Skilled Labor Series: Electrical Work with Tonya Hicks

Energy

Jan 30

*This episode is part of our new Skilled Labor Series hosted by MCJ partner, Yin Lu. This series is focused on amplifying the voices of folks from the skilled labor workforce, including electricians, farmers, ranchers, HVAC installers, and others who are on the front lines of rewiring our infrastructure.

Our next guest is Tonya Hicks, President and CEO of Power Solutions and Managing Principle of Women Do Everything, LLC.

Tonya is a serial entrepreneur, a single mom of two boys, and a wireman electrician in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). She became the first woman to attain the status of inside journeyman wireman in the IBEW Local 917 in her hometown of Meridian, Mississippi, and the first African American woman to become an IBEW journeyman electrician in the State of Mississippi.

Tonya’s primary electrician job started in industrial environments, working in paper mills, steel mills, and car plants. She then specialized in robotics and high-voltage equipment installation and repair. In 2000 at age 28, Tonya founded Power Solutions, Inc. an electrical contracting company. Tonya is also the founder of Women Do Everything, which supports women in blue-collar, male-dominated industries to help them grow, connect, and thrive.

“I've gotten to know Tonya over the last few months after we were introduced, and she's one of the most humble, hardworking, and inspirational people I've ever met.”

In this episode, Tonya shares her background in mathematics and switch to electrical work. We also learn how she started her company, its international footprint, and her challenges as a black woman in a male-dominated industry. Yin and Tonya cover different types of electricians plus the union vs. non-union experience for people interested in the space. Finally, they talk about the electrician shortage, the impacts of the IRA on electrical work, and Tonya’s other inspiring endeavors.

Get connected:
Yin’s Twitter / LinkedIn
Tonya Twitter / LinkedIn
MCJ Podcast / Collective

*You can also reach us via email at info@mcjcollective.com, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Episode recorded on December 5, 2022.

In this episode, we cover:

[2:18] Tonya's background in electrical work
[6:35] The education path to becoming an electrician
[8:46] Gender and racial disparities in the trades and electrical work specifically
[12:37] How Tonya started her own company called Power Solutions and grew her business
[21:44] Power Solutions' footprint in Georgia and internationally
[23:41] Different types of electricians and the union vs. non-union experience
[27:07] The electrician shortage
[27:54] An overview of Tonya's Women Do Everything organization
[31:32] The first Women's Summit and Career Expo on March 28-29 in Atlanta, Georgia
[35:45] Impacts of the IRA on electrical work
[38:28] Tonya's SHE EV company

