FORGE Northeast Mississippi chapter hosts inaugural career expo

TUPELO, Miss. – The Northeast Mississippi FORGE chapter hosted its inaugural career expo today in Tupelo.

The area’s chapter started in 2024, expanding the organization northward after operating in the golden triangle for almost a decade. FORGE NEMS board member Laura Tinsley is one of the names that worked towards bringing a chapter to North Mississippi.

“I was working with the Golden Triangle Group for several years and I knew the need here in North Mississippi,” said Tinsley. “And so, us and four other trade partners here, Jesco, Murphy Paving, Kline Mechanical and FL Crane, all came together and said, ‘we want to do this for our community as well’. So, we all banded together and rolled up our sleeves and made this happen.”

This is the first year the Northeast Mississippi forge group has hosted events, and the expo makes their third. The other events include a signing day with ICC and the construction management technology program, and a girls ages 11-15 construction camp. The expo was only for one day, but the plan is to grow it into a multi-day event. FORGE also named Angie Davis the Northeast chapter director this year as well.

“Obviously, we want to grow,” said Davis. “Golden Triangle has a 2-day event with about 2,200 kids, and we want to be able to reach more students, and that comes with buy-in from industry in the Northeast Mississippi area. And that’s obviously what we’re pushing for, is to get more buy in and more trades and people that are realizing that they do need workers in this area.”

Next year the Northeast Mississippi chapter wants to bring more students to the expo.