September 13, 2007
VINCE VERSACE
Justyna Werbel hopes her Pink Nail Project initiative will attract more women to the trades.
Entrepreneurship
Student launches Pink Nail Project to draw attention to trades careers
Proceeds will fund bursaries for women entering non-traditional skilled trades
Industrial design student Justyna Werbel is a woman with a mission: to encourage women to enter non-traditional skilled trades, such as construction.
She’s doing that through an awareness campaign called the Pink Nail Project.
As part of a thesis project, the 24-year-old student at the Ontario College of Art and Design is powder-coating standard three-inch spiral nails pink.
So far, she has produced 2,000 and another 3,000 are in the works. Nails are being sold at Dudley Hardware, in downtown Toronto. Proceeds will fund bursaries for women entering the trades.
“I needed an icon for the campaign,” says Werbel, who gained first-hand exposure to construction working summers as a general labourer for the City of Windsor. “I decided to use something that was familiar to people across the board.”
Down the road, Werbel hopes to partner with Home Depot and Habitat for Humanity, which has a program that promotes the involvement of women in construction of its homes.
“If there is a pink nail on the site, dialogue will stem; questions will be asked,” says Werbel. “Hopefully, these women will now know there is an opportunity for them to go into the industry.”
The campaign has the backing of the Canadian Association of Women in Construction (CAWIC). The organization has invited Werbel to participate in its mentoring efforts.
“We think the Pink Nail project represents a great opportunity to get the word out there (about career opportunities in the industry),” says CAWIC president Angela Wilson of Dufferin Construction.
| MOST POPULAR STORIES |
| TODAY’S TOP CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS |
These projects have been selected from 315 projects with a total value of $1,397,361,898 that Reed Construction Data Building Reports reported on yesterday.
$160,000,000 Toronto ON Negotiated
CONDOMINIUM APARTMENT BLDG, RETAIL
$90,000,000 Etobicoke ON Negotiated
$48,000,000 Cramahe Twp ON Tenders
| CURRENT STORIES |
- Decision to delay Darlington nuclear power plant carries job cost
- Boutique building takes shape in Toronto
- Algonquin College’s new Ottawa facility will have trades working together
- Project phasing keeps Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario industry near full employment
- Solaris @ Metrogate Phases I and II shaping up in Toronto
- Stantec to rehabilitate major Boston sewer tunnel
- U.S. non-residential construction rises as general industry spending drops
- Developers order Vancouver 2010 Olympic village review
- Romanian Bishop calls office building ‘hideous’ and ‘illegal’
- U.S. manufacturing in ‘slow recovery’ mode
- PTI Group lands field accommodation job for 2010 Vancouver Olympics
- Malaysia bans high-rises on resort island
- Deere’s salaried workers in U.S. line up for buyout program
- Union highlights deficiencies in construction of Vancouver 2010 Olympic village
- Engineers advocate Qualifications Based Selection for public construction projects
- Construction restarts at stalled oilsands project in Fort McMurray, Alberta
- Competition produces new visions of seniors’ housing
- Worker fatally crushed in Edmonton
- Wolfe Island, Ontario wind farm in operation
| ALEX’S ECONOMICS BLOG |

Reed Construction Data Chief Economist Alex Carrick discusses current developments in the North American economic environment with emphasis on the construction industry.
| PROJECT NEWS BRIEFS |
Updates on Canadian construction projects from Reed Construction Data’s research team. More 
- Orillia Market Square aims for LEED Silver certification (Jun 25, 2009)
- Designs for new York Region District School Board building features energy efficiency (Jun 23, 2009)
- Vancouver Convention Centre expansion sets new standards for environmental design (May 22, 2009)
- Waterloo partnership seeks LEED Silver for West Side Family YMCA and District Library (May 22, 2009)
- IPC Energy considers Milford location for future wind farm (May 22, 2009)

