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PAMELA WILSON 0:08
My love with perseverance is almost unmatched. I'm just not a quitter, I'm gonna, if I'm doing something, I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna see it through, I'm gonna give it all I got. I'm all in whatever I'm doing.

JAVEN TERRY 0:20
I like to build robots, I build a lot of robots in my room, it's a little hobby of mine, whenever I get spare time, I always love working with my hands.

PAMELA WILSON 0:34
You know, if I'm mopping the floor, I'm mopping that floor well, you know. If I'm building a racket in the job, I'm lining it up, I'm making sure everything is tight and right.

MAXIMO HERNANDEZ 0:44
So I want something done, I'll thrive on it until it's done, you know, I just zero focus on it. Just focus on that, that's it, nothing else.

JAVEN TERRY 0:52
I like working on wires, putting things together, seeing how they look, before it's being put together. It makes you kind of appreciate it more, once you build it up, you see all the little things that go into making a robot,

MAXIMO HERNANDEZ 1:05
Things that are important to me, I'll zero in on, you know, fix it for anything else. So now that's just going to bother me later on, that's gonna be back in my mind. And, you know, that's something I want to get rid of right away.

PAMELA WILSON 1:20
I'm just listening to a kid just talking about having a rough day. I'm all in listening, you know.

JAVEN TERRY 1:29
I was always a meticulous type of person, so that was kind of my way of showing.

I'm a perfectionist, I guess you can say.

I just started or got into doing code with the robot. So you can program to do whatever you want.

Yeah, you can make them do different things.

PAMELA WILSON 1:53
So it's just like, whatever I'm doing. And if I say I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna see it through to the best of my ability, and I'm not gonna quit

Growing up in the child welfare system was a challenge. Because you know, you don't have that stability. You don't have that typical stability that a child should have. Two parent household, not even a one parent household, because now you would foster parents and then you're in these group homes situations.

MAXIMO HERNANDEZ 2:31
One thin I wanna acomplish is, I don't want to be the best, but I wanna be well known throughout other electricians. So they say, he is a good electrician, very smart, very talented, awesome guy, right guy. That's what I really want in the end.

JAVEN TERRY 2:57
Having a goal in mind, whatever that is, and then striving after it. I don't know, maybe that's being an entrepreneur, and you working hard at it. And you eventually become an entrepreneur and you're good at it good at your job good at that career. You do it to the best of your ability.

PAMELA WILSON 3:17
Growing up poor, I would said, it was quite a challenge. Because so put me back in in high school, right? I am this superstar triathlete. But you know, I'm poor. So it's just like a struggle to just like all my other friends like they like I've never really been into gym shoes and stuff like that. But as a, as a basketball player, what does everybody everybody's wearing Jordans? I didn't have Jordans. You know, I, you know, had some, actually in seventh and eighth grade, I was playing basketball in those Payless pro wings. That was very embarrassing, but you know, can't do anything about it.

JAVEN TERRY 3:57
Make a good living, whether I have a family later on. Or if I'm single making sure that I'll be able to provide and take care of them. Making sure they're, they have all they need. And want. I haven't looked that far ahead.

PAMELA WILSON 4:14
Actually, now that I think about it historically, people at my family and friends they talk bad about Unions, like Unions are this and that. I had like a bad taste in my mouth for Unions, but I didn't know anything about them. And I was always go to college, get a good education, it will get you a job, but that is not true. I've got $70,000 worth of student loan debt to tell you. That may not be the best way to go.

MAXIMO HERNANDEZ 4:46
Back in those days. In high school. They tried to offer me, they tried to take me I guess off my course. And from there, I ignored it. I didn't follow them and chose my own career told my own facts. So that's where I just decided that's not where I want to be. And I just did my own thing.

PAMELA WILSON 5:15
I'm trying to find something to do that's more lucrative, like, I want a good paying job. Those struggling as an adult who has worked hard, I have a associate's degree, have a bachelor's degree, I'm working on my master's degree, and I can't take a vacation. It's just because all I can do all I can do is afford to pay my bills, and take care of myself. And like go out, I can take myself out to dinner every now and then hang out party, but to do, to really enjoyn adult recreation, it was just impossible on a salary of 35 to $38,000 a year.

