Meet 2026 Women in Construction Week Profile: Jamie Nichols 

On a sunny winter day, echoes a big grinding sound cutting through sharp winds over desolate brown Yahara Golf Course greens. The root of the hard work is Streets Division Machine Operator Jamie Nichols. 

"The more time you put into something, it becomes easier operating that piece of equipment," Nichols said.  

Standing behind a glass window, running the black joysticks carefully with finesse and focus is Nichols. 

"It's a grubber. It grubs stumps down to ground level," Nichols said. "It will pretty much eat anything it comes into contact with.” 

Running the grubber is one of many skills she's honed over her 20 years working at the City of Madison.  

"Day to day, I grub stumps," Nichols said. "[I'll typically grub] Spring to Fall for [the] Forestry [Section]…the ones [trees] they cut down on terraces and park areas. Sometimes I help out in the golf courses, whatever they need to be done.”  

Getting the job done has always been second nature to Nichols. 

"I just kind of grew up around City workers," Nichols said. 

She learned from an early age, growing up in the City of Madison, and admiring another City worker close to the heart. 

"Everything I did with my dad," Nichols said. "I wanted to be just like him all the time, do everything he did.”  

Nichols would attend "Take Your Daughter to Work Day" every year with her dad, who was a mechanic at the City.    

"I couldn't wait to come home and show my mom how dirty I got that day changing tires," Nichols said. "I loved being around him doing anything he did.” 

Before the City, Nichols went to cosmetology school, but soon after found herself back in a familiar place.  

"I worked at Parks Division after high school, mowing lawns and then went over to Streets [Division] doing leaves, and started working there full-time picking trash, and the rest is history," Nichols said. "Twenty years later and here I am!” 

While Nichols leads by example as the only female machine Streets Machine Operator 3 currently in the Streets Division, she's grateful for the women who came before her.  

"I try to show a good example, help out where I can," Nichols said. "You have the women who definitely paved the way for you. The strong women who were like, 'I'm not going to let anything stop me, put nothing in my way.'”   

Nichols used that tough mentality and work ethic when she was expecting her daughter. 

"I was pregnant doing the grubber, the entire time I was pregnant," Nichols said. "I never was going to let it stop me… If I need to be off of it, I will get a doctor note that I can't do it. I don't want you to give me favoritism because I'm pregnant, that was my pride in it—I didn't want any favoritism in it because I'm a female. I want to earn just like anyone else.” 

Being a woman in construction is something Nichols takes pride in.  

"I always think I'm going to prove you wrong-- that I can do it, and not that I can't do it," Nichols said. 

Making hard things look easy, it's the root of what all strong women do, for them and anyone who comes after. 

Watch the video highlight on the City's social media platforms.