While women have broken through the glass ceilings of the Whitehouse and corner offices, there are few female titans in the construction world. Sadly, harassment and lack of respect continue to keep many of them off that path.
Yet against all odds, one hard-hustling woman broke that mold and her story is paving the way for women everywhere.
April Malloy had a rough childhood, being abused and bouncing through the foster care system as a teen.
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Speaking with Fox, she said that things got worse when her troubled marriage ended. It left the single mother of nine homeless, on welfare and living out of her car.
When all hope seemed lost, Malloy recalled her source of motivation: “I was in my car, just fighting, then I looked at my kids and you know that love that you have as a mother, and I knew I had to be strong for them.”
Yet like a ray of light through a cloud, hidden within those trying times would be the key to her rebuild.
How a Single Mother Broke Into the Construction World
During those tough foster years, Malloy learned a valuable skill: Handywork. With little time to waste and nine mouths to feed, Malloy got into game mode. With her car doubling as an office, Malloy got to work bidding on construction jobs with laser focus.
“I was sleeping in my car and I would answer ads and I was working and pounding the hammer and just pounding the pavement and making it happen.
Her resilience paid off, as she landed a contract at the ‘Red Lobster’ restaurant chain and other jobs. From there, her credentials and clients only grew. Today, Malloy is a force, as the CEO of Construction 1st Class.
Her company has developed hotels in Manhattan’s Times Square and restaurants around the Big Apple, not to mention her own property portfolio. No longer cramped in a car, she owns a 7-bedroom home with all the space she or her children can ask for.
Yet these days, Malloy is focused on using her success to help other women build a bright future. Her ‘She’s the boss developers’ is a business that is proudly 100% woman-owned that ‘strive to hire women and veterans while setting up a mentor program.’
Malloy says it’s all about elevating women: “I use that opportunity to train more women and I help them financially get on their feet with the non-profit.”
You Can Build Your Dreams
Next job for Malloy? Reality TV. Her ‘She’s the boss’ YouTube channel shares her story to empower and inspire women to become their own bosses. She says there’s no mission more important.
“Teaching women and training women is the ultimate solution to empower our country. If I can do it, they can do it.”
It’s easy to read into Malloy’s story as a fairy tale that most can’t achieve. Yet look closer and see that her toolbox is simple: Block out barriers, and have a strong enough ‘Why’, and start hammering. Most important of all, she says, is belief.
“Walk in the room like you know you’re the boss that you are, and you become the boss.”
With a foundation like that, you can build castles in the sky.