Jason Jacobs (00:02):
Hello, everyone. This is Jason Jacobs.
Cody Simms (00:04):
And I'm Cody Simms.
Jason Jacobs (00:06):
And welcome to My Climate Journey. This show is a growing body of knowledge focused on climate change and potential solutions.
Cody Simms (00:16):
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We appreciate you tuning in, sharing this episode and, if you feel like it, leaving us a review to help more people find out about us so they can figure out where they fit in addressing the problem of climate change.
Yin Lu (00:41):
Hey, everyone. Yin here. I'm so excited for you to hear today's episode. We are talking with Tonya Hicks, who is a serial entrepreneur, a single mom of two boys, and a wireman electrician in the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Tonya became the first woman to attain the status of inside journeyman wireman in the IBEW Local 917 in her hometown of Meridian, Mississippi. She is also one of the first few Black women to join the IBEW in the state of Mississippi.
(01:07):
Her primary job as an electrician started out as industrial, working in paper mills, steel mills, car plants. And then she specialized in robotics and high-voltage equipment installation and repair. In the year 2000 at age 28, Tonya founded Power Solutions, Inc. an electrical contracting company. I didn't know this. But when we recorded the episode, it was the day of the company's 22nd anniversary.
(01:30):
Tonya is also the founder of an organization called Women Do Everything, and this organization supports women in blue-collar, male-dominated industries to help them grow, connect, and thrive. I've gotten to know Tonya over the last few months after we were introduced, and she's one of the most humble, hardworking, and inspirational people I've ever met. I can't wait for you to hear the episode and learn more about the three decades of experience Tonya has had in the world of electrical work. And with that, welcome to the show, Tonya Hicks.
Tonya Hicks (01:58):
Thanks. I'm so happy to be here.
Yin Lu (02:00):
We were connected through Ian McGruder, who is a MCJ community member and part of the Rewiring America team. So shout out to Ian. Thank you for introducing us. So excited to chat with you today and get to learn more about you as an electrician. Maybe as a starting place, tell us a bit more about your background.
Tonya Hicks (02:18):
Well, I've been an electrician or doing electrical work since the age of 21, which was quite a long time ago. I actually got started after leaving college. I was going to school to be a mathematician. I was going to Central State University on a math scholarship. I had this dream of working at the Pentagon cracking codes for the CIA and the FBI. I don't know. Maybe so much sci-fi and detective shows, watching TV with my grandma, I don't know. I had a professor tell me that they don't hire women to do that.
(02:58):
I don't know. Blame it on my 19-year-old self, but it's like my whole world just caved in. He told me to focus on graduating and becoming a teacher, and I didn't want to be a teacher. I love teachers, but teaching just wasn't for me. I went, after my sophomore year, worked at a construction site, saw the people using math all day, and I'm like, "What do they do?" It's like, "They're electricians." We're on an industrial job site. It was like, "Oh, that's what I'm going to do."
(03:37):
I didn't even know it was supposed to be really, really hard or difficult for women. I was just like, "That's what I'm going to do." I had to figure out how could I learn how to do that for free. First of all, you tell your mom you giving up your scholarship, you better figure out what you're doing pretty quickly. I saw where the IBEW was accepting apprentices for the five-year apprenticeship program and how much money they made. You can start making money right away, and you didn't have to pay for school.
(04:14):
I was like, "In case my mom kicked me out, I at least can afford my own place to stay, and I would get a free education." That's what I did. I became the first woman to be a journeyman wireman in my Local 917 in Meridian, Mississippi, and the first Black woman to be a journeyman wireman in the state of Mississippi. I think everybody kind of thought I was crazy. It's always like, "Well, you can always go back. You've always been smart. You can marry well," those kind of things.
Yin Lu (04:53):
I'm curious. Did you have anyone else in your family that was in electrical work or you were the first and only and you said, "I'm going to do this?"
Tonya Hicks (05:00):
Yeah. I'm going to do this. Now, my uncle went to college and got a degree in becoming a industrial mechanic, which is pretty close. They have to know electrical work as well to do what they do, and electricians have to know industrial motor work. So he was one of my main inspirations and helped me learn how to use tools ever since I was probably five years old. He taught me everything I needed to know about how to rebuild an entire engine. I rebuilt an engine with him at eight years old.
Yin Lu (05:39):
Wow. That's pretty incredible.
