We are so excited to have Jillian Bandes as our guest for today’s episode. Jillian Bandes is a Construction Manager with Bandes Construction, a Florida based, third-generation construction firm, with a strong portfolio of commercial work for the private and public sectors. Jillian has experience in commercial and residential construction, as well as for-profit and nonprofit development.
Welcome back to the She’s Wild Podcast hosted by Nancy Surak! We are so excited to have Jillian Bandes as our guest for today’s episode. Jillian Bandes is a Construction Manager with Bandes Construction, a Florida based, third-generation construction firm, with a strong portfolio of commercial work for the private and public sectors. Jillian has experience in commercial and residential construction, as well as for-profit and nonprofit development.
In today’s episode Jillian walks us through the challenges of being a female general contractor in a male dominated industry and how she navigates her role with grace. Tune into the episode to learn more about Jillian, her career, and about her volunteer work through a nonprofit organization she leads known as YIMBY St. Pete. YIMBY St. Pete concentrates on public policy approaches that can fix the affordable housing crisis through ways that don’t cost taxpayers money.
Memorable Moments:
9:05- Especially as a GC, I'm almost positive that most of my clients don't ever have the opportunity to work with a female GC on some of their commercial jobs just in the nature of our market.
19:22 There is a national housing shortage. It's a major crisis everywhere. It is really acute in St. Pete, and so I think we have a really valuable role to play in the conversation.
21:27 Affordable housing impacts everyone, it impacts, you know, middle sized businesses like ours, impacts big corporations, it impacts you know, moms trying to get to, a grocery store near where their kids are, you know, it just hits every single part of our society.
23:20 In terms of my company, I primarily want to work with happy employees. I know, that's not always the business goal, you know, I want to make money, I want to have great clients and I really value some of the great clients that I have. But day in day out, the folks you are working with are the folks who you do business with who you rely on to get the jobs done. And I have just such incredible coworkers right now. They really make it worth getting up and doing what I do all day long worth it. I find it really engaging and kind of, they're entertaining in a lot of ways, you know that that lifts you up.
30:15 It took me so long to understand the mechanics of building and I feel like that learning process could have been shortened if I had majored in something that was a little different.
Connect with Nancy:
Instagram: https://instagram.com/nancysurak
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancysurak/
Website: www.nancysurak.com
Connect with Jillian:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianbandes/
Website: https://www.bandesconstruction.com/
Email: Jillian.Bandes@bandesconstruction.com
Jullian's Book Recommendations:
Haruki Murakami Books on Amazon https://amzn.to/3vWdAe4
Pema Chödrön Books on Amazon https://amzn.to/3kWdpZU
She's WILD Sound Production by:
Luke Surak, Surak Productions: surakproductions@gmail.com
Nancy Surak 00:00
Welcome to She’s Wild the podcast for women and land in development. I'm your host, Nancy Surak. I created this podcast as a way to collect conversations of women in the land and development industry. I've been a land broker on the west coast of Florida for nearly 20 years. And I love to empower other women and to tell them about this amazing industry. But I find often that there just aren't enough women being featured on big stages, whether that's at local conferences, or nationally. So I set out to find these women myself that are killing it in my business across North America that are changing the communities that they live in every single day, whether they're building condos, multifamily, single family, office, or industrial projects. I hope that you will find this space to be inspirational, motivating, and educational. From time to time, I will feature women who are not only in my business, but also career coaches, and motivational speakers. I welcome to the show. Today's guest is Jillian bandys of bandys construction and Pinellas County, Florida. Jillian is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she studied War history. But today, she is about to take over her family's construction business. I invited her on the show not only for her amazing construction, career experience, but also to tell us about an organization that she's involved with call yimby St. Petersburg. I hope that you'll enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Enjoy the show. I am Welcome to shoes while the podcast for women and land and development. Today's guest is Jillian bandys of bandys construction in St. Petersburg, Florida. Chilean. I am so happy to have you here today. I can't wait to dive into the background of your story about being a woman and construction and some of the great things that you're doing in Pinellas County. But before we do that, I want to give you an opportunity to just introduce yourself. Tell us a little bit about your background.
