TAKE UP SPACE How FBMA is Creating Room for the Women Building What Comes Next KRISTINA BERANO EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, FBMA
Written by Tamara Bellamy | Executive Publisher Built America Magazine
“I started saying yes a lot.”
For Kristina Berano, that decision came after loss.
Before becoming Executive Director of the Florida Building Material Association, Berano built a career in hospitality, ran high-end salons and spas, and later became a certified end-of-life doula. Then COVID changed everything. Her mother and sister died within four months of each other, and the work that had once felt like a calling no longer did.
Education never ends, It’s important to TAKE UP SPACE, ladies.
“I needed to find something else that I could really throw my whole heart into,” she says.
She applied for a meeting planner position. “Before I knew it, I was the executive director of FBMA.” What followed wasn’t just a career change. In many ways, it felt like a return to something familiar. Berano remembers growing up beside her father, following him through hardware stores and spending time around his tool bench.
—KRISTINA BERANO
22
BUILDING THE FUTURE WOMEN
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