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The She Lift Project, host Cynthia Kirkpatrick welcomes Jane Megown, President and Owner of Elastizell, who shares her remarkable journey from a career in marketing to leading a construction company specializing in lightweight cellular concrete. Jane’s company is behind critical infrastructure projects, often unseen but essential, such as filling spaces under stadiums and bridges with lightweight, custom-formulated concrete. Despite entering the male-dominated construction field with no prior experience, Jane credits her success to values she learned early on from her father: honesty, integrity, and putting people first.
Jane’s path was far from linear—she initially avoided construction, only to be drawn back in due to a series of life-altering events, including a devastating house fire. The fire not only tested her resilience but also prompted her to re-enter the workforce, leading to her eventual ownership of Elastizell. Jane’s leadership philosophy centers on transparency, teamwork, and focusing on long-term relationships rather than short-term gains. Her ability to build trust through honesty, even when it meant admitting she didn’t know all the answers, has been key to her success. Through her story, Jane offers inspiration on how to navigate career pivots, embrace challenges, and turn hardships into opportunities for growth.
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This podcast and all She Lift Project content represents the opinions of Cynthia Kirkpatrick and her guests. The content here is for informational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice – financial, legal, medical, or otherwise.
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“Young Shannon became an overachiever because she was a people pleaser. She needed to please others. And so that really developed in my adulthood as well. “
“They say, I’m still working 60, 80 hours a week. I got into this so I could pick my kids up from school and so I could attend their soccer games that are after school and I haven’t been able to attend one. I got into this so that we could go on great family vacations. And I haven’t been on a vacation now in five years. More people are coming to us for those reasons…it’s the lifestyle sacrifices that are causing people more pain than taking home a paycheck that isn’t what they thought it would be.”
Leadership is not about the leader. And I equate this back to basketball. When you have coach or coaches, they can’t go out on the court and shoot the ball and dribble the ball and pass the ball. But coaches have to be really good at getting work done through others. And so from a leadership perspective, that’s how I see it. As a leader, I have to be really good at getting work done through others.
“Gallup just got done with their survey for 2022. They found 25% better profitability in companies that have great employee cultures. Because when you have happy employees, happy employees make your customers happy. Happy employees want to invite other people to come work at their company. Happy employees want to share their ideas to make the company better. All of a sudden, you’ve created this culture where people want to contribute, and that’s the reason we do what we do.”
“I think that what I’m able to do in the program is to create the brave space that women need to be vulnerable, to do the internal work that has to happen, to have great and deep, thoughtful, reflective conversations, to bring in a lot of other great women. But at the end of it, that she’s breaking out of that chrysalis and she’s got her wings.”
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