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In this engaging episode of "Unscripted Pivots," host Danielle chats with Natassia Melendrez-Knutson, a dynamic force in the construction industry. Starting with her bold emancipation at age 15, Natassia walks us through her rise from an entry-level position at a geotechnical engineering firm to founding Project Support Services. She delves into overcoming industry biases, championing women's empowerment, and tirelessly advocating for her clients. Natassia shares how a serious health scare fundamentally transformed her leadership style and self-care routine, emphasizing the importance of investing in personal coaching to stay grounded and excel. Her commitment to strategic leadership, strong cultural values, and proactive self-care are central to her story of resilience and turning challenges into opportunities for growth and impact.
Ready to propel your career to new heights? Let's connect and strategize the best path forward for your professional aspirations!
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Ready to propel your career to new heights? Let's connect and strategize the best path forward for your professional aspirations!
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What is Unscripted Pivots: Inspiring Stories from WTF [Women That Flourish]?
If you’re looking to find connectivity in the female experience, you’ve found the right podcast. Unscripted Pivots (UP) takes a deep dive into how women can masterfully chart their lives only to end up in the most unexpected places. "Life is what happens while we are busy making other plans" and the most unpredictable detours, our “WTF” experiences, can shape us in ways we never dreamed possible. My podcast invites women to redefine “WTF”, calling them “Women That Flourish” moments instead. I’m your host, Danielle Sprouls, aka "The WTF* Lady", and my mission is to bring you weekly interviews with inspiring stories of women empowerment, identity loss, entrepreneurship, leadership, mental health, and more. We’re here to celebrate a woman's adaptability, resilience, and perseverance. No matter our unexpected detours, we can always move UP.
Danielle Sprouls (00:01.198)
Welcome to today's episode of Unscripted Pivots, where we dive into the inspiring journeys of those who turn challenges into opportunities. I am Danielle Sprouls, your host of Unscripted Pivots. Today, I am thrilled we have Natassia Melendrez with us, a true trailblazer in the construction industry and a beacon of resilience and determination. Starting her career at just 21 years old in a geotechnical engineering firm,
Natassia rapidly climbed the ranks due to her integrity, intelligence, and relentless work ethic, eventually becoming project closeout manager. But upon realizing the stark disparities in leadership opportunities between men and women, she decided to strike it out on her own. With just $1 ,000 and a wealth of courage, she founded Project Support Services, a company dedicated not only to excellence in construction project support, but also to empower women within this tough industry. Now let me just take a quote from her. She said, I remember thinking if it fails, I'll just start over again. What do I have to lose? These words from Natassia, AKA the mamapreneur, perfectly encapsulates the fearless spirit with which she approaches both life and business. Today, her company stands as a testament to women that can achieve in industries traditionally dominated by men.
Natassia's story isn't just about breaking barriers. It's about setting new standards and helping other women rise along with her. So let's get ready to learn from her incredible journey and discover how she turned every setback into a set up for comeback. Welcome, welcome to Unscripted Pivot, Natassia. How are you? Oh my gosh. So by way of background, I usually tell the listeners how I met who I'm interviewing and conversing with. We're not interviewing.
Natassia Melendrez (01:44.939)
Thank you. I'm doing good. How are you?
Danielle Sprouls (01:56.206)
Natassia and I were both on a panel during construction week and that made sense that she was on it, but why I was solicited, I wasn't so sure. And it was so cool because neither of us, and a big shout out to MG2 Architecture, decided that they wanted us. And so we were both flattered and excited at the opportunity just to be of service. And that's how we met. We were both on a panel. And I will tell you like...
From minute one, I knew that I had been introduced to a rock star. I wanted to get to know her better and I definitely wanted to get her and her story on this podcast. So I am thrilled to have you. Tell us a little bit about PSS and what you're doing.
Natassia Melendrez (02:37.995)
Yeah, so we are in school construction, K through 12 higher education, all government money. So whether school districts get money from bonds that they pass or state money or money from the feds, what we do is we ensure that all the projects were built per plans, per specs, but in a pretty nutshell, we make sure all schools are safe for the children. At the end, everything's done in compliance. And then we do project management in school. So that's what we do and it's what we love.
Danielle Sprouls (03:06.51)
So it's school specific for PSS. Yeah. So it's tremendous. And I see you attend more things, get more awards. You are like the biggest go -getter and you have a full life too in the personal realm, right? Because you have your son. Yeah. And I guess all the things, all the blessings. And is that how you start to coin yourself as the mamapreneur?
Natassia Melendrez (03:08.683)
Mm -hmm. Yep. Schools.
Natassia Melendrez (03:17.835)
Thank you.
Yeah. Son, husband, yep.
Natassia Melendrez (03:30.539)
Yeah, I will be very honest, business did not get tough until I became a mother. It was a little bit easy once I got married, and then once I had my son, that's when it became really, really difficult managing a family and managing a business. Yeah, so I was like, mama, pernure, like, we need to see more mothers become entrepreneurs, but at the same time, I see why it's difficult. Yeah, it is.
Danielle Sprouls (03:35.534)
Mm -hmm.
Danielle Sprouls (03:53.134)
Yeah, it's challenging. I mean, I had, you know, I was briefly practicing law and then, you know, just went into eight years of having children and then just had to step back from, you know, a career that I thought I was going to fully embrace and spent a lot of time getting an education for. But it is what it is. And that's why a lot of times I think we pivot out of the workplace and it may really, in all honesty, attribute to the fact that we don't get all the way up the ladder. And you are...
natassia Melendrez (04:06.443)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (04:18.126)
up the ladder, you decided to create on your own. There is so much to unwrap here. And so not to make it confusing, let's just start a little bit back with your childhood and the things that you've been through. And the reason I want to talk about that, because you openly share it is because anybody can take a glance and say, oh my gosh, I could never be her. I couldn't start my own company. I couldn't lead that way. You know, she's got it all and you do, but that doesn't mean that the journey from there to here was an easy one. So let's just, let's just look at that so that it can be a sense of community.
