{"id":420,"date":"2014-09-19T15:44:45","date_gmt":"2014-09-19T15:44:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/?p=420"},"modified":"2014-09-19T15:44:45","modified_gmt":"2014-09-19T15:44:45","slug":"what-being-in-the-stone-business-means-to-meas-a-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/2014\/09\/19\/what-being-in-the-stone-business-means-to-meas-a-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"What Being in the Stone Business Means to Me\u2026As a Woman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Written by Jacqueline Tabbah of International Stoneworks, Inc.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\"JT<\/a><\/p>\n

I consider myself rather lucky that I am a woman in the stone business who has a father as her mentor. Working as a father-daughter team adds depth to our business, International Stoneworks<\/a>. It also allows us to appeal to different types of customers from homemakers to property managers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But what makes me different? What differentiates me from my dad?\u00a0 Yes, he is my boss; yes, he is obviously more knowledgeable about natural stone (he has been in the business for 32 years and I started 5 years ago).<\/p>\n

What do I as a woman have to offer not only our company<\/a>, but also the stone industry?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I am sure the answer is different for every woman, but here are my thoughts on the matter: I think women have to work a little harder than men to establish credibility. When I show up to give an estimate in someone\u2019s home or a building, I start by looking professional and I do my best to sound self-assured and smile. Sometimes acting cool isn\u2019t easy when the customer opens the door and says: \u201cOh wow you look young!\u201d I think maintaining composure and looking presentable is half the battle. Knowledge comes with experience in the stone industry and I am still learning, but it sure does feel great to walk through a customer\u2019s door and see etched marble countertops because I absolutely know how we as a company can fix this issue.<\/p>\n

In addition, some customers appreciate a father-daughter team because it gives a sense of continuity to the business.<\/p>\n

\"Coverings<\/a><\/p>\n

Going back to the question, what makes me so different from my dad when dealing with customers? I think that I am more perceptive when it comes to the customer\u2019s design aesthetic, likes and dislikes. I try to explain our restoration processes as I understand them. Example: compound polishing marble surfaces is a lot like exfoliating your face.\u00a0 Trust me, my dad would never have come up with that one!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There will always be bozos out there (men and women) who just don\u2019t want to speak to me about their natural stone because I look and sound like a young woman, but I find overall that clients and coworkers listen to what my thoughts and opinions are, especially when I sound confident in my answers.<\/p>\n

In certain cases, some customers are happy to deal with a young woman. It makes a welcoming change for them. Many of our customers are women working in a man\u2019s world: a perfect example of that are buildings property managers.<\/p>\n

As Assistant Vice President, I work with and manage some of my coworkers.\u00a0 I may not be everyone\u2019s best friend, but I am always friendly and courteous. I do not feel the need to be overbearing and I want to maintain a good relationship with everyone in our company; I think that is just good business sense.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Women in stone may need to work harder to prove themselves to be experts in their field, but overall, I think any one of us would say that we feel empowered to be working in this business. In fact, I think it\u2019s pretty darn cool that we get to step it up in this typically male dominated industry.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Want to learn what other women feel about working in the stone industry? Of course you do! Join me and a panel of prestigious women at the Marble Institute of America Women In Stone Connection Conference<\/a> on October 19, 2014 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Written by Jacqueline Tabbah of International Stoneworks, Inc. \u00a0 I consider myself rather lucky that I am a woman in the stone business who has a father as her mentor. Working as a father-daughter team adds depth to our business, International Stoneworks. It also allows us to appeal to different types of customers from homemakers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":425,"href":"https:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420\/revisions\/425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intlstoneworks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}