Innovative and ever-evolving. Focused and ruthless with perfection. This is our boss lady CEO Remonda Martinez.

With all these traits backed up by incredible results with Blue Haven Pools & Spas winning over 350 industry awards thus far, there’s really no wonder why she’s part of Australia’s Top 100 Women in 2021.

That’s right, she made it to the incredible list which pays tribute to women who’ve made a mark in Australia’s construction industry. The panel of judges selected the winners for exemplifying excellence in their niche and contributing significantly to making the industry a better place for women.

Leading an iconic business that breaks barriers to help everyday Australians own a pool easily, Remonda demonstrates excellence to break barriers in the traditionally male-dominated construction industry, inspiring every woman that if she can, they can too 😊

Remonda’s journey to becoming the CEO of Sydney’s Largest Pool Builder

With her father, Mr Ray Awadallah, as the founder of Blue Haven, Remonda was naturally born into the pool construction industry but undeniably, it’s her hard work and formidable talent that truly made her one of Australia’s most respected business leaders.

Meanwhile, her mother, Mary, co-founder of Blue Haven Pools, has continued to be her inspiration to keep doing what she does whilst juggling a family of three young boys.

At the age of 16, Remonda started working as a receptionist for Blue Haven whilst having 3 more jobs at the same time.

Her transition to management was natural with her passion to learn the business from lodging council applications, learning intricate pool concepts, and designing pools to working with builders, pool sales and after-care sales.

In 2011, she was named CEO of Blue Haven, becoming one of the few female leaders in Australia’s construction industry.

An innovative, visionary, and passionate leader, Remonda took the Blue Haven brand to new heights by making it the first company in the world to sell pools online. This led us to be part of Australian Financial Review’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in 2021.

Today, Remonda is in her 10th year of fortifying the legacy company, building around 1,000 pools annually and transforming lives through incredible pool solutions. Recently, we celebrated winning the 2021 Local Business Awards in Fairfield City for Most Outstanding Specialised Business and as Blue Haven Pools comes close to 50 years in business, the first person she called to share the great news was no other than her dearest father 🙂

Whilst leading over a hundred team members and dealing with business challenges, Remonda never missed a single event of her 3 precious kids. Yep, she’s been to every Easter hat parade, sports carnival, state swimming, weekend sport, soccer academy training at 5 am and loves to cook for her family every weekday dinner.

Taking all of these into account, Remonda is undeniably every woman.

Productive and capable. Powerful and responsible. Loving and caring.

State of women in the construction industry as of 2021

Did you know that the building and construction industry generates more than $360 billion in revenue and produces approximately 9 per cent of Australia’s Gross Domestic Product?

Men are usually the key players of this massive industry but through rigorous effort to encourage women participation amongst organisations, we’re seeing a change.

In fact, Warren Hale, from the Australian Apprenticeship Support Network, said there’s actually been an increase of a staggering 115 per cent amongst female construction apprentices from 1,361 in 2010 to 2,929 in 2020.

Additionally, the overall number of women in construction roles increased by 34 per cent in five years, from 44,583 in 2015 to 59,587 in 2020.

Compared to men, however, women still represent a fraction of the 1.2 million-strong workforce.

We still have a long way to go but with the likes of Remonda at the forefront of the change, we know we are on track to removing gender barriers and stereotypes in the industry.

In 2022, Remonda is launching a Sales & Mentoring Program for ladies who are keen to learn more about pool design, customer service, sales, communication, personal presentation and self-confidence. Reach out to Remonda directly on Instagram for a prospect guide @bluehavenpools_

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