Carson Dukes: From soccer field to solar field
Since she was a young girl, Carson Dukes took to the idea of construction. By playing with Legos and getting her hands dirty, she enjoyed tactile things and the process of building.
“As a competitive kid, I enjoyed building stuff and watching HGTV,” said Dukes. “Alongside the outdoor activities, I played competitive soccer at the highest level from 12-years-old to college.”
As she got older, Dukes took her passions and competitive spirit to Ohio State University, where she majored in Civil Engineering and committed to the women’s soccer team as their goalkeeper.
Dukes maintained an exceptionally notable athletic career. Unfortunately, operating as a high-level athlete began to take its toll on her body, and she had to undergo surgery on her spine.
At the time, Dukes was balancing a lot. In addition to training, therapy was extremely complicated along with trying to get back into regular team practices and her engineering studies. After a year of effort, she had to make the decision to end her soccer career.
“Figuring out who you are as a person after that, when so much of your time went to something, that's very unsettling and definitely caused a transition period,” said Dukes.
Luckily, Dukes is the type to never back down from a challenge. Beginning a new journey, she took her degree and started a new chapter with IEA as a Project Engineer in 2016.
Being a woman in a traditionally male-dominated industry was an adjustment, but it motivated Dukes to use her position to help other women.
“Making a path for the people behind you and giving people resources so that they have a chance to grow is one of the most important things for me as a professional,” said Dukes.
Dukes understands the value of these opportunities as she was also given these opportunities to succeed through a mentorship program with Mike Stoecker, IEA’s Chief Operating Officer.
Stoecker has mentored more than 10 women within the IEA family of companies, and Dukes being one, has especially shown tremendous growth during the program.
“The key to Carson's success at IEA is she has surrounded herself at the job site with superior talent; she has never stopped learning about our business and is never afraid to ask a question about something she doesn't know anything about - and of course - she simply out works most everybody else,” said Stoecker.
And while the construction industry is predominately made up of men, there has been a steady growth of women in the profession. Dukes has seen this evidence firsthand from her experiences on project sites and celebrates the ever-increasing percentages.
“I think you're going to see consistent growth of women over the next ten years, not just within our company, but across the construction industry.”
From taking charge of monthly projection meetings to working on the biggest turbine in North America and a PM on our two largest solar farms, Dukes proves to be more than qualified and capable.
“There's a lot that can happen in ten years, but for me, I believe that my opportunities are pretty wide open, and I look forward to seeing what they are as much as anybody else,” said Dukes.
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