Tonya Hicks (05:41):
I grew up without that fear because I was his helper, and he was like, "What's this, and what's that?" I would have to know what size a wrench was just by looking at it. So when children grow up, you have no fear. You're not thinking, "I don't know if I can do this," because you've done it. That's what I realized. What he taught me is once you've done it in your mind, it's easy to follow up with the actions.
Yin Lu (06:15):
Tell me more about the education path. Once you started the apprenticeship program, what were the steps ultimately to becoming a full-fledged electrician? Take us through the steps there.
Tonya Hicks (06:25):
Well, you have to go to school, of course, and it's set up just like the college system. So you have to go to school on a semester basis. And then in the summertime, you're off, just like college, because actually you get college credit for the classes that you take. You had to work 40 hours a week, but you still had to go to school a couple nights a week. It was pretty easy for me because I was kind of smart already. I was going to school to be a mathematician, and I minored in computer science. So school stuff was like, "Oh, this is a breeze."
Yin Lu (07:04):
How many years was the apprentice program?
Tonya Hicks (07:07):
Five years.
Yin Lu (07:08):
Five years. And then you have to work and start doing the apprenticeship work while learning in class?
Tonya Hicks (07:14):
Oh, yes. Yes. The union's apprenticeship program is the most difficult. We're considered the elite electricians. It's called the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, and it's a true brotherhood. It's very few women. In 2019, statistics showed that of all the tradespeople, only 2.9% were women, and only 3% of electricians were women. So it's that few of us.
Yin Lu (07:49):
When you were going to school, how many of your classmates were non-male? Do you remember?
Tonya Hicks (07:54):
None.
Yin Lu (07:55):
You were the only one?
Tonya Hicks (07:57):
Yeah, I'm the first woman in my entire Local.
Yin Lu (08:00):
Wow. Okay. So then you graduate from the apprenticeship program, and then you have to do some type of a journeyman license?
Tonya Hicks (08:06):
Well, once you complete the five years, you have your journeyman's license.
Yin Lu (08:10):
Okay, got it. And then what happens after that?
Tonya Hicks (08:13):
You can go anywhere you want to and work. It's a freedom that most people can't relate to, but it's incredibly rewarding. You go through a lot. You can start out with 50 students and only end with eight. It's that tough.
Yin Lu (08:33):
So you've been part of the IBEW for a few decades now. Has the gender discrepancy gotten better over the past couple of decades? I should hope the answer is yes, but I don't know.
Tonya Hicks (08:46):
Well, there are more women coming in, but a lot of women don't stay because the culture of construction and maintenance and electrification and the utility energy industries are really, really tough. Male-dominated industries are just tough. You have to have the grit and the determination to finish or to be a part of it.
Yin Lu (09:11):
This is a really interesting topic, and I want to come back to it, but I wanted to get more of the lingo out of the way. So IBEW, international Brotherhood of Electric Workers, the name ought to be changed at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Tonya Hicks (09:27):
But I doubt that. I doubt that.
Yin Lu (09:27):
And then you mentioned earlier you were the first woman and first Black woman in your Local. What is a Local? I know that it's used to describe unions. How many unions are there? Is there a Local 1, and that's the first one and then-
Tonya Hicks (09:39):
Yes, it is. Yes, it is. Yes, I'm the first woman, period, in my local, not the first Black woman, but the first woman, period. So just imagine it's called Local Union, and so it's just your little Local in your city.
Yin Lu (09:56):
How big is your Local currently? How many electricians are part of it?
Tonya Hicks (10:00):
I don't know how many, but it could probably be around 400 or so.
Yin Lu (10:05):
And are they all relatively the same size, or some Locals way bigger than others?
Tonya Hicks (10:08):
Oh, some Locals are way bigger, like Birmingham, New York City, Chicago. Yeah. It's several huge.
Yin Lu (10:19):
Since there's a lot of pride in being part of a Local, what do you think contributes to that?
Tonya Hicks (10:23):
Well, I think because I mean it's just like being part of a ball club in your city. It's that home pride. Like I said, it's really, really tough to be a part of that. They actually graduated me about two to three months earlier than everybody else.
Yin Lu (10:44):
How come that doesn't surprise me? I feel like you do everything, you do it well.
Tonya Hicks (10:48):
Well, no, they actually did that so that I won't graduate and be in the picture.
Yin Lu (10:53):
Are you serious?
Tonya Hicks (10:54):
Yeah.
Yin Lu (10:55):
Wow. Talk more about it.
Tonya Hicks (10:56):
