- [Adrienne] I really like working in teams and seeing something that was on a piece of paper become 3D and something that people in the community are gonna use when they have a need.

- Hi, my name's Riley and I'm a a mission to talk to as many engineers as I can about their lives building the world around us.

Today I'm talking to an engineer who designs buildings both big and small.

I wanna find out what inspires her and how she engineered her future.

Ready?

Let's go.

Hey Adrienne.

- Hi Riley.

- So I hear you recently finished a huge home renovation.

Tell me about it.

- I did.

So I bought my house about a year ago.

It was a little bit of a fixer upper and I decided I was gonna redo the bathroom off my main bedroom and I completely gutted it, redid the piping, the electric and she is just about finished now.

- So I hear you normally do much bigger projects.

- [Adrienne] I do.

I work for Danis Building Construction.

So we're a general contractor in the Cincinnati and Dayton area, and I'm currently working on a brand new hospital in Mason, Ohio.

- Really?

How long does it take for you to make a building that big and how do you keep it on schedule?

- So for my project, it takes about two and a half years from the time that we break ground and start clearing the area all the way until the time we give it back to the owner.

We do some different things to try and help with the schedule to keep it going quick.

So something we did on this project was called prefabrication.

We have a huge tent on site where we have subcontractors prefabbing the wall that goes on the outside of the building and then they would just pick the panels up with the crane and set them on the building.

No one's ever done that in the US before and that was something innovative we tried on this project and was really successful.

- That is pretty innovative.

So what's your job on site?

- So I'm a project engineer, so I work in a trailer on site.

It's a nice trailer and I help the project manager and the superintendent.

So the project manager manages the budget and schedule and then the superintendent manages the guys in the field.

So I kind of support both of them.

- Wow, that's such a huge and important job.

What keeps you passionate about your job?

- I like the kind of projects we do and what we are doing for the community.

So this hospital is gonna serve the people of Mason, Ohio and when they have family that needs care, they're able to go to the hospital that I had a hand in building.

But I also really like working on historic renovations in the inner city.

We're taking buildings that already exist and revitalizing them instead of tearing them down and building new ones.

I like the historical aspect of that and getting to keep a piece of history around in the city.

- That's pretty cool.

So if you could decide to make any kind of building what building would you make and why?

- I once got to work on the University of Dayton basketball Arena renovation and I think it would be very cool to do another brand new arena.

- So besides dreaming up cool buildings what do you like to do for fun?

- So I really like to run.

I'm actually training for a half marathon right now.

I also like to travel and go to national parks.

And then I also volunteer with a program called She Build.

So we do programs for people your age, in elementary and middle school, and kind of get them involved with the trades and what other options might be out there in construction.

- That's pretty cool of you showing your cool engineering skills to kids like me.

So what were you like as a kid?

- Yeah, so I was still kind of trying to figure it out.

I played a lot of sports and I thought I wanted to be an athletic trainer but growing up my dad was an architect and so I worked a lot around the house with him, kind of getting my hands involved on things and building things.

And then also in elementary school we did some Popsicle bridges and I really enjoyed building those as well.

- So as you got older and you know, went to college did you ever have any problems being a woman in engineering?

- [Adrienne] Yeah, so in college, in my graduating class of construction management, I was one of four other females.

So that was challenging at times trying to find where I fit in there.

But one really cool thing on my project now is there's three females on the project management team.

So my project manager, my boss is a female and then our safety engineer is also a female.

So it's kind of nice seeing some other, other females out in the industry making their way.

- So what is it like having a whole site run by women?

- It's very inspiring actually.

A lot of the projects I've been on, I've been the only female.

So to get to work under a project manager who's a female and is such a powerhouse, it really inspires me and it makes me realize that anything that I wanna achieve here at Danis site, I have the opportunity to do.

- So now that you've made it into the career that you love what is your definition of success?

- I'd say career success for me is working with our project team to make sure what we build is the owner's vision.

Personally, I think it's having fun and being happy with where you are.

So I think kind of enjoying your career goes into that, being surrounded by great people and just finding joy in the little moments.

- So what would you say to someone my age looking for the perfect profession?

- [Adrienne] You've got a lot of time to figure it out still so don't try and worry too much about having to decide early on and that no matter what industry you wanna be involved in there's a place for you.

You have the ability to break through those barriers and have a successful career.

- Well, thank you so much for talking with me, Adrienne and showing me how you engineered your future.

- Anytime.

- Bye.

- Bye.

(upbeat music) - [Riley] Mission accomplished.

(upbeat music continues) - That was a good question.

Hold on, let me think about it.

(upbeat music continues)