Celebrating the great women of Ballymore: Part I

This week we celebrate International Women’s Day by catching up with three of our colleagues across the business to see what the day means to them, and their experiences working in the construction industry. 

We start today with Monica Healy; Monica is the epitome of a strong, hardworking woman and one we’re incredibly happy to have in our workforce. She attests that her success in her role as a Senior Site Admin and Project Coordinator is only possible thanks to her team of equally strong women; Maggie Conway Halligan, Donna Sommers, Fiona Reid and  Joanna Osowska with them all working seamlessly together to help ‘build a community.’ 

Coming from a large family - eight of them girls, Monica offers a fascinating insight into the dynamics of gender, and how formative it was for her to have an inspiring mother who always told her she could achieve anything. 

‘Woman are like teabags, you don’t know how strong they are until they are in hot water’ 

I come from a line of very strong, independent women, and that is all down to my mum, who was very forward-thinking for her time. She worked incredibly hard and always told us to follow our dreams and that is exactly what I have done. 

It’s not been easy, especially in the earlier days when I worked in wholesale, travelling around construction sites - I went to an interview 20 years ago for a builder’s merchant and was the only female applicant - it just wasn’t considered a woman’s job, needless to say I didn’t get the position. However, two years later they phoned me and offered me a job as their first female rep! 

Thankfully, the stereotype that women don’t fit into this industry is long gone and today it’s a very different place. Especially at Ballymore who are absolutely fantastic to work for. Everyone has a role to play and no one is less important than anyone else; job description or gender is irrelevant. We’re all a valued cog in the wheel; as they say, ‘no man (or should I say ‘woman’) is an island’ - we’re all equal! 

The dream team 

I’ve worked at Ballymore since 2015 and very happily so - I still wake up every morning grateful to be here and looking forward to my work. My team is invaluable, I wouldn’t be where I am without them, and we all work very coherently together. I’m also very conscious that I support them, in the same way I have been supported through my career here; special thanks to Don Mc Mahon and all the residential team.

Of course, there have been challenges, I raised my two boys alone whilst balancing my career and make no mistake, navigating childcare with a career is not easy, especially three decades ago when I felt judged for my situation by society, but again, my mum gave me the strength not to feel the need to conform and get married – she encouraged me to live authentically. I’ve always felt that I’ve broken boundaries and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

Two years ago I bought my own home in Ireland, a Ballymore property of course! I’d worked on the Bellingsfield development from the beginning, so it was a real full-circle moment to buy a property there and be part of the new thriving community. That’s the wonderful thing about my job, you’re part of something so big and special and you see something come together from scratch and all of a sudden you have this new community – you’re literally creating a village, it’s deeply fulfilling and I’m living the reality of what Ballymore create first hand in my new home. 

Paving the way for the future 

My boys are grown up now, in fact, I became a Grandmother a few weeks ago which has been a wonderful addition to my life. His partner said to me how incredibly hands-on and wonderful my son is as a dad, and I felt such pride. I always strived to bring up my boys with integrity and grace with a respect for equality - in fact, one of them was born on International Women’s Day! 

It’s great to celebrate the achievements of women, I was brought up with the notion that we don’t just do things for ourselves, being strong and responsible as a woman is leading the way for future generations of females who need to know that anything is possible and I live by that mantra every day.