Formidable Framework

“You look just like NBC10 newscaster Rosemary Connors,” said the general contracting superintendent at a project meeting at a Philadelphia-based university. 

As Rosemary Connors, C’05, recalls the moment several months ago, she laughs. “Early on, I was quiet about my career shift because I wanted to get it right before everyone knew about it. It’s understandable he didn’t realize my new profession.”

She’s talking about the move from Emmy-winning broadcast journalist of 20 years to founder and owner of the scaffolding company Rosette Specialty Trades, launched in January 2025. “I loved my time in broadcast journalism, but I was ready for a new challenge,” says Connors, who spent nearly 15 years at NBC10. “My husband owns a construction-related business, and I’ve always been his unpaid consultant behind the scenes, so this was a familiar space to me. When I was introduced to a team of seasoned scaffolding professionals looking to find a new company, it just made sense.”

Connors’ career trajectory, including a law degree from Temple University and her jump to the construction space, are rooted in a long line of trailblazing women, she says. Connors’ mother was a sports reporter in New York before moving to Philadelphia to work as a reporter at the Daily News and later, as a reporter and editor for the Inquirer, including for the business section. Her grandmother also reported the news in Philadelphia before becoming one of the first women to earn a law degree from Villanova University, and her mother-in-law founded a chimney restoration firm at a time when there were few female-owned businesses in the space.

“I’ve been blessed with incredible female role models,” says Connors, who notes that her husband and brother-in-law eventually purchased her in-laws’ company, D.J. Cross. They serve the Philadelphia region, including working on a Penn renovation project, which Connors says feels extra special because she looks back fondly on her undergraduate experience.

I squeezed everything I could out of my experience, particularly leaning on the brilliance of other women.

Recruited to Penn for field hockey, Connors was enthusiastic to join the community as a student-athlete and highlights the significant role women played in shaping her development on campus as well. In particular, she acknowledges her teammates, campus mentors, and peers like Nikki Battiste, C’02, of CBS News, who helped her secure the Today Show internship in New York City that paved the way for a later internship at NBC10. 

“I squeezed everything I could out of my experience, particularly leaning on the brilliance of other women. For instance, being part of a Division I team helped me personally and professionally. So much about success in life is learning how to be a good teammate and the bonds I built on the field will last forever,” says Connors, who majored in sociology with a concentration in deviance and the sociology of law. “I also worked as a student employee for Penn’s professionally managed radio station WXPN, and I reported the news on Penn UTV. I credit my mentors at Penn radio, Debby Seitz and Kim Winnick, for cementing my desire to pursue a career in broadcast journalism. They really took me under their wing.” 

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Connors says the power of female connection in her life continues to this day. Rosette Specialty Trades’ first project—work on another Penn building—came through a referral from another woman-owned construction business.  

“There is a dearth of women in construction, but the women [in this field] have opened their arms wide and been tremendous to me,” Connors says. “Not to mention it was especially meaningful for my company’s first project to be at my alma mater.” 

Today, Connors isn’t even a year into her new professional chapter, yet her company has already started or completed projects at Penn, Temple University, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Pennsylvania Hospital, Thomas Jefferson University, Lincoln Financial Field, SEPTA, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, and Citizens Bank Park. She also completed a pro bono project for Ronald McDonald House, a nonprofit that supports the families of sick children. Rosette Specialty Trades, which is based in Media, Pennsylvania, works across four states with a current union labor force of 25 people in the field and an office staff of five. 

Connors encourages aspiring entrepreneurs, especially women, not to be afraid to take a chance: “When you decide it’s time to make a pivot in life, have the confidence to make the change. Your Penn experience has prepared you for it.”