If you told the Byron High School Class of 2006 that one of their own would go on to help redefine the demolition industry, you might’ve raised an eyebrow or two. But then again, if you knew Anna Perks, it might make perfect sense.

Anna grew up with one foot in town and the other on a ranch. Her father raised cattle and horses, and her mother worked in the Byron schools. That balance—of grit and grace, of structure and possibility—became the foundation of a life committed to purpose.

At Byron, she was everywhere: volleyball, basketball, softball, the school mascot, the band. She was competitive, curious, and increasingly drawn to the natural world.

“I always had a deep appreciation for nature and conservation,” she says. “Growing up in Byron gave me that grounding.”

That grounding would go national—and global.

After high school, Anna attended Colorado College, drawn in part by its “block plan,” where students take one course at a time. She studied abroad in Washington, D.C. and Thailand, exploring environmental development and sustainable systems. She interned with Senator Michael Bennet’s office, served in AmeriCorps in Moab, Utah, and joined the Peace Corps in Paraguay, where she saw firsthand what happens when waste systems fail: people burning their trash or tossing it into abandoned wells.

“That was the moment,” she recalls. “I became obsessed with the idea of zero-waste living. I wanted to build a circular model where we throw away less and reuse more.”

After returning to Colorado, she worked in the nonprofit world, in county government, and then with a manufacturer—always with one eye on environmental sustainability. But it was the gut-wrenching sight of a historic home being bulldozed that triggered her next chapter.

“There was a perfectly good structure—windows, doors, appliances—all going into a dumpster,” she says. “I started asking: is there a better way?”

There was. It’s called deconstruction—the methodical disassembly of buildings to preserve and reuse as much material as possible. Anna discovered that no one in Denver was doing it at scale. So she started her own company.

Perks Deconstruction launched in 2019 and quickly became a leader in its field. To date, her team has diverted over 10 million pounds of building material from landfills. Instead of smashing kitchens with sledgehammers, they remove cabinets by hand, donate usable items to Habitat for Humanity, resell rare lumber, and provide homeowners with tax deductions in return.

“About 30% of what ends up in landfills nationwide is construction and demolition waste,” she explains. “Our process keeps up to 75% of a home out of the landfill. It’s labor-intensive—but it’s worth it.”

Her vision goes further: she’s writing a grant to purchase robotic denailing equipment to streamline material prep. She dreams of building an innovation hub for reclaimed materials—where architects, builders, and designers can source materials sustainably and efficiently.

The company is for-profit—intentionally so.

“I wanted to show that a business can be profitable and sustainable,” she says. “You don’t have to choose between impact and income.”

Still, her motivations run deeper than margins. As one of the only women leading a deconstruction company in the region, she’s breaking new ground in more ways than one.

“Construction has been male-dominated for a long time,” she says. “I want to show young women that they can do this too. We’ve got women on our crew and in our warehouse. I want to keep growing that.”

And grow she will. The city of Denver recently passed new ordinances requiring more recycling of demolition material, and Anna’s team of 17 employees is ready to scale up.

Through it all, she stays grounded in her roots—literally and figuratively.

“I tried to start a recycling program at Byron High School,” she laughs. “I didn’t get all the right people on board at the time—but it taught me something about systems, about inclusion, about how to bring people with you. That lesson stuck.”

So did Byron.

“I’m proud of where I come from,” she says. “The work ethic, the support, the space to dream big—I carry that with me.”

And to the Class of 2025? Her message is simple: “Take action. Don’t be afraid to fail. Try things. Learn. Adjust. Keep moving.”

From a small town in Illinois to the rooftops of Denver, Anna Perks is showing the world how to take things apart with care—so we can build something better.