This post is a little longer than normal but it’s for a good reason. We wanted to highlight the tradeswomen who have committed to our London Delegation. They have all exhibited amazing leadership qualities and have proven that they embody the TBB mission. While on the delegation, they will all be stepping up and taking on leadership roles within the program. We are honored to have them join us and look forward to meeting everyone in person. Below you will find pictures and bios for our delegates.

Leah Peters

United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC), Local 343 Winnipeg, Manitoba

Leah is a Union Red Seal Carpenter for local 343 in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada. She has been working with PCL Constructors Canada Inc. for the last 6 years and currently holds the role of Site Supervisor. Before becoming a union carpenter Leah worked for 6 years in residential renovation and restoration for Doll Construction and was mentored by master carpenter Brian Doll.

Leah showed interest at a young age in building and grew up completing home renovation projects with her handyman Father. From a young age Leah was taught the importance of doing things right and quickly developed a love for building. She bought her first house at age 16 and continued to use the skills her father taught her to renovate. When her parents decided to move to Africa to build their own dream with Dashir lodge and Safaris and their non for profit organization Dashir Cares Leah was determined to keep learning and set out to find a new mentor. While it was a struggle to find a job with no professional experience Leah was eventually taken on by Brian Doll and was able to continue learning to build.  In her spare time Leah enjoys spending time with her dog going on adventures and has taken up gardening and house plants with her extra time.

Soph R Davenberry

Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local Union 66, Seattle Washington

Soph has been a SMART member for 25 years, and an advocate throughout. She worked her way up to an executive level leadership position and one of her first accomplishments in that role was to update policies and manuals of the organization to omit all gender references. She and her wife share their home with 1 dog, 2 birds, and 3 cats now that their son is an adult. They enjoy all the rainforest weather, greenery, and waters of where we live.

Jennipher Neduzak

International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), DC7 local 579, Oak Creek Wisconsin

Jennipher has been a paint maker with IUPAT for 18 years. For the past 3 years, she has been on staff at IUPAT DC7. She is a founding member of EmpowHER, a women in the building trades comittee. She is a member of IUPATs Women’s Comittee CORE Consituency group, through which she was involved in the creation of a maternity leave program. In her current role, she does communications and community outreach for IUPAT DC& in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. She is a wife and mother. She enjoys doing DIY projects around the house and crafting with her daughter.

Joanna Jardin

Piledrivers local 2520, Anchorage, Alaska

Joanna has spent 9 years working in the trades. She is a journeywomen piledriver and a certified welder. For the last three years she has been the Women in the Trades Coordinator for Alaska Works Partnership. In this role, she helps women through a pre-apprenticeship program and into the field. She also started a monthly gathering for women in all trades to form a community, network, and support system. In her spare time, she loves traveling, hiking, going on road trips, watching movies, and spending time with my husband, newborn son, family, friends and doggo.

Erin O’Brein-Hoffman

International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) DC 21, Philadelphia Pennsylvania

Erin has been a union painter for 16 years. She is the commercial paint instructor for IUPAT’s Finishing Trades Institute. For several years, she has been the instructor for WINC (Women in Nontraditional Careers) Trades Readiness program. This is a six-week cohort, with NABTU’s MC3 (North American Building Trade Unions, Multi Craft Core Curriculum). Women were taught construction math, OSHA 10, Heritage of the American worker, and other related subjects.  Erin takes great pride in recruiting women into the Philadelphia Union Building Trades.

Erin Loves her job and has a passion to reach other women in hopes that they too will consider a career in the building trades. Erin resides in Philadelphia, PA with her husband and her four boys. Her hobbies include working on her own home and helping others by painting interiors and exteriors to beautify their spaces. Erin is a member of NAWIC (National Association of Women in Construction), and chair for the MYWIC (Mentoring Young Women in Construction) camp, CLUW and the AFL-CIO.

Emily Snyder

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 124, Kansas City Missouri

Emily is a first year inside wireman apprentice. She is the Vice President of Heartland Women in Trades and the Liason Officer for RENEW for IBEW local 124. Her husband is a union carpenter.

