She Wears Work Boots

Angela Coldwell is an award winning chemistry and physics teacher. She founded Honour The Work as a result of conversations with industry members who shared how K-12 students and adults generally aren't aware of how rewarding and diverse, skilled trades and AEC careers can be. Combining a love of hands-on learning, educational research, and projected workforce needs, the idea of grades 1-6 STEAMS...

Based in South-Western Ontario, Build a Dream is an organization that delivers specialized programs to encourage and empower women and girls to explore careers where women are under-represented, while also working to create a gender-balanced workforce and change global perspectives on women's contribution to society. McKenna Goodwin is a Red Seal Endorsed General Carpenter. She currently works for...

Michelle McCollum has over 30 years of experience in construction. Her career started in Edinburgh, Scotland where she spent 15 years working in municipal government. In 2008, she and her family moved to Canada.  Today, she is Vice-President, Facilities and Sustainability, for George Brown College where she leads the development and deployment of the sustainability strategy, campus planning and th...

McKenna Goodwin is a Red Seal Endorsed General Carpenter from Ottawa, Ontario. She started her apprenticeship framing houses at age 16 and completed her apprenticeship with UBCJA Local 93 at age 21. Today, McKenna is a Career Coach for the non-profit organization Build a Dream and works directly with tradeswomen and industry partners to improve the recruitment, retention and support of tradeswomen...

Camryn Malaney grew up in a family deeply rooted in construction. Hailing from Buffalo, New York, she inherited her passion for the industry from her father, who has been working in development throughout her whole life. Today, she is the Director of Construction for Habitat for Humanity South Sarasota. The role allows her to work in her deep-seated passion for community service and allows her to...

Adrienne Clarke and Jami Snow return for a different kind of episode. Adrienne and Jami have worked together at Aecon just over a year leading an innovative joint venture called Aecon-Golden Mile. AGM was created to expand economic opportunities for residents of the Greater Golden Mile that are facing barriers to the labour market.  In that short time they've each and both been active parts of som...

Dee Durant is an electrical apprentice working towards her 309A Construction Maintenance electrical license. She is also a KickAss careers ambassador, a co-host of a talk show called Building Resilience on YouTube, and a former Weston scholar. Through her work and volunteerism, she encourages others to consider a career in the skilled trades, understand and end stigmas, and help to create a better...

Jami Snow has been working in construction for 11 years. Starting out as a temporary ground person with IBEW, she worked as a labourer on a solar farm, assembling a-frames & installing solar panels. Over time, her passion for the industry grew as she completed heavy equipment training and got her AZ license. In 2019, she saw a job posting for Aecon Women in Trades and joined the program. She's bee...

Cheyanne Hammell is the Manager of Special Projects for PCL Constructors, Toronto. In 2007 she graduated from Mohawk College with an Architectural Technology diploma in Construction Management. Today, with more than 18 years of experience in the construction industry, she is a visionary leader, driven and inspired by the thrill of construction and seeing the outcomes of hard work. She is a member...

Jamie McMillan became an ironworker in 2002 when women only represented 2% of ironworkers across Canada and the United States. In 2012 she founded KickAss Careers, a grassroots initiative creating awareness and encouraging those of all ages and walks of life to consider careers in underrepresented occupations through school and community outreach. Jamie travels a lot, to speak all across North Ame...

Just over a year ago, Jade Schaal was a teacher, specifically an ABA paraprofessional working with students on the autism spectrum. A gut instinct told her that the trades needed to be her next adventure and she took a leap of faith. Today, she is a sheet metal apprentice working in an HVAC fabrication shop and attending school through the union 2 nights a week. It's been just over a year since sh...

Adrienne Clarke joined Aecon in 2006 and has worked in many areas including running the utility locate team, the change-management department, and project management of the training and innovation centre. Today, in the position of General Manager she is responsible for Aecon Utilities Training and Innovation Centre, Aecon Golden Mile Joint Venture, and A3F which is a Joint Venture with the Chippew...

Victoria Monardo has been working in construction for 10 years. She is currently a full-time machine operator for a sewer and water crew with Hebster Construction. Over the years she has developed a wide variety of skills within general construction especially in landscaping. In her spare time, she runs her own landscape construction business, building and installing everything from interlock and...

