Detroit Businesswoman Launches Second Book

This book is for the entire family, we need to educate our children.

HOW I DID IT: RAISING THE ROOF

Essence, Sept, 2001, by Tenisha Mercer

Angela Boone doesn't mind wearing a hard hat, construction boots and overalls. They're everyday attire for this president and CEO of Detroit's Boone Construction Management & Consulting, Inc. Her first exposure to the industry was as a construction-company office assistant in the mid-1980's. Other jobs followed. But ten years later, Boone found herself back in construction, where she rose to become a project engineer.

In 1997, using $700 in savings, she started her own construction company and landed a contract to inspect concrete structures on a $275 million renovation project at a water-treatment plant. She soon got other contracts, including a $2.8 million job building an energy center for Detroit Metro Airport.

With plans to expand her six-employee company to other locations in the Midwest, Boone, 40, is capitalizing on Detroit's housing boom. She has teamed up with a large construction company in a $750,000 joint-venture project to convert an old, historic turn-of-the century mansion into condos.

Here's how she nailed it:

GETTING STARTED:
"I leased a small office and started my business part-time while working as an engineer at General Motors Corp. I was hoping to subcontract my firm's services to other companies, and I sent off more than 100 proposals. But a year later I still hadn't gotten my first contract. So I refocused and quit my job to run the business full-time."

KNOWING THE BUSINESS:
"It's a never-ending struggle for African-American females in the industry. You have to prove that you're ready and capable. But I get the job done and know what I'm doing. I know more about the industry than some of the men. I just want equal opportunity and equal treatment."

SHATTERING STEREOTYPES:
"Female contractors are viewed as little girls playing on the big boys' playing field. The fact that I'm a female-owned construction company means I have to excel."

COPYRIGHT 2001 Essence Communications, Inc. in association with The Gale Group and LookSmart.

COPYRIGHT 2001 Gale Group