Natassia Melendrez (04:28.363)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (04:43.723)
Exactly.
Danielle Sprouls (04:47.342)
and connection along those lines. So tell us a little bit.
Natassia Melendrez (04:49.259)
Yeah. So where do you want to start?
Danielle Sprouls (04:54.158)
Well, I found it fascinating when you were speaking at that panel, you shared with the group that you had emancipated yourself from your parents at age 15. Now, that's a little bit of a shocker that differentiates you in a little bit. So let's just touch upon that.
Natassia Melendrez (05:10.379)
Yeah, so let's see. It's really weird how all of it happened, but in a way it was a really big blessing. I know that sounds weird to say. You know, long story short, there was a lot of family dynamics of things going on. My parents were doing the best they could with what they knew at the time. And I, yeah, just, I was about to turn 16 and I'm not gonna play innocent. You know, I was definitely a really rebellious child. I was starting to rebel due to what was going on in the home environment.
Danielle Sprouls (05:26.67)
Mm -hmm.
Natassia Melendrez (05:40.427)
And I knew I had two choices. I was like, I could either stay in this home till I'm 18 and endure this crap that I don't like, or I prayed really hard at 15 about it. I was like, I can't emancipate myself. And so back then there was a dictionary and there was AOL and I went on there and I went to a library and I printed my emancipation papers and I saved $75 for a taxi. I showed up.
Danielle Sprouls (05:48.686)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (05:59.374)
Yeah, they will.
Natassia Melendrez (06:09.387)
they ask you how are you gonna support yourself. I was always like three going on 30 they said. I had it all planned out, here's how much I'm gonna pay for rent, here's how much I need to live, here's how I'm gonna go to school, here's how I'm gonna do everything. And I remember going before the judge and he's like, all right, boom, within four minutes I then became an emancipated minor and an adult. And that was good because any choices that I would make after that point.
my parents would not be liable. Like let's say I got into some trouble, you know, I would be liable, not my parents, which is a good thing. And then I was fully independent and it was not easy becoming emancipated. I remember packing my stuff when my parents were gone so I could take everything I thought I owned, but that they bought. I had a girlfriend in high school who put it in the back of her truck. And I remember sleeping on different friends' couches for numerous months. And their parents would call my parents and say,
Danielle Sprouls (06:41.358)
Mm -hmm.
Danielle Sprouls (06:54.446)
Wow.
Natassia Melendrez (07:06.507)
why are you allowing this? They're like, we can't do anything. She's an emancipated minor. And so eventually I ended up getting an apartment with my cousin at like 17 and was able to create stability from that point. Yeah. It's.
Danielle Sprouls (07:18.446)
So you really were catapulted into almost adulthood, independent living at a very, very young age. And when I think about you and how far you've come, you've always been about resilience, right? And it reminds me of a quote by Oprah Winfrey where she said, turn your wounds into wisdom, right? Which also reminds me of, like I'll always say on this podcast, turn your pain into a purpose. And by you openly saying that,
Natassia Melendrez (07:26.251)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (07:46.795)
Yes.
Danielle Sprouls (07:48.352)
sharing even something as difficult and as vulnerable as that, right? There's a lot of trauma that happens in many different ways and shapes and forms in people's lives. But what I love about it is that you didn't let it stop you. And I mean, those obstacles had to be formidable. And you're probably just really digesting who that little girl was, you know, as an adult. You know, we have to do the work. We have to do the work. But boy, you have a lot of tenacity and gumption.
Natassia Melendrez (08:06.635)
Oh, I am now. Yes, as an adult.
Danielle Sprouls (08:17.198)
And you continued on. So when you were going to school, Natassia, what direction were you going in? Like how did construction find you?
Natassia Melendrez (08:25.579)
Oh my gosh, that's so funny. So, you know, graduated high school barely, again, due to everything that was going on. And I got into mortgages around 2007, 2006, right before the crash happened. So here I am, you know, yeah, 18, 19 years old, making $6 ,000 a month, living in Newport Beach on the peninsula, fake ID, go into all the bars.
Danielle Sprouls (08:43.758)
That was a brief career. Yeah, okay.
Natassia Melendrez (08:55.371)
and living my best life. And then all of a sudden had no idea that a crash, even what a crash was. And so then, yeah, we all got laid off and pretty much I ended up having to find a job. And so I found a job on Craigslist for being a dispatcher for an engineering firm. And I started ground zero from there, literally answering phones, learning about construction, and then moving up over time in that company. But school,
I tried it numerous times and I'm gonna be honest, it wasn't for me, not till I started going to learning about certificate programs. I was like, oh, I can do that. I can learn about things that I'm passionate about, total ADHD -er. I can hyper focus on what I love and all the other stuff. I don't wanna learn about it. So I did courses at Riverside Community College and then I would drive to UCLA and I took some courses there through their certification program there, yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (09:32.718)
Mm -hmm.
Danielle Sprouls (09:51.086)
Well, I like your intentional approach, right? Because a lot of us just go through the motions. We look at the calendar of life and we think, okay, we graduated high school. Now, of course, we're going to go to college, right? And a lot of, yes, we're all taught. And true to your point, there's a lot of wasted knowledge that happens. You have no choice but to take certain topics and subjects to complete your certificate. And it probably is a little bit of a waste of time. I love that you approach this because there's nothing lazy about you.
