Best of Success 2022: Latinos Rising

VIDEO: Amparo Sancen Gives Sunshine to Industry’s Burgeoning Latino Stake

As the share of Latino and Hispanic Americans employed within the roofing industry, from owner to laborer, challenges exist but are conquerable

During last December’s Best of Success conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., one of several speakers during the two-day forum included Amparo Sancen, principal and founder of Sancen Contracting based in Richardson, Texas.

Sancen, whose eponymous company celebrates 16 years of operation in 2023, touches on challenges Latinos and Hispanics in the roofing industry face, offering executable, common sense solutions in this video recording of her speech at BOS.

Hers is a classic immigrant-makes-good tale, complete with setbacks and successes. This talk draws upon her experience, first pivoting into the roofing industry and then running up against unanticipated yet persistent obstacles and how she overcame them.

Many of those obstacles identified remain, despite the share of Latino participation within the roofing industry climbing from 10% to 30% between when Sancen first started her business through today. It is worth noting that progress has been made within the last few years, ensuring more inclusion and that success is a tide raising all ships, Latinos included. For example, several nationwide distributors and manufacturing companies have each begun offering employees Spanish- and English-as-a-foreign-language classes.

From communication and marketing to hiring best practices and employee retention, Sancen shares her insights and exploits, offering solutions to hurdles facing Latino roofing professionals and aspirants alike.

This speech was recorded live at 2022 Best of Success, Dec. 5-6, 2022, at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Scottsdale, Ariz.

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Bryan Gottlieb is the online editor at Engineering News-Record (ENR).

Gottlieb is a five-time Society of Professional Journalists Excellence in Journalism award winner with more than a decade of experience covering business, construction, and community issues. He has worked at Adweek, managed a community newsroom in Santa Monica, Calif., and reported on finance, law, and real estate for the San Diego Daily Transcript. He later served as editor-in-chief of the Detroit Metro Times and was managing editor at Roofing Contractor, where he helped shape national industry coverage.

Gottlieb covers breaking news, large-scale infrastructure projects, new products and business.