I'm Not Afraid of Taking Risks, with Dawn Dodge PE, Shareholder & St. Pete's Office Lead at Kimely-Horn

Welcome back to the second season of She’s Wild, the Podcast for Women in Land & Development. Today's guest is Dawn Dodge, PE, Shareholder at Kimley-Horn. Dawn is Kimley-Horn's St. Pete Office Lead and a Professional Engineer with over 16 years of experience. Her experience in both commercial and municipal land development makes her a knowledgeable and adept project manager with a complete understanding of the issues encountered on a variety of projects.

In this week's episode, Dawn shares her career journey from intern to office lead and shareholder at Kimley-Horn, discussing the lessons she's learned along the way. She also talks about her experience working on various civil engineering projects and how she balances her responsibilities.

Memorable Moments:

4:20 I was on the team that was selected for The Pier Approach project here in St. Pete. And that was very, very exciting at the time, because you know, talk about placemaking projects and being involved in that as the civil. It really was five years of my life, that project from concept to community engagement to implementation. And so that really got me passionate about St. Pete. I built relationships with you know, the whole community, the leadership within the city, and that's when I became passion about St. Pete and I helped open our office here. We opened in 2018 with 17 people. And so now fast forward, now we've moved locations and we're over 50. 

15:36 Being an office leader is a challenge, but I really do enjoy it. And it's really rewarding, seeing my staff growing as well. We're developing others that are now growing and so it's very exciting. 

20:01 I think that something that brought me really far is I haven't been afraid of taking risks. I messed up before; and I've learned from it. And now I'm so well rounded. I could have just stayed comfortable, working on single family and some industrial, but instead I kind of kept taking big risks, stumbling, learning, and now I'm so grateful for it.

Connect with Nancy:

Instagram:https://instagram.com/nancysurak

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancysurak/

Website: www.nancysurak.com

Connect with Dawn:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawnmdodge/

She’s Wild Sound Production by: Luke Surak, Surak Productions:  [email protected]