Roofing Industry Celebrates Gen Z Leaders

By Evelyn Witterholt, RCS Reporter. 

Don’t miss this special episode of Coffee Conversations where we discuss the growth of the roofing industry with Gen Z leaders! 

Season 3, Episode 9 of Coffee Conversations, sponsored by General Coatings, welcomes Gen Z members and future leaders of the roofing industry. Join RCS Producer Megan Ellsworth as she discusses the growing industry with future Gen Z leaders Rohan Gupta, Ayushi Raj Dua and Declan Fay. 

Rohan Gupta from Huntington Beach, California is currently attending the University of Southern California in the Chemical Engineering program. He has a long history with the roofing industry as he was introduced to it at a very young age. “I was introduced to roofing about 10 years ago when our family business Polycoat purchased General Coatings,” he said. “I do plan to work in the family business after I graduate.” 

Ayushi Raj Dua from New Delhi, India is studying for her master’s degree in construction science and management at Clemson University. She worked as an architect for two years but recently decided to change her career path. Right now, she’s taking a roofing course at Clemson and has found it to be very eye-opening. 

She states that the roofing industry is “attracting people from different backgrounds,” and that roofing companies “can definitely give people of our generation a good opportunity to go out and get to be in the real world and understand how it really works.” 

Declan Fay is also studying construction science and management at Clemson University, but he also participates in numerous extracurricular activities. The student from Westchester, New York told us all about his involvement in the Roofing Alliance’s student competition. He will be competing at this year’s International Roofing Expo! “I’m looking forward to talking with people at IRE next week,” Declan told us. 

Declan also expressed interest in a career in the roofing industry. He said, “Through the Clemson roofing courses, I’ve been exposed to a lot of different routes in the roofing industry. Whether it’s estimating or with contractors or manufacturers, I’m still really interested in all of those and construction in general.” 

All of them emphasized how they want good work-life balance and freedom to express themselves in their future careers. We can’t wait to see what these future Gen Z leaders do next! 

Read, Listen or Watch the entire Coffee Conversations to learn more about the Gen Z perspective of the roofing industry!