Project Rolodex

Gender Advocacy in the Painting Industry

It all started when…

I was working on a crew with another woman, Denisea Elsola (The Art Goddess). She has been in the paint industry for 25 years, trained by her father who went to trade school to be a professional painter and wall paper hanger. We experienced a few not-so-funny jokes about female painters, and found ourselves having to defend our way of doing things while we were onsite together. As we shared our experience, we reflected back on the many instances we were not taken seriously as professional painters, the constant unsolicited advice from male counterparts, and lack of representation in the industry. This ignited a spark - someone needs to do something about this!

A few weeks later, I attended the annual Sherwin Williams Colorcast event. There, I had the chance to speak with a sales representative I was familiar with. I casually mentioned that female representation in the field is a problem. He immediately suggested we set up a meeting to discuss my ideas. From that meeting (and consultation with others in the industry) I created the following outline for an initiative to create community, provide resources, and grow revenue.