Build Your Career is pleased to announce our BYC Ambassador of the Quarter for Q4, 2019.  A hearty congratulations goes out to Lori Hardaway of HardHat Workforce Solutions!  Lori not only serves as a very active Build Your Career Ambassador in South Carolina, but she also volunteers her time at numerous nonprofit and community-based organizations in the Columbia area.  Over the past year, she has become instrumental in advocating for and promoting the mission and culture of the BYC workforce development initiative as an Ambassador on behalf of HardHat Workforce Solutions.

Lori Hardaway began her career working in the construction industry in 2012, eventually finding a home at HardHat Workforce Solutions in 2017 as a Territory Manager where she was the first female salesperson to be employed by HardHat.  Since joining the HardHat team, Lori has consistently been a top salesperson for the construction staffing firm—becoming the lead point person assigned to manage infrastructure projects in the Carolinas.   During her tenure with HardHat, she has also played a key role in offering her mentorship to numerous other females newly hired with the company over the past three years—assisting her employer in diversifying their own labor force.

In her spare time, Lori also tirelessly volunteers her time at several community-based outreach initiatives in the Columbia, SC area.  She volunteers her time every Saturday to Resurrections Lunch on Lawn, a local charity dedicated to providing meals and clothing to homeless citizens in the city of Columbia.  Lori also provides support to Soldier’s Angels, a nonprofit organization that collects and donates goodie bags and Christmas gifts to female deployed soldiers and veterans, and she’s also an active participant in the “100 Women Who Care”  outreach project, led by CAGC’s own Leslie Clark.  Lori also regularly participates in the HardHat University, an internal training program that offers a free electrical training classes and basic electrical tools to qualifying program participants followed by immediate employment placement upon successful completion of the program.

Since joining the Build Your Career team of volunteer Ambassadors, Lori has been extremely active in BYC outreach efforts.  She has attended every Ambassador Summit, participated in our Richland County prison reintegration career fair program and has also assisted in BYC fundraising initiatives over the past year—even helping BYC raise an additional $3,000 in raffle ticket sales at our 2019 Summer Summit in Asheville, NC!  Lori has even agreed to serve on the BYC Task Force Group (forming in the fall of 2020), where she will assume the role of Chief South Carolina Ambassador.  When asked to comment on the value she sees in participating as a BYC Ambassador to promote construction career awareness, Lori Hardaway said, “Any and every young person that we can inspire and pique their interest in the construction industry as a BYC Ambassador will only benefit all of us as employers in the future.  Our efforts can help guide these future workers into promising, long-term construction careers, which will ultimately ensure the sustainability of our industry for many years to come.”

BYC Director, Tammy Ford, commented on Hardaway’s valuable contributions to the Build Your Career program that led to her being named the Ambassador of the Quarter for Q4 of 2019:  “Since I first began serving as the new BYC Director, Lori has been a tremendous asset to me in this role, as well as to our BYC program.  She is always quick to volunteer her advice, industry expertise and service to our outreach efforts and I know I can always count on her participation and support.  Lori is extremely dedicated to educating young students and displaced workers on the benefits of pursuing careers in construction and she is so passionate about doing anything she possibly can to help us combat the labor shortage in our industry.  Everyone at Carolinas AGC is very proud of her and she is very deserving of this award!”

Lori also hopes to motivate and inspire other CAGC members to get involved with BYC and volunteer as Ambassadors.  She commented on the importance of more construction firms prioritizing efforts to engage with students and actively engaging in industry outreach efforts by stating, “I am so honored to have been chosen for this award. The Build Your Career Initiative is urgently needed in the construction industry.  It, and programs like it, will ultimately be responsible for ending the workforce shortage that exists today.  We can continue to discuss how to bring more people into our industry or we can do something about it.  I challenge all of our CAGC members to stop talking and start doing by becoming an Ambassador for Build Your Career!”

On behalf of Carolinas AGC and its Foundation, Build Your Career is proud to name Lori Hardaway of HardHat Workforce Solutions as our Q4 2019 “BYC Ambassador of the Quarter.”  The CAGC Foundation sincerely appreciates Lori’s contributions to its Build Your Career Program and honors her accomplishments and efforts in promoting construction careers and workforce development on behalf of the construction industry.

For more information on the CAGC Foundation’s Build Your Career workforce development initiative, our Contractors in the Classroom program or to volunteer to become a BYC Ambassador, please visit our website or contact Program Director, Tammy Ford, via email at tford@carolinasagc.org or by phone at (704) 995-3901. To learn more about using HardHat Workforce Solutions for your temporary staffing needs, please contact Lori Hardaway at (803) 727-8894 or visit their company website. To make a charitable contribution to BYC, please visit our secure online donation portal.