By Emma Peterson. 

You do not choose the roofing industry; the industry chooses you! 

Recently, The Coffee Shops’ crew members Karen Edwards and Megan Ellsworth had the opportunity to be interviewed about their journeys in the roofing industry. Karen didn’t plan on working in the industry. She shared in her interview that she started working in marketing and found herself at a lumber and building supplies company. That was her first taste of the contracting world, which would eventually lead her to meeting Heidi J. Ellsworth, and the rest is history.  

Megan, who is our multimedia manager, spoke about how her journey on the roof began in a baby backpack carrier, but she never saw herself working in the industry as an adult. But low and behold, Megan found herself returning to the industry as an editor when the first RoofersCoffeeShop podcasts released and has now fallen in love with the community.  

The interviews were conducted on the Roofer Reflections YouTube channel. Each video is hosted by Tats Nakagawa, Castagra’s CEO, and puts the well-deserved spotlight on roofing industry professionals. They interview people from all areas of the industry and discuss what drew them into the workforce, what they’ve learned over time, the trends they are seeing and everything in-between!  

Specifically, Karen and Megan’s interviews are a part of a specific series titled “Women in Roofing (Roofer Reflections).” This series takes the time to highlight the women who are pacing trails in a traditionally male-dominated industry. The guests are all passionate about their work and dedicated to making the industry more inclusive and accessible for all.  

Watch the entire interview with Karen to hear about how a marketing job turned into becoming g a leader in the roofing industry.  

Watch the full interview with Megan to hear more about coming into roofing and growing into her role as RoofersCoffeeShop’s multimedia manager.  

You can also check out the larger Women In Roofing (Roofer Reflections) playlist to hear from other women in roofing. 

The Coffee Shop crew recaps the RT3 meetup and Roofing Alliance and NRCA ROOFPAC events at IRE 2023.

Editor's note: The following is a transcript of a conversation the Coffee Shop crew had after their RT3 meetup, ROOFPAC and Roofing Alliance events. 

Karen Edwards: Hi everyone, this is Karen Edwards and we are going to download on Monday, the day before the IRE started. So first of all, stop whispering, second of all we went to the RT3 meet up at SRS Distribution this morning and it was fantastic. So I’m gonna start. I thought it was fabulous. We had some amazing discoveries. We’re going to be bringing you all some fantabulous things. And then I would love to hear from my colleagues. Heidi, Megan, Lauren, let’s talk about today. It’s Monday, the show hasn’t even started yet and we are here one day ahead of time. Heidi, what do you think today? 

Heidi Ellsworth: I thought RT3 was amazing. We were at the SRS Headquarters. And we started out with a tour that was I mean, totally impressive. Counting the tech center and then going into the innovation lab, and the having Patrick Garcia spoke to us about the innovations of SRS which I mean seriously, the stuff that they’re doing with bots and artificial intelligence and lockers. I mean, you name it. It’s just so impressive. I loved it. I loved it. I thought we had some great conversations, some excellent discussion and then tonight, or I mean then when of course, you had to set up the booths. Right? So we’re still working on that. The ROOFPAC was incredible. I mean, people were at the ROOFPAC. They raised so much money. They sold six suit jackets. 

Karen Edwards: I know, the NRCA lined sui. Yeah. They are so fun. And they sold for like $2,700 a piece! 

Heidi Ellsworth: I know. I was like I wanted to, but it didn’t happen. Yeah, I’m telling you. It was so cool. And then the students, the students we met from Clemson and Cal Poly and Bradley, Texas A&M. CSU. Oh yeah. It was just a great night. Don’t you think? 

Megan Ellsworth: This morning, I did not go to the RT3 meetup, but I went to the National Women in Roofing brunch, which started with yoga led by Mandy McIntyre, which was so rejuvenating, and then you had a roundtable discussion about their book this year, which is titled Divinely Queer. By Jennifer Miracle-Best. But it was a really beautiful conversation just by like there was queer people in the conversation non queer people. People from all sorts of backgrounds just sharing their experiences and it was really beautiful and there were tears shed. And it was like, a really awesome, powerful, like super powerful. It was a really great way to start the day. And I shared some experiences and it was just like, really awesome. And then we set up the booth. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Where did you go to brunch? 

Megan Ellsworth: Oh I didn’t go to brunch because we had to go set up. That was booth time. But um, and then the Roofing Alliance party was really fun. And meeting all the teams and I talked to the CSU team and I said, I’m rooting for you guys. So yeah. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Okay, rooting for Cal Poly. But I want them all, but I’m just saying we’re going with our region’s right now.  

Megan Ellsworth: CSU! Yeah! I also really liked Bradley University. Victoria from Bradley. Fellow redhead. Really cool femme energy I really liked. 

Heidi Ellsworth: Yeah, watch. She’s gonna win presenter award 

Megan Ellsworth: I hope so. Lauren? 

Lauren White: So I got to go to RT3 this morning too. And we got to tour the SRS Distribution Center headquarters, which they just rolled our recently and built and it was phenomenal. I mean, just the facility itself. The way that they think of their employees and we go to see the guitars from all the previous concerts and they were also signed and it was very cool. Yeah. And just got to see people like the day-to-day work stuff because it was a Monday so people were there in the office and everybody was very wonderful. Had very good discussions about what to do with technology in the roofing industry and how to further promote and integrate technology into the roofing industry. Then then ROOFPAC was great. It was it was packed. Packed. Yeah. 

Heidi Ellsworth: I hope they were happy with the turnout. 

Lauren White: Yeah, the silent auction, live auction. Having a good time supporting the industry. I mean, some of the things for the live auction. I mean, there were lobsters, there were vacation days, there was National Women in Roofing had a package for the DEI committee education which I thought was a very cool and unique not unique, just different thing. I think different offerings for a live auction, as opposed to here are your 24 lobsters for the year. Yeah, very different. There’s all ends of the spectrum. And then we went to the Roofing Alliance and we go to be part of the coin toss slash selection of what time they were going, who was going next. 

Megan Ellsworth: When? Yeah, Wednesday. 

Lauren White: Yeah and the teams were there and they’re all very excited and just the energy there supporting them was great. And yeah, so then we had that event and everyone’s wonderful seeing just people from ROOFPAC coming to the Roofing Alliance event, you know, they’re around the same time so it was fun seeing everybody supporting both different spectrums from Political Action Committee community to student competition and furthering the industry. And now we’re back home in our time together. 

Heidi Ellsworth: I know I thought it was a great day. Tomorrow morning we’re going to start at 8 a.m. and we’re going to be ready for the booth. We’re going to start interviews on the soundstage. We actually have two booths. We’re in 9309 and 9533. Which is super cool. So you can find this in both places. And yeah, I think this week is going great.  

Everyone: We’ll see you tomorrow! 

Tune into our YouTube channel for live coverage from IRE 2023!