Women in the Industry is dedicated to spotlighting the incredible women who are shaping and advancing our field. In each installment, we’ll dive into the unique journeys, insights, and contributions of these remarkable professionals. We’re thrilled to feature Starling Johnson, VP of Sales at Johnson Concrete Products in an exclusive Q&A. Join us as she shares her experiences, challenges, and advice, giving us a closer look at her career and journey in the industry.
Q. How many years have you worked for Johnson Concrete Products?
A. 15
Q. Talk about your career path in the family business. Did you always know you would work for Johnson Concrete Products, or did you explore other career paths first?
A. I always knew I wanted to work in a family business. I loved listening to my parents and aunts solve problems at the dinner table and at family gatherings and it fascinated me. For Kindergarten career day, I dressed as a businesswoman. But, my dad owned several powersports dealerships and as a young child, ATVs and jet skis seemed a lot more fun than concrete.
I started working for my dad on Saturdays around age 14 and continued until I graduated high school. I knew some of the Johnson Concrete people, but not much about the business. Our EVP for 50 years was Charles Newsome, a past chairman of NCMA, and he convinced me to do a summer internship at Johnson Concrete during my junior year of college. He was a strong advocate for our family business and wanted to see it continue for the next generation. It was then that I started seeing a possible future here.
After college, I moved to Chicago and worked for Accenture as an IT implementation consultant for almost four years. I needed exposure to Corporate America and to see if the grass was greener. Throughout that time Charles and I kept in touch. My mom had always said that there was no nepotism in our family businesses and that if I wanted to work for Johnson Concrete, I’d better be someone Charles wanted to hire. In 2009 at Thanksgiving, I told Charles I was ready to quit my job and move back home and asked if he would hire me at either Johnson Concrete or our sister company, Stalite.
Q. What was your first role in the company, and how has your position evolved over time?
A. Johnson Concrete needed a new website and I think Charles thought that, because I was young and understood technology, I could do it. I laugh now thinking about how little I knew about both masonry and marketing and how bad that first website was.
About a year later, we needed a strong Territory Manager at Stalite, so we transferred one of the Johnson Concrete reps and I took over his accounts and commercial masonry sales in the Charlotte area.
I didn’t sell any new customers for six months and was devastated, thinking I had quit my corporate job to come work for the family business and was terrible at it. But over time, I started building relationships and learning about our products and grew to really love it.
I’ve never thought of myself as a salesperson (I’m a borderline introvert) and probably would have never pursued a career in sales, so it’s a blessing that it worked out that way.
Our masonry sales manager passed away unexpectedly at the end of 2013 and I rolled into that position. Now I’m VP of Sales for Johnson Concrete and Stalite and manage our sales managers, marketing efforts, and product catalogue, and work closely with our Executive Vice President, Jody Wall, on general business strategy.
Q. What is your favorite part of your job?
A. I love helping people – our customers and employees – be successful, and I love when I’m able to help someone solve a problem. I still retain a handful of customers from when I first started in sales and one often tells me that he wouldn’t be where he is without help from me and Johnson Concrete.
That’s the kind of feedback that keeps me motivated to continuously do better for our company, our employees, and our customers.
Q. What’s the most exciting project you have ever worked on for Johnson Concrete Products?
A. We are greenfielding a new block plant, something Johnson Concrete hasn’t done in decades. It’s been a fun and enlightening project.
Q. How has working with family shaped your professional growth and leadership style?
A. I’ve become very direct in my communication, probably as the result of working so much with family. We have very little bureaucracy and an open-door policy and I can at times be very blunt, but it’s efficient and always comes from a place of trying to help or improve.
I have to make a real effort to be less candid and more tactful in leadership situations outside of family and I admire the people to whom that ability comes naturally.
From a professional growth standpoint, I feel incredibly fortunate because there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. It’s rewarding to be able to effect change in certain areas and see results.
Q. What advice would you give to the next generation who may be considering joining the family business?
A. Only do it if you’re passionate about it and it’s a fit for your skillset. It hurts everyone to put an incompetent family member in a leadership position and there’s no such thing as a 9-5 job in family business.
Also, I think a key to our success is that we’ve always had an EVP who isn’t family. At Johnson Concrete, Jody is a leveling, rational voice and on any given day he’s also a referee, a buffer, and a mediator between generations.
