Dynamic Women’s Committee boosts WA local’s organizing
Over the last two years, Sisters of 76 has helped strengthen IBEW Local 76’s already robust membership support network
The below story originally appeared in the December issue of the IBEW Electrical Worker.
TACOMA, WA (December 8, 2025) — Ever since Lisa Forsberg graduated at the top of her apprenticeship class in 2022, the Tacoma, Wash., Local 76 journeyman has taken on a mission to help fellow IBEW members — and future ones — find support from allies on the jobsite and in the union hall.
“Sitting at my graduation, it hit me that I was now a part of a family that uplifts me and helped me find my place,” said Forsberg, a wireman who recently helped launch what’s become a highly engaged Women’s Committee called the Sisters of 76.
Electrical work became Forsberg’s second career after she found working at grocery stores unfulfilling.
“I didn’t know how to navigate that culture at all,” Forsberg said. “I had no upward momentum. I felt very, very lost.”
Forsberg’s life at home further prodded her to take an inventory of her capabilities. “I’m in my 30s and I couldn’t afford the basic needs,” she said. “I lived in a studio apartment after my divorce, I was in debt, and I saw no way out of that cycle.”
Having developed a reputation as a hard worker and drawing inspiration from Sarah English, a longtime friend who’s also a full-time instructor at Local 76’s Southwest Washington Electrical JATC, Forsberg decided to apply for an IBEW apprenticeship with the local.
Members of Tacoma, Wash., Local 76’s recently formed “Sisters of 76” Women’s Committee posed with International President Kenneth Cooper and International Secretary-Treasurer Paul Noble at the IBEW’s 2024 Women’s Conference in New Orleans. Photo: IBEW
Business Manager Clint Bryson, who was a Local 76 business representative when Forsberg applied, recalled hearing how her energy was clear during her apprenticeship interview: “Our business manager came back and said, ‘We’ve got to keep an eye on that one’ because she came across as very impressive.”
Not only did Forsberg end up graduating from the apprenticeship with top honors, but a few months later, she also became the first woman to win second place in the annual Western States Electrical Contest, a wireman skills competition for first-year journeymen.
Through her involvement with RENEW, the IBEW’s program for locating and developing union leaders and activists (See this month’s cover story for more.), Forsberg focused on forming Sisters of 76, in part because of some bullying she experienced as an apprentice.
“I know how easily one begins to feel like they’re all alone and don’t know how to talk about what’s happening — or even who to talk to,” said Forsberg, who set up the committee with help from English and another friend and Local 76 colleague, Caitlin Hartley.
The Sisters of 76 quickly got active and stayed active. Over the last two years, the growing committee has helped strengthen the local’s already robust membership support network through efforts ranging from establishing a work clothing bank to conducting conduit-bending workshops and to holding informational mentorship socials for new apprentices.
“We’re learning how to be better teachers, and we’re getting the chance to help our apprentices be more successful,” Forsberg said.
Thanks also to some Sisters-led try-a-trade events, hundreds of high school students have learned about opportunities that come with apprenticeships in the IBEW and other unions.
One of the many Sisters of 76 activities is participation in the annual Capital Lakefair parade in Olympia. Photo: IBEW
“Because of the Sisters’ involvement, I really saw a difference in how the kids sought out people other than myself to talk to,” Bryson said.
The Sisters have even extended the local’s involvement with Habitat for Humanity, the charity that builds affordable housing for low-income families, by organizing an all-women building project. Forsberg has also joined other Local 76 representatives to speak at Habitat fundraisers.
And while Local 76’s RENEW volunteers continue to handle the electrical work for the annual Capital Lakefair celebration in Olympia, Sisters volunteers, wearing bright tie-dyed shirts, have been part of the festival’s parade, riding in and walking alongside the local’s Chevrolet Suburban.
“It lets people know who we are and what we’re doing,” Bryson said, “but it also lets them see that we have a really diverse membership and that there’s a place for everybody in every aspect of our local.”
One key message throughout the local’s outreach efforts is that apprenticeships change lives, the business manager said, with affinity groups like Sisters of 76 — as well as an in-development Veterans’ Committee — helping to lead the way.
“We’ve had great conversations with women, tribal programs and schools with a variety of underserved students,” said Bryson, who was elected business manager of the 1,100-member local earlier this year.
He views such volunteer work as an extension of the IBEW’s organizing roots. “I’ve been a member for 34 years, and I’ve seen a growth in our diversity,” he said. “We’re saying, ‘We want everybody in the electrical industry to be union, to know what’s available to them.’
“Lisa’s efforts are helping us improve on that,” he said. “Local 76 is stronger with her here.”
Forsberg, who was recently brought on staff as a business representative, advises patience for members of other locals who would like to start affinity groups of their own.
“We’ve had our members’ involvement skyrocket, and these committees are a big part of it,” she said. “But committee involvement will ebb and flow — even just a couple of people is not too small — and it’ll take time to develop the outreaches and events that your committee wants to host.
“The first thing is to just start,” she said.
Find this and other stories from the December issue of the Electrical Worker at ibew.org.