JAVEN TERRY 6:02
Not like far back in my past, maybe like recent, like in high school, I wanted to be electrician. But before that, I was looking at being a electrical engineer. When I was real little I was big into like dinosaur bones and fossils. So I want to be a paleontologist. I'll say those are the biggest thing paleontologists, and electrical engineer I started having a desire for electrical work in high school freshman year. I'm from Chicago, Illinois. I was born and raised in Chicago. I was raised as a Christian as Jehovah's Witness. And so a lot of my decisions are directly from the Bible. I've been raised like that, my parents were raised like that. Basically live my life to try to live up to the standards of the Bible. And I helped guide the decisions that I make.

MAXIMO HERNANDEZ 7:00
My father's from Mexico, and mothers has been born here. I live in the city, in Pilsen. It's mostly Mexican. I grew up there. Before this, I was in high school, I got it and right after high school, senior year, I found a flyer promoting Local 134. I called, they told me the information. I went to Institute which is a college community college. From there, I picked my interest and they say, hey you should try for the Apprentenship. I got into the apprenticeship, came here, got the information for filled it out, submitted, did a exam, and I got in, and went to the Apprentenship right directly from there, I passed. Three years later, I'm here.

PAMELA WILSON 7:50
I've been in a lot of character building situations. So I I spent my younger years in Chicago, on the south side. I grew up with my aunt, my maternal aunt, my biological parents, we were strange. My biological father I didn't meet him until I was 27. And then my biological mother was dealing with some drug addiction. So my aunt, which is her older sister stepped into raise myself and my other four sisters. So all five of us we've lived with her during our late adolescence to teenage years. So after high school, I didn't go to a big division one because I had to work my senior year in high school. So I didn't even actually play basketball, my senior I play softball and volleyball. But I didn't play basketball because I had to get a job to help support myself. So as the first two years after high school, I stayed home and I went to Malcolm X college, still playing basketball still was a scholar athlete and then I went to Southern University in New Orleans.

JAVEN TERRY 9:07
My last year of high school, I was a part of this program called Chicago Builds. It's pretty much a program in Chicago at a local high school where they teach you different trades. So we had carpentry. We had HVAC, welding we had electrical and I kind of went in, I was really excited about electrical, I had my mind made up but it's always good to know, explore different options, just in case you might like something else. But once I start doing electrical work and seeing what goes into it, I was like, yeah I'm doing this. So I went into electrical after that, and the instructors were IBEW instructors. So they helped me get into the Trainee Program. And from there I took the test and I started my apprenticeship.

PAMELA WILSON 10:00
And that's where I was at, because I actually felt in love with the city of New Orleans and I moved to New Orleans. And I was it was, like graduation was happening June 2005, and then I was preparing to go overseas to play basketball, but then I had some hiccups. So it was May, the Memorial Day weekend, I had a car accident, and I busted up my knee really bad, like I didn't like tear any ligaments or break any bones or anything. But it was damaged really bad. And I was in a soft cast for three months, I gained like 30 pounds. So I'm like distraught, my dreams, because now I'm training to go overseas so I was a little distraught about that, not being able to do that. But then I got back on track, and I'm Okay, I'm gonna train I'm gonna get back. And then now it's the fall. And I'm like, I got me in an apartment, I got a job at the school. So I'm working for my school, got my own place training to go overseas, rehabbing my knee. And then August comes and Hurricane Katrina just kind of ends all that.

MAXIMO HERNANDEZ 11:20
All my levels that I could reach. I want to understand I want to perform. I just had like this desire to accomplish things, to get things done to finish in a way. So that's something that, you know, I really am looking forward to, I try to like, figure out, what do I need to do, to accomplish what I want to do.

JAVEN TERRY 11:49
I don't think you can get this type of training anywhere else. They set high standards here. And it's a good thing so when you go out in the field, or someone sees your work, they're like, wow, that's nice. Oh, that looks good, or that works. So it all pays off. Be meticulous paying attention to detail. There's definitely ways you can grow with a contract. And it all depends on the type of contract you have. With mine it's a small contract, but we work with a bigger one. And they're doing O'Hare Airport type work. actually I was pretty excited when I found out that I was working at O'Hare Airport. And one of the first things they had us doing, one of the first jobs was putting runway lights on the runway for airplanes. So that was pretty exciting. I was little, I wouldn't say nervous, but anxious, because there are planes that are flying over you as you're working. So I just like looking around like this. Anyone else see this? Like I'm new? So I'm all excited about the plane nearby? Oh, still working. So I have to play a cool. It's pretty amazing working at the airport. Yeah, that's pretty cool. I feel like I'm important. We have a you have a badge you have to sign in. So you have different accesses to the airport, that a regular person wouldn't have. You also have to take quite a few tests. You have to drive on a on a runway. So you have to take a test on a different signs, what they mean, how fast you can go, where you can go where you can't go, because the slightest mistake, and you're gone.

