Real-world knowledge we don’t always get from degrees, certifications, or licensing, taught by professionals actively doing the work. 

Beyond budgets and schedules, we focus on an essential part of project management that traditional training has often overlooked: people and relationships. How you communicate, treat people, build trust, and handle stressful situations can directly affect whether a project keeps moving.

An inspection failed—do you know the inspector or someone who has worked with them to call to understand why? A permit was denied—have you built clear communication skills to ask the right questions, understand the corrections, and prevent more delays? A supplier is backed up—do you have a trusted contact who can help you explore options? How you react, respond, and proceed matters.

PMs work across different personalities, work styles, and deadlines every day. Leadership, communication, problem-solving, relationships, and your professional network are not extras—they are key project management tools for getting projects across the finish line.

Our Construction Project Management + Real Estate Essentials learning connect real-world experience with practical instruction across the project lifecycle—from site selection, due diligence, permitting and entitlements to budgeting, acquisition and construction financing, contractor selection and coordination, digital tools, Certificate of Occupancy, sale, or lease. We cover small commercial new construction and residentail projects as well as the repairs, infrastructure, maintenance, and improvements communities depend on. Training can be tailored to specific learning requests or general industry knowledge.

Cohort photo of a virtual PM course taught for the Contractors Development Program of the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association (HACIA) during April-May 2025. In partnership with Alejandra Mielke, PhD Coaching and Consulting who taught Leadership in Project Management.

Project Management from the Field

We facilitate practical training and share the resources we wish we had when getting started. We designed this PM course for the people doing the work that keeps neighborhoods thriving—and for those who want to learn how to be part of it. Our goal is to help people enter the industry, grow their skills and businesses, step into leadership or ownership, and feel more confident navigating projects.

It’s not only about new construction. Someone has to manage the repairs, maintenance, renovations, and everyday needs our communities depend on. Improving roads, buildings, and wet and dry infrastructure to adapt to changing climate conditions. We have delivered training across multiple states and participated internationally in learning and conversations around construction workforce development and The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)-related workforce needs.

The class is designed to make the industry more approachable and help Hispanic, Latine and women participants understand how projects start and finish—whether you’re exploring a new career, advancing in their current role, growing a business, or working toward developing and investing in projects of your own.

Because we’re also project managers actively working in the industry, we only offer a limited number of public classes each year. Classes are offered in English or Spanish, online and in person. Come learn with us, meet others in the industry, ask questions, and build practical skills and connections you can take back to your work, business, or next opportunity.

Interested in the next class? Contact us to share your interest, and we’ll notify you when the next class opens.

Instructors, Guest Speakers & Collaborators

Our programs include instructors and invited professionals with active, direct experience in the topics we cover, including professionals from AEC firms, municipalities, banks and lending, and workforce organizations.

They bring current industry knowledge, case studies, and lessons learned, sharing practical guidance, market resources, real-world experience, and opportunities to help participants understand financing, access capital, navigate projects, strengthen their businesses, and connect with career and contracting opportunities.

Instructors & collaborators include:

Ari Paz, PM Construye Dallas

Ari is a Project Management Consultant, her path into PM was not a straight line, which is part of why she enjoys helping others see the different ways they can enter and grow in the industry. She began in an administrative role supporting a woman PM at a national retail development firm, later moving into project coordination. She then entered commercial real estate to help Spanish speaking businesses find properties, obtain permits, coordinate contractors, and complete improvements. Eventually, she combined her construction and real estate experience to start her own firm, recognizing a need for bilingual professionals who could support both areas.

While building her construction career, she completed a Master of Public Administration and Leadership. She has served on education and workforce leadership groups, supporting construction certification and teacher-training initiatives, and hosting student interns who earned academic credit while graduating with industry experience. As a high-volume permit contractor, she was invited to provide feedback during a City of Dallas permitting improvement initiative, sharing firsthand experience navigating the system for contractors and property owners.

