Earlier this year, over 150 women from various contractors, including Walbec came together at the “Build to Connect” event during Women in Construction week. Among many other contractors and organizations, empowHER was invited to participate and collaborated on this large event. As part of this event, money raised was put aside to sponsor a woman to attend the yearly Trade Women Build Nations (TWBN) Conference sponsored by NABTU (North American Building Trade Unions). The TWBN Conference focuses on shining the spotlight on women in the construction industry and offers workshops that address barriers and challenges for women working in the construction industry as well as networking opportunities from all over the United States. Women who were interested in applying for the scholarship sponsored by empowHER had to apply and complete an essay.
Mackenzie Barnes, Project Engineer for Payne and Dolan, was selected as a recipient of the TWBN Scholarship provided by empowHER and will be attending the conference in October. “This opportunity allows me to connect with females and to be able to not only learn from others but share my stories that have shaped who I have developed into today. I will have an opportunity to enhance my communication, leadership, and integrity skills due to attending the TWBN conference,” said Barnes.
empowHER is a women-led organization founded in 2019 to bring women from different crafts together to collaborate on recruiting, mentoring, and retaining women in the construction industry. It quickly grew and was incorporated into a nonprofit organization. Tracey Griffith, Director of Outreach & Partnerships, is an e-board member and represents Walbec Group.
Griffith is excited to see Mackenzie’s interest in attending the conference. “The more we engage and support women as they enter the industry, the more likely they are to succeed. They then will turn around and offer that support to the next generation of women entering the industry. This is important to grow tradeswomen and move the needle on increasing females in the construction industry.”
For more information on empowHER and TWBN visit https://empowherwi.org/ or https://nabtu.org/twbn/
