Determined & Destined for Success with Rochelle Willis

Rochelle graduated Valedictorian of The Engineering School and was accepted to Northeastern University as a Boston Public High School Scholar with a full academic scholarship. Rochelle earned her Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, Cum Laude, at Northeastern University (NU).

Post-graduation, Rochelle started working at Skanska USA Building Inc. as a Project Engineer. After 2 years, she was recognized by her colleagues for her passion and dedication and was selected as Engineer of the year in April 2015. In 2016, Rochelle was promoted to Assistant Project Manager and recently, promoted to Business Development Manager.

Rochelle is a female leader in the male dominated Construction Management industry, a leader who advocates for diversity, inclusion and improving the communities that the industry serves. She is an advocate for providing opportunities for young men and women of color with exposure to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). STEM fields are primarily white; male dominated and there needs to be diversity in experiences, background and thoughts to make more well-rounded and impactful decisions. Rochelle has spent her higher education and professional career volunteering and mentoring with organizations that strive to bridge the gap, support and provide opportunities for young men and women of color to pursue college degrees in STEM or enter the Trades.

Aside from her career and community involvement, Rochelle is also Founder and CEO of Renee’s Touch, an online clothing boutique which also provides personal styling and shopping services. In June 2018, she was recognized as one of Ignite Caribbean’s 30 Under 30.

At a young age, Rochelle’s mother left her in Jamaica and moved to Boston. Later Rochelle and her brother reunited with her parents and as expected it was a culture shock but Rochelle was determined to make her parents proud and be successful in whatever field she chose. This is the story of Rochelle’s journey from Jamaica to being an Engineer with the 5th largest construction company in the world; and her newest title as Entrepreneur. 

Mentioned in this episode:

Melissa Noel’s reports on “The impact of migration on ‘barrel children” and “How families rebuild after migration”

Connect with Rochelle – Instagram | Linkedin

Renee’s Touch – Instagram | Website

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