Natassia Melendrez (09:53.579)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (10:00.875)
That's how we're all taught.
Danielle Sprouls (10:18.51)
So you not yet, no, there's not. So there's you, you said, I'm going to do this my way, which really ended up being the right way. Cause look how far you have come. You know, I don't want to discredit colleges. I went to college and heck, I went to law school. There was a lot of money and time spent and I'm, and I'm not doing any of those things right now. I mean, they did lay a foundation that I utilize, but I can see your point wholeheartedly. I really can. So you're in that job and this was really male dominated and.
Natassia Melendrez (10:18.827)
Oh, thank you. Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (10:28.427)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (10:37.323)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (10:46.35)
So you became a little bit dismayed at how you were approached and what else? Was there any ethnic concerns? Talk about certain biases that you've experienced because you've shared that in other panel discussions so that I know that it's on your heart.
Natassia Melendrez (10:51.275)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (11:01.099)
Yeah, no, looking back when I worked at the engineering firm, I was, again, I was a little miss know it all. I knew I was a tough one to mentor and looking back, I see why maybe I didn't get that mentorship because I would have been a really tough mentee. However, in that, yeah, very honest, I was like, oh, I was a tough one. I was a very tough employee, but that's funny. Most business owners are. That's why we start our own business because we're not good employees. And so,
Danielle Sprouls (11:17.326)
Okay, honest.
Natassia Melendrez (11:30.475)
The way I realized that was it was really hard to move in the company. People were getting promoted in front of me. I was asking why am I not getting promoted? Nobody wanted to have honest conversations. Like, hey, you don't take constructive feedback well. You know, you need to be a little more polished. You know, you don't have this experience. Like I just kept getting passed up. Finally, I was able to see a need in the market and I'm like, okay, I either stay here and let these people determine who I need to become and what I need to do by me guessing or I just jump and take the risk on my own. And so in there, I saw that with not being a male and that's okay. The company is different now. There's actually a woman CEO at the company. I can see a couple other things, but I'm not gonna publicly say it, but yeah, I just, I saw a lot of it. And now, you know, I'm, guess what? Even though I'm not that company, I see it now in our industry.
Danielle Sprouls (12:08.942)
Mm -hmm.
Danielle Sprouls (12:18.542)
Fair.
Natassia Melendrez (12:27.883)
of how many women business owners in my industry own a business. There's six of us in the K through 12 realm of school construction. There's six women and of color were four of them. Like that, that's against the odds. And then, you know, being a woman and trying to apply for certain things, like a line of credit with business, why do we not get it more than men do? Like I still experience it. However, I just fight back harder now and I'm really confident in it. Now when people will say you're not qualified or.
Danielle Sprouls (12:39.918)
Mm -hmm.
Danielle Sprouls (12:53.774)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (12:57.131)
this and that, the whole bias and all that. Yep.
Danielle Sprouls (12:59.982)
Well, I mean, you know, going back to your first comment about maybe not being a great employee or you really probably didn't take advantage of the mentorship opportunities that were in front of you. I mean, really, you were wearing a suit of armor. You know, when you consider how you had to survive, right, that those that that just mindset probably, you know, you had that protective measure where you weren't really letting people in the way that you wanted to. So here, fast forward, you know, you leave that firm, you recognize that you want to be.
Natassia Melendrez (13:13.259)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (13:17.341)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (13:29.774)
more in charge of your future and your destiny. And, you know, kudos to you for that. And you decide to launch PSS? Is that was that that that was the thing? So, so when did project support services come into being? And what did that look like? Like, was it PSS party of one? I mean, when did you start hiring people? How did you get your clients? So share with the other, you know, listeners, how do you start that? How do you become an entrepreneur?
Natassia Melendrez (13:33.227)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (13:39.531)
Yes, yep, Project Support Services.
Natassia Melendrez (13:50.379)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (13:58.094)
And you know, what do you do first?
Natassia Melendrez (13:59.915)
Well, I think the first most important question is you have, what is a business? It's a product or a service that is solving a problem. You have to identify and ask yourself what problem are you solving? Who is your market? And is this like a trend or is this long term of something you can solve? So I saw that school districts were not closing their projects. I saw how many districts that was. I saw the problem is they didn't know where to start or what to do. And then you have to test the market. So I, one,
Danielle Sprouls (14:06.542)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (14:26.987)
One consultant approached me, we partnered on it. I saw it worked really well, what we were helping districts with. And then I thought, okay, if I can help these two districts, why can't I help more districts? So then I saw the ecosystem because again, you have to understand politics, politics play in everything. As much as people hate them, it plays in it. I saw the big key players approach them. I got enough business. And then finally, when it came to the point where I knew, I.
Danielle Sprouls (14:44.942)
Sure. Absolutely.
Natassia Melendrez (14:54.795)
knew I couldn't do the billing, I knew I couldn't do the projects, I knew I couldn't do the office stuff. I said, okay, it's time for me to hire my first employee. And that was a year after I left the engineering firm I was at. And so, boom, I hired the first person of the work I hated doing, which was accounting. I hated accounting in office. So that was the first hire I had. And then little by little, I started bringing on more people, the more I knew I could not do the work myself. Yep.
Danielle Sprouls (15:13.262)
Okay.
Danielle Sprouls (15:22.798)
Well, because we have to delegate, right? If we don't do that, we can't be successful. Yes.
Natassia Melendrez (15:25.099)
And women, women have a hard time doing that. I went to LA Magazine where Kris Jenner was speaking and this one university did statistics on women business in California and there was like 164 ,000 women owned businesses, but only 73 % did not have employees. I was blown away by that. Why? And I'm like, okay, and they compared it to men. And I'm like, okay, why are women not giving lines of credit? Why are we not having employees?
