By Business & Finance 
Roisin Carroll is Sales Manager of Carroll Estates, which was set up by her father, Bernie. The company recently celebrated a half century of building residential estates in Dublin, Meath and Kildare.
What was your first job
My first full-time job was in a paper and stationery company, fortunately without a David Brent-like character.
What pushed you to pursue a career in this field?
My father Bernie set up Carroll Estates over 50 years ago, so my sister and I grew up with construction around the dinner table. I studied marketing so it never occurred to me that I could go into the business myself, until an opportunity arose to develop my own site in my twenties. I believe we need to get more female construction professionals visiting schools because if you can see it, you can be it.
What would you regard as your greatest achievement to date?
I am enormously proud of my Healthy Home concept, which was born out of Covid. The team went with my vision for our development at Brookfield in Malahide and it proved to be very successful.
Career-wise, would you do anything differently?
I always thought I’d make a great fiction author, even having ideas for novels, conveniently forgetting how boring I found writing essays in school. The literary world is safe.
In one sentence, how would you define success?
“Find a job you love, and you will never work a day in your life.”
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Be yourself, everyone else is taken.
How do you motivate yourself and your team?
We have a very loyal team who genuinely love their jobs, three of whom have recently celebrated 20 years with us. I believe in the power of a simple thank you, let people know you see them and what they do. We throw a pretty incredible Summer Christmas party every September, always eagerly anticipated and a terrific way to show our team how much we appreciate them.
What is your approach to overcoming challenges?
Collaboration, bounce ideas around, the solution is out there. These discussions led to my coming up with the ‘Be in by Christmas’ campaign for a slow starting development with targets to hit by end of December. It was already September, but by October the campaign was on social media and the clients who signed by the end of that month got their keys for Christmas.
How do you relax?
I adore cinema. I get fully immersed in the story, which can get dangerous when I watch Fast and Furious and then get in my car, forgetting I’m not actually Vin Diesel!
What are your aspirations for the future of your business?
We’re aiming to double our production of houses in the next two to three years and central to this is an engaged, empowered and happy team, on which we are always focused.
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