Her name is Lena Turek–but on the job site, everyone knows her as “Teaspoon.”
The 24-year-old is commanding some of the heaviest equipment on the highway.
At 5-years-old, while other kids were dreaming about unicorns, she was dreaming about bulldozers.
“I’m having these crazy vivid dreams and I mean I’m almost sleepwalking. I’m talking like I will literally wake up holding levers in my hand!” she said.
But it was her dad who sealed it.
“He always inspired me. He would be like, ‘Hey there needs to be more girls out there,’” she said. “So I gave it a shot.”
At 22 she started her apprenticeship at Local 150 running heavy metal outside and inside. Today she can run six diesel beasts, bulldozers, excavators, skid steer loaders and more.
She also leads safety classes and women in leadership workshops.
She’s also one of only about 3 percent of heavy equipment operators who are women, a number slowly climbing thanks to outreach and training through Operating Engineers Local 150, which represents roughly 23,000 members across northern Illinois.
Richard Fahy is a business representative with International Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 150.
“If you go up and down this entire 294 construction corridor, you’ll see that our women are inside cranes, women are inside backhoes, women in all sorts of equipment in this industry,” he said.
Local 150 has seen nearly tripled its female workforce since the 80s, seeing more women trade office jobs for hard hats.
Erin McElroy went on site to find out more about how Turek is breaking ground and barriers.
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