How Reece, Resilience and Real Relationships Shaped One of the Industry’s Rising Marketing Stars
If you ever doubt that starting small can lead to something big, just ask Makayla from Lauxes Grates or Mak, as most people know her.
She didn’t begin her career with a fancy title or an agency portfolio. She started at the front line in a Reece showroom.
“I started out at Reece as a showroom consultant,” Mac shared on The Good Builder podcast. “That’s how I got into the construction industry.”
What followed is one of the most well-rounded growth stories in supplier marketing today. From customer service to area management, and now leading national marketing efforts for Lauxes Grates, Mak’s journey is a blueprint for how diverse, ground-level experience can shape a powerful marketing mindset especially in the building game.
Learning the Language of Builders (By Serving Them First)
Before she crafted campaigns or shaped brand narratives, Mak was deep in selections and service. At Reece, she was helping clients including builders work through the nitty-gritty of product choice, style decisions, and supply coordination.
“I used to manage a lot of builder accounts,” she explained. “That gave me a real head start when I moved into Lauxes.”
Unlike many marketing professionals who enter construction from unrelated industries, Mak brought with her a solid understanding of how builders think, what slows them down, and what matters most when it comes to product partnerships.
“I knew how difficult it could be to deal with builders sometimes,” she said. “So I also knew how important it was to be resilient. Just because they didn’t reply to your first email doesn’t mean they won’t reply to your tenth.”
That grit paired with empathy has become a cornerstone of how Lauxes engages with the trade.
From One Department to Nearly All of Them
Mak didn’t walk straight into a marketing role. She earned her stripes across nearly every operational area of the business.
“I’ve been in almost every department in Lauxes… only finance is the one I haven’t been in,” she said with a laugh.
She began in customer service at HQ, then took on a hybrid role as one of the NSW area managers, regularly travelling to visit distributors and builders on the ground. She got to know the brand, the product, and the people behind it from every angle.
“I moved full-time into HQ for about a year, and then at the start of last year, I moved into marketing,” she said.
This cross-functional journey gives Mak an edge most marketers don’t have. It means she’s not just writing from a brand guide she’s drawing on lived experience.
“It’s really good because I know what each department needs to help the builders,” she said. “I know HQ might be getting these types of calls, so I can create something that helps solve that before the issue escalates.”
Building a Marketing Mindset From the Inside Out
Ask anyone who’s worked with her and they’ll tell you: Mak doesn’t lead with polished decks or jargon. She leads with understanding.
“When I worked in HQ, most of the calls were either problems or information requests,” she recalled. “It gave me the insight to see what builders struggled with not just about the product, but how they understood it.”
That background now informs her marketing strategy. She doesn’t just promote features. She builds clarity around usage, installation, maintenance, and trust.
And it’s working.
More Than Just a Marketer — A Builder of Culture
Beyond her technical marketing work, Mak plays a huge role in shaping the cultural tone of Lauxes Grates.
Whether it’s coordinating experience-based reward campaigns or bringing humour into the brand’s video content, she’s a key part of making the business feel more human, a value echoed by founder Brendon and embedded across the team.
“We’re not just a company out to get the next sale,” she said. “We want to make sure people appreciate what we’re doing. We want them to feel like they’re part of something.”
Her campaigns are a reflection of this inclusive, thoughtful, and playful. In an industry often stuck in “serious mode,” Mak and her team are building something refreshingly real.
Advice for Young Marketers: Don’t Skip the Hard Yards
For anyone looking to follow a similar path, Mak’s story is a reminder that starting at the ground level is not a weakness it’s a strength.
“Working with builders at the selection stage gave me empathy,” she said. “Doing customer service gave me insight. Being an area manager gave me real relationships. All of that feeds into what I do now.”
While some may look to traditional pathways like university degrees or ad agency apprenticeships, Mak’s career highlights how valuable industry immersion can be especially in construction.
TGB Take: A Masterclass in Earning It
Makayla’s rise through the ranks at Lauxes Grates isn’t just a career story, it’s a reminder to every brand in the building game that marketing isn’t about selling louder. It’s about understanding better.
Mak’s hands-on background gives her the ability to connect the dots, from warehouse to site install, from campaign idea to distributor value.
And it’s why builders trust what she puts out.
Want to hear the full story?
Listen to Makayla on The Good Builder podcast, available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
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