Built by Stripes: Dejah Anderson on Family, Leadership, & Opening the Gate

Some people find the trades. Others are raised inside them long before they understand what they’re looking at.

For Dejah Anderson, the paving world started as background noise to childhood. A shop yard near nectarine orchards. Crews rolling in at the end of the day. Office staff keeping everything moving behind the scenes. Trips to the paint distributor where candy somehow became part of the memory too. At the time, she didn’t have a polished definition for the trades. Like many kids, college was presented as the expected route. But somewhere between job sites, conversations, and seeing the life her family built through hard work, another possibility quietly took root.

“There was this one contractor with a really beautiful house,” Dejah recalled. “I remember realizing this industry could actually build a good life.”

What started as stepping into the company “for a short time” at 18 quickly became something much bigger. The people pulled her in first. Then the projects. The challenge. The momentum of building something tangible every day.

“To be able to build and create something every day is the core purpose of the trades,” she said. “Leaders build the organization, the office creates the framework for the trades to thrive, and the men and women in the field build the infrastructure of the world.”

Today, Dejah serves as COO of Anderson Striping & Construction, but her leadership story did not begin from a place of confidence or certainty. In fact, only weeks into her early time with the company, everything changed. The business went through a complete staffing turnover. Operations lost leadership. Administration changed. After two decades in business, the company suddenly found itself rebuilding from the ground up. At the same time, Dejah admits she was naturally shy enough that even answering the phone felt intimidating in those early days. But she kept showing up. That season became one of the most defining periods of her career, teaching her lessons she still carries today about resilience, rebuilding, and learning how to lead through uncertainty instead of avoiding it.

“I learned to never be afraid to start from nothing,” she said. “You are only limited by what you believe you can do. Failure or starting over is not the end. It is the beginning if you have the courage to take the lessons and forge a better path.”

That perspective now shapes the culture she works to create inside the company. For Dejah, the heart of the trades has never been machines, production numbers, or growth charts alone. It has always been people.

“The soul of any business is its people,” she said. “When you focus on the humans behind the work and connect it to their personal goals, you create an environment where people flourish.”

That belief extends beyond the company itself and into the future of the industry as a whole. Dejah believes the trades are evolving, but that real progress requires creating environments where more people can see themselves belonging here long term, especially women balancing leadership, family, and careers in industries historically dominated by men.

“Family oriented schedules and more women in leadership are keystones for a better pathway,” she explained. “Women in the trades show a unique kind of courage because they choose an industry that traditionally was for men. They trailblaze every day.”

At the same time, she believes the next generation needs more visibility into what these careers actually look like. The opportunity is already there. Every town has roads, parking lots, striping crews, concrete work, and infrastructure being built every single day. The disconnect is exposure.

“Find local pavement businesses and start a conversation,” she said. “Use socials to shine a light on how roads and parking lots are built. Tie school interests and sports skills to what we do. The more we ignite the fire through mentorship and internships, the more future leaders we create.”

Legacy, for Dejah, is not just measured in company growth or job titles. Sometimes it lives in small moments that become permanent markers in your memory. One of those moments came after Anderson Striping experienced massive growth and her parents began framing a new home. Before the drywall went up, employees signed messages across the wooden studs. Above the front door, their operations manager wrote a phrase that still stays with her:

“The House That Stripes Built.”

A few years later, the company purchased its first paving machine. The smell of fresh asphalt sealed something in her permanently.

“I knew this would be my future,” she said. “Every day I am thankful to represent the women and men who work with strength and tenacity, building our shared dreams one shovelful, one load, one stripe at a time.”

Stories like Dejah’s are exactly why Vintage Blacktop Co. exists. Because behind every road, stripe, parking lot, and project are real people building lives, families, businesses, and futures through this work. Not just field crews, but office teams, operators, estimators, leaders, and the people carrying the culture forward every day. And sometimes, the strongest legacy isn’t built all at once. Sometimes it starts quietly in a shop yard near the orchards, long before anyone realizes they’re already home.