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VALEDICTORIAN
CARLY STEIMAN
Founder & Red Seal Electrician at Lady Electric
IT WOULD BE IMPRESSIVE just to list Carly’s job site
credentials and entrepreneurial chops.
She’s a Red Seal Electrician with more than 18 years of
experience and the founder of her own contracting business,
Lady Electric. She also holds a Certi昀椀cate in Architectural
Lighting Design and spent time using her skills in the 昀椀lm
industry. But wait. There’s more. She also launched Workbee,
a concierge-style home service designed to support aging-inplace and busy homeowners by connecting them with vetted
maintenance providers.
The valedictorian is the top of the class.
Our judges have gone through all the finalist
submissions, assigning category scores to
everyone. After all is said and done, this individual
had the highest score of anybody.
But that’s just scratching the surface.
Beyond being an electrician, Carly’s has inspired thousands
of young people to rethink what a tradesperson looks like. Her
advocacy work focuses on expanding access to safe, digni昀椀ed
labour, improving pathways into skilled careers, and signi昀椀cantly increasing visibility for women and underrepresented
groups across the industry.
In October 2025, Carly produced and led the inaugural
Tradeswomen Exhibit in Vancouver. The initiative centered
on a black-and-white portrait series and a 2026 calendar highlighting tradeswomen across a wide spectrum of disciplines.
The exhibit welcomed nearly 600 visitors and earned widespread national media coverage, including features on CBC’s
The Early Edition with Stephen Quinn and Global News’ This
Is BC. Building on this momentum, her national calendar campaign successfully distributed calendars to high schools across
Canada, aimed at rede昀椀ning how youth view viable career
paths in skilled labour.
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40 UNDER 40 2026
“I wanted to hire more women in the residential sector to
build out the community for my home maintenance company,
but there’s not enough women entering the workforce,” said
Steiman. “I felt it was my duty to step up and to do something
about it to make a change.
Recognizing that inspiring a workforce requires continuous
engagement, Carly actively participates in industry events like
Skills Nationals and collaborates with major multinational
construction 昀椀rms to expand opportunities for female tradespeople. In addition to her community movement work, Carly
completed an intensive accelerator program in Silicon Valley
with Chris Neumann.
Driven by determination and a warm, personal approach to
leadership, Carly continues to mobilize the next generation of
industrial leaders. By showcasing capable, smart, and strong
women across the sector, she provides a vital countermeasure
to ongoing skilled labour shortages, establishing herself as an
indispensable voice and transformative leader in Canadian
construction.
Here’s what Steiman told SiteNews during an interview
earlier this year: “I only want to invite more people to join
the ride, because at the end of the day, this is a celebration of
women in our industry. Past, present and future.
SITE REPORTS
CARLY has been in the spotlight a long time. She once competed
in the reality show Tough as Nails where she had to demonstrate
her mastery of job site skills.
Before Lady Electric, she spent time in the film industry and as
an IATSE member. Her credits include Poltergeist (2015), Hemlock
Grove (2013) and Vox (2015).
In addition to running her electrician business, Carly launched
Workbee - a concierge-style home service supporting aging-inplace homeowners or busy homeowners by connecting them with
trusted, vetted maintenance providers.
