Roofing employees.”

Recently, Paula joined National Women in Roofing and attended a few events in her local area. She was excited to learn that Sutter Roofing wanted her to attend her first Roofing Day and the NWiR Diversity and Inclusion Summit. It was a disappointment that this year’s events had to be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, but she looks forward to next year.

Paula says that when she isn’t working, she’s spending time working on her house to make it a nice home for her and her two children. She makes things like this fun by listening to music and dancing whenever she can.  She is extremely proud that having been born in Colombia and coming to the US  19 years ago, she was granted her U.S. citizenship in November of 2019.

Learn more about joining National Women in Roofing.