Presented by Tiffany Connauton

An interactive and reflective session designed to support women navigating careers in the skilled trades. This workshop creates space to pause, reconnect, and intentionally influence and shape what comes next. Participants will explore how their relationships, choices, and inner resilience influence their career journey. Through guided reflection and practical activities, attendees will design a personal path forward that reflects their values, strengths, and goals in a session that emphasizes ownership, courage, and community. While the trades can be challenging, you are not alone, and your future is yours to build. 

Presented by Jenna Wray

Women and gender-diverse people in the trades know what it’s like to work in spaces that weren’t built with them in mind. In this reflective, interactive session, we’ll share experiences of navigating uncertainty, imposter syndrome, and self-doubt. We'll look at how our identities, backgrounds, and experiences shape us and discuss how to show up for ourselves and each other. This session is about reclaiming our stories and our voices through connection and community building. Together, we’ll uncover new insights, and practical ways to build belonging where it didn’t exist before.

Presented by Melany Cyr & Sharla Mason

Melany and Sharla will take you through the history of mentorship, define what mentorship is and help you discover the kind of mentee and mentor you aspire to be. We’ll discuss the stages and concepts of building a framework blueprint to develop a strong mentoring relationship. Can we translate all this to a more modern mentorship relationship, which would include unique cultural backgrounds, identities and lived experiences of individuals. Melany and Sharla will also share their real-world experiences and how those shaped their paths in the trades. We can all ask; what are our genuine interests as a mentee, and what kind of mentor do I want to become?

Presented by Chantelle Shebib

Balancing parenting and a career in the trades can feel like two full time jobs. In this interactive panel, tradeswomen who have worked in the skilled trades will share stories and practical strategies for navigating motherhood from apprenticeship through leadership roles. Participants will hear insights to:
•    plan for childcare and family responsibilities in a trades schedule;
•    set boundaries and practice self care;
•    talk with supervisors and coworkers about family needs, stigma, and missed time;
•    build a supportive network of mentors and peers.
This session centers the real life experiences of tradeswomen and invites attendees to share their own questions and insights through guided conversation and Q&A.

Presented by Janel Kidd

This session helps participants move from feeling “inexperienced” to operating with a grounded sense of value and integrity. This interactive workshop reframes confidence as trust in your ability to learn, grow, and navigate change—not just the skills you already have. Using practical tools, participants will separate who they are from what they do, identify transferable strengths, and honor past experiences. The session also explores how to stay authentic within strong cultures and personalities. Participants will leave with a Personal Compass to guide decisions, actions, and intentional career and life decisions.

Presented by Erin Davis

This session is a practical, energizing session designed to help women and gender-diverse people in the skilled trades strengthen their confidence, communication, and leadership presence. In fast-paced, hierarchical, and field-based environments, being heard and taken seriously can feel challenging—especially when navigating power dynamics or high-pressure situations. Through real-world scenarios and hands-on tools, participants will learn how to speak up in moments that matter, communicate their value, and show up with clarity and confidence on the job site, in meetings, during training, or when advocating for their next step.

Presented by Jill Drader

In this session, Jill explores what happens when we leave one phase of life and step toward another. Career shifts. Parenthood. Retirement. Recovery. Reinvention. Drawing on her own journey across industries, Jill introduces a nature-based way of understanding transition, recognizing seasons in our lives and learning how to build what’s next, brick by brick. Participants will be guided through a practical, reflective process to identify the season they are in now and what they are being called to build next, whether that’s a side venture, a parallel calling, a new role, or a complete change. Jill openly names grief as a natural part of endings, while also illuminating how every ending carries the seed of a beginning. Grounded in her book "Knowings", this talk invites attendees to turn inward, listen more closely, and map their next steps with clarity, courage, and trust in their own inner wisdom.

Presented by Tara Hoffmeier

Allyship is a powerful tool for creating inclusive and supportive environments where every apprentice can thrive. While we know women and gender-diverse people need allies on job sites, we also have the opportunity to step into that role for others. This session will explore what true allyship means and why it is essential in apprenticeship programs. Participants will learn how to recognize genuine allies, understand the impact of allyship across race, identity, and lived experience, and take practical steps to become effective allies themselves. We will also discuss strategies for building a culture of support that benefits everyone, along with real-world examples of allyship in action. By the end of the session, attendees will leave with tools to strengthen their networks, advocate for inclusion.

Presented by Sharese Gueret

Burnout is common in the trades, but it often goes unrecognized. Long hours, physical demands, and ongoing pressure can affect mental health over time, sometimes without obvious warning signs. This session focuses on mental health and burnout in the trades, including how burnout can show up, what it feels like when it begins, and why it is often missed. Sharese shares her own experience, observations from the field, and ways to check in with yourself when work starts to take more than it gives. The session is intended to create awareness around burnout and encourage earlier recognition before it becomes overwhelming.

Facilitated by Jill Robertson, Partner, Landscape Architect

Women are essential to the future of the skilled trades, not only as workers, but as leaders, mentors, and change-makers. This interactive session introduces NAIT’s proposed Advanced Skills Centre and invites women in the skilled trades to contribute insight to its early planning. The session will share NAIT’s vision for future-focused trades and technology training and explore how emerging tools, materials, and workforce realities are shaping skills needs across construction, manufacturing, energy, and transportation sectors. This is a conversation, not a presentation. Participants are encouraged to share perspectives on workforce challenges, skills gaps, and what supportive, inclusive training environments should look like for women entering, remaining in, and advancing within the skilled trades.