Why are we not doing as much revenue? And after reading a bunch of business books lately these past two months, you have to delegate, you have to trust in order to scale. And I feel sometimes as women, we wanna do everything, we wanna control everything, and that's not how you grow at all. And men are easier, men, in my opinion, it's in them to do that a lot easier. But women, we can learn that, we can learn it.
Danielle Sprouls (16:09.454)
No, yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (16:15.118)
No, I would agree with you. We keep it more close to the vest and we want, you know, I think we have more of a perfectionistic streak. I really, really do. But also, to your point, you know, being able to have access to lines of credit that would fund the employees, if there's a challenge in that department, it's almost like a catch -22, like, where is the money coming from, right? So there's other things that are coming into play. But I would think, too, that and like you being a mom and I'm a mom, it's, you know,
Natassia Melendrez (16:36.139)
Oh yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (16:44.718)
people that become mothers, you learn something that you are totally not prepared for. I don't care how many people you can watch doing this, right? Honestly, until you walk that walk, you really have zero clue, right, of what that's like. And it is a big, beautiful blessing. I know how happy you are to be a mom, but when it comes to trying to wear two hats to be, you know, in business, and here you are, you know, leading the charge, I mean, you own your company.
Natassia Melendrez (16:50.859)
There's no book for it.
Natassia Melendrez (16:57.451)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (17:11.854)
So let me ask you this today, how many people, and it doesn't have to even be woman specific, because there's plenty of men that are the full -time stay at home parent or actively participating. I mean, we're in the year 2024 that did not exist when our parents were raised. I mean, it just didn't. But culturally, things have really shifted for the better. So within your company, how are you leading today knowing that and then incorporate too for everybody? I know you've had a recent health scare as like when I say recent, a year or so ago.
Natassia Melendrez (17:18.603)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (17:24.651)
No.
Natassia Melendrez (17:28.683)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (17:38.091)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (17:38.766)
with the pulmonary embolism possibility and how that has changed your leadership. So you bring so much to the table in terms of like pivots, unscripted pivots, didn't expect this, didn't expect that, and how you use that for good. So let's talk a little bit about how you're leading and how those experiences shaped who you are as the boss.
Natassia Melendrez (17:49.931)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (18:02.027)
Yeah, the way I led before I got my pulmonary embolism in October, last October, on that I forget the date, 10 -7 -2023, was trying to control everything, being in everything, and telling myself that, and it's just the truth, right, how we get that no one's gonna be able to do it as good as me. And that's the truth at times with certain things, but when you're trying to grow a business and you're trying to manage things, you have to realize 80 % is good enough from someone and accept it. And so,
Danielle Sprouls (18:23.662)
Mm -hmm.
Natassia Melendrez (18:31.499)
when I was in the hospital laying in the bed, I really had an aha moment. I'm like, why am I doing this? Why do I own a business? Do I want to keep doing it? Am I happy with my life? And the answer was yes. Like I love my business. I love my team. I love, you know, being a mom, but the way I was doing it all was in the wrong order. And the way I was leading my company was not right. So after I got better physically, which took me about four months, I had this re -sparked in me and it's like time to get this shit together. I brought on a business coach named Amy Kay. She's helping me with leadership communication. We're bringing on a company organization structure coach. We're getting my team also coaching this quarter with learning how to communicate and delegate cascading. And you know, the one thing I've learned is.
Danielle Sprouls (19:01.71)
Yeah.
Mm -hmm.
Natassia Melendrez (19:19.115)
When your business does up to 300 ,000, there's a problem with you doing everything. When you scale it to 2 million, then you hired people, which is great, but then everyone's coming to you. And then when you're trying to get two to 10 million, and I heard this by Dan Martell, by the way, it's you have to learn how to work through people. And that was my struggle is I need to put the right people in the right departments that can lead, that's the right horse for the right race. So I'm not doing everything and it's getting reported to me.
So today where we're at, Taylor is my COO. We're creating and figuring out who can be the department lead for what. We're hiring for who we need and what, but they have to be competent, number one, to get the job done. We have to know they can grow with us. And then last but not least, the most important thing I care about is they have to be a culture fit. And so that really shifted my mind of after the blood clot, I was like, the stress.
Danielle Sprouls (19:49.038)
Mm -hmm.
Danielle Sprouls (19:57.39)
Obviously, sure.
Danielle Sprouls (20:06.766)
Yes.
Natassia Melendrez (20:14.795)
I'm not doing this anymore. So everything I have now from billing to project management, I'm literally asking myself, can I delegate this? What I need to be involved with and what SOP and floor charts can we create so I can pull myself out and we can scale the company. That's how I'm leading now with the company. And it's working, it's doing good, it is.
Danielle Sprouls (20:29.614)
Mm -hmm.
What?
Danielle Sprouls (20:36.59)
Yeah, and I mean, I see you all over social media and all the different things that you're getting kudos from clients and just, you're elevating that company in such a big and beautiful way. And it's always so interesting. It usually takes a big shakeup of sorts, some sort of unscripted pivot that will make us reassess how we are doing something and to surrender in that moment, okay, the control and the perfectionism and to create an inclusive culture.
Natassia Melendrez (20:58.795)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (21:04.846)
So you just mentioned that the cultural fit is the most leading deciding factor when you're growing your company. Describe for everybody, what is the culture like at Project Support Services?
Natassia Melendrez (21:11.307)
Yes.