Jillian Bandes 02:19
Hey, Nancy, thanks so much for having me on today. I love the model you're doing with this podcast. I am a construction manager. I work for commercial clients in the government, multifamily, retail and industrial sectors. I do a lot of work for a nonprofit organization called YIMBY St. Pete, when I'm not busy building things, and I'm a Florida native. So I've grown up here in Pinellas County, went away to school, lived outside the state for a while came back and I worked with my family business, which is 36 folks in the need in Florida. We're in the Tampa Bay area. Awesome. Thank you.
Nancy Surak 02:57
So tell me a little bit about so you went away to college, you left the state of Florida, where exactly did you go to school,
Jillian Bandes 03:05
I went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I got a degree in war history. So I studied all kinds of things that were not directly related to construction. But as it happens, have a lot of real world applicability, construction management and War history are, are uniquely similar in ways that I am maybe can go into.
Nancy Surak 03:25
I can only imagine in how interesting of a background given today's current political environment and geopolitical concerns across the globe, you know, I'm sure that you're paying attention keenly to the news and what's happening and putting all that past education to work explaining things to friends and family, I would only imagine, correct?
Jillian Bandes 03:48
Well, it's it's kind of top of mind, especially when you talk about some of the disruptions that have happened to our industry here in the US, you know, as the result of situations abroad. And you know, the supply chain stuff is talked about a lot these days. But it's worth mentioning here. I mean, we have a totally different model for buying out and starting up construction projects as we did just six months ago. Right now we have several jobs on our books that are just waiting to start. So we have been awarded the contract, we bought all the materials purchased all the labor, and we're waiting until a mechanical unit arrives or a fire alarm panel arrives or what have you. And that's just a reflection of what's actually you know, what's actually your capable of doing in this environment that was not like that, you know, a very short time ago. And when you have owners asking about you know, when can we start our job? Or when are you going to finish you have to have very candid conversations about what is actually possible as opposed to what you know, you they might want you to do or what you think you could have done eight months ago. So that kind of candor I think is important in our industry and in yours as well. And there, you know, negotiations and you know, different types of personalities. I mean, there's just a lot of things to navigate in this environment.
Nancy Surak 05:00
Yeah, no doubt, it is definitely harder than what it used to be. Right. So before we get into some of the specifics about what you're doing on some of the projects that you're working on, and, and that sort of thing, I'd love to just take it back a step, but you have a degree in war history. How did you originally I know it's your family business. But how did you finally just say, I, it's in my blood, and I'm going to get into construction management, like when did that shift occur for you?
Jillian Bandes 05:28
I was about four years into a very bad journalism career. And the market had kind of come back. So I graduated in 2007. And there was not a ton of construction activity in the state of Florida in 2007. So coming back was never really front of mind. The market did come back, and my dad had told me, you know, if there's any time, you know, you want to come back to the nest and get into the biz, then, you know, now would be the time and I was kind of burning out there. So it seemed like the right transition. I went back to school, I got a second degree in construction technology from St. Petersburg College, very different experience from my first degree at UNC Chapel Hill in history. And then I got back my, you know, my contractor's license, I got OSHA certified, I spent a few years on the job managing projects directly, and I'm now full time project manager here.
Nancy Surak 06:27
That's amazing. So you have your, your general contractor's license was I've heard so many stories about how difficult that test is. What was that like to go through that educational process and to sit for the state exam?
Jillian Bandes 06:42
I don't want to sound like a jerk, but it wasn't that bad.
Nancy Surak 06:44
Well, you do have a degree from UNC so clearly are highly educated and smart.
Jillian Bandes 06:51
Thanks. I studied a lot I you know, it was, I have a really nice situation here with my dad. So I took a week off. I went to the training school in Sarasota, you know, it was a full time week of studying and I passed without issue. So the the contractor's license was not the big hurdle for me, I think learning the nuts and bolts, and understanding the technical aspects to construction, and specifically the personalities. I mean, there are just so many different types of folks doing business in the state. So navigating that was the biggest challenge.
