Jessica Chen’s 26-year career in the construction industry has included managing multi-million-dollar projects across South Florida such as the Hollywood Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, the world’s first guitar-shaped hotel, and Plumosa School of the Arts in Delray Beach.
“For me, being in construction has always been the case. Nobody pushed me into it,” said Chen, a project executive at Suffolk, a national company with $4 billion in annual revenues and 2,500 employees. Headquartered in Boston, Suffolk has more than 200 employees based at its offices in West Palm Beach, Miami, Tampa and Estero.
Chen said that while the industry offers many opportunities for women, only 10 percent of the workforce nationwide is female. At Suffolk, which recently wrapped up construction of The Bristol, the most expensive condominium built in the county, 30 percent of the employees are women.