Natassia Melendrez (21:17.291)
So we have our core values here. It's growth, impact, diversity, dedication, teamwork, solution focused. We have it everywhere on paper. We talk about them every Monday. We ask the team who was a really star player in one of these core values. I've also fired someone about three weeks ago based off our core values. So they know if you want to get promoted at the company, if you want to be employed, which you're doing of the...a semi -annual every six months, you have to show how you have lived by our core values. They are a compass for where your culture is going and how it functions when you're not here. So ever since we've had them, I haven't been at the office as much, which is a good thing because I'm able to work on the business and be out and about getting business in it for branding purposes and just networking. But it is very good energy in the office.
Danielle Sprouls (21:52.686)
Mm -hmm.
Natassia Melendrez (22:11.467)
And when it's not, you can feel it for some reason. And so they all work together. They know they have to be solution focused and collaborate to solve problems. That makes me happy because we did have a time in PSS where I wasn't able to go on vacation. I would leave and it was cat fights all the time. And now it's not exactly. So I pay attention when we bring someone in or they bring in. You are the energy you bring into the room you're in. If they're bringing good energy.
Danielle Sprouls (22:28.046)
Oh boy, yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (22:40.235)
Awesome, if you're bringing energy and cause and tension, I'm gonna kick you out of my company pretty quick, because we don't got time for that. So, right now, I wanna say we have a team of eight, nine, and then we're about to hire three more people. So, yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (22:45.87)
And how big is the company? How big are we today?
Danielle Sprouls (22:52.398)
Okay, and the people that you're hiring in what capacity? What are they doing?
Natassia Melendrez (22:55.979)
So I need a sales and marketing assistant, right? Because another great book, I'm always about reading books and watching podcasts and YouTube videos, but I'm really onto Dan Martell right now. So he has a book called, Buy Back Your Time. And you literally start looking at where your time's going and you ask yourself, can I get someone to put in that position to free up 80 % of my work? So right now we need a sales and marketing assistant, because I was doing the proposals, doing the numbers and I'm like,
Danielle Sprouls (22:58.318)
Mm -hmm.
Danielle Sprouls (23:20.846)
Mm -hmm.
Natassia Melendrez (23:23.915)
no, I need someone to do 90 % of that work for me. So we have someone coming doing that, sales and marketing, and then we're hiring another project coordinator. And we, again, looked at the team and we really need a strong, strong program project manager that has 10 years of experience managing over 200 projects at one time and people. They have to be really good with people and leading them. So those are the three positions we are hiring for like this quarter, yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (23:50.894)
Okay. So anybody out there listening, if you're either interested or if you know somebody, okay, this is the time, okay? She's interviewing. They're on fire. Tell us a little bit about some of the projects you're working today and what are your most favorite things to do in that space?
Natassia Melendrez (23:55.371)
Please.
Yes.
Natassia Melendrez (24:06.763)
Okay, so it's funny you bring that up. I love to fight for my clients because a lot of our clients receive a bunch of funding to get their projects approved with the state. And this is where sometimes I feel my past life or maybe another life, I will want to be a lawyer because that's why I loved you, because I felt your East Coast lawyer energy. But yesterday I felt like I went to court with the state. So they didn't want to, they were making us do more work than needed for a project, long story short.
Danielle Sprouls (24:08.43)
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm.
Danielle Sprouls (24:22.318)
That's it.
Natassia Melendrez (24:34.411)
They wanted us to rip through walls unnecessarily, look at some connections. And I'm thinking, no, we have enough data and proof here showing that this was done. Critical documents on your end are missing. And I had to make all these points. And this guy from the state, and again, I'm not gonna name names, but just, I can't even use the word I wanna say right now. So he was just rude about it, but what really is, yeah, no, he.
Danielle Sprouls (24:58.766)
Okay, you can spell it.
Natassia Melendrez (25:01.035)
What pissed me off is he said our company was disqualified to work on these type of projects in front of my client. And I feel many people or even women would have been like, okay, oh hell no. I said, I was like, you're not doing that to us. We are beyond overqualified. I said, we've been certifying over 2000 projects for 18 years. We represent the district as an owner.
Danielle Sprouls (25:13.134)
Did you?
natassia Melendrez (25:23.947)
We hire the structural, the architect, the project inspector, the contractor. So if anything, they work for us, we're the qualified ones. And everyone on the call was like, and so again, fighting for my clients, right? Because I gotta get their plans approved from the state through these bottlenecks of old stuff that wasn't done. So that's what I love doing is what are they trying to build for the kids? What do we gotta close out? Why is it so important for their future construction? How can we get it done quickly? Because schools can only build really in,
Danielle Sprouls (25:34.126)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (25:53.419)
two times of the year. Summer projects are for those really big ones or winter break and spring break for the really little ones. And right now, if districts don't use their money by September from federal funding they received from COVID, they have to give that money back and they don't have the money to give it back. So I feel like once a month, I am either negotiating with the state or I'm having to politically fight in the right manner for them. And I pick and choose my battles. I really pick and choose my battles with them.
Danielle Sprouls (26:00.43)
Mm -hmm.
Danielle Sprouls (26:20.878)
So it sounds like a continued sense of urgency is like always happening, right? And you know, when I look back on just your life and your upbringing and whatnot, it was like, you're built for this. You're like, you're literally built for this. And this is why you're thriving so much in it. Let's visit. I was going to say your pit bull, but no distinct pit bulls, but I thought a bulldog. Yeah. I mean, you're, yeah. Okay. You know, that reminds me. Here's, here's a question for you.
Natassia Melendrez (26:24.459)
Oh, every day. Yep, put your cape on.
Natassia Melendrez (26:33.323)
I am. Yeah. I'm a bulldog.
Natassia Melendrez (26:45.067)
Both, yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (26:50.222)
What is the best insult that you've ever gotten? Because this reminds me of an insult I got one time that you actually know that you actually like like, go ahead. What would what would that be?
