Featured Speaker at WIC Week Brings a Fresh Perspective on Women in Construction
Doreen Bartoldus can remember the first time she heard of WIC Week after joining the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) in 2004. "Someone asked if I knew about WIC Week and I was like, 'What week?' But I haven't missed one since." WIC Week is short for Women in Construction Week, a national series of events that recognizes the roles of women in the construction industry. Bartoldus is now the Board President for NAWIC, the organization that launched WIC Week in 1998, and she will be a featured speaker this year during WIC Week events March 6-12.
Bartoldus's construction career spans four decades. She started out working for contractors while earning a civil engineering degree at night, and later added an MBA in sustainable business. But she also came to realize that she didn't want to sit behind a desk all day. "I grew up in a family of carpenters and masons," she says. "From a young age I was playing with bricks, concrete and sand. I wanted to be outside on the job site." Today, Bartoldus is a construction manager for Jacobs NYC, specializing in water and wastewater projects.