Up Close With Brittany Mason

By Shirley Coyle, LC

When Pacific Energy Concepts (PEC) found and recruited her into the lighting business, Brittany Mason was happy to be staying in construction, but was unprepared for how much she would love lighting, and her new company. “It’s been life changing. I fell into lighting, and I’m now a lighting nerd – I look up at lighting everywhere I walk in.” Working now as a Senior Project Manager, Brittany’s enthusiasm shines through: “My favorite part of our projects is how happy the customers are with the results when we’re done – it feels like Christmas morning every time!”

When Brittany started learning about lighting and controls six years ago, finding NALMCO as a resource happened naturally when she looked at the Lighting Controls Association’s Education Express, the basis of NALMCO’s CLCP™ certification (Certified Lighting Controls Professional™) – one of three NALMCO certifications Brittany now carries. “I’m a big controls nerd – it can be a lot, especially with all the different platforms out there, but I find it interesting – kind of a challenge to see how many systems I can add to my belt!”

In her initial role with PEC, Brittany helped with developing the company’s warranty department. “I’ve seen all the trials and tribulations, and for controls - longevity is a big issue! We always make sure that the product warranties are supported, at least for the warranty period. It’s very awkward to have to tell a customer in year 3 of a 5-year warranty that a product or system is no longer available. It feels like we’re getting more pushback now from manufacturers when we have failures – it can be a struggle to get it resolved. We need manufacturers to be there for us.”

Brittany notes that an important way that PEC adds value for their clients, who may be daunted by the manufacturer’s big manual for the entire system, is by creating a simplified, client-specific guide. “We are on site; we know the client’s needs and can help them by creating a simplified one-page user guide to their new control system.”

Reflecting on her success, Brittany credits her company’s supportive environment, explaining, “PEC has been huge in my success. At other places I’ve been, it was, ‘You’re great and we want to keep you right where you are!’ I want to grow, and PEC has supported that. While I’ve been with PEC, I’ve been able to complete my Associate’s and Bachelor’s degrees and they paid for me to get my PMP0 (Project Management Professional) certification. It’s allowed me to feel empowered and to be more vocal – they gave me autonomy.”

Asked what advice she would have for new people coming into our industry, Brittany offers two suggestions: “Don’t be afraid to ask questions, and be curious. I’m a figure-it-out kind of person, but not from the beginning – you need to ask, and you can just level up so much more quickly when you reach out for those resources.” As for the “be curious” advice, she elaborated, “One of the reasons I love my job is that I’m so nosy, and I get to go into all those places people don’t usually get to go – that’s my job. I’ve got to figure out what’s going on.” Brittany comments that there is a lot to learn through interaction with work colleagues when she’s in her local office in Vancouver, WA: “We have an open office here – everyone is better together, we all just feed off each other – I hate working from home!”

When she is not out on a client’s site or in the office, Brittany loves to go to concerts. “With all the travel I do, I get to see a lot of other places, to see where I might want to live…but I love living in Portland! I go to concerts a lot – even when I’m travelling, I’ll check to see who is in town if I have time. Punk rock is my go-to. My husband is into live music too, although I’m a little more rambunctious than he is – he would like to sit in the back, and I want to be right up front, but…we meet in the middle.” Project managed, indeed.