Nancy Surak 07:25
Do you think you would have benefited to have a psychology degree? Yes, yes, I do. I say that all the time. I say I feel like I would be so well served if I had a psychology background, because there's so many times that I'm pulling into this toolbox that I don't really have the tools for, to just help people navigate the challenges they're faced with and the business decisions that they're have to make. And people it's amazing to me to just watch individuals in our in our world to make decisions and then get caught up in really insignificant decisions and have no issue with multimillion dollar decisions. Like they're, of course, just do that. And you know, the little things, they'll be like, Wait, what is happening? It's really interesting. So So tell me, what was it like when you say you got your license, you go on your first job? Or get your first job? How was it? Or how is it as a woman in the business? Do you see? Are you experiencing any hurdles? Or said, you know, people just sort of welcomed you with, with open arms? Can you tell us a little bit more about your experience as a woman in construction,
Jillian Bandes 08:33
it runs the gamut. It is across the board, you get so many different types of reactions, I would say the majority of guys that I work with, because I work almost exclusively with men are very warm and open and accepting and it doesn't ever come up. And I never think about it. There are a number of situations, you know, pretty pretty regularly, I will experience environments where I'm the only woman in the room where, you know, I'm sure you are as well. And a lot of the times there's no problem, but some of the times you feel like there's you know, kind of just a slight outsider vibe, right? Like they're not used to having a woman at the other end of the table. And especially as a GC, I'm almost positive that most of my clients don't ever have the opportunity to work with a female GC on some of their commercial jobs just in the nature of our market. beanies construction does, you know, on average, between one and $25 million jobs. So we are kind of a mid sized GC, we're not gigantic, but we're not, you know, a guy in a truck. And so that specific market sector, I don't think there is a lot of female project managers and there definitely is I don't know of any female owners and I'll be moving into an ownership role this year. So that type of dynamic is, you know, it's different just because there hasn't been a woman on the other side of the table. That said I work with a lot of really you know, open minded and generous guys as clients as coworkers as friends. So I have so many advantages. I will say that there has been a number of situations where You know, I get the comments sometimes that maybe our team wasn't the right fit because it didn't feel right. And you always have to just kind of do a second guess, you know, like I you know, maybe it wasn't a gender issue, maybe it was something else but like you never quite know when when the comment is, you don't seem like the right fit. I would just caution your listenership. You know, maybe when you're evaluating a potential client or vendor or you know, subcontractor, maybe use different phrasing, like, you know, I didn't think the skill level matched up specifically, or I felt as though this other gentleman had a different attention to detail or something like something concrete, because when you use those types of words, you know, words matter. So, you know, I don't I don't know that it was directly due to gender issues in those circumstances, but I do. So I would say that it does make you raise an eyebrow every now and then.
Nancy Surak 10:53
Yeah, I can't imagine that would be a challenge. Because you're you're trying to figure out why. Right? And of people being truthful, with why and do they even know the why?
Jillian Bandes 11:04
I'm sure they don't, I'm sure they don't know why it didn't feel like the right fit. I'm 100% certain that this was not because of some over issue, it may just be because they've never dealt with a female on their jobs. I mean, that's not a bad thing. That's just the way it's been. So it's not necessarily like overt discrimination, or any kind of prejudice whatsoever. It's just the feeling that you get from a woman on the job with 50. Dudes, you know, it's a totally different animal.
Nancy Surak 11:31
Yeah, I can imagine. So tell me about when what it's like to go out in the field, when you and you may not know this, but actually started off my career in construction. Not not as a GC and I don't have a construction degree. But I did business development for contractors. And one of my favorite things back 20 years ago with 25 years ago was to go on the job sites I absolutely loved. And I was a young woman going out on job sites, taking no crap from anybody. But it was always I mean, and that was in the in the 90s. So for me to think back and like, wow, it was pretty bold. But what's that, like now for you when you have when you go on to a job site? Do you have any issues there? Or is it you know, nobody even bats an eye?
Jillian Bandes 12:18
It's less than less of an issue. You know, I was on site much more earlier in my career. I've been with our company for 11 years. So I am on the job once or twice a week checking things out saying hello, I'm not there for eight hours a day like I used to be. It's it's not it's not unique anymore. I think there are enough that you know, every now and then I'll get comments like, oh, you know, you look great in a hardhat. It's like, okay, thanks. Yeah. But like, it doesn't matter. That's why I picked this as a career clearly. To be friendly. Yeah. Right. Absolutely.
Nancy Surak 12:49
So out of all the jobs that you've worked on in the last 11 or 12 years, what's been your absolute most favorite?
Jillian Bandes 13:05
Oh, that's a great question. I thought you said this wasn't going to be a hardball
Nancy Surak 13:09
might come back to it if you need a minute to think about it.
