In this episode, I speak with Kristen Fulmer about how she has built a career at the intersection of sustainability, buildings, and sports. She knew coming out of college that she wanted to work to make buildings more sustainable, but how exactly she wanted to approach that evolved over time. Tune in to hear more about why she chose each role along the way, how she navigated tough situations (including age differences in the workplace, gender-based biases, and getting laid off), and how she managed to pull her interests together in a way that works for her.

Best for: taking personal consideration into account when making job decisions; navigating tough situations; tying your interests together

Contents:

1:00 - Introduction

6:34 - How Kristen became interested in pursuing sustainability through the lens of buildings

9:07 - Kristen's first job out of college (building manager)

17:14 - Being taken seriously when you're younger than some of the people you manage

20:14 - Pros, cons and the day-to-day of building management; deciding to go to graduate school 

26:00 - Masters program in sustainable design

28:49 - Pursuing sustainable design consulting after graduate school

39:31 - Pivoting to construction management and real estate development, partially for personal reasons

45:01 - Being a woman working in a male-led industry

51:07 - Pivoting to WeWork as a project manager

59:20 - Starting her own sustainability consulting firm

1:06:30 - Next steps

1:08:05 - Lessons learned

Note: Since recording this episode, Kristen has started a new role as the lead for sustainability at Oak View Group. OVG recently launched a membership platform called GOAL (Green Operations and Advanced Leadership), which will help venues operate in more environmentally friendly ways.

Edited by Dylan Smith from Valle Verde Studios. You can follow him @valleverdestudios on Instagram and Tiktok.