When Level Green Landscaping recruiter Erica Cain visits college career fairs or industry conferences, she brings along other Level Green women with her to staff the table, and she has plenty of choices.
Account managers. Business developers. An operations manager. Crew leaders. The chief financial officer. The list goes on.
“I don’t just tell about how we have great women working at Level Green, I show it,” says Cain, talent acquisition specialist. “I bring women along, to show this is who we are. We’re not just men. We’re women, too.”
There’s plenty to show. And tell. There are currently 43 women working at Level Green, in an impressive array of job titles.
The landscaping industry has traditionally been a male-dominated field, with men overwhelmingly filling roles from ground maintenance to executive leadership. However, there's a growing movement opening up opportunities for women to contribute and lead within the sector.
But it’s not just the number and diversity of women at Level Green that’s noteworthy. It’s what happens once they’re on board. Women say they’re welcomed into an atmosphere of support, respect and career growth opportunities they say makes them want to stay.
“The Company Gives Us Opportunities to Grow”
When Cain visited West Virginia University’s career fair in the fall of 2023 she brought along company comptroller Marcene Pugh, who was the highest-ranking woman on the Level Green team, overseeing the financial health of the company.
Now Pugh is the company’s chief financial officer, promoted in January 2024.
“I’m on the leadership team,” Pugh says. “They’re making an investment in me. It’s an honor to know they’re investing in my success.
“I have a lot of growing to do but this shows the faith they have in me,” she says. The company will pay for professional development opportunities to build on her skills, she says.
“The company gives us opportunities to grow.”
When she and Cain staffed the Level Green table at the West Virginia University career fair, they stood out. In a good way.
“When I looked around at the tables of the other exhibitors, there wasn’t one other table that had two women,” Pugh says. “We were the only ones. We attracted a lot of people and about 40 percent were women. That itself speaks volumes about Level Green.”
Tracking Down Talent
Cain is working to boost the number of talented Level Green team members, including women. She visits colleges and conferences to recruit new team members and discovers talent in the surrounding area, too.
“It’s a challenge,” Cain says. “This industry has always heavily leaned towards men. But there’s a resurgence of women in landscaping. I think during Covid people had time to sit back and really think about their passions and what they want to do.”
She tells of one woman who visited Level Green who told her she worried about taking a job in an industry so male dominated.
“After her visit she said this was the first landscaping company where she felt really comfortable,” Cain says.
“Women Bring A Lot to the Table”
Level Green women talk about respect, support, opportunities for advancement, and a family-focused culture that encourages a healthy work-life balance.
And they speak highly of each other.
As Cain and Pugh talk about the wide array of job titles women in landscaping at Level Green hold, they don’t just list them. They give encouraging shout outs:
- “New business developer Caitlin Cross is phenomenal,” Pugh says. “She’s already done great things in the short time she’s been here.”
- “Telma is out there in the heat of summer doing everything that everybody else is doing,” Cain says of operations manager Telma Ramirez. “She’s literally at the top, and her team is men. They all respect her, without a doubt. She has flourished in her position.”
- “It’ll be amazing to watch Telma continue to grow in the organization,” Pugh adds. “She’s really good at what she does.”
- “Carmen deals with sharp heavy equipment and she gets those blades sharper than you can imagine,” Cain says of shop apprentice Carmen Huiza Flores.
- “Marcene keeps me grounded,” Cain says of Pugh, her supervisor. “She tells me when I’m doing great and helps correct me when I make mistakes.”
Cain talks about the talent and dedication of women in the administrative office, from the office manager to the payroll administrator to the accountant.
“There are other women whose names I don’t know, out in the field, doing the hard work,” Cain says. ”I want to give a shout out to them, too.
“All of this shows the power that women at Level Green have,” Cain says. “Women bring a lot to the table, no matter where they’re placed. The women in this company keep everybody energized.
“There’s an atmosphere of camaraderie you don’t get everywhere else,” Cain says.
“Yes, two men lead the company, but they’ve created an atmosphere where you feel included,” she says of Level Green co-founders Doug Delano and Bill Hardy. “And you feel like you can go much farther.”
“Level Green is a Family”
Telma Ramirez is the first female operations manager at Level Green, supervising a crew of men out in the field. She started at the company as a driver and waterer, watering plants with a water truck. After spending time in Level Green’s program that trains managers on the job, she was promoted to operations manager.
“My branch manager was a woman, too, and she inspired me,” Ramirez says. “She gave me opportunities to learn with the crews in the field.
“When I need help, everybody helps me,” she says. “Level Green is a family.”
That’s a common theme.
“There's a true feeling of family here,” Pugh says. “With the women, it’s just a little tighter. We all know how hard we’ve worked to get where we are.
“Whenever we see another woman, we give a nod or a wave,” she says. “There’s an overwhelming sense of welcoming and support. We’ve all proven ourselves. There’s mutual respect.
“Level Green is unlike any other place I’ve worked.”
Want to Join the Team?
Erica, Marcene and Telma are just three of the dedicated team members we have here at Level Green Landscaping. And we’re always looking for hard-working, talented people to join our team.
Are you ready to work for a company where women can thrive and advance in their careers?
