Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Beckie Shudinis of Burns Pest Elimination On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Cultivate, have confidence and be assertive. Support other woman. Be strong, knowledgeable, always be positive and guide female coworkers. I want to help other women/coworkers to experience and grow within the company and be just successful as I have been.
In the United States in 2022, fields such as Aircraft piloting, Agriculture, Architecture, Construction, Finance, and Information technology, are still male-dominated industries. For a woman who is working in a male-dominated environment, what exactly does it take to thrive and succeed? In this interview series, we are talking to successful women who work in a Male-Dominated Industry who can share their stories and experiences about navigating work and life as strong women in a male-dominated industry. As a part of this series, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Beckie Shudinis.
Beckie Shudinis has been in the pest control business since starting at Burns Pest Elimination in 2007. Her decades in this line of work have included every aspect of the business — from being a bed-bug inspector with a K-9 unit and termite outbound sales to residential and commercial sales, billing and now Branch Manager. She is based in Las Vegas, NV.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
I grew up and lived in the Grand Canyon National Park. My K-12 school overlooked the Grand Canyon and had a graduation class of 16. For field trips we would hike the canyon, go on river trips, go to monuments around the Canyon. I played sports and traveled all over Northern AZ. I was able to start working at the age of 14 bagging grocery and then when I was older for one of the helicopter companies that toured the Canyon. It was a small town but had so many advantages. I was always around nature and every year on Earth Day we would plant trees for the forest service. Living there made me what I am now and is what got me to be so comfortable with insects, pigeons, and rodents.
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
There was a job opening in the collections department of Burns Pest Elimination and my friend who already worked there got me an interview. I thrived with collections but wanted more. When bed bugs became a huge issue in Arizona and we started using dogs to track them, I was fascinated by this and went to HR to apply for that department. As a K-9 Inspector I outperformed all of my male co-workers in sales and inspections. I helped train all our new handles and was the go-to for all bed bug related issues. As time went by more positions became available that were wodnerful stepping stones for me to learn more about every aspect of the business, including residential sales, which helped me better understand weeds, general pest, termites and rodents, outside sales and ultimately becoming Branch Manager here in Las Vegas.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
I think the most interesting story is being a part of starting up the Las Vegas branch from scratch. I had to move to another city where I did not know anyone but was able to build amazing relationships and build trust with residents and local businesses alike who now are ongoing clients/partners of Burns Pest Elimination. To see how far we have come in such a short time blows me away!
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Being driven, attention to detail and a positive attitude.
I love to succeed, be the best at my job and to share that with my team and customers. I helped build a an extremely successful branch that went from 1 tech to 13 techs in six years. I pride myself in knowing about all insects, rodents, the products we use and our protocols. As a result, my customers love my knowledge and are blown away when I do inspections or treatments. I have a positive upbeat attitude and make a point to get along with my team of all men and also help diffuse situations with our customers. Sometimes being a caring woman helps when dealing with bugs.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Can you help articulate a few of the biggest obstacles or challenges you’ve had to overcome while working in a male-dominated industry?
When I was younger it was harder dealing with male customers, they did not trust what I said and would call my bosses to clarify if I was correct. In my earlier years some of my coworkers would second guess me and I had to prove them them I found bed bugs in areas. It got better as I was at Burns longer. I had to give off a very confident attitude and know everything off the tip of my tongue.
Can you share a few of the things you have done to gain acceptance among your male peers and the general work community? What did your female co-workers do? Can you share some stories or examples?
I make sure I am there for my co-workers; to help motivate them, drive us forward as a team and ensure they know I am trustworthy and knowledgeable. I also admit my mistakes, joke with them and make sure they know we are the same. I am the only female worker on our team of 16 in Vegas but I have female coworkers in Arizona who are very similar to me, just as driven and don’t mind getting their hands dirty.
My team here look at me as one of the guys. They treat me the same as the next and I love it. The executive team at Burns has given me so many opportunities within the company, has not ever pushed me down or held me back and I have never felt I had to work harder because I was a woman. Every person — male or female — is part of the family at Burns.
What do you think male-oriented organizations can do to enhance their recruiting efforts to attract more women?
Market with women; include more photos of women at the company on the website, recruit with women, etc. For us, in particular, it’s about showing that there’s much more to this industry than just spraying for bugs.
Ok thank you for all of that. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
1. Acceptance of who you are. I am a very hard-working individual, I take pride in what I do and I have always strived to be the best and succeed. I never back down from a challenge and have worked my way up with every position given. I find helping build the Las Vegas branch to be my biggest accomplishment and can’t wait to see where the next five years will take me!
2. Respect. Earn it and prove your worth. Personally, I have found you have to be in the trenches with your co-workers, so they know you are dedicated to the job and you have the knowledge and experience. I want them to know I am just like them. It has always worked for me in all my positions of Burns.
3. Knowledge of what you are doing; don’t make people feel less than. I take pride in what I do but can show others and explain myself to customers/coworkers in a way that they can listen to me and trust me.
4. Don’t fear he job just because not a lot of women do it. It does not mean you cant. At Burns, I don’t mind getting my hands dirty. I welcome new experiences, taking on a challenge and then being able to share with others how to get it done.
5. Cultivate, have confidence and be assertive. Support other woman. Be strong, knowledgeable, always be positive and guide female coworkers. I want to help other women/coworkers to experience and grow within the company and be just successful as I have been.
If you had a close woman friend who came to you with a choice of entering a field that is male-dominated or female-dominated, what would you advise her?
Do it, be confident about it, work hard and make a name for yourself.
Would you advise a woman friend to start a career in a field or industry that’s traditionally been mostly men?
Yes, absolutely! Especially if the money is right.
Can you explain what you mean?
I have a 7-year-old daughter and I let her know she can do anything, I would love to see her in the tech world with all of the money that’s there to be made or even joining me at Burns. This company has never kept me down as a woman and I have always been given opportunities to move up.
Have you seen things change for women working in male-dominated industries, over the past ten years? How do you anticipate that it might improve in the future? Can you please explain what you mean?
Over the years Burns Pest Elimination has hired more females for techs, K-9 inspectors and sales. They have all done quite well and more women seem to be interested. If you are willing to get your hands dirty and work hard, I don’t see any limits on what woman can do.
I just hope women realize that they can do anything. I think if we show more women doing typically male careers that they otherwise may have overlooked (be it in the press, at high school career fairs, etc.), it will reinforce that message.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
No one in particular. I just admire people that are good and do good in this world. The people that I admire the most are ones who do things to help others and not put them down.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Beckie Shudinis of Burns Pest Elimination On The… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.