Q. How has your involvement with the Concrete Masonry & Hardscape Association benefited you and Johnson Concrete Products?
A. CMHA helps us answer hard questions. The technical resources and brainpower within the association and its membership is unparalleled. Somewhere (within the membership) there is someone who has faced a similar challenge and can help you find an answer.
Q. You are currently the Vice Chair of the CMHA Board of Directors. What is your vision for CMHA in the next 3-5 years?
A. It’s an exciting era for masonry and hardscapes. CMHA will continue to be a leader in research, education, and promotion. We have a compelling story to tell about sustainability and our education programs are crucial, especially when so little is taught about masonry and hardscapes in universities. Labor will continue to be a challenge, but we have a real opportunity to promote our industry at a time when career technical education programs are rising in popularity.
Q. You have been a huge supporter of the Emerging Professionals Group (EPG) during your career. Why was it important for you to get involved with EPG and what advice do you give to young professionals just starting out in the industry?
A. I was first invited to an NCMA meeting because they were launching their young professional’s group (YPG) and Charles thought it was important for me to be part of it.
At the time, coming out of the Great Recession, not many people were hiring so there wasn’t a lot of new talent entering our industry. There were maybe a dozen of us “OG YPGs” and we traveled that meeting as a pack; many of my strongest industry friendships started at that event.
EPG is intended in part to help new folks navigate CMHA, get connected, and get involved. I encourage young professionals to attend one of the EPG workshops and use it as a launchpad for further activity within the association.
Q. During the 2025 Annual Meeting, you received the 2025 Emerging Professionals Award for your outstanding leadership and contributions to the industry. What does receiving this award mean to you?
A. It’s truly an honor. My friend Carrington Blencowe and I launched the first YPG workshop in North Carolina, hosted by Johnson Concrete and Stalite. We had no idea then how popular YPG—and now EPG—would become, and the extent to which a new generation of leaders would emerge.
Member companies have made a concerted effort to send their young talent to CMHA events like EPG and it’s been fun to watch. I joke that receiving the award must mean that it’s time for me to retire from EPG.
Q. What advice do you have for women in the industry who are looking to make an impact or take that next step in their career?
A. Most important: be confident in yourself and your abilities. Also be aware that, because there are relatively so few women in our industry, people will likely remember you even in fleeting encounters.
That can be an advantage, but only if they remember you in a positive way. The lack of anonymity is something I didn’t fully understand when I was younger.
Q. What advice do you give to other working moms? How do you balance both a career and being a mom?
A. My advice is to acknowledge that you can’t do everything all at once and to build a strong network around you so that you can prioritize both your career and your family at different times. Build a strong team at work, and build a village at home. There’s sometimes a mindset that when you teach someone what you know, you make yourself less important. I don’t subscribe to that; when I teach you what I know and give you more responsibility and autonomy, I give myself more flexibility.
I’m incredibly proud of the sales team I’ve built at Johnson Concrete and it’s because of them that I can occasionally stay home with a sick child without missing a beat. Likewise, I’ve had to accept that my position at work means that I can’t be at every PTA meeting or practice or parent event. I can be at some of them but not all or even most and that’s okay.
That doesn’t mean it’s always easy and I’ve had my share of mom guilt. I remember one year being at World of Concrete and my husband called to say that he was heading to the Emergency Room with our toddler. I immediately started tearing up and felt like a horrible mom for being out of town at work instead of at the hospital with them, but we called on our village and it all worked out.
On that note, if you choose to have a partner, make sure they support you and your career. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without my husband being a true partner and co-parent.
Q. What legacy do you hope to leave for the next generation?
A. I have two children: a son who’s 6 and a daughter who’s 4. My hope is that Johnson Concrete will be here when they become adults and that they will have the same opportunity to continue and grow the family business into the 5th generation if it’s something they decide they want to do.
Q. Tell us a fun fact about you that not many people may know.
A. I love to travel and have been to all 50 states and all 7 continents.
Q. When you aren’t working, what do you like to do?
A. Visit the NC mountains with my family. We frequent a cabin with no internet where we do puzzles and watch old DVDs and play outside. It’s heaven.
Q. What’s one item you can’t live without.
A. My iPhone. It’s terrible but it’s true.
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