“In 2016, I was bartending, and I had a couple of regulars who would come in for lunch. I always had their orders ready as they walked in the door. One of them asked me if I’d ever thought of doing something else. Her name was Jen Bingman, and she turned out to be an instructor at the JATC.

She said, ‘With your attention to detail and your memory, I think you would make a great electrician.’ She told me what the IBEW was about. I checked it out that Monday, and I’ve been in ever since.

My first work was building a medical research facility. That project was a lot of smaller conduit, which is good because it was a great place to start, just getting to know the field. I moved from there to a semiconductor plant, building the fab areas where the tools manufacture microchips, among other projects in the facility.

The majority of my career has been working data centers. That work involves a lot of big conduit and wires, not typical for what you might picture women to be assigned.

When I got to my first data center job, I was assigned work on the smaller stuff, and I told my superintendent, ‘I want to do underground.’ He asked why, and I said, ‘Because I’ve never done it.’ He was like, ‘It’s going to go all winter, and it’s going to be hard.’ And I said, ‘I don’t care, I want it.’

So we went out and worked all winter, and we did a great job. I believe that was the turning point, where I earned the respect of my fellow workers. That respect never really leaves you. It goes with you from job to job within the local.

I made the decision early on that I was going to put everything I had into this. When I graduated from my apprenticeship, I was honored as Outstanding Graduate, which is top of your class, highest score, highest ranking with your company. It was another turning point for me. When you win that award (called “golden lineman”), you go to Michigan with the top apprentices from all JATCs around the country. That’s when you realize how vast the IBEW really is.

I worked my way up to a leadership role with the company I’m now working for. A position opened up for a foreman for power and distribution, and they asked me if I was interested. I jumped on it.

Then another opportunity opened up at that same company, where I was asked to go to Texas to run a job, working out of Local 1015. I talked to my husband, who I met in the trade, so he’s very understanding and knows the climb. I went to Texas for seven months and excelled in that position, and when I came back, I remained general foreman for the company.

Our family doesn’t worry about finances, and we don’t worry about our future. I got into the IBEW when I found out I was going to be a grandma for the first time. Just another one of those turning points. The IBEW brings pride to our family.”