On March 8th we celebrate International Women’s Day. This celebration of women’s rights includes all forms of equality and inclusion. At Northern Weldarc Ltd. women in the workplace are an integral part of the company’s success.
Gayle Holtz: A Picture of Resilience
Our president Gayle Holtz is the perfect example, a strong independent woman that works in a typically male-dominated industry. A resilient leader that runs a successful company made up of several different fabrication shops providing structural steel to a wide variety of clients, Gayle believes in a positive work environment which she helped to create. She has inspired a gender-equal work environment that includes female managers and workers. This opportunity allows them to gain confidence and thrive as part of the team at Northern Weldarc Ltd.
Gayle started as a kid, in supporting roles like janitorial duties. As she got older, her career within the company took her to the administrative duties, followed by safety, and now she is the President / CEO. There are no tasks that are beyond her, including folding or attaching tags to drawings for the detail and fabrication teams to start work on a new project, or when she was one of the students for a staff member who was being certified for a “train the trainer” course in forklift driving.
A strong confident leader as the President / CEO of a company with the unique ability to be optimistic and maintain composure in the most stressful and difficult of situations, Gayle is also a mother, a grandmother, a homemaker, a caregiver, and a daughter. She is a comforting friend to everyone and a community voice and supporter in the neighbourhood.
The Amazing Women of NWL
Gayle is not the only woman who helps to make NWL an excellent place to work.
Gale is our Office Administrator. She is funny, smart, easy going and willing to do anything that involves paper! She is the lioness that watches the front door, and she genuinely cares about everyone here at NWL.
Carey does Technical Document Control and Project Coordination. That means that all work goes through her before it hits the shop floor. She ensures that the drawings are correct and that the projects run smoothly. She is meticulous and thorough—do it once, the right way!
Corinne is our HSE Manager, and she is amazingly dedicated at what she does. The crew respects her and can talk to her. She is approachable, friendly, and she knows her stuff when it comes to safety—and a lot of other things! She is a team player and is there at the drop of the hat to help the team out.
Even though we are celebrating International Women’s Day, Gayle wants everyone to know that she has “the most amazing staff. NWL is a team, and guys and girls can get along and have an awesome, healthy working relationship. I am proud of each person man or woman that works here.”
Speaking From the Heart: A Message from Corinne
“As the HSE Manager at Northern Weldarc Ltd., Gayle has empowered me to influence positive changes for everyone, both at work and at home. She pushes me to succeed, which has made me influence others like my niece, to follow in my footsteps.
I am now a powerful, independent, strong woman who will go out of my way to help other women and gain confidence in doing so. Because of Gayle, I know that I can conquer the world (or at least my surroundings) and that she is always there for me. She has also encouraged me to continually learn and help where I can, and as a result I am now mentoring again. I’m mentoring another woman who is also going to university to get her diploma in health and safety, and I mentored my niece at work. She loved getting advice and wisdom from Gayle.
Gayle has influenced me to meet my challenges head on and do what is right and best without compromising my values. She has encouraged me to step out of my comfort zone on numerous occasions which has made me stronger and more determined than ever. Gayle is a nurturing person in my life with an open-door policy to discuss and help me work out whatever challenges that face me.
We are all incredible women and are enjoying our successes along the way. Thank you Gayle—I could not imagine the world without you. You are an amazing woman!”
Happy International Women’s Day to all the women out there. Thank you for being the women that you are! We as women are stronger and more heroic than we realize.