Jillian Bandes 13:13
My favorite moment. There was a moment where we built the Seminole Heights Library for Hillsborough County. And I was on that job pretty intensely. And there was a partnership between an artist named Princess Smith, who you should look up because she's fantastic in the city of Tampa, and Hillsborough County has an Arts Partnership. So she won some, you know, award to do the art in this library. And I was there for the installation of this just unbelievable art piece in the library that we had just finished. And she was kind of a local and was just kind of an up and coming African American artist in this neighborhood where we had put this library that felt really good, it was really beautiful. And I just remember the feeling of this woman and me to like standing there looking at this artwork in this gorgeous foyer, all this you know stained wood trim and beautiful staircases and glass and it was just a really, really good feeling of community. I don't always get that on every project that I build.
Nancy Surak 14:15
Nice thank you for sharing that. It is nice when you know you're witnessing something in history, right? Just to take in that moment. It sounds like that's what you were able to do is just share this moment of great accomplishment for two women. And in a community that probably so needed this great new asset, which which is a wonderful story. So, so taking you from construction and maybe marrying kind of your background of political history or war history. I know that you've been very active in your community, in an organization called IEM. BCP and I would love for you to tell us what EMB St. Pete is where your focus is, what you guys are doing and why
Jillian Bandes 14:59
YIMBY St. Pete is a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding solutions for affordable housing, that don't cost money. So we focus on policies that can change the supply of housing and how housing is built as what we think is the greatest tool to actually make an impact. There is plenty of organizations advocating for subsidies or actual building of units, which we do not push for, we only push for the laws to change. So zoning laws, building code regulations changing. And also it's a big publicity effort, because changing those laws requires people to change their mindset from one of being kind of a single family predominant neighborhood to a multifamily predominant neighborhood. And that's a big shift intellectually and emotionally for a lot of neighbors.
Nancy Surak 15:51
How did you first get involved with YIMBY St. Pete?
Jillian Bandes 15:56
So back in 2011 1213 12, I had purchased a lot about eight blocks south of Central Avenue and st. Petersburg. And I was building it for me and my husband, and we had moved from an apartment that was 800 square feet, and didn't need a lot of space, we were brought from DC had spent time there. And we didn't want a big place, we wanted kind of a modest place. And so my idea was to build a duplex because we could live in one and rent out the other. And that would be great for us financially. And just, it's what we wanted, we were not allowed to do that. And it was really outrageous, because like I said, it was eight blocks from Central where you have 50 story towers. So the zoning changed from really high intense density to very, very limited density in a very short area. And I thought something was wrong with that. And actually, if you read a lot about zoning and urban planning, you know, most cities have a graduated building plan where they go from intense densities, to lesser densities over a longer area. St. Pete doesn't have that it's very dramatic. And so we set out to change why that exists.
Nancy Surak 17:09
So where are you today with that organization? Have you guys seen a significant policy change or law change? Or is that still in progress?
Jillian Bandes 17:17
We have made some incredible waves in the past 12 to 18 months. So we incorporated as a nonprofit about two years ago, we've been in existence for three years. And in that short time, we have really made some waves. So in October of last year, a housing committee on the City Council voted to enact quadruplex zoning essentially everywhere in the city that did not get passed through Council yet. The city staff is working on it. And there are many council members that are on board. So it's a fast moving target.
Nancy Surak 17:47
So what do you think what why is it that you think the political strength or courage hasn't been there to to pass this really important? Change of law?
Jillian Bandes 17:58
Well, there are some really serious political consequences of this types of regulation that you have to consider and, and and take seriously, frankly, I mean, that the individuals in the building department have to deal with a lot of inputs from different homeowners, renters, interest groups. And so getting them to kind of mobilize around one issue in terms of of zoning, it takes a lot of political will. And that translates into the city council and into the mayor's office. So you know, a big job for me St. Pete is to provide political cover for both the staff and the elected officials to say no, this actually is the right policy for our city, it can create more affordability, because there's a lot of detractors.
Nancy Surak 18:40
So you talked about this as a local chapter, is this a national organization as well?
