The story below is from our March/April 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
From fixing military bases to running roller derby to managing her own company, Nadean Carson is building a better world.
David Rehor
Nadean Carson is no stranger to solving problems.
As a one-woman deployment to Iraq in 2004, Carson identified and fixed engineering problems at 12 Iraqi Armed Forces bases. After leaving the U.S. Air Force, she moved to Roanoke, where she shepherded a team of women athletes of all ages and skill levels as captain of the Star City Roller Girls. And for more than a decade, she worked as a manager fixing stormwater and engineering conundrums of all kinds in the construction industry.
Now, Carson has leveled up with the launch of her own business, Oya Construction. Named after the African goddess of winds, lightning and violent storms, Oya Construction handles stormwater management at construction sites. That sounds basic but it’s not: builders must adhere strictly to stormwater standards that vary wildly from place to place, facing steep fines and penalties if they don’t.
Carson launched Oya Construction in 2022, as construction was revving up again after the pandemic slowdown. The environment was still uncertain. Not only is Oya Construction the only company in the Roanoke Valley completely dedicated to stormwater and sediment control, but it’s also led by a woman — a rare thing in the male-dominated world of construction.
For Carson, it’s just another problem to solve.
Carson grew up in Bristol, Virginia. After graduating high school at 17, she headed south to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona, Florida. She graduated in 2000 and was commissioned into the Air Force as a second lieutenant.
Carson served as a civil engineer, maintaining operations at military bases in Oklahoma and Maryland, until she was called up to Iraq as a one-woman deployment. Her job was to troubleshoot problems at Iraqi Army bases around the country. In one case, she devised a water line solution after insurgents planted a bomb on a water supply truck that blew up inside an Iraqi base.
The nature of her job and the intensity of the war in Iraq put Carson in numerous dangerous situations. Returning home to the U.S. required significant adjustments, even after she left the Air Force in 2005. She moved to Roanoke and began work in the construction industry.
She joined the Star City Roller Girls in 2008, adopting the derby name “Bomb Shelley.” Carson quickly became a captain, a leadership role that includes rallying the team and communicating with referees.
“You put on skates and fishnets, and skate around beating the hell out of people and forming amazing relationships,” Carson says. “Derby was amazing, and it gave me my best friends here in town. They are strong women who are unapologetic for who they are. They gave me a sense of fearlessness and support.”
David Rehor
In the heat of hard-fought games, Carson often dealt with intense situations, whether bad calls by referees or misconduct by skaters — often on the other team and sometimes her own. Carson used her charisma and sense of humor to defuse tense situations and advocate for her team.
She brought a similar approach to her construction career. She began working with stormwater management — a tricky part of construction required by state and local regulations.
“Basically, we keep dirt on site and out of our waterways,” Carson says. “Stormwater pollution is the largest contributor of water pollution. It takes away the capacity of our river — for drinking water, for wildlife, for anything.”
Carson’s approach is not to just fix the problem, but to find what’s causing it — and fix that.
“I want to know what the root of the problem is, instead of just fixing it,” Carson says. “If the water’s concentrated, I need to know why, instead of covering it up and putting stone on it.”
While managing Roanoke firm Parker Design Group’s stormwater program, Carson began to develop ideas about how to better support the people who worked with her.
Melissa Lanzara, who succeeded Carson as Parker’s stormwater program manager, remembers fretting over her work/life balance after becoming a mom. Carson heard her concerns, and connected her with other working moms in the industry.
“Everyone had a different story and not everyone’s work/life balance looked the same,” Lanzara says. “Ultimately, it was up to me to figure out what worked best for me and my family. Nadean approved for me to reduce my hours. She kept me included in important things that were going on while I was on maternity leave. Upon my return, she led with empathy and grace as I navigated this new chapter. She was my biggest cheerleader through this process and taught me so much about advocating for yourself and maintaining a positive work/life balance.”
Meanwhile, Carson’s problem-solving skills, cheerful demeanor and sense of humor were building a strong reputation in Roanoke’s building industry.
“The good thing about the Roanoke Valley is, it’s small enough that if you establish a reputation, whatever way it is, it will follow you,” Carson says. “I’ve been lucky enough to establish mine as someone who actually knows what they’re doing and who has the best interest of the contractor and environment in mind.”
Alexander Boone of Boone Real Estate says Carson offers developers practical and efficient advice on stormwater management, while also maintaining crucial relationships with inspectors and regulators.
“I joke with her about her love for water and dirt,” Boone says. “Come on, who really would love stormwater management and erosion and sediment control? You’re warped, Nadean!”
Mark Pace, president of Roanoke’s historic EC Pace Company, remembers her response to a stinky situation.
“We had a sewer backup at Carilion hospital that essentially was a 911 situation,” Pace says. His team needed Carson to come with a camera rig to identify the source of the problem. So late in the afternoon, he called her.
“She immediately picked up the phone, we told her the situation, she laughed and she says, ‘I’ll be right there.’ She rolled right over with her cameras. And I’m talking, a lot of sewer we were dealing with — a lot. She is not afraid to get in there and get dirty — and she does it with a smile on her face,” Pace says.
When Carson approached him in 2022 and said she was planning to leave Parker Design Group after more than seven years to launch her own business, he was supportive — but skeptical.
“I personally thought it would take a little longer for her to gain traction,” Pace says. “Going from an engineering background to, ‘Now I’m going to be a business person’ is a big difference.”
Pace wasn’t sure how much demand there’d be for a full-time stormwater company.
Turns out, there’s a lot.
“She got very quick traction right out of the gate,” Pace says. “A lot of it was her incredible drive and her personality and her connections she’d already made. She knows exactly the way the stormwater management systems are to be installed. These are the headache things that a lot of contractors don’t want to deal with. That’s why a lot of these contractors are like, ‘Hell yes, I’ll put you at the bid, and have at it. If I don’t have to worry about being fined or written up, perfect.’”
In October, the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce awarded Oya Construction its 2022 Best New Small Business Award.
David Rehor
The process of launching and building her own business has drawn on Carson’s many skills and life experiences. She’s networked with other veterans to make connections and learn how to better apply lessons from her military service to entrepreneurship. She uses what she picked up captaining a team of strong-willed women athletes playing a DIY sport. Oya Construction is built around her stormwater expertise, no-nonsense approach to problem solving and support for her colleagues, subcontractors and eventual employees.
“I want to make sure I’m not paying people the absolute minimum I have to, because putting money in my pocket is not making the world better; putting money in all of our pockets and creating something that improves the world around us, that’s what’s important,” Carson says. “There’s a lot of women in the industry I’ve connected with. We have conversations about how are we empowering others, how are we shaping the future we want to see. I’ve always loved what I’ve done, but now being able to take more control over it has been empowering and amazing.”
Launching an industry-changing business: It’s just another problem that Nadean Carson has a way to fix.
The story above is from our March/April 2023 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!