Plateau Excavation
WIC Week™, or Women in Construction Week™, celebrates and promotes the role of women in the construction industry and takes place during the first week in March every year. It is a time to highlight all women’s significant initiatives and work within the industry. Likewise, it is a time that brings attention to opportunities available to women in construction. This year’s theme, ‘Keys to the Future’ celebrates women’s strength and knowledge and their vital role in shaping the construction industry’s future.
We are proud to feature and spotlight the women on the Plateau team.
Leslie Cestedes, QC/QA Field Engineer
Leslie’s role as QC/QA is to document and maintain all inspection records as per contract/specifications. She also verifies the quality and integrity of the materials used, such as pipes, fittings, coatings, grouting, bedding, and backfill material.
Quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) teams provide essential services to construction projects and ensure the process meets all client requirements. This step is essential to ensuring quality results that are likely to please the client.
An example of Leslie’s role is that she performs surveillance and inspects the quality of the pipe: Sanitary sewer/ Storm Drain/ Telecom Duck bank. She decides what type material needs to be used for bedding of the pipe and backfilled material, and she makes sure to follow the engineer specifications of the installation and quality of the pipe.
- How long you’ve been at Plateau? After seeing her husband enjoy working with Plateau for over 18 years, Leslie decided to join the Plateau family as well 2 1/2 years ago, and we’re thankful to have her and her husband as part of the Plateau family.
- What do you enjoy most about your job/industry? She enjoys being able to be outside, interacting with all the people who work hard, and seeing the change on job sites of tons of dirt moving every day.
- What is your advice for other women in the industry or wanting to get into the industry? “My advice for women in the construction industry is don’t be scared to be at a place that seems to be only for men, there are a lot of roles that any women can fit in the construction industry.”
“She is hands down one of the best people that I have worked with at Plateau. She is to the point, no sugar coating, efficient, always thinking ahead, and honestly, makes my life easy in Huntsville. She is bilingual which is an asset to anyone in this company and runs things like a tight ship. I don’t have to ask her for background information or to get me things… she already has it organized and prepared waiting for me. I GREATLY appreciate and respect Leslie and her work ethic and wish we had more Leslie’s in this dynamic and ever-evolving field!”