Well, it's just the discrimination, whether it's based on sex or race. At the time, I was so tired because I would have to travel for miles. I would have to travel to other states. I was actually working at Arkansas at the time and having to drive all the way home to go to class because they refused to work me because you have to complete so many hours of work to be able to advance to the next level.
(11:33):
So yeah, it was pretty, pretty tough. But I didn't care. I didn't care. I was determined to finish.
Yin Lu (11:41):
Maybe talk to me about forging your own path after you graduated from the program and you were part of your Local. It sounds like you were a salmon swimming upstream.
Tonya Hicks (11:50):
I feel like that today. Well, I feel just like in the movie, Hidden Figures. When I watched that movie, it's like, "Oh, wow." The only thing that's changed is that we're using the same restroom as a race. But everything else in there was exactly the same. It's sad to say, but no, I don't think much has changed. It's because we don't have enough women in the field.
(12:18):
I think that now that a lot of women are needed because it's not even enough men, skilled labor, to cover the jobs, it's still a certain amount of change that needs to occur in culture in order to make it welcoming and safe for women.
Yin Lu (12:37):
So this is, I think, a good segue for us to talk about you creating that space for more people who look like you to be in this space. You went the path of entrepreneurship, and you started a company when you were 28.
Tonya Hicks (12:52):
Yes.
Yin Lu (12:52):
Tell us about that path to entrepreneurship. What sparked you to say, "No, I want to do this, I want to start a company on my own?" Tell us about the growth of that, especially considering today is the 22nd birthday of this company that you created.
Tonya Hicks (13:07):
Well, I would always tell people what to do on the job. I was never in charge, a foreman or lead electrician, never. But I would always tell everybody what we're doing. "Okay, get over there. Bob, you know you can do that better than Jim. You go over there and do something." I've just always been like that. Men want to win at the end of the day. So if it sounds like a good plan and because I was so good as an electrician, if they feel like you're going to get the job done, they were like, "Come on. You come on with us."
(13:43):
So I actually earned their respect, and I had to earn it every day, everywhere I went. I would tell people what we're doing today and this and that. So this guy came over one day. He said, "If you're going to tell everybody what to do, you might as well be the owner." I was like, "Yeah. I know, right?" I thought he was just making conversation. He was like, "No, you could actually own your own company." I was like, "You think so?" So I thought about it all day.
(14:14):
At the end of the day, when it's time to go, I told the guys. I told my foreman, "Send my check to the house. I'm going to start my own business." They laughed and laughed. Everybody laughed at me. It was about 15 guys around or so. I said, "You can laugh now. One day you going to be working for me." I was always badass. I have to be honest. Because every time they gave it to me, I gave it right on back to them.
(14:46):
I didn't know anything about owning a business, but I decided I was going to ... I had gotten a Gateway computer. I went to Staples, bought a Gateway computer, and I got me some business cards using clip art. And then that clip art is a woman holding a lightning bolt. That was my first business card. It was so funny. I was living in an apartment, and I had a sunroom part of my apartment that I bought a desk. I bought everything.
(15:22):
Every day, I was going to figure out how I was going to get some business. So one morning, I was watching one of the Good Day Atlanta, and the Women's Chamber was having an event. It was all women in business. I was like, "I'm going to that." I showed up because I didn't have a ticket. Samuel L. Jackson's wife, Tanya, was going to be there because her sister was being inducted as the president.
Yin Lu (15:50):
Samuel L. Jackson, the actor?
Tonya Hicks (15:52):
Yes. His wife, Tanya, her sister was being inducted as the new president. So I told this lady. I said, "I don't have a ticket. Can I just stand in the back and watch?" And she said, "You don't have to stand in the back. There's some room at the front table." I was sitting by Jane Fonda. Everybody thought it was so funny and fascinating, rather, not really funny, but fascinating that I was a woman electrician.
(16:22):
To make a long story short, those women drug me all around Buckhead and the city of Atlanta helping me get business. They made their husbands use me at their jobs, at their companies. They gave me work in their houses. So women helped me start and helped me build my business.
Yin Lu (16:48):
More power to women helping women.
Tonya Hicks (16:49):
I know, right?
Yin Lu (16:50):
That is a beautiful story. I love it.
Tonya Hicks (16:52):
Yes.
Yin Lu (16:54):
And then how did you grow the business and scale it to be more than you being ...
Tonya Hicks (17:00):