Natassia Melendrez (26:54.923)
Oh, oh, I'll tell you. Yeah. Oh, that I liked, I'll tell you the one at first that I didn't like and now I'm like okay with it. I was told, we didn't put you on the project because the inspector doesn't wanna work with women. Flat out. And I could've, I'm sure, pursued something legally, but I didn't and said I was like, I'm gonna show you. And so I ended up...
Just showing the guy how many districts that would work with us just because I was a woman and my team at the time was all women. So I've also been told you're a shark and people can take that two ways. And I'm like, no, if I smell blood, I'm gonna go after something. I am a shark at times, 100%. You have to be a shark in business. You have to, you're gonna get eaten up. It's big.
Danielle Sprouls (27:40.942)
You absolutely do. And as a woman, it's almost like you have to be even stronger just to prove yourself. But there's that fine line that you don't look like a BITCH too. So when we're assertive, a lot of times we can be classified as being unruly or too outspoken where it's not the same for men. But it's not to dismen. I mean, there's a lot of really great...
Natassia Melendrez (27:52.235)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (28:04.462)
people out there, you know, male executives that are very supportive of women and that they're like colorblind to it. They don't even look at it. You know, I'm raising three sons. They're now like late twenties, early thirties, and they grew up generationally just different than, you know, my brothers did. And they're very welcoming of all of that. And so I think that, you know, we continue to see an improvement and you're perpetuating that by being at the forefront of a male -dominated industry and really like leading the charge and being inclusive of women.
Natassia Melendrez (28:09.387)
Oh yeah!
Natassia Melendrez (28:20.235)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (28:33.934)
you know, on your team and demonstrating, full on demonstrating how competent and successful you can be in that space.
Natassia Melendrez (28:40.811)
Yeah, well, it even pisses me off right now is we'll have some of these really large firms need a woman and woman of color on their proposals to look good, to win these big programs. And we submit our proposal and resume and then they win the job and we never hear from them or get a percentage. It's like it was the front, they put on the front for whoever they're proposing for. And so now what I'm doing is I'm working with those women that own the companies.
Danielle Sprouls (28:55.054)
Mm -hmm.
Natassia Melendrez (29:08.779)
I know four of them that I feel that we are getting used and I'm gonna create this little group and say, all right, we're gonna come up with contracts. And every time these large companies want to use our company as a small business diverse, if they win the contract, we're putting a percentage that we're going to get whether they use our people or not. Because this isn't fair and this happened about five times to myself and these other companies that we get put on the proposal and they win, but we never hear from them, so we got used.
And I'm not doing that anymore. Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (29:38.478)
So yeah, well explain this to me because I mean, I was living in the world of commercial title insurance for years and now I'm doing something different as you know, I'm doing coaching and I'm really glad to hear that you utilize coaching services and you see the value of what it is, the type of things that I'm doing. If they are putting you on the proposal, they're just doing it to check a box without the intention of actually hiring you, is that what you're saying? Because they wanna look, so explain that a little bit.
Natassia Melendrez (29:43.787)
Mm -hmm.
Natassia Melendrez (29:49.035)
Oh yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (30:01.611)
So some of these projects that you bid on, you have to meet a certain percentage for small, disadvantaged, women -owned, or LGBQTIA. Yes, yes. I'm like, okay, so you have to meet this percentage of diverse companies, and then you have to put them in your proposal saying that I'm gonna use this company. But then there's no auditing of making sure that you actually do use that company throughout the project.
Danielle Sprouls (30:11.662)
Mm -hmm. I know it's so it's so confusing.
Danielle Sprouls (30:25.198)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (30:30.766)
Oh, okay.
Natassia Melendrez (30:31.467)
So yeah, like I said, there's been a couple times I've been in interviews sitting on a panel and then they win and I get nothing from it. And so I started laying my foot down. I'm like, uh -uh, I'm not doing interviews. I'm not giving my resume because if you win, I want a percentage. And I'm, again, I'm gonna meet with these women to create a contract so we can start protecting ourselves and not getting used because we are women or we're women of color. Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (30:57.07)
Well, there's strength in numbers. I'm just so glad you're doing that because you know what is so important to highlight that you're literally not just doing for your own success. You are paving the way for all the women that follow you. You're actually creating your catalyst for change. So, you know, I'm celebrating that because I know it's not an easy one, which reminds me, let's talk a little bit about work -life balance.
Natassia Melendrez (31:11.851)
Yep.
Danielle Sprouls (31:19.502)
Right. You mentioned earlier, I don't know, does it exist? Like that's a fallacy. Like how do you do it all? I mean, do you have a supportive family around? Do that, you know, your husband, because it's a lot.
Natassia Melendrez (31:19.659)
Mmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (31:34.027)
Yeah, it is a lot. So when I had my son, I don't think it's just me, but I think it's my generation of where we're at. Our parents are still working, most of our parents are. And so my dad just retired, but when I had my son, both of my bonus mom and my dad were working. And so I had him help for my mother -in -law a couple days a week, but I didn't have any help besides that. So I literally...
Danielle Sprouls (31:43.822)
Mm.
Danielle Sprouls (31:58.606)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (31:59.019)
got another office in the building I was in at the time and I brought in a nanny and she was at the office with me in my son's little room and she watched him while I worked. I was so fortunate for that that I was able to be with my son from zero to, you know, a year and a half till we put him in daycare that he was at the office every day. I missed out in no moments and then there was a glass in between so I could literally see what was going on and I thought like, man, I wish more women.
Danielle Sprouls (32:23.406)
See.
