Stacey Holsinger

Steel Toe Communications

Stacey Holsinger, owner of Steel Toe Communications, has spent the past five years working to link young people with careers in the skilled trades — a gap she traces back to the removal of shop classes and vocational training from most schools in the 1970s and 1980s.

In 2024, Holsinger was selected for Harbor Freight’s National Fellowship Cohort, receiving funding to launch @Chat_CTE, a social media brand awareness campaign designed to connect career explorers with real-world opportunities in the trades. Skilled labor shortages have reached historic levels, with more than 500,000 open construction jobs in the U.S. and thousands more expected as the current workforce retires. Recognizing that many contractors want to support career exposure but cannot realistically pull seasoned workers off job sites during peak schedules, Holsinger flipped the model — bringing students to the field rather than industry professionals into classrooms. Interviews, jobsite tours and hands-on demonstrations were recorded and turned into short-form content for Instagram and TikTok. The campaign has generated more than 2 million views and now receives weekly inquiries from students exploring construction, welding, electrical, plumbing, carpentry and other skilled trades. In its first year, @Chat_CTE earned national recognition, including a $1,000 scholarship awarded to a standout student from Thomas Edison High School of Technology, and has been featured at SkillsUSA competitions and the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence.

Holsinger also serves as a mentor and host for the Montgomery County Public Schools Summer RISE program, leading an immersive, hands-on experience each year that introduces high school students to the construction industry through jobsite tours, trade professional interviews and activities including basic plumbing, welding, electrical work and operating light construction equipment.

Participants also review resumes, craft elevator pitches and have a game plan on how to build a network.

This is an honoree profile from The Daily Record’s Top 100 Women awards. Information for this profile was sourced from the honoree’s application for the award. The honoree profiles were written using an artificial intelligence program and supported by honoree nominations, applications and letters of recommendation. Each profile was reviewed, fact-checked and edited for accuracy by The Daily Record’s editorial staff.