women of asphalt
Two Women of Asphalt: Meet Ajax’s Jewel Eggleston and Renee Aguis They started in different roles but now work on quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) from two angles to place award-winning pavements for the Southeast. QC Lab Technician Jewel Eggleston and Roller Operator Renee Aguis are just two of the team players for Ajax Paving Industries of Florida LLC, headquartered in North Venice. Here they share what brought them to the asphalt industry and what makes them proud to be women of asphalt. Ajax Paving Industries of Florida is an equal opportunity employer and boasts a number of women of asphalt, including Project Manager Jessica Kiesel, who will be featured in an upcoming edition of AsphaltPro. This month, let’s take a look at the way Eggleston and Aguis handle QC for a company that has served more than 2,000 clients and garnered more than 500 awards.
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AsphaltPro: Could you share with the readers your career trajectory since joining the asphalt industry and what challenges you’ve overcome along the way? Jewel Eggleston: I was all around the asphalt industry for years. I drove truck as a transport driver and delivered asphalt from local plants for three years. Then in the late ’90s, I became a QC plant inspector. I started with Ajax Paving Industries of Florida in 2007 as a quality control lab technician. The most rewarding aspect is the relationships I have formed with our outside sales customers and our plant employees. We have become family-like over the years.
16 // july 2021
Jewel Eggleston is the quality control lab technician for Ajax Paving Industries of Florida. She stated the plant and loader operators are her key team members at the asphalt plant.
Renee Aguis is a lead roller operator for Ajax Paving Industries of Florida. She stated one of the biggest obstacles she’s had to overcome as a woman in the paving industry is that some of her male colleagues didn’t look past her gender to recognize her knowledge and skill. “I did not fit the typical stereotype of a woman in construction: I like to have my nails done and like to have my hair done. All I can say is always be you, do not try to be who you think other people want you to be. Stay true to yourself and you will perform your job better.”