Natassia Melendrez (32:27.179)
when more women had this because that's why many leave their career. Their jobs don't support them and you know, able to watch their kids. And I'm sorry, even if you're at home with your children working, it's impossible. They're children, they need to be loved, they need to be nurtured, attention, they're gonna end up getting a flat head if you leave them on the floor all the time while you're working. Like it's not, it can't happen. So did that, then he got into daycare and my husband's beyond super supportive. I have someone at the house that helps like,
Danielle Sprouls (32:39.662)
Yeah, now I know.
Danielle Sprouls (32:44.558)
No, no, yeah, it's.
Natassia Melendrez (32:56.875)
again, we're full transparency here, right? Helps with the house, run the laundry. I have an office admin who's also my personal assistant because my time and energy needs to go to things that are going to 10x the company or 10x my time. And so I'm really learning again through that whole book I've been reading, the Dan Martell one, delegate those things to other people so that I can spend time with my family, focus on the business and spend times with my employees. Now,
Danielle Sprouls (33:21.582)
Mm -hmm.
Natassia Melendrez (33:25.067)
I am working on time blocking because I have an addiction to chaos. I have an addiction to shoving as much shit into my calendar as I can because at the end of the day, if I do 20 things, I feel really, really good, but then I'm burnt out and that's not working anymore, right? Post blood clot, not working. So I'm learning to put my health first by like going to my trainer, working out, coming to the office, doing things, putting leaders in departments.
Danielle Sprouls (33:29.486)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (33:34.542)
Okay.
Danielle Sprouls (33:41.07)
Yes. No.
Natassia Melendrez (33:52.555)
and then creating space for my family and checking out. But I also have an addiction, like, I like to work, I really do. So I work on weekends and I work all the time because I just can't work nine to five. I work in waves like this throughout the week. So I'm learning to work life, integrate, I don't wanna call it balance.
Danielle Sprouls (33:59.438)
Mm -hmm.
Danielle Sprouls (34:10.894)
Well, no, and you know, it's funny because we hear the word addiction, we usually think like, oh, this is bad. But when you hear like work addiction, people don't necessarily think that that's something that's awful. They celebrate it like, oh, look at that person really go, you know, they're dedicated. And the truth is, and because you're really you're making this an important point, this really can be something that's working against you. And at the end of the day, when something is working against you in your life, you know, whether it's your
Natassia Melendrez (34:26.571)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (34:39.886)
your health, which you already attributed to it being a problem, and you know, your personal relationships and the time that you spend with your family. That pull is still there, right? That need to succeed and to counterbalance that, Natassia, with a routine, the time blocking with a structured schedule where it sounds like you're getting up, you're going to the gym, like you're attending to other things first and you're working it into your schedule, which is...
Natassia Melendrez (34:41.835)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (34:50.155)
Oh yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (35:07.307)
Yeah, I'm putting myself first because I didn't do that before. I was tested yesterday by God Universe. I got asked to be a guest speaker at this event called BDAIE. And I had a doctor's appointment an hour and a half later. I knew I wasn't gonna make it from Ontario to Newport Beach, because that's where my doctor's at. And I had to say no. Do you know how...
Danielle Sprouls (35:13.582)
Mm -hmm.
Danielle Sprouls (35:28.622)
Mm -hmm.
Natassia Melendrez (35:31.627)
It killed me because I have FOMO. I don't fear of missing out. I fear of missing opportunities. And I was like, oh my God, my whole network's in there, districts are in there. It killed me, but the other part was like, no, we're not doing this anymore. You have to put your health first. So I sat at that doctor's office of like, it's okay. I'm here putting me first. There'll be another opportunity where I can speak again. And again, that was a true test because the old me would have canceled that doctor's appointment.
Danielle Sprouls (35:32.398)
Yeah. Yeah. Yes. OK.
Danielle Sprouls (35:45.87)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (36:01.102)
Okay, so we see growth, there's some growth coming from you. But you know, here's the thing when we, you know, historically, when we say we're putting ourselves first, it's almost like that's like, riddled with guilt or maybe selfishness. And the fact is, is that self care is not selfish. It's absolutely critical because it's the foundation on which everything else is going to be built. And if you don't have a strong foundation, I mean, come on, misconstruction, you know damn well that this building is going down, right? And I don't, yeah, and after your health care,
Natassia Melendrez (36:01.611)
Yeah, yep, there's growth.
Natassia Melendrez (36:16.267)
No.
Natassia Melendrez (36:26.923)
Yeah!
Danielle Sprouls (36:29.71)
whether that was precipitated by your busy work schedule and the way you were taxing yourselves. Okay. Well, so there he is. The universe will tell you what kind of day you're going to have. Right. One of the reasons I even launched Unscripted Pivots was because, you know, of that old saying, life is what happens while we're busy making other plans. And if you don't choose the day to rest and to reassess, that day will be chosen for you. It will choose you. It will choose you.
Natassia Melendrez (36:34.379)
It was.
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (36:48.971)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (36:54.475)
It will choose you. Yes, and that's what it did. Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (36:59.822)
Right? So for us control freaks out there, okay, choose your day, okay? Practice self -restraint. And I think that that's really just such an important message. And I think that women don't even feel like they have the luxury of doing that. But you know, and then, you know, for you in particular, having to, you know, begin your life with such a struggle and a necessity for independence, right? That streak is hard to leave from. So.
Natassia Melendrez (37:03.659)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (37:13.707)
No!
Natassia Melendrez (37:25.163)
Yeah.
Natassia Melendrez (37:29.163)
Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (37:29.166)
I just, I can't thank you enough for everything that you've shared and for the things that you're doing. I just, every time I see you, you attend a lot of things that I don't attend. We're kind of like in parallel universes, so to speak.