Doreen Cannon

UA Plumbers Local 55, Cleveland Ohio

Doreen has been a union plumber since 1998. She is the president of plumbers local 55 and in her 4th elected term. She is the chair of the Cleveland Building Trades (CBCTC) Tradeswomen Comittee and was Crain’s Cleveland Buisness Women of Note in 2017. She has one son Tommy who started kindergarten in the same year that she started her apprenticeship.

Crystal Hererra

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IEBW, Local 11), Los Angeles, California

Crystal has been a union member for 8 years and is currently on her local union’s Executive Board. She is the national vice president for the coalition of labor union women, and on the executive committee of her unions electrical workers minority caucus. She is president of Los Angeles young workers, and a founding member of the Solidarity committee a space where we can focus on womens issues and support the out reach, retention, and advance of women in IBEW local 11. She is most proud of her work in the RENEW Lead program.RENEW Leads is leadership development program that focuses on centering young workers in the labor movement.

Barbara James

United Brotherhood of Carpenters Local 1907, New Westminster, Brittish Columbia

Barbara has 17 years of experience in the trades, 5 of them being in carpentry. She is currently in her fourth year of the UBCs carpentry apprenticeship. She is a Director at large for the BC Tradeswomen Society, Director for Build TogetHER, a Union Trustee and a Delegate. Outside of work, you will find her hiking a mountain with her sister and her huskey.

Denise Nicole Franklin

Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons (OPCMIA) Local 528, Seattle Washington

Denice has been in the construction industry since 2017, and is currently the Director of Justice, Equity and Inclusion for the organization Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Employment for Women (ANEW). She is also the director of RISE Up (Respect, Inclusion, Safety, and Equity in the Construction Trades), which is a respectful workplace program. She serves on the board of directors of the Regional Pre-apprenticeship Collaboration as the Vice President. The Regional Pre-apprenticeship Collaboration is dedicated to promoting and supporting the highest standards in training for our region’s pre-apprentices. She is an author, a national beauty queen, and a professional model. She is also a wife and mother.

Shayla Cassey

United Association of Pipefitters (UA) Local 537, Boston Massachusetts

Shayla is a third year pipefitting apprentice at 40 years old. She worked in youth development for 18 years before working in construction. She started as a junior counselor and worked her way up to Program Director toward the end of her career. She I just felt she needed something different and that is when construction found her. 

Kelly L Raeuber

International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), Local 825. Hammonton, New Jersey

Kelly has been in the construction industry for 33 years and a member of IUOE local 825 for 15 years. She performes demolition, hazardous materials, and site work. She holds 16 different certifications and licenses that are used in her field and she is working on aquiring more. She operates 3.0 pieces of heauy equipment proficiently and will be working on adding rnore to her work card.
Kelly is a member of the Local 825 Women’s Committee, an Apprentice Mentor with the Member Education Training and Labor Studies Program and a Peer Counselor for the Member Assistance Program.

Over the last 16 years, Kelly has been busy guiding supporting and working to retain women in
the Construction lndustry. She has lead a Tradeswoman support group, taught workhops at
Tradeswomen conventions, has given interviews on what it’s like to be a woman in the Trades
and an Operating Engineer and has attended many political functions in support of women in
the Construqtion lndustry.

ln her personal life, Kelly is an avid outdoorswoman. Among her favorite activities are hiking,
camping, shelling and geology. She also enjoys kayaking, fishing, clamming, crabbing and
horseback riding. The beach is definitely her happy place. lt’s somewhere that grounds and
calms her soul and mind.

Amy Courtney

Pipeline Navigator for the Northeast Center for Tradeswomen Equity, Boston MA

Amy facilitates Tradeswomen Tuesdays every week where she provides an outline to career seekers of the steps to becoming an apprentice in the union trades.  She also has a panel of current tradeswomen that share personal experiences of what is like day to day in the field as well as answer any questions the career seekers have. During her free time she loves spending time with family, listening to music and watching sports. 

Ayesca Machado

Pipefitters Local 537, Quincy Massachusetts

Penny Estey

International Association of Iron Workers, Local 700 Windsor Ontario

Penny is a Red Seal Journeyman Ironworker Welder. She volunteers as a tradeswomen mentor within her union.

Joan Bennett

United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Local 327, Boston Massachusetts

Joan has been a carpenter for over 20 years. She loves to cook, and go to a good show, and to work out. She has two grandsons that she enjoys spending time with.