Description
Juanita Douglas is a true pioneer. In 1984, seeking better pay to support herself and her 7-year-old son, she became a union commercial carpenter in Petaluma, CA, and quickly fell in love with the trade. After a successful 30+ year career as a carpenter and later a surveyor, she retired, only to return to the industry. Now, as Senior Manager of Construction and Labor Relations for Rising Sun Center for Opportunity, she helps prepare youth, women, and reentry individuals for high road careers that offer family sustaining wages in the construction trades.
In this interview we cover:
> Landing her job as commercial carpenter and the retelling of her wild story of having to go job site to job site until she found a role
> Hurdles she faced being a BIPOC woman and single mother and how she overcame them
> How she stayed physically fit for the job – there’s a fun fact in this one
> Her journey from carpenter to surveyor and how she made the switch
> Her role in developing the workforce that built the Warriors’ Chase Center which led to finding her passion as a teacher
> Her role now at Rising Sun and info about their Opportunity Build program – a certified pre-apprenticeship program for a career in the construction trades, that has a heavy focus on getting women into the industry
> The wraparound services that Opportunity Build’s program provides participants post graduation – childcare financial support, mental health services and drug counseling
> How she’s training people through the lens of building decarbonization and the new local pathways they’re creating around heat pumps
> Biggest myth about construction she’s heard
> Her love for the industry and advice to the next generation
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Guest info:
Juanita Douglas, Construction & Labor Relations Manager @ Rising Sun Center for Opportunity; ✉️: douglas@risingsunopp.org
Connect/follow Rising Sun on Instagram & LinkedIn
Opportunity Build pre-apprenticeship program info here
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Connect with The Skilled Project:
Founder, Amanda Luchetti; ✉️: amanda@theskilledproject.com
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