Power Women at Work: Leadership That Can’t Be Fast-tracked
Credibility in the pool service industry is earned, not automatic. The women featured in this issue exemplify that truth.
Power Women
Across the pool industry, leadership doesn’t always come with a title — it’s built over time through real-world experience, hard-earned credibility and doing things the right way. This year’s Power Women represent every corner of the profession, from builders and service leaders to advocates and educators. Each has carved out a path while helping elevate the people around her, proving that the future of the industry is being shaped by women with both purposeful vision and boots-on-the-ground experience.
Power Women: Averi Edwards
For Averi Edwards, the pool industry was simply part of the background as she grew up — something her dad did while she was busy figuring out where she wanted to go. “Throughout my childhood and teen years, the thought of working for him or with or around swimming pools never crossed my mind,” she says.
Power Women: Julie Kazdin
Julie Kazdin has never known a life without pools. Born into a family business on the East End of Long Island, she grew up surrounded by the rhythms of the industry her parents helped build. Her mother and father founded Kazdin Pools & Spas in 1974, years before she was born, and from the start, it was a true family operation. “They joked that the accountant used to feed me peas while he was doing his work,” Kazdin says.
Power Women: Sam Folaron
From the time Sam Folaron was 12, she knew the pool industry was where she belonged. What started as a summer job in a retail pool store became an influential education in business, leadership and what was possible for a woman willing to learn every side of the trade.
Power Women: Kelly Collins
Like many women who find themselves in leadership roles in aquatics, Kelly Collins started in the industry alongside her husband and the company he built.
Power Women: Danielle Bahr
Before becoming director of the Swimming Pool Pro Alliance, Danielle Bahr was still deciding what she wanted her future to look like. “I was doing hair and doing all the other things, just trying to figure out what I was going to do with my life,” she says. But the pool industry was never far from her story.
An Industry of Powerful Women
I lead a team of amazing women, which is one of the reasons it is such a great, personal joy to highlight other women in the industry each year.
Power Women
For our second installment of Power Women, you’ll meet five more inspirational females shaping the pool industry.
We’ve kicked it into high gear
I haven’t been this excited about an issue of the magazine in awhile. This is our second iteration of what we’re calling our “Power Women” feature where we highlight some of the amazing women leaders in our industry. It was such a hit last year that we’ll probably do it every year until you beg…
Did you know PoolPro is run by women?
Megan KendrickEditor in chief Megan grew up in North Dakota but escaped the cold to attend college in Phoenix. She went on to get her master’s in journalism from Northwestern University and got her first post-graduate job at Bigfish Publications in 2008. In 2018 she bought PoolPro and SpaRetailer from Bigfish and started Kendrick Content….