Jillian Bandes 18:46
It is there is a national Yimby, St. Pete, which we are not officially affiliated with, it just didn't seem like the right choice for our specific organization. That said, we talk to them pretty regularly. You know, we try to form coalition's between different groups in St. Pete, other community activism groups, and, you know, nonprofit builders, because a lot of them realize the potential that upzoning could have for affordability. And that is a national issue. You know, a lot of these national voters can't do the infill projects that the you know, NTm, one or four Plex zoning would advocate for, they're just not interested or it's not financially feasible. So there is a huge national component to this, as you know, there is a national housing shortage. It's a major crisis everywhere. It is really acute and St. Pete And so I think we have a really valuable role to play in the conversation.
Nancy Surak 19:32
I think it's wonderful that you're doing this. I'm a huge advocate of zoning, in more dense urban areas, it and frankly, even in in suburban areas as well, I think that it's okay. And I think it enriches your community overall, as long as it's done correctly, and whatever is built, abides by new code, right. You know, I mean, I think there's this concept of, it won't be good quality construction, and I don't know where that comes from, or people, you know, they just they don't want certain things in their neighborhoods, and I have never understood that. Like, no, you you want the vibrancy that different populations bring and and that could be you know, like you said a you know a young, unmarried couple with no with no children versus an elderly couple with no children versus a single mom, or whatever, you know, you just it's or the young professional with four kids like whatever it is it just makes your community overall much richer. So I wish you guys the best of luck and a continuation of making things happen that you thought, you know, that you personally experienced said this, this is wrong, and I want to fix this. And maybe while we fix that, we can also uh, tackle the affordability crisis. So you're about to step into an ownership role as an owner of a construction company, I'm sure you're doing well, things are crazy hot in Florida. marrying those two ends of your career, your interest level must also impact your business model. Because after all, you've got employees that are, you know, working for you for a salary, and they have to have a place to live. Just out of curiosity, how is that going right now is for folks that are in your industry, with this big influx of folks coming from other states, how's that affecting you guys from a, what you can pay people and what you can charge on jobs. I mean, I can only imagine that must be a crazy thing to manage currently,
Jillian Bandes 21:27
Affordable housing impacts everyone, it impacts, you know, middle sized businesses like ours impacts big corporations, it impacts you know, moms trying to get to, you know, grocery store near where their kids are, you know, like there's it just hits every single part of our society. I don't know that the construction industry, at least in my company specifically is impacted by this as much as others, we do have extremely long commute times for some of our employees, we do have, you know, job sites that are far away, but because our job sites are necessarily not in the same place, they are located all over the West Coast of Florida, the east coast of Florida, we have a lot of travel built into our business model. I think if you're based in in Pinellas County, or based in Hillsborough County, you are really seeing a lot of employees coming from very far away. And that doesn't just impact, you know, the number of hours you can spend at at work, you know, in terms of increasing people's overall the duration of their workday, it impacts how much time they spend with their families, how much they're spending on rent, or a mortgage, which impacts their quality of life. And then of course, it impacts the environment, because when you increase commute times you have, you know, way more car transit. So there's just a lot of negative effects of having people spread out. And, you know, another big thing that you would probably be familiar with is the impact on undeveloped lands, you're just going to create more and more sprawl, if you can't live near where your work is. So that piece has been latched on to by some environmental partners. And we've seen some really amazing support from folks like the Sierra Club.
Nancy Surak 22:55
Wow, interesting. When you think about what a perfect situation would be for, whether it's YIMBY or your company, what do you ultimately hope is going to happen there?
Jillian Bandes 23:12
Let me get out my crystal ball, right? And I hope you'll answer the same question for me because I'm really curious. In terms of my company, I primarily want to work with happy employees. I know, that's not always the business goal at you know, I want to make money, I want to have great clients and I really value some of the great clients that I have. But day in day out, the folks you are working with are the folks who you do business with who you rely on to get the jobs done. And I have just such incredible coworkers right now. They really make it worth getting up and doing what I do all day long worth it. I find it really engaging and kind of, they're entertaining in a lot of ways, you know that that lifts you up. And at the end of the day, you know, as much as you want all these other things as a result from business. You want to work with happy people who you know, like what they do and who boost you up. And so I right now I have that I feel infinitely lucky about that. And as the company develops, you know, many, many companies want to grow and grow and grow and grow. I'm pretty happy where we're at. I think we are very competitive in our mid-size market. I know everyone in our company, I feel like I have relationships with them. And I feel like I know our clients. And I feel like if we were to grow that much more that might be jeopardized. So is it is it weird to say I want to stay the same professionally?
