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Apprentice carpenter Natasha “the Concrete Queen” Bach has started a Giveattle page to help young girls gain vocational training.
When Natasha Bach began her carpenter training, she didn’t know of any other women working in the male-dominated workforce, so she wanted to change that for future generations.
Bach started with one Givelittle page – Raising money for trade related children’s books – and will use the money to buy books and resources for kindergartens and nurseries, so that girls can see that entering a trade is not just for boys.
“My goal is to raise money to have the opportunity to buy trade and construction related books and other learning resources for children so that the young people can develop interest in trade.
“I am currently in talks with some after school care programs and an early childhood center who are interested in receiving these funds.
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“I would like to encourage the wider community to participate in the professions, to end the stigma and to raise awareness of unique avenues and opportunities for our future leaders,” she said.
Eighteen-year-old Bach is in her second year of apprenticeship and said when she first started two years ago she was a little discouraged being surrounded by so many guys.
She said that many young women would not get the opportunity she had to get into a trade, as her father is a construction worker and she would help him during school holidays or on weekends.
“It’s great, it doesn’t make you sick. Nothing is ever the same.
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Apprentice carpenter Natasha Bach at work on a construction site in Hamilton.
“But when I started I didn’t know any women in the business at all, it was pretty scary – so I want to break the pattern.
“Mentally, being a woman can be challenging, and it can be scary to get into a job with much older men.
“There is a stigma around that because some people think you can’t because you’re a girl, but if I can do it, there’s no reason they can’t do it too.
Bach works on large-scale commercial construction sites for Foster Construction and is doing her internship at the trade training organization BCITO.
“[Fosters] thought it was pretty cool to put myself out there, and they’re very supportive of me, and probably a little surprised that one of their students wanted to get out there and change the world.
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Tickety Boo by Keely O’Keeffe!! series – The story of Brooke the builder.
While working for Fosters, she earned her nickname – the Concrete Queen – for her concrete skills, “shaping a liquid into a solid is no light work”.
Bach also connected with author and illustrator Keely O’Keeffe who created the Tickety-Boo!! has written. series of books about women working in the profession.
The books feature Brooke the builder, Poppy the plumber, and Elly the electrician, and according to O’Keeffe, “women are vastly underrepresented in the professions … especially in the construction industry”.
“Tickety Boo!! is a series of children’s picture books that portrays the powerful message that ladies can be crafts”.
“Promoting the profession to younger audiences through storytelling will introduce children in their formative years to the concept of women working alongside men in the profession,” O’Keeffe said.