Joyce and Larry got married and had 4 kids. Larry was a Glazer and an Iron Worker, who started his own company, which grew to be the largest installer of window wall curtain, in Southern California. While completing 4 union jobs, one being The Westin Bonaventure Hotel & Suites, in Los Angeles, Larry got sick. In six short weeks, Larry died of adult-onset wildfire leukemia. It came to light that if someone passes away, who is the owner of a contractor’s license, a family member involved in the business could become a certified contractor. So Joyce became a contractor. She was a single mother of four young kids. She was a brand new contractor and ran their construction company for eight years. She completed all four union jobs and did the punch list for the Bonaventure. Everyone made money. She found good installers and used her personality to build important relationships, with good people, to get the work done.

She advised women in construction, “What you need to know… you will learn it. Because you’re going to have to. You don’t even know that you already know what you need to know. You’re going to make mistakes. Figure out, what did I do wrong? What should I do so I don’t do it again? And use sticky notes!”