Sometimes, instead of looking for a vocation, our careers find us. LaJuan Counts says her life in construction was not a carefully mapped-out path into the industry. While she is now the Senior Director, Design and Construction Services at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, LaJuan says construction found her almost by accident.  

 “I came into my major completely by chance,” she says of choosing Building Construction Management at Michigan State University. “When I entered college, I had no idea what I was going to do or what direction I was going to go into.” But she was interested in buildings, so it wasn’t hard for a college counselor to steer LaJuan into the building construction management program, convincing her that her interests aligned perfectly with the major. That was the first time she learned that there was space for her in construction. 

 After college, LaJuan began her career with a small, family-owned construction company in Oakland County, Michigan, working on custom homes and commercial projects, including renovations and buildouts for stores that would eventually become Whole Foods locations. Those early years gave her an opportunity to learn construction in the field. 

 “Early on, I had the luxury of kind of coming in under the radar because there wasn’t anyone else who looked like me on a lot of the job sites,” she said. Back then, she did not consider herself tough and remembers being treated almost like “everybody’s little sister,” with tradespeople willing to show her how things worked. “I got an opportunity to be in a lot of holes and up on a lot of ladders and looking to see exactly what the trades were doing,” she laughs. 

 But as her career progressed, however, her outlook changed. “It wasn’t until probably the middle of my career where I started to really kind of experience some tension,” she explains. The challenges for women in construction became apparent after she transitioned to the City of Detroit and began managing construction. 

“A lot of these men thought, ‘now we’ve got to take direction from a woman,’” LaJuan points out. “And in a lot of cases, they didn’t like that it was also direction from a Black woman.” 

 During that time, LaJuan learned that technical expertise alone was not enough to make her an effective leader in a field filled with skeptical men. “Yes, the technical side was something that I had to understand at all times, but I learned I had to add emotional intelligence into my repertoire,” she recalls. 

 For LaJuan, that meant a new kind of tough, that also included learning how to navigate difficult interactions without losing sight of the work that needed to be done. “Construction is all about strength and moving this from there and building it up,” she emphasizes. “So, sometimes you forget about the impact of understanding and having empathy for your colleagues. I needed to remember that I was the one who could really benefit from that in the end.” 

 LaJuan developed her leadership style first by watching other leaders. Some taught her what not to do. Others recognized her potential and put her in positions where she could grow. One supervisor in particular, Brad Dick, made sure she knew there was space for her in this industry. “He wouldn’t say that he actually mentored me, but he did,” she says. “He played a strong part in how I developed as a leader.” 

 One of LaJuan’s biggest leadership tests came after she left a comfortable position in the City of Detroit’s General Services Department to lead demolition operations. “I had created a work life for myself that I was comfortable in,” she says. “It was cushy and I knew I could ride that out into retirement.” 

 Instead, she accepted the challenge of taking on a department operating in the middle of considerable controversy. “Everybody hated us,” LaJuan recalls. “The resident and the contractors. Only the media loved it.” 

“It was tough for the first two weeks,” she reflects. “I cried when I got home from work.” Eventually, she realized she needed to slow down, establish consistent processes, and stop trying to personally control every detail. 

 “It was tough, but we figured it out,” LaJuan points out. “Over time, the place actually became my home. I managed to change the culture in the department.” She did this by standardizing responses, improving relationships with contractors, and changing how the department handled problems. 

 For LaJuan, NAWIC delivered something that she rarely found during her day-to-day career: a community of women who understood her experiences and knew how hard it could be to find their space in the construction world. “NAWIC has provided me with something that was missing,” she emphasizes. “I did not have professional connections with a lot of other women. It felt good to have some place where you could compare what was going on.” 

 Talking with other women helped her realize that many difficult encounters were not unique to her. LaJuan came to look at NAWIC as a place to develop solutions. “I often ask myself; do I lash out at the person giving me the rough day or do I call one of my NAWIC sisters?” She continued, “It became an outlet. I could think through a problem collectively, as opposed to just feeling like I was on my own.” 

 Today, LaJuan realizes that her definition of toughness has evolved over her career. “In the beginning, I would listen a lot but not really have much to say.” That changed as she realized her voice could influence decisions and create change. “For me, ‘tough’ means being able to speak out and be supportive of those around me. It means helping people who could benefit from what I had already gone through.” 

 Today, she defines toughness more simply. “Now tough also means being resilient through all that’s gone on,” she says. “I’m still here. I’m still moving in a positive direction.” But she emphasizes that women still face additional barriers in construction. “I get challenged about what I know every day,” she observes. “If I were a man with my years of experience, people wouldn’t question my judgment.” 

 However, her experiences have made her more intentional about opening doors for other women. Early in her career a woman construction leader, Jill Steen, hired her and supported her career. “She is the one who taught me that it was very important to bring other women up with me,” LaJuan explains. Today, she works on paying that forward. “Any time I have the opportunity to lift up the next generation of women in construction, I’m always going to do it.” 

Her message to those women is straightforward. “There’s always space for you. You don’t have to always conform. At some point, you’re going to be able to be exactly who you are.” And if you need help getting there, LaJuan Counts is waiting in the wings, ready to act.