How empowHER Is Empowering Women in Construction Trades with Kilah Engelke and Christina Breitlow Artwork

Personnelity

The mission of this podcast is to honestly approach the issues employers face in trying to not only create but actualize healthier, more just, diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces. We will engage with guests to talk about specific topics and situations related to workplace diversity issues who can help bring light to different perspectives. Through these conversations, we will explore possible tools, solutions and resources for employers and employees alike. Join us as we work toward real change in our workplaces.

All Episodes

Personnelity

How empowHER Is Empowering Women in Construction Trades with Kilah Engelke and Christina Breitlow

October 28, 2024 • Lauri Rollings and Nicolle Farup • Season 2 • Episode 5

Send us a text

Join me for a discussion of the important work the empowHER organization is doing to recruit women into the construction trades, to retain them once they are in the trades, and to encourage them to take on leadership positions in their organizations.
Kilah Engelke is a cement mason who was recently elected the first woman Business Manager of the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association (OPCMIA) Local 599 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She is the co-founder and President of empowHER, a nonprofit organization dedicated to making tradeswomen visible and normalizing the role of women in construction.
Christina Breitlow is a plumber currently working as a foreman for Mattox Plumbing in Madison, Wisconsin. She is the co-founder and Vice President of empowHER. She also serves as recording secretary and a labor representative for the Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee for Plumbers Local 75.
Learn more about empowHER
Learn more about the host, Lauri Rollings
Lauri Rollings is the CEO of Lauri Rollings and Associates, LLC. She is a lawyer by trade who has more than 20 years of experience providing strategic advice and solutions as an attorney, an executive director of construction trade associations, and as a consultant. Her services help businesses run more efficiently and promote recruitment and retention of a diverse, productive workforce. Rollings previously served as Executive Director of the Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors Association of Oregon and Executive Director of the Plumbing Mechanical & Sheet Metal Contractors’ Alliance of Milwaukee. Before joining the construction industry, she practiced law for more than a decade representing clients in a broad range of industries. Before that, she was a newspaper reporter. Rollings graduated with honors from both Stanford Law School and the University of Wisconsin.
Theme Music: Coffee and Conversation from https://www.podcast.co/music