Coming from a Mexican family and having lived, worked, and traveled in different cities and countries has also shaped how she approaches the industry. She began an Executive Doctorate in Business Administration with an interest in publishing work on the economic impact of migration, the workforce, and entrepreneurship in the U.S.

Her approach to teaching is to share what she has learned from real projects—the challenges, mistakes, relationships, and lessons that aren’t always covered in a textbook—and create a space where women and early-to-mid career professionals can ask questions, learn from one another, and build confidence leading projects and teams.

Alejandra Mielke, PhD Coaching & Consulting

Dr. Mielke is a leadership consultant and executive coach based in Austin, TX. She has worked directly with construction and engineering companies, including Colliers Engineering & Design, Neucor Construction, and Turner Construction. Her focus is to help people gain the skills that technical training alone does not teach. She holds a PhD in Education from UT Austin and the following credentials that bring practical leadership, communication, conflict management, and team-building skills into PM training.

Everything DiSC® Facilitator — understanding communication and work styles (Dominant, Influential, Steady, Conscientious), helping PMs better coordinate teams and stakeholders while managing conflict and strengthening collaboration.

Energy Leadership Index (ELI) Master Practitioner — leadership and self-awareness to respond to pressure, workplace challenges, make decisions, and lead teams through changing project conditions.

International Coaching Federation (ICF) Certified Coach — professional coaching skills that support leadership development, goal setting, communication, accountability, and helping individuals recognize strengths and work through professional challenges.

Together, we have taught successful courses over the years, including for the Hispanic American Contractor Industry Association (HACIA), where coursework supported PMP certification pathways. Dr. Mielke also leads workshops through the Austin Safety Council. Our shared approach recognizes that great PMs don’t just manage projects—they manage people, relationships, communication, and challenges, skills that are essential to getting projects across the finish line. Dr. Mielke is from Monterrey, MX, and has hosted Women’s Leadership Seminars in Oaxaca. She often highlights research on the economic impact of Latinos in the US and globally.

Elsy Guzman of She Builds TX

We invite back professionals we’ve had the opportunity to train, including Elsy, who we first trained as a Project Coordinator intern while she was completing her undergraduate studies in Finance, and continued working with her as she grew into a PM role.

Today, she manages a regional general contractor firm, leading commercial projects across Texas—from Dallas to Austin and in communities both within and outside city limits. Her work includes reviewing plan sets for estimating, coordinating multiple subcontractors, tracking budgets and schedules, managing construction loan draws, communicating progress with site superintendents, overseeing safety coordination, sites walkthroughs before inspections, and traveling to project locations to keep work moving. Her role combines both office-based project management and hands-on work in the field.

Elsy’s experience includes multifamily and townhome communities, McDonald’s locations, church buildings, retail, and hospitality projects, giving her hands-on experience across different project types, teams, and requirements.

We enjoy having Elsy return as a guest speaker and instructor. We also continue to learn from her, working together on projects, which is part of what we hope to build through our course—a community where people continue sharing knowledge, supporting one another, and growing together in the industry. Elsy is from New York and has Mexican and Salvadoran roots. She has worked on short-term rentals in El Salvador and property transfer in Puebla.

Guest speakers include: lenders, city staff, architects, engineers, surveyors, insurance and bond/surety agents, CPA’s, book keepers, GC’s, and trade professionals.

Interested in becoming a guest speaker, sharing resources, or supporting one of our programs? Contact us to get involved!

Construyendo Tulsa workshop in Spanish in collab with Avanzando Juntos in Tulsa, OK 6.17.21. Vamos developed the pilot program, along with facilitating the curriculum, materials and instruction.

We don’t only labor and build, we also design, engineer, own, manage and lead.

Presentation slide of the speakers during the L.AEC event on 9.24.24.

In this meetup, we discussed land plating and improving vacant lots in underdeveloped areas- working 
with surveyors, city engineering dept's, and preparing for zoning or council meetings; owning and 
managing rental homes, including using special financing; building and maintaining our own homes; 
and remodel projects/additions, including permitting for homes near flood areas.