The daughter of a plumber, Erika Cleaver has fond memories of visiting job sites as a kid.
She learned to attach faucets to sinks, cut pipe, caulk around toilets and add trim to showers for multifamily projects.
The work was tangible and rewarding, and she enjoyed the camaraderie.
Now a senior project manager for Tri-North Builders — and one of this year’s 40 Under 40 honorees — Cleaver is helping expose middle school girls to the construction industry through She Builds Wisconsin Construction Camp. The initiative was originally spearheaded by Anna Stern of Tri-North when she was president of Associated General Contractors of Wisconsin.
“When you see somebody that looks like you doing a career you’re interested in, it’s a little less intimidating,” said Cleaver, noting that nationwide only about 4% of people working in the trades are women. “We’re really trying to expand upon getting different people into our industry across the board.”
In the broader construction industry as a whole, the number of women is slightly higher (around 11%) when including engineering, project managers, accounting and administrative roles.
For an industry facing a worker shortage, the camps offer one way to attract new talent.
She Builds Wisconsin Construction Camp started four years ago in Madison and is offered for free to middle school girls. Held on the Madison College Truax campus at its new Construction & Remodeling Facility in August, the camp’s 30 spots have already filled up and a waitlist is available.
Companies donate supplies, time and expertise; lunch and snacks are provided and participants also get to keep all of the safety gear they need for the week, including a hard hat, vest, gloves and glasses.
The program centers around hands-on activities like carpentry — the girls will likely make benches this year, Cleaver said; electrical work, like creating a circuit to turn on a lightbulb; and learning about concrete forms at a concrete plant. Girls will learn about plumbing, site layouts, structural engineering, design, estimates and scheduling.
They will get comfortable with tools and measuring and practice their soft skills, like talking about what they learned in front of their peers. They will see how contractors use drones to survey a site and check for needed repairs.
Campers will also tour two projects downtown and visit Epic Systems in Verona.
“We’re trying to expose them to as many different things as we can,” Cleaver said. “It’s really cool to see what they latch onto.”
The camp has already expanded to other parts of the state. The Chippewa Valley She Builds Construction Camp in Eau Claire is full. Spots are available at the Green Bay camp and the newest location in Wisconsin Dells. More information is available on the AGC Wisconsin website, agcwi.org.
Cleaver’s work with She Builds is one way she gives back to the community, a quality of all of 2026’s 40 Under 40 class. Enjoy the profiles of each of these leaders in this month’s issue.
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