Well, I wish I could say I did that through certification or becoming a woman-owned company. I didn't get my first certification as a woman-owned company for 16 years. For 16 years, I hid that I was a woman. So I was hiding in plain sight. I would show up to jobs sweeping, cleaning up, talking to the guys. For the most part, they thought I was a cleaning lady, but I was the owner.
(17:29):
You don't have to certify or have to tell people unless you're trying to get a certain work based on you being woman-owned or minority-owned. So I built my business on that because I didn't want being a woman or being Black to be my value proposition.
Yin Lu (17:50):
We're going to take a quick break so you can hear me talk more about the MCJ membership option. Hey, folks. Yin here, partner at MCJ Collective. Want to take a quick minute to tell you about our MCJ membership community, which was born out of a collective thirst for peer-to-peer learning and doing that goes beyond just listening to the podcast.
(18:07):
We started in 2019 and have since then grown to 2000 members globally. Each week, we're inspired by people who join with differing backgrounds and perspectives. While those perspectives are different, what we all share in common is a deep curiosity to learn and bias to action around ways to accelerate solutions to climate change. Some awesome initiatives have come out of the community.
(18:27):
A number of founding teams have met. Nonprofits have been established, a bunch of hiring has been done. Many early-stage investments have been made, as well as ongoing events and programming like monthly Women in Climate meetups, idea jam sessions for early-stage founders, climate book club, art workshops, and more.
(18:44):
So whether you've been in climate for a while or just embarking on your journey, having a community to support you is important. If you want to learn more, head over to mcjcollective.com and then click on the members' tab at the top. Thanks and enjoy the rest of the show.
(18:57):
All right. Let's get back to the show. So it sounds like when you first started as a sole proprietor, you would, through your women network, go and actually do the work. And then once you were starting to grow the business, you would hire male electricians and-
Tonya Hicks (19:11):
No. Actually, no. After the first year, I no longer did the work. Those women in Buckhead taught me, that's Buckhead, Atlanta, taught me how to work on my business and not in it. I started my business as an S corporation. So I've always been a CEO, and those women taught me how to operate as a CEO.
Yin Lu (19:37):
What were some of the key lessons there?
Tonya Hicks (19:40):
Well, I think one of the key lessons was always hire people to do the work. I think so many times when you start a business and you, of course, and I did too, I started doing the work. But after year one, I no longer did the work. I would go and get the business and hire the right people. Another key lesson was hire people smarter than you. So I don't hire people I have to tell them what to do. I hire people that tell me what to do.
(20:09):
Because I come from a union background, I always paid well, union scale and above. I think when you pay people well, you get people that have a high level of expertise in what you're doing, I feel like it's less work that you have to do. It gave me more time to focus on what I needed to focus on, which is getting the business.
Yin Lu (20:33):
Did you have to hire anyone that could play that part? Because if someone saw you selling to them as a Black woman versus a white man, you might not have won the business. How did you navigate that?
Tonya Hicks (20:44):
Men are so arrogant, girl. They just assumed that I either was doing it for my husband or I was a salesperson for the company. It wasn't even a thought that I was the owner, trust me, because it's so rare to see a woman do what I do. To be an owner is even more rare. It's not even a thought in their mind that I would be running anything. So it's almost like they automatically thought a man put me in this position or I'm doing it. Or they'll tell me, "Okay. Well, let your husband know such and such." I never would say anything.
Yin Lu (21:28):
Do you still find that to be the case that if someone were to know that Power Solutions is female-owned, minority-owned, that you might lose some business?
Tonya Hicks (21:36):
Not anymore because I've built up my past performance. So you've built up your past performance, you don't really have to worry about it.
Yin Lu (21:44):
What does that look like? Tell us about the footprint that you've built in Georgia and beyond for the past 22 years.
Tonya Hicks (21:49):
Oh, yeah. Internationally now.
Yin Lu (21:49):
Yeah. Ooh.
Tonya Hicks (21:55):
Yeah. In 2019, the State Department sent me to the Netherlands to represent the United States for energy as an entrepreneur at the Global Entrepreneur Summit. From that one meeting, I have clients in London. I still network and do business with the Dutch. I was negotiating to work in Botswana, but then after the Brexit, that made our business dealings a little ... Yeah, if anybody knows about the Brexit, there's a lot of companies that had to pull out and come back in.
