{"id":8331,"date":"2020-06-14T14:53:02","date_gmt":"2020-06-14T18:53:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=8331"},"modified":"2020-06-14T14:53:10","modified_gmt":"2020-06-14T18:53:10","slug":"shes-in-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=8331","title":{"rendered":"She’s in Charge"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"\"<\/a>Growing up in Meridian, Miss., Tonya Hicks adored working on cars and rebuilding motors with her Uncle Melvin, an industrial mechanic.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<\/div>\n
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\u201cI learned all about my tools from ratchets to socket wrenches by handing them to him, and sometimes sliding under the cars to have a look,\u201d she said. \u201cEven as a 5-year-old, the back of my sundress would have oil stains and under my nails would be black \u2014 which didn\u2019t go over well with Mama.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her mother\u2019s displeasure was just the first of a string of obstacles in the route Ms. Hicks followed to becoming an electrician and running a growing business. Discrimination, sexual harassment and that she is a woman of color were all hurdles as she made her way into the male-dominated industry. In the United States, 2.4 percent of electricians are women, and 9.5 percent of electrical contracting businesses are owned by women.<\/p>\n

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Tonya Hicks, president and chief executive of Power Solutions, an electrical contracting firm in Atlanta. Photo courtesy of Ms. Hicks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ms. Hicks, now 47, faced career pushback before entering the skilled-trades arena. Her math acumen earned her a scholarship to Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, where she was a math major with a minor in computer science. \u201cI wanted to be a mathematician working on coding and computer software for the Defense Department,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But during her sophomore year, her professional path hit a roadblock.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of my instructors told me that those kinds of jobs were not readily available for a black woman,\u201d Ms. Hicks said. \u201cAll of my dreams just came down. He said the best thing I could do is focus on becoming a teacher. I thought, \u2018That is just not me.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read on The New York Times<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Her fortune changed during her summer break, when she landed work as a laborer at a paper mill. \u201cIt was exciting,\u201d she said. \u201cI saw how the industrial electricians were using math all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

She forfeited her scholarship and did not return to college in the fall. \u201cMy family thought I was a complete failure and letting everyone down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Her challenges continued. When Ms. Hicks applied for the apprenticeship program at her hometown electrical union, she found herself being interviewed by five white men.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey told me, \u2018You know three white women tried before you and failed,\u2019\u201d she recalled. \u201c\u2018Don\u2019t you think it\u2019s going to be hard you being a black female?\u2019 And I said, \u2018Nope.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She was right. Ms. Hicks was the first woman to complete the five-year program becoming the first female journeyman electrician in Local 917 <\/strong>of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (I.B.E.W.) and among the first few African-American women in Mississippi to do so. (Only 6.8 percent of electricians are black or African-American<\/a>, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)<\/p>\n

Ms. Hicks was tenacious. She traveled long distances to find work at car plants and steel mills and in the construction of airports from Mississippi to Michigan. She did not blink at being on the job 12 hours a day, seven days a week as she learned her trade.<\/p>\n

The workplace could be frustrating. \u201cThere were many times when I would show up at a job and no man talked to me, or acknowledged my presence,\u201d she said. \u201cMany times, the foremen on the jobs didn\u2019t know what to do with me because I was the only woman. They would send me to the material trailer to clean it up, instead of working a job on the floor. That\u2019s how I learned about the construction business and how to estimate. I would read everything I found there.\u201d<\/p>\n

When a co-worker urged her to start her own business, she never looked back.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had worked for nine different employers that year and was ready to take control of my career,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

So in 2000, Ms. Hicks started Power Solutions, an electrical contracting firm based in Atlanta that focused on commercial and industrial buildings and now specializes in renewable energy and smart-city technology. She was 28. \u201cI bought a computer and had my business cards made with clip art of a woman electrician with a lightning bolt,\u201d Ms. Hicks said. \u201cThat\u2019s me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n