RETAILOBSERVER.COM MAY 2020
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CELEBRATING WOMEN
WHO ARE PAVING THE WAY
FOR THE NEXT GENERATION OF FEMALE
CONSTRUCTION-INDUSTRY TALENT
T H E F A C E O F T H E C O N S T R U C T I O N I N D U S T R Y I S C H A N G I N G . T H E N A T I O N A L K I T C H E N &
B A T H A S S O C I A T I O N ( N K B A ) A P P L A U D S T H E S U C C E S S E S O F W O M E N I N T H E D E S I G N A N D
C O N S T R U C T I O N I N D U S T R Y , W H I L E W E S E E K W A Y S T O A T T R A C T M O R E W O M E N T O T H E F I E L D .
F
or young girls who have an interest or curiosity in a hands-on
career, but who worry that construction is solely a "man's
world" – let us introduce you to three NKBA members who beg
to differ.
TAMI GAMBLE-GURNELL: FROM "NO, YOU CAN'T TAKE SHOP
CLASS," TO "GIRLY SHOP TEACHER"
Tami Gamble-Gurnell, Certified CTE-Building Trades and Construc-
tion Instructor – AKA the "Girly Shop Teacher" – was just six when she
had her first construction career "A-HA!" moment.
Her epiphany came the day her stepdad was preparing the
cement mixer to fix their front steps, but he couldn't get the mixer
to start. When he went inside to call the company, Tami looked at
the machine (it was sitting straight up) and remembered she'd
seen cement barrels on trucks placed sideways. She shoved the
cement mixer with all her might to the tilted position, and lo and
behold, the machine started working!
Soon after, she got involved helping her stepdad fix things
A S S O C I A T I O N N E W S
© A. Tatum Photography