Jess Deyong co-founded dollHOUSE design + build in April 2020 at the height of the Covid 19 pandemic. Over the next three years, Jess has guided the business through approximately 75 renovations to Century Homes in Hamilton, Ontario. From kitchens to bathrooms and basements to attics, Jess aims to juxtapose old and new to create vibrant, functional and stylish living spaces that work for each and...

In a past life, Kelly McNamara worked as a Kinesiologist, doing functional assessments and ergonomic consulting for industry. Today she is an Apprentice Carpenter with Freestone Construction in Fernie, British Columbia. Pursuing carpentry full-time has altered her trajectory in such a positive way that, as she says: "I can't NOT share this journey." As a member of British Columbia Center for Women...

Carys Cao has been on a number of career paths ranging from teaching to insurance and even some work in corrections. Today she is a Journeyperson Handyman with LiUNA 183. She currently works new homes in their final stages, just before closing, cleaning up any minor deficiencies before the new homeowner moves in. She also services the warranty program which gives her a unique opportunity to work a...

Sparky, Boots & Smoko's Live Panel is a collaboration of Lia Lamela, Alexis Armstrong and our own Lindsay Reynolds. These three ladies have come together as fellow podcasters and passionate advocates of story-telling and open conversation about women and other under-represented goups in in STEM, Trades and the Construction Industry. This episode is a recording of their first round-table conversati...

Zoe Bilcke has been building her career in the trades for nearly 5 years. She started in landscape maintenance before making the shift to crane operation. Today she works for Paramount Alliance and is just seconds away from completing her apprenticeship with the 793 operators union. Zoe will be the first female crane operator that I've ever met and certainly the first to join me on this podcast! I...

Fair Trades Toolbox has a mission to educate skilled trades employers on how to integrate women into their male-dominated workforce and to change the culture of the skilled trades industry for the better. At the head of Fair Trades is Brandi Ferenc, a Red Seal 313A Refrigeration Mechanic/Gas Fitter 1 Journey person with over 20 years in the trade. Her many claims to fame include being the first fe...

Jessica Bannister is a 3rd generation HVAC contractor. Her dad apprenticed under his dad in the 1970's and her brother followed in his footsteps right after high school.  But the trades were never considered as an option for her and so she went the traditional route of college and took an office job. In 2017, she joined Cam Cool as an admin but by March of 2018 she had registered as an apprentice...

In our very first She Wears Work Boots Conversations episode, we talk to Alexis Armstrong, host of the Smoko Podcast. Smoko exists to highlight the work and stories of women and female-identifying folks in STEM, trades and other non-traditional roles. In this episode, Alexis and Lindsay kick-back, relax and discuss the importance of projects like She Wears Work Boots, Smoko and the need for more!...

Chloe Arsenault is a fairly recent graduate of the civil and mining engineering program at College Boreal and currently works as a field technician at NSS Canada. Her work takes her to mines all across Canada and even overseas. While her career choice is pretty cool, her hobbies make it even cooler as Chloe continues to follow her passion for pageantry. Her platform called 'Tiaras and Trades,' exi...

Molly Allgood went to university and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Honours Human Kinetics. Throughout University she spent the summers working up in Parry Sound Ontario building, renovating, and repairing cottages. She also helped with the work to open and close them, and although she loved it, it didn't seem like a career. Besides, at the time, she thought wanted to be a cop. When she r...

Lauren Petro is an Environmental Engineer. For the past 7 years she has been working on large-scale environmental remediation projects that often involve mine or landfill closures or large amounts of contaminated soil. Over the course of her career she has also developed a passion for advocacy for women in construction and hopes to inspire more women to join a field filled with exciting opportunit...

Julia Rose Lundvall is a Red Seal Brick and Stone Mason working and adventuring through Toronto, Ontario. She started her journey in the trades after many years of struggle, perceiving it as a last chance and only option. Having no prior experience in construction she took the ultimate leap of faith, and after years of hard work, struggle and accomplishment has come out on the other side as a Red...