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Construction has a reputation for being a boys club. This perception exists for a reason.
Around One in ten workers under construction were women By 2024, according to the Office of Labor Statistics. This percentage is even smaller in shops.
In Arizona, Kate Grantz seeks to incorporate more women into the construction force of construction through an unusual method: a brilliant magazine. The co -founder of the means of communication and lifestyle Move Over Bob has sought to educate more women about their opportunities to pursue a career in shops.
Here, Grantz talks to Construction Dive about the mission behind the magazine, his goals for hiring and education and the answer to his cheeky name.
The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Construction Dive: How did this magazine come about? What is the idea behind it?
Kate Grantz: A magazine printed in 2025, obviously, was not the first thing we thought, but I will say this time and another: girls do not googling how to be construction workers. So we had to find ways to get to know them wherever they are. At the same time, we find a shortage of specialized labor in the United States and I do not think it is a problem of interest. I really think this is a problem of consciousness and it is a narrative theme and it is a marketing challenge. So we knew we needed to make these stories for girls where they couldn’t simply click.
Kate Grantz
Permission granted by transfer over Bob
We realized that schools are where our customers are. I now have collaborations with about 350 schools, of which 80% are secondary schools and 20% of medium schools, in all Arizona, so that the magazine is not only in backpacks for children and their families’ house, but also teachers in class and guidance counselors use it in their sessions. It’s not a resume, it’s a brilliant magazine. This first issue has just left in August. There are 20,000 copies, 18,000 of which have been distributed to schools, non -profit women, and some public libraries.
But what is really exciting is that we are a teenage magazine in classrooms, right? So we hired a career and technical education teacher to develop a high school classroom guide and then a high school classroom guide, one for CTE students, one for non -cte, and then we have an English and Spanish family guide.
Is it now only in Arizona?
The collaborations are in Arizona. We now have subscribers across the country. But the storytelling is really focused on Arizona. And the reason we are starting there, which we plan to be national, is that the construction is quite local. Next certifications and steps and scholarships and training opportunities vary greatly by region. And so before we were very wide with this aspirational effort and changing narrative, we wanted to make sure that the Backend was as dragged as much as possible.
They are not just pictures and stories and sound bites. Each page of the magazine has a QR code where you can really scan it and enter where the learning is. You can see, what are the opportunities of my area for plumbing, for example.
How was the relationship with partners, contractors and learning programs?
Incredibly supportive. They love it. Everyone knows we have a shortage of labor. And women of women are only a small part of the workforce, although it varies by the region. But we know that various perspectives do better business.
I think, regardless of where you fall personally, politically, there are these types of unique expressions for what we do, which brings more talent to the labor market. Everything I communicate through the magazine and everything we speak in any of our materials, frankly, is applicable to men. It is only women who are women, and this has never been seen before.
Let’s talk about the name. Did you receive a budget of the title “Mou over Bob?”
I mean, in the construction, you must have an advantage. You have to have a sense of humor. And if you do not have thick skin, you will have problems. So the choice between a more annoying and provocative name that you will not forget and will allow you to ears, I feel much more powerful.
This is a hymn. It is a movement. It is something that requires strength to say “Slide -in bob.”
But we will always say, this is not a matter of pushing men. When I ask women: “How do you put in the construction?” The number one answer, far and out is: “My father.” Not a part of our ethos is anti-man. It is the reality that everything is being built mainly for a point of view. We do not raise a threat to men bringing more women to construction.
So anyone who is willing to listen to 10 seconds after listening to that name, you will know that we are saying that we only need men to give way. But we need them by our side, frankly. And especially the so -called Bob love them. Because they are like “yes, it’s cheeky”.
