Kari Everett

Kari grew up in the timber industry in the Pacific Northwest. As an adult, she branched out into land development, real estate, and bookkeeping.

Kari was comfortable around heavy equipment and the trades—so she married a man who owned a heavy equipment repair business, and her sons grew up running equipment as toddlers sitting in the cab with their dad.

When a major economic slump hit the Pacific Northwest, Kari saw a lot of equipment sitting idle and a lot of people who needed work. So she did something about it. She started her own construction company, KLE.

She made starting a construction company look natural, but don’t be fooled. According to everyone Kari works with, she was the hardest-working and smartest person at KLE. Her workers often described Kari as a strong, capable leader. But the same folks were just as quick to point out her kindness, caring nature, and patience.

Her operations support staff told us, “Kari inspires others. It’s a blessing to work with her because she is brilliant and talented, so she can work through pretty much anything. There’s not this ego or raising her voice to try and get people to listen to her. She has a lot of respect for other people. She handles everything in a way that is graceful, humble, and with a lot of integrity. Even if it is a bad day, she will come back to work the next day with a smile on her face and a great attitude, motivating other people. She’s so resilient.” 

And one of her projects managers added, “The number one for me is that she values family. It’s not just lip service. KLE puts a priority on taking care of their people, and that includes everyone.” 

As a Dirt World business owner, you would have the opportunity to make the same impact on people's lives. And the best way to get started? Get some dirt on your boots and gain some industry experience in one of these Dirt World jobs.