Nancy Surak 24:40
No, I I think what you just described is a really wonderful place. You know where you it's like a family but it's a family in a good way that you're you're invested in your employees and and the work that you're doing, which is I think it's special and something to really celebrate you No, I don't I don't hear that a lot. When I talk to contractors who are constantly complaining, you know that they either for various challenges that they may be faced with for you to be able to say, I love the people I work with. And that's what I really want, I think is a great, a great thing to celebrate. Honestly,
Jillian Bandes 25:21
that's what does it for me, I'm gonna Yeah, that's what I do eight hours, nine hours a day.
Nancy Surak 25:26
So I'm sorry, you have to love it. You know, if you're gonna be there a lot that long. You want to make sure you love it. So just taking just a quick little step back. What because I love to ask this occasionally. What's the strangest thing you've ever encountered on any of your sites or any of the deals that you've worked on?
Jillian Bandes 25:45
Oh, wow. Well, the strangest thing that I haven't personally encountered this, I've encountered some weird stuff. But the very top of the list is a project that was completed before I joined the company in 2011. And that's when we were working on a job. And you're familiar with some of the impaction issues with structural filled. So you know, when you're building a building's foundation, you have problems that you have to take densities and make sure that the structure that you're building can be supported. So we noticed some issues with the compaction. And so we did a little more investigation. And we discovered I didn't this at the time, they discovered a an entire field of dead dogs. It was a dog graveyard. It was horrific. It was
Nancy Surak 26:36
I mean, I'm don't even know how to how to react.
Jillian Bandes 26:38
We ended up having to truck out I mean, dump trucks full of deceased animals out of the site. And we were reimbursed by the ton I've never heard anything like that. Nancy, I'm telling you it was It was wild. The story is wild. And the story is disgusting. I mean, there was just incredible amounts of filth and contamination but like how did anything happen? They miss the dog graveyard in in the in sight report they miss they miss what
Nancy Surak 27:17
so I, you know, I'm originally from New Orleans, and I as a child, I remember the missing like unmarked grave areas. Right. And that's the thing in Tampa now you hear a lot about in the news where there are these historical grave sites that generations come and go and people forget it's there, if it hasn't been written about or recorded, or they're not any old photographs, you don't always know. But I can remember growing up and then building a restaurant on a site and getting into site construction and saying like, Oh, we're hitting things we shouldn't be hitting. And there had been an old like, highway that had bisected there was a grave site on the north side of the highway. But nothing on the south side. While what it turned out I and I'm sure some of this is folklore was that people began to say like, that whole area where the highway went, where the elevator bridge went, like that was all one big grave area. A graveyard and that when the highway and the bridge got built, like nobody really, either they didn't discover it, or nobody really said anything. And, or it was so dated that it was just sort of overlooked. But in the 80s You know, when they started uncovering these, these graves and you know, all heck broke loose. And I remember that being like, oh my god, like why what's happening? But I've never heard it from an animal perspective. So that is pretty strange. And I appreciate you sharing that with us.
Jillian Bandes 28:45
So unforeseen conditions.
Nancy Surak 28:47
Yeah, I have to be ready for anything, right? You do? And then you find the solution. That's the problem. What do you do now? It's there. How do you how do you address it? So for any young women who might be listening to this, whether they're studying construction management, or they're in finance thinking about commercial development, or they're doing land brokerage, if someone called you and said, Hey, what would be your best piece of advice to be successful woman in this arena in the land and development and construction business? What would you tell them?
Jillian Bandes 29:23
To get technically competent, figure out a specialty and get a mechanical engineering degree or get a civil engineering degree even if you're not a mechanical engineer, civil engineer, those things will benefit you infinitely on the job site constructions a wonderful profession it there's so much opportunity for people who are driven and like a lot of action. There. It's a pretty intense environment. So I would say you know, the psychology degree might be applicable, but you know, get the basics down. It took me so long to understand the mechanics of building and I feel like that learning process could have been shortened if I I had majored in something that was a little different. That said, I've, you know, I've enjoyed my my career trajectory. So I, you know, I came about it in just a slightly different way. But I would say get the building blocks there, because that will give you the expertise to actually be able to build things successfully, or sell things successfully when it comes to real estate or what have you. That backbone is so often overlooked, I see many women getting into marketing roles or you know, ancillary roles, and I don't begrudge them those positions, they're essential, and we have amazing workers in our office who do that. But if you're really interested in doing the work of construction, and potentially owning a business, or being a project manager, you know, the technical piece just can't be underestimated, and you will be compensated. I mean, folks who have the really highly high level of technical expertise, they are incredibly valuable, and you will be recognized.
