“I felt like as long as I could do the job and deliver, that my opportunities were limitless.”
Still, she remembers the women who showed her what was possible. Before joining the NRLA, she met industry leaders Linda Nussbaum and Diana Perenza. “They were so naturally focused on solutions,” Ferris remembers. “They had such a positive attitude. They had some fun doing their work. They were so authentic and their knowledge was so authentic and their passion was so authentic that they were so incredibly successful in all aspects of their work.” “They were there,” she says. “And I think like minds are attracted to each other. So that’s what attracted me here.” For students reading Women Building the Future, Ferris’ story carries an important lesson: a career does not have to begin with certainty to become meaningful.
She believes education is what transforms an entry point into a profession.
“Workforce development [is] the introduction to our industry, but I also see education as the thing that keeps people in it,” she says. “Educating your staff is an investment in people. It’s what differentiates a job from a profession.”
“And they know the builders and the builders’ families that even came before them.” Their value comes down to expertise, reliability and trust. “Our success relies on our reputation to deliver what we said we were going to deliver when we said we were going to deliver it.” Ferris calls these suppliers “anchors” in the construction industry. For all of her professional milestones, becoming the first woman president of the NRLA is not something Ferris frames as a story about gender. “Being a female in the industry has never been a focus of mine,” she says. “I have always focused on providing the best value possible to the membership.”
“If your staff isn’t growing, you’re not growing.”
—Rita Ferris
Today, the NRLA is intentionally bringing students into lumber yards and trade shows, introducing young people to opportunities that previous generations often discovered only by accident. Ferris is particularly optimistic about what they will bring. “I think they are way smarter than the young people of my generation at that age,” she says.
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BUILDING THE FUTURE WOMEN
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