Mira-Mini | Akilah W. Darden, The Darden Group: Community Impact Award (Individual)

The Indianapolis business leader has accomplished on the construction job site what few if any, others have: 100% diverse participation. What’s more, she did it for Cook Medical’s new 38th Street and Sheridan Ave. manufacturing facility (a forward-thinking, community-based project in its own right) in a tight labor market by meeting people “where they are” on Instagram, creating an animated video to promote her project, and offering onsite interviews with diverse construction professionals to allow the community to “see what they could be” in construction. She also created an e-course to help construction professionals with construction core competencies go from technical hands-on construction professionals to managerial professionals teaching operational and administrative strategies.