Talented women change the game in South Florida’s construction industry

In this week’s Miami Proud, we shine the spotlight on women changing the game in the construction industry. The once male-dominated is now flourishing with talented women.
Gabriella Santi is a project manager with Suffolk Construction. She’s proud to be a woman in the industry which is notoriously known to be male-dominated, with women making up only 9.9% of it nationally.
Santi said excelling in the field was second nature to her. It runs in her family as both of her parents are civil engineers.
“I was always exposed to the construction industry. I think seeing them and seeing how they were passionate about what they do really drew me to it. I actually did my undergrad in civil engineering, but it wasn’t until the end that I determined I wanted to join the construction management part of the industry,” she said.
Right now she’s working on La Baia South in Bay Harbor Islands, where her team is almost entirely women. When completed, the eight-story building will include 68 luxury residences and a private marina.
“We’re in construction now. It’s going to have beautiful landscaping, we’re going to have this beautiful view,” said Santi.
Santi said she launched her career through Suffolk’s Career Start program. It’s a two-year rotational program that allowed her to gain hands-on experience. Now that she’s established in the field, she’s paying it forward and always looking to encourage other women to explore careers in construction.
“We’re always doing outreach programs, always trying to motivate and promote women in construction. We host site visits for young women who are interested and want to learn more about what it is to be in the construction industry, we go to universities,” said Santi.
Santi said she has had several female mentors while working on various projects who helped guide her into the type of leader she aspires to become.
“They taught me to work hard, to never take no for an answer and always fight for what I want and what I want to achieve,” said Santi.
Santi said it’s exciting to be part of these developments and have an input in the future of Miami through the projects she oversees. Company leaders with Suffolk said they are committed to encouraging more women to join the construction industry. The Florida firm signed the “Million Women in Construction Community Pledge” and is actively working to recruit more women into the construction industry.
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