Michaela Wain is a BBC The Apprentice finalist, ambassador for Women in Construction and owner of five construction-related companies. She has used both her experience and platform to help pave the way in creating, highlighting, and showcasing more female role models in a male-dominated building and construction industry – while making people laugh along the way!

History

Bolton-born Michaela Wain has an impressive 20 years of experience in the construction industry, from successfully investing in several construction companies to starting her own business at the age of 25, Design and Build UK, which is now the UK’s leading online and hard copy construction magazine with 290,000 readers.

While she has admitted to suffering from social anxiety her whole life, Michaela has used this to her advantage, looking for new challenges which included reaching the final on BBC’s The Apprentice in 2017. The down-to-earth Northerner was a firm favourite with viewers, who were inspired by her powerful business knowledge, quick wit and infectious, ‘can-do’ attitude. She was respected for going against the status quo.

With her new platform, Michaela wanted to better things for all women in construction. Within the last five years, she has made a firm presence within the industry, working with tier 1 and 2 contractors, large organisations, small to medium-sized enterprises, and Government bodies to help make a change and spread the message of equality in construction. She has a strong LinkedIn following, where she regularly posts inspiring business-centric, equality-focused content to her 52,500 followers.

On top of this, Michaela has her own podcast, Women in Business, and is an ambassador for the not-for-profit organisation, Women in Construction, which, amongst many things, promotes gender equality in construction. She continues to run networking rooms for the organisation, while working on a City and Guilds Women in Construction course, and most recently, creating the UK’s first Women in Construction Awards, successfully filling 400 seats and reaching maximum capacity.