Natassia Melendrez (37:32.427)
Thank you.
Natassia Melendrez (37:42.571)
Yes, but we're all, but we're putting ourselves out there and we're, we're in the right rooms and we're really trying, cause you and I have the same passion to like help people connect. We like to build, we like to grow, but we also need to be challenged and when we're not challenged, we get bored and we get bored. We, we, you and I both know what happens. It's not a good mental place to be in. So yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (37:45.934)
Yes.
Danielle Sprouls (38:01.678)
No, it's not, it's not. So in closing, let me just ask you this. What do you do to practice like mental health, like wellness? Like for instance, I journal, I meditate. I can't tell you what's a particular time of day or anything like that, but there are things that I've instituted as a routine. And when I depart from them, I know it. It's like, okay, you know. So what type of things would you recommend?
Natassia Melendrez (38:12.779)
Oh, I do a lot. Yes.
Natassia Melendrez (38:26.251)
Yes, so it's, okay. There are the habitual things like you said, like I love to ground, I will on and off journal, I like to walk in, walking meditation for me mostly, because it's very hard to sit there. But I really need accountability in that health, so I do have a therapist I see every Monday, other Monday, I pay her if I miss that appointment, like, ah, that's a lot of money. So going to that, and it's just good to like vent and talk about things and struggles.
Danielle Sprouls (38:47.214)
Mm -hmm.
Natassia Melendrez (38:55.883)
Like I said, I have a coach. Again, when you pay for things, you're less likely to miss it. So seeing the coach for communication and then working out, I could be working out my own, but I see a personal trainer twice a week. Again, accountability for that. And then I actually have an energy healer that I go to once a month. Her name's Patty, my mother, Willow. And for someone like me who at times is very hard to calm down my energy, she, I, she.
Danielle Sprouls (39:21.102)
Mm -hmm.
Natassia Melendrez (39:22.187)
puts me in a room and she does this woo woo magic stuff and I go into a very relaxed non -fight -or -flight calm of state of mind which is able to get my sympathetic nervous system to calm down. So I do these things that cost money because then I held accountable and I will more likely stick to it versus not. So it's an investment, it's an investment.
Danielle Sprouls (39:44.622)
No, exactly. And you know what? I was going to use the I word. I said you are investing in yourself, right? We find it so much easier to invest in business, but you're investing in yourself. Unless you remember it all starts with you. So you're surrounding yourself with a team of people that fortify you both mentally and physically and spiritually. And then you're ready to go and take on the world because take on the world you do. You do. They do.
Natassia Melendrez (39:57.835)
It does.
Natassia Melendrez (40:06.379)
Yeah, and women need to invest themselves and know like, go invest with whatever health you need or to keep you grounded and sane and people feel guilty about spending money at times. I'm like, no, there's a long -term ROI on this. There's a long -term ROI.
Danielle Sprouls (40:22.67)
There is, and I'm glad that you bring up coaching. So what would you tell, because I'm a coach, right? And you found a coach that's right for you. And that is just so terrific. And so what would you tell the listeners about the importance of a coach and how a coach changes how you approach your business and everything around it?
Natassia Melendrez (40:27.229)
Yes, I know.
Natassia Melendrez (40:41.195)
Okay, so you first have to ask yourself, where are you at? Where do you wanna be? What are the things that are blocking you from getting there? And then when you're looking for a coach, you can ask the coach that question. Again, here's my road back. I wanna be here. Here's where I'm at, here's where I wanna be. Here's the struggles I'm having getting there. What can you do to help me reshift or think differently or practices?
to get to that and they'll give you some clues and if you hit this click and you feel like that coach is getting you and they have experience and they can tell you stories of how they've helped clients do X and Y and Z, they're the right coach. I pay my coach per session, five figures, okay? It's a lot per hour, it's a lot of money but let me tell you, the ROI is amazing and she has helped me with just five sessions, like, grow.
Danielle Sprouls (41:21.422)
Yeah
Natassia Melendrez (41:30.699)
to that point where I need to be with all of it, and myself, so yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (41:33.486)
I just, I totally love to hear it because, you know, I obviously recognize the value of it. And then to see somebody like yourself who's just doing all that she can to be all that she is and including coaching in it. So yes, if you're out there, coaching is important and it can help catapult you and the relationship that you have with that person is really important. There's got to be a certain dynamic. So.
Natassia Melendrez (41:44.747)
Thank you.
Thanks. I love coaching.
Natassia Melendrez (41:56.043)
Yes, I like tough love coaches. It's my jam. I don't like fluffy rainbow ones. Give me a tough love one. Yeah.
Danielle Sprouls (41:58.83)
Oh my gosh, we would be so well matched, but you already found your person. I lost a headphone.
Natassia Melendrez (42:07.307)
Hey, you know, and that's other things. Sometimes different coaches, different seasons. I've had two other coaches for the level I was at. You go to a new level, you might need a new coach. There's nothing wrong with that either. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you.
Danielle Sprouls (42:15.694)
Mm -hmm.
No, there's not. There absolutely is not. I just want to thank you for coming on today and sharing all your insights and your journey with everybody. You really are somebody that just openly tries to connect and inspire. I mean, you're a magnet for that, but it hasn't been easy. And then I love it because you're showing other people that the journey is worth it, even though the path can be hard. All right. Well, I look forward to seeing you again soon.
Natassia Melendrez (42:35.243)
Thank you.
Natassia Melendrez (42:43.083)
Yes, it is. Thank you.
Danielle Sprouls (42:47.054)
And thanks for coming on, Natasha. You're a rock star. You're a rock star.
Natassia Melendrez (42:48.843)
Thank you. Appreciate it.