Nancy Surak 30:53
Thank you for that. And just to wrap up, I always like to ask my guests two questions. One is, is there an inspirational book or podcast or audio book that you've listened to recently that you just absolutely adore? And could you share that with our audience?
Jillian Bandes 31:12
I don't listen to a lot of podcasts that do business advice or motivation. I'm a little Buddhist. So I'm Jewish, and I'm Buddhist. And so I get into my spirituality pretty heavily but I don't do the books or the audiobooks. I know a lot of a lot of people do and I I tend to stay away from that I like to read. I like to read fiction. I like Haruki Murakami is my favorite nonfiction author. I you know, I like Pema children who's like a good Buddhist guidepost in the West. So I have some other media that I like to read. I'm also real, I read the newspaper, which is a paper newspaper, which I think I'm the last person in the US to read a paper newspaper and paper magazines, but I love it. It's my happy place. I don't I don't do the inspirational stuff. Maybe you could recommend something.
Nancy Surak 32:00
I think that's okay, that you don't I think if you said, hey, you know, the two authors that you mentioned, I think that there are listeners who aren't necessarily like me, who just consumes, you know, just women empowerment books, and inspirational books, but you know, like, my daughter doesn't, she doesn't read any of that. She's all about, you know, crime history, crime history and crime podcasts. And and I'm thinking I can't do that, because it would be paranoid to leave my house at any given day. But I think it has to work for you, right? Like, where do you spend your downtime. And I love that you said, you know, I'm Jewish, and I'm Bucha. And I'm Buddhist, I think that there are things in those arenas that really probably help that you balance what you do every day, during the day, to keep a sense of calm and center. I mean, that's, that's huge. So I appreciate that you gave that up and said, Hey, though, this is what works for me. I think that's great. So outside of that, where if somebody wanted to contact you, or get in touch with you or follow you, where's the good places? They could they follow you on social media?
Jillian Bandes 33:06
I do live in a social media. I am very accessible by email. I do a lot of phone calls. You know, with my nonprofit work and my business. I'm on the phone a lot. I'm on Facebook a little bit, but I don't do Instagram. I am barely on Twitter. You know, if they want to reach out my email address, I'll just give it to you right now is Julian dot bandys at beanies construction.com. So I'm easy to find, you know, there's a website for up St. Pete and a website for Bandes Construction, I can be reached easily there too. I love hearing from like minded women. You know, there's not a lot of us and it's nice to build the community.
Nancy Surak 33:41
Yeah, and I really appreciate the fact that you agreed to jump on this, you know, like I explained to you in the very beginning, I'm not a pro with this. And I'm doing this podcast really to reach other women across North America and our business and to share the stories so that if there's a woman in another state or another city who is just like you that maybe she could pick up the phone or email you and say hey, I'm I'm doing this too, and I'd love to pick your brain I think exactly what you said there aren't a ton of us. But those that I've encountered are total rockstars just like you and I'm a huge cheerleader and I you know when you have a win, I have a win. I'm so excited to see you in your career. I'm so excited to know that you're about to take ownership and to you know continue to grow your family's business. I'm proud to know you and I'm proud that we sat down and I'm super excited to see what comes next for you. So thank you again for joining me. And that's it for now.
Jillian Bandes 34:37
It's been so much fun. Thanks for doing this Nancy Alright, take care. Bye.
Nancy Surak 34:42
Thank you for joining us for another episode of she's while the podcast for women and land and development. If you enjoyed today's show, please go out and rate us so that we can be found by other women in our industry. And if you know women who are working in land and development, please share this podcast with them. And if you know a total rock star woman, bad ass chick who is killing it in land and development anywhere in North America. I want to know who she is. Please reach out to me so that I can feature her on an upcoming episode.