PAMELA WILSON 13:39
I had never thought about it. I just stumbled upon it. I was passionate about working in social service, and I was going to dedicate my but then once I lost my passion, and I left I had you know, I had thought about the trades because I had been to Chicago Woman in Trades and I had went to one of their little seminars. But I had decided I'm going to be a truck driver. And but then I went to this seminar. And I was like, well, this is better. He's given out the details. He's like this is what will happen. You will take your test is not biased, third party administration of the test. The IBEW has no control over who gets in, is completely fair. These are things that I'm not used to hearing. Also things that I have not heard about Unions, you got to know somebody to get in. These are the things that people have told me when I'm younger, so I don't want to deal with that, but not come to this seminar is like totally unbiased third party testing you are in control of whether you get in or not, based on your application, based on your test scores will determine whether you get into the cohort. And then he's like, you come out, you're going to get 40% of journeymen wage and at the time, it was like $47 or something like that. At the time coming out, you would get $18 or $18,10. I was like, doing the numbers in my head, I'm like, I've been working for this place for 10 years. Now I'm making $19 an hour, you tell me, I go to school for 11 weeks, and I come out and I make $18. And then six months after that, I get a raise. And then six months after that, I get a raise. These are things that were unheard of where I grew up. That kind of money and those type of promotions, you have to get a degree to make more money. So I got most of my college debt, trying to get a Master's, so that I can go from 38,000 to 50,000. So when I'm hearing this presentation, I'm just like, Bs, I'm calling Bs, right? And I'm like, Okay, I got to do this, because this is the perfect opportunity. I'm like, I'm gonna do this application, I'm gonna see if what he said is true. And lo and behold, every single word he said, was true.

MAXIMO HERNANDEZ 15:59
Notice that IBEW does take a lot of precautions, they always want people to go back home to their families, they always try to look out for your life, then your family's life. That's why I think that it's very awesome, they always try to find ways to keep you safe from the work that you're doing. Just like COVID we have you know, masks and a facial. A lot of schools just required masks. But IBEW requires a facial as well. So that's just one precaution, I noticed that they try to keep people safe.

PAMELA WILSON 16:31
I was actually a part of a cycle that had nine women, we had a very diverse group, and everybody was treated fairly and nobody was disrespected, treated differently because they were a woman or an Asian or Latino or African American.

JAVEN TERRY 16:51
IBEW has helped me to see that there's a lot more to being an electrician, there's a lot of different fields we can go into in the electrical work. So it isn't just like before, I thought it was just splicing outlets and lights. But there is a lot more heavy duty work, and is some like low voltage work that you can do. So there's an abundance of crafts that goes into electrical work. And I've just found that out getting here. But there's so much you can do in this field.

PAMELA WILSON 17:24
Within this building, you have everything that you need to be a successful electrician, if you take advantage of it. The technology, we have everything all the new vendors, huge computer labs, after school time, the school is open to you whenever you need. If you feel like you are not getting some things, you can meet with an instructor or you can stay up at the school by yourself. As long as the school is open.

MAXIMO HERNANDEZ 17:47
It was guaranteed. That is what it was, I know entering to this program, taking a long course. I was going to get a job right away. That's what it was. That's what sealed the deal to me.

PAMELA WILSON 18:05
So if you had told 17 year old me that by the time you're 23 years old, you could be making $102,000 I'm not 100% sure I would have went to college. You know, the process is school, all the classes through the process are accredited, through the City Colleges. So it's like, you're not abandoned in education. You just go on about it a different way.

MAXIMO HERNANDEZ 18:28
Make money. That's what I like, but it was very forward, very direct, really got me hooked.

PAMELA WILSON 18:34
When I talk about what I heard from Mr. Kent the first time I heard this presentation, I'm just like,

Nah,

He's lying. He's just trying to recruit, because these are not things that you hear normally, you don't hear about this level of progression when it comes to a career in my community. Give the trades a try any woman that's looking to be financially free, looking to do something non traditional, the IBEW will give you the opportunity. The opportunities that you have within skilled trades are still in line with traditional education.

JAVEN TERRY 19:23
My advice would be to find out what you love to do what you have a passion for. And go after it.

PAMELA WILSON 19:30
IBEW and the Apprenticeship Program gave me the ability to take control of my life. I had to work my way out of a hole. But I'm pretty sure if you will tell 17 year old me, hey, in five years, you'll be making $ 102,000 I would have said... Sign me up!, just like that.