Engineer extraordinaire JO'S TUNNEL VISION!

The trailblazing mum's made inroads in her career for other women to follow

- Kasia Jillings 

As a child, Jo Wilton spent hours in the sandpit building roads, bridges and tunnels. At 15, she was captivated by a tour of the Auckland University Engineering Department and knew she'd found her calling. In her thirties, she was breaking stereotypes, running toolbox meetings on site as a project engineer while eight months pregnant. And now, at 46, she's still leading the way having celebrated the opening of the Hamilton section of the Waikato Expressway - a multimillion-dollar roading project she managed for the last eight years.

From her Flagstaff home, the Waka Kōtahi Regional Manager of Infrastructure Delivery for Waikato and Bay of Plenty sat down with the Weekly to talk about her inspiring career and life so far.

Both my parents were in the Air Force, so I grew up on Hobsonville’s base. Dad built my sister and I a sandpit and I remember spending lots of time building roads and tunnels. I think my parents would look back and say it probably makes perfect sense I ended up where I am. I’m pretty much doing the same thing with much bigger toys.