Julie Zulich has long been aware of the need to attract and retain more women in the skilled trades. So, it wasn’t a hard decision last year to help develop a new mentorship program geared toward Northern Ontario tradeswomen.

LeadHER Trades was designed as a year-long initiative in which mentees are paired up with mentors to exchange ideas, learn, and guide one another in their field of choice.

Zulich began calling around to partners in the Sudbury area she had worked with, hopeful of recruiting a dozen women apprentices who could share their expertise at monthly meetings.

But she quickly realized it was a task easier dreamed than done.

“Do you know what a struggle it was to find 12 female apprentices from each trade group — electrical, pipefitter, millwrighting, carpenters, ironworkers, and labourers?” Zulich said.

“I was shocked.”

Zulich isn’t a tradesperson herself. But she regularly hires them in her role as president and partner at TESC Contracting in Sudbury.

In operation since 1976, the company provides integrated construction services to the mining, energy/power generation, and forest products industries.

Though she didn’t take on her current role until 2020, Zulich has been around the company her entire life: her dad, Tom Lachance, was an original founder and is represented by the ‘T’ in the company’s name.

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