Meet Meya Angeles, From Classroom to Career

Meya Angeles Builds a Future with Gilbane

Meya Angeles was an undergraduate student at the Illinois Institute of Technology when she got a glimpse into the future.

As part of a senior capstone project, she had to design a proposed HVAC system for Carman Hall, a historic residential building on campus. She walked the job site with her class, getting an up-close look at how the principles she learned in her engineering classes would be applied in practice.

Less than a year later, Meya was back on the project site as a project engineer for Gilbane Building Company.

“It was awesome and very rewarding to have that connection,” she said. “Seeing how construction is in a textbook, compared to construction in real life, was very cool.”

The biggest difference, she says, is the number of unexpected challenges that arise when on a project. Her education focused on important elements like budgeting, ethics, and workplace safety, but nothing could have prepared her for the curveballs that come her way every day.

“In school, they teach you what textbook construction is—ethics and contracts and how it all works in an ideal world. They don’t teach you about the problems that will show up because two tradesmen didn’t coordinate correctly, and now you have to find a new way to budget for that expense, for example,” she said. “There's always something new to learn.”

That’s part of the appeal of working in the industry for Meya, who can trace her interest in construction to her childhood.

“Ever since I was little, I knew I wanted to be in construction. My dad was my inspiration. He was a builder. He built beautiful hotels and private homes in Mexico and I always wanted to do that,” she said, adding that she loves seeing how construction is approached in different states and countries and hopes to travel in the future to some of Gilbane’s 45+ offices around the world.

She is particularly grateful to have the opportunity to do the work here in Chicago, where she feels supported and empowered to advance her career.

“In Mexico, it’s not very encouraged for a woman to do a ‘man’s’ job,” said Meya, who was attracted to Gilbane Chicago, in part because of its strong record of hiring and promoting women, starting at the top with Vice President and Business Leader Karrie Kratz. “To see Karrie and other female leaders in the company, that was very welcoming. I knew I could be here, I could be welcomed here, and I could grow here.”

Because of that opportunity for growth, Meya hopes to have a long future with Gilbane. 

“Gilbane has really supported me. They see my potential. They see what I can do, and they push me,” she said.

That may be why Meya is so eager to push other young people to consider a career in construction. If you like working with and managing budgets, she says, construction is for you. If you like the legal aspect and managing proposals, construction is for you. If you like problem-solving and working collaboratively on a team, construction is for you.

“I have been encouraging everybody to join construction because there are so many roles that you get to play that you wouldn’t necessarily think of,” she said. “There's always something new, and yet it’s also very consistent. It's such a growing industry.”