Jennifer graduated as one of eight women in a civil engineering class of eighty. When she went looking for her first construction role, the feedback was blunt: “You’re not meant for this. You don’t have thick enough skin. This is no place for ladies in the field.” Months of conversations and rejections later, she found her opening through a small classified ad — a project coordinator role on a luxury high-rise development at 100 Yorkville.
That project — an Invar/Granleigh build in joint venture with Tricon — set the trajectory for the next two decades. Jennifer talks about working full-cycle on the heritage redevelopment that rolled the original Mount Sinai Hospital for Women facade onto Yorkville Avenue, built the structure behind it, and returned the facade to place. Of the hundred units that sold to nearly every major developer in the city, no two were alike. After a year as coordinator, she made the jump into development management on the same project, picking up permitting, consulting coordination, sales and marketing collaboration, and unit-level customization.
Around 2010, as the market slowed, a referral brought her onto the 60-storey Trump Tower (now St. Regis), where she project managed the top thirty residential floors. The next decade kept her deep in high-rise residential — until two years ago, when she and her business partner Oliver Mason left to launch NOVI BLDS. She calls it the best decision they’ve ever made, even as they founded the firm during the most trying market the industry has seen in years.
On pivoting from condo to purpose-built rental:
“It’s forced us to be innovative in our methodologies, the way we construct, the way we hire people even.” Two projects are breaking ground this year, and the team is on track to grow from four toward roughly twenty by year-end — kept deliberately lean so she and Oliver can stay hands-on with every job.
On what works for women in a male-dominated industry:
Lead with questions, not declarations. “I’m not a plumber. I’m not a formwork contractor. I don’t know exactly how they do their job.” Walking into a contract negotiation and asking can you get this done, and how do you plan on tackling it? opens the conversation up — the specialist gets to talk about what they’re an expert in. Coming in with a laundry list of demands, in her experience, doesn’t land the same way. Confidence without ego. Patience over force.
On thicker skin:
“There are still old-school players out there who can subconsciously be disrespectful without even realizing they’re doing it. You just have to take it with a grain of salt.” She’s clear this isn’t about grinning and bearing it — it’s about reading intent and not letting an unintentional slight derail a working relationship.
On earning respect — and on advocates:
“It still feels as though you have to earn the respect rather than walking into a room and having it.” Even at her level today, she’ll walk into a meeting with her business partner and watch the room address him first. Oliver redirects: “This is the woman you need to be talking to.” Jennifer credits much of her trajectory to advocates — many of them men — who have championed her along the way, and says actively building those relationships has been a deliberate, repeatable strategic choice.