{"id":201448,"date":"2026-04-18T00:54:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T00:54:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201448\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T00:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T00:54:27","slug":"youngstown-ribbon-cutting-celebrates-the-concrete-queen-shop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/201448\/","title":{"rendered":"Youngstown ribbon-cutting celebrates The Concrete Queen shop"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019re traveling in and around Youngstown, a hot pink sign that reads \u2018The Concrete Queen<\/a>\u2019 might\u2019ve captured your attention.<\/p>\n

When Melanie Raymond first started working in the concrete and masonry field, that\u2019s the nickname that stuck. That nickname would also help her establish a memorable brand as a woman-owned business in the Mahoning Valley region.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked a union concrete finishing job, and when I walked out, the guys would say, \u201cOh, the Queen\u2019s here,\u2019\u201d Raymond said. \u201cI turned that name into a brand, and it was actually my daughter. We were sitting at the kitchen table one night eating dinner, and I couldn\u2019t figure out what to call it. My daughter pitched Queen of Concrete, and I liked it, but we switched it to be Concrete Queen and I incorporated the pink.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2021, Raymond started her own concrete masonry business named The Concrete Queen, a family-owned and operated full-service concrete and masonry specialist serving the Western Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio areas.<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided to go out on my own after my dad got really sick and passed away of small-cell lung cancer,\u201d Raymond said. \u201cMy dad worked for my grandfather, who owned his own business; my dad later started his own business, doing excavation. My sons were about to graduate high school, and my dad had just passed away. I thought, \u2018I\u2019m going to go out on my own.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Celebrate Celebrate The Concrete Queen\u2019s new Youngstown location April 20 \u2014 tour the shop at 2530 Hubbard Road and meet the team providing residential concrete services in this woman-owned company. The Concrete Queen <\/p>\n

Orignially, Raymond is from western Pennsylvania and relocated to the Austintown area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had a ton of clientele already. I was doing concrete for such a long time, and people knew my work. My name was getting out there, slowly but surely. I started with just myself in a pickup truck, hand shoveling everything, hand loading and unloading concrete,\u201d she said. \u201cIt all started with just a dream and a pickup truck.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to support from the community, her business has continued to grow; she\u2019s now employing a full team to lay down concrete at different residences around the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very artsy. That\u2019s what got me into concrete masonry in the beginning, and I liked it so much,\u201d Raymond said. \u201cI never knew I would like it until I did it for the first time. The design aspect of everything, I absolutely love. When I go to a client\u2019s house, sometimes they say they know they want a patio, but don\u2019t know what they want it to look like. I\u2019m like, \u2018Let me give you some ideas.\u2019 When we walk into their backyard, I can envision it all in my head.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s hosting a ribbon-cutting for The Concrete Queen\u2019s brick-and-mortar location at 10 a.m. on April 20 at 2530 Hubbard Road in building C in Youngstown.<\/p>\n

She leases the shop on Hubbard Road from Integra Excavating LLC, who have become great friends, according to Raymond.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did everything out of my garage at my house,\u201d Raymond said. \u201cWhen I pull into my shop every morning, I see the big pink sign, and it makes me feel so good. All this work that I put in is finally getting somewhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the ribbon-cutting at her new shop, community members will have the chance to tour her new facility, meet the team and learn more about available services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love empowering women to get out there and try, not just in concrete but anything they want to put their minds to,\u201d Raymond said. \u201cIs it gonna take time? Yes, and it\u2019ll take work, but you can\u2019t give up. Never give up and you will make it in the end. If you put in the work, you\u2019re gonna get there. It\u2019s just a matter of putting yourself out there, meeting people, getting your name out there and doing good work.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Concrete Queen was one of four Women in Business honorees selected by Pittsburgh Magazine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was super exciting to be in the magazine and then get the award,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was amazing to meet the other women that got awarded this year. It was just so cool to hear their stories and great to see what women can do when they really put their mind to it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you\u2019re traveling in and around Youngstown, a hot pink sign that reads \u2018The Concrete Queen\u2019 might\u2019ve captured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-201448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}