Meet Emily Loewen

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Emily Loewen. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Emily below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Emily with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

I get it from both my upbringing and also my past career in the corporate world. My dad was a business owner and worked in construction so I watched him work long hours and weekends to make sure a client was happy and a project was finished in a timely manner. He passed away a few years ago from a battle with Cancer, but he had such a strong work ethic that he was working up until the day his body just couldn’t handle it anymore. My mom is a high school teacher and she also is one of the hardest working people I know. She has always been the one that volunteered for all the extra responsibilities at the school, and taught night school as well because she wanted to help more students. Through watching both my parents work incredibly hard and never give up I knew I was prepared to enter the workforce after graduating college. I started my career working for a Healthcare IT company and quickly moved up the ladder into roles that people only get after many years in the business, but I was moving up into that role within a year. I knew I wanted to make a difference and a name for myself and that work ethic I had witnessed my whole life was part of me too. Through these experiences when I made the leap to an entrepreneur I had no doubt that I could do it. I truly believe that with a strong work ethic and belief in yourself you can accomplish anything!

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I am a General Contractor licensed in both residential & commercial construction and renovations. The name of my business is The Marcato Group which is a female-owned and managed company. I think the most special thing about our company is that it’s not only fully woman owned, which is rare in construction, but it’s also a family business with my sister in law serving as my business partner. Callie, my business partner, is the one that came up with our unique business name. In music the term Marcato means notes that are played distinctively and with separation (i.e. set apart) and we believe this suits our way of doing business just perfectly. We believe that through a beautiful design, meticulous craftsmanship, and seamless communication our clients will feel like part of the family. The newest thing we have going on is that we are now offering concrete construction services and have been working with a number of clients including some commercial construction companies on large scale projects!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I feel like the 3 qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in my current journey are the following. First, a strong work ethic as I talked about previously has greatly impacted my life. Second, being a detailed project manager in my past career and being able to look forward to anticipate what could go wrong or what may need to be changed to better serve a client has helped me immensely with the unpredictable construction industry. Lastly, my past corporate experience working with multiple large hospital clients and on multiple projects at one time prepared me well for not only managing people but also balancing the many projects and clients we now work with in our business.

My advice is to just soak up anything you can from whatever current job you may have, even if it’s not something you thought you would be doing. My first job out of college was a business analyst for that healthcare company and it was the last thing I wanted to do. However, I decided early on to learn something new from everyone I encountered, and I also asked my manager for any extra projects I could be part of so I could soak up more knowledge and be able to move into a role that was something I wanted to do long term. I highly encourage anyone early on in their journey to lean on those around them and learn whatever you can.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

The number one challenge or obstacle I face is an obvious one, being the fact that I am a female General Contractor in a male dominated industry. The amount of times I am questioned by potential clients, inspectors, or other contractors about what my role is and then seeing the shock/surprise on their face as I tell them I’m the General Contractor and owner of the company is staggering. However, even with the large number of people that are shocked and sometimes don’t want to talk to me or work with me because I am not a man we’ve been able to make some amazing connections with clients and vendors that love the fact that we are different. I’m also always trying to get involved with networking groups or organizations that support women owned businesses especially in the construction industry. A good friend of mine started a Women Who Build TN networking group and I love when I’m able to connect with the amazing and inspiring group of women in this group. We constantly lift each other up and are always looking for opportunities to support each others businesses. One of the other groups I am part of that is doing amazing things trying to remove this obstacle from every woman in the construction industry is the National Association of Women in Construction group. This group is constantly working on a local and national level to bring down the barriers that women sometimes face in this industry and I’m lucky to be able to share a room with these inspiring women on a monthly basis.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://themarcatogroup.com
• Instagram: @themarcatogroup