“I just started saying, whatever comes my way, I’m just going to say yes to it.” He worked in manufacturing and was involved in the development of the keyless drill chuck.
For her, those relationships matter because the industry itself cannot function in isolation.
“You can’t do anything without building materials,” she says. “Nothing can be built without us.”
That belief in connection is also shaping FBMA’s next chapter.
“You can’t do this alone,” Berano says. “You have to be able to collaborate and open up as human. You have to, because that’s the only thing that feels real.” It is fitting, then, that this edition of Women Building the Future begins with FBMA. The Women’s Summit grew from a recognition that women across lumber, building materials and construction needed a space built deliberately around their voices, careers and experiences. Berano is the first female executive director in FBMA’s century-long history. “Women are typically left out of this industry,” she says. “I’m the first female executive director of FBMA, and we’ve been around since 1920.”
“Just being in this industry makes me feel closer to him in some way,” she says.
After losing her mother and sister, Berano made a conscious decision to become more open to what came next.
That openness now defines much of her leadership at FBMA.
Founded in 1920, the association serves Florida’s lumber and building materials industry, bringing together retail dealers, suppliers, manufacturers, contractors and builders. “Our ultimate goal is to bring retail dealers together with suppliers, manufacturers, and contractors, builders,” Berano says.
But the true catalyst for the summit was more painful.
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