I grew up in Upper Marlboro, MD. It was at a young age that I learned I was more of a tomboy, so they say. I enjoyed playing street hockey, basketball, cars, hid-n-seek, flashlight tag at night, riding bikes, making bike trails and all sorts of outdoor activities with the boys in the neighborhood.

When I got to high school, my dad and I would watch Orange County Choppers and we thought it would be cool to open up our own chopper shop. He told me I would need to learn how to weld and I was all about it.

I took two years of welding in high school and fell in love with it! The Apprentice School was recruiting football players and although I wasn’t interested in playing football, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to earn a degree for free and earn a living while making a career path.

The picture above is an example of a submarine unit I was able to help build early on in my apprenticeship. I was fortunate to work on several different hulls all over the shipyard and learned from so many people.

I was given the opportunity in my second year as an apprentice to be a make-up supervisor and run a crew for a few days. My supervisor gave me this opportunity because of my engagement and questioning of the work my team was doing, as well as what he was doing. I realized at that moment that I could be a supervisor!

I graduated The Apprentice School in 2011 and made supervisor in 2012 working on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. I later served on the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Enterprise as a supervisor when I was then given an opportunity to do make-up general foreman.

I realized that I could do that too! It was all about giving people a reason to trust me and try the position out and prove myself. Now that I am a permanent general foreman I know that I can be a lead general foreman and look forward to my next make-up opportunity in that position.