ProTalks – Episode 6 – Heidi Ellsworth

Heidi Ellsworth has been in roofing for 30 years and has co-owned Roofers Coffee Shop since 2015, and helped launch National Women in Roofing in 2014.

Balancing career and family remains a top challenge for women; the labor shortage is pushing companies toward genuine inclusivity because talent has other options.

Authenticity and vulnerability are now celebrated rather than penalized, unlike the era when women felt they had to dress and act a certain way.

Real mentorship means sitting, listening, and caring about people, then recognizing and bringing out their talent rather than putting them down.

It's not the mistake that matters but how you handle it afterward, and how mentors help walk people through recovering from it.

Key networking channels: National Women in Roofing (local councils, webinars, directory), the Roofing Alliance, LinkedIn, and Sales Navigator.

To win professional development approval, frame the ask in ROI terms with numbers showing how it helps the business, and women make up 51% of the population the industry can't afford to ignore.