Six years ago, I never could have imagined where my career would take me, or the financial security I would be able to offer my family, thanks to Energy Transfer’s Mariner East pipeline project spanning Pennsylvania.

And, for the seventh year, I celebrated with my husband and children at the Thanksgiving table.

I grew up in the City of Philadelphia, and I was the first person in my family to complete graduate school and achieve an MBA in business. Today, I own and operate my own company, All Trades Distribution, providing a range of contracting and supply services – largely in the energy and pipeline industry, in addition to mechanical, plumbing, specialty contracting, and more – through our union trade members and partners. Our group also manages and is supported by a large network of dedicated sub-contractors and suppliers throughout the region.

Energy Transfer is by far our largest client, and we are proud to have a team working on various aspects of the Mariner East pipeline, including at the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex. That team includes my husband, a long-time steamfitter with the Local 420 union in Philadelphia who joined the company in January 2019 and now leads the field construction and service divisions across Greater Philadelphia.

It was the consistent stream of Mariner East-related work that gave him the confidence to leave his previous job and join All Trades. He also understood the importance of the project for our region, after having worked in various capacities and positions throughout the past few years at MHIC.

I always dreamed of having my own company and helping clients grow and improve their business while providing an excellent work environment for employees, but I never could have imagined the level of success, security, and flexibility that a client like Energy Transfer could offer in return.

The fact that my husband and I are able to work together on Mariner East and provide for our family is both life-changing and surreal. He and I have been a team since we met at 16 years old in the same working-class neighborhood.

The best part? We’re not only providing for our family; we’re also helping support the families of our workers. Several of them are even in the market to buy homes, which we are thrilled about.

We directly employ various trade personnel such as steamfitters, plumbers, operating engineers, and laborers. At this time, we currently have a staff of 12 working on capital and maintenance improvement projects located within the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex and numerous teams working on a variety of other projects throughout the tri-state area. As 2020 comes to a close, we are looking toward 2021 to continue building and expanding upon our relationship with the Energy Transfer team, within MHIC and throughout the organization.

We are proud to play a part in the ongoing Marcus Hook transformation, from a former oil refinery to a world-class natural gas liquids hub. It’s a success story benefiting not just Southeast Pennsylvania, but our entire nation, and will for decades to come.

And, since we put safety and the protection of our workers first in everything we do, we’re grateful that Energy Transfer has the same safety-first culture – and that throughout all of our work together, we haven’t had to worry about our team’s safety on the job. In fact, together, our companies developed first-of-their-kind engineering practices that are safer for our workers and more cost-effective.

I could not be prouder, or more grateful, to operate a company that supports my family and many others. The opportunity to provide our services to Energy Transfer, Mariner East, and MHIC has been instrumental in our business growth – and we look forward to continuing our partnership in various capacities as the projects progress.

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Brenda Matias-Falco is the owner and president of All Trades Distribution, a certified minority- and women-owned company that works with contractors, architects, and mechanical engineers on a wide range of projects throughout Greater Philadelphia.