noxy jali

 Noxy, aka The Girl On Site, was fortunate enough to know from a young age that she wanted a career in the built environment.  When it came time to apply for university it was quite easy to narrow her choices down to either becoming an architect, engineer or project manager.  After high school she went straight to university and did her undergraduate degree in Construction Economics & Management at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.  Part of her undergrad studies is having to do 100 hours of practical experience in the first year.  She said this was one of her favorite parts of the program and that she managed to get a few short learnership experiences from affordable housing development using ABTs (alternative building technology) to a power station mega project. In her role as a Portfolio Manager, Noxy manages a portfolio of high-density affordable housing developments. 

When asked if she has ever felt out of place in the workforce because she is a woman, Noxy says that those feelings come with the territory.  During her first real job after graduating, she was a project manager in the engineering sector managing infrastructure projects.  Not only was she the youngest PM of 7 at the company but she was also the only female.  Thankfully she says that she worked with a great group of guys and aside from boys being boys/men being men, there was a good level of professionalism and respect.  Noxy says that she has always felt that there is no need to overcompensate for anything, especially in instances where you might feel out of place or insecure.  Her mindset is that if you simply do a good job and let your work speak for itself, the rest will follow. 

Noxy says that if she could go back and give her 18-year-old self some advice, it would be to be patient!  Good things take time; building a career takes time.  Thinking back, she feels that she was quite hard on herself early on in her career.  There were several times that she felt that her biggest source of pressure came from the gal looking back at her from the mirror.  It took her a while before she learned to take a step back and to stop living for some preconceived idea in her mind of where she thought she should be.  She would tell younger Noxy to stop for a moment and breathe...live for the right now.  One day you will get to exactly where you are meant to be, and it is going to be amazing.  Although the journey won’t always be easy, be sure to enjoy every stage of your life while you are in it!