(22:30):
And then a couple of months after that, I went to Singapore with Dell Technologies to do business, and I started the process of opening my office in Singapore. But to me, it's all electrical work. It's all smart city technology. It's all the same thing. They need skilled labor everywhere. So I made up in my mind that I didn't care if I had to work in California, New York, where I had to go, that I was going to find somebody that were going to give me the opportunity to work, and they were going to treat me fairly and pay me.
Yin Lu (23:09):
What are the types of projects that Power Solutions does most frequently these days?
Tonya Hicks (23:14):
I would say most frequently, because it's during the pandemic, I decided to focus solely on renewable energy and building automation. I would say mostly building automation, energy performance projects, and solar. Yeah, we've doing a lot of solar now.
Yin Lu (23:34):
What type of people do you hire to be able to staff those projects well? How do you find-
Tonya Hicks (23:39):
Just electricians.
Yin Lu (23:41):
I was poking around the IBEW website and just looking at the different types of electricians that you can be. There's low-voltage, high-voltage, highway systems electrician, substation electrician. Can you maybe help us understand the different types?
Tonya Hicks (23:56):
Because the union or when they organize, we call it organized, when they bring in people that are non-union but already working, there are different levels that you can test in to be a CIT at different levels. Like I said, you can specialize in low-voltage and to some of those things. I'm a journeyman inside wireman. We are taught everything. So I mean it's not to say that you can't become a journeyman and then go and specialize in a certain area, but I think a lot of those levels were to accommodate people coming in from a non-union status to union status.
Yin Lu (24:38):
Can you talk a bit more about that? I don't quite understand. So it seems like to be part of the union is where you want to be, and there are people that go through the education journey maybe with a non-unionized apprenticeship program. Why is there that union versus non-union difference?
Tonya Hicks (24:53):
I think because we're the best. It's like we are. I think it's levels to everything. When we're taught and at the level and the degree that we're taught electrical work, it's at the highest level. Now, it was a time that minorities and women were systematically kept out of the union. So some people didn't have a choice. They couldn't even get in. I mean I don't never put people down for not being union, especially my elders and people that came before us where they weren't allowed in the union.
(25:36):
But I say today because that doesn't exist the same way it used to or at all. I always recommend people go union because we're all paid equally, depending on the level that you are on. So they're not going to pay another journeyman less than me or pay me less than them. That's one of the things I think is great for women and minorities to go union is so you can be paid and be paid well. We are the highest paid. Like I said, it takes five years.
Yin Lu (26:16):
It's longer than a bachelor's degree, in this cases.
Tonya Hicks (26:19):
Yeah. To be an electrician all in itself, it takes a certain amount of craftsmanship and skill. No shade to painters, but it just takes a certain level of intellect to be able to do what we do as an industrial electrician.
Yin Lu (26:40):
So it sounds like then if you are not part of the union and you go through some apprenticeship programs, you can do more hours to then join the union later on in your career.
Tonya Hicks (26:51):
Well, you can test in. You can take a test, and it'll put you in at a certain level, which you won't make as much as a journeyman makes. But you can go into school at a certain level and build your way up.
Yin Lu (27:07):
I was poking around and, according to some stat from the NECA, which is the National Electrical Contractors Association, there's 7,000 new electricians joining the workforce every year, but 10,000 are retiring from it. So it seems like we are already facing an electrician shortage, and so it should be all hands on deck to get as many new people trained and into the system as possible.
Tonya Hicks (27:29):
Exactly. I tell people to train wherever you can train. Go to trade school, wherever you can get in. If you can't get in, because it's only so many the union takes in any Local twice a year, but I think you should always strive to try to join a union company so you can go to another level.
Yin Lu (27:54):
So I want to go back to the topic we were discussing earlier around how to get more women and women of color, people of color into the trades. I want to talk about the second organization that you started called Women Do Everything, which is an initiative to help get more support for women in the trades. So I'd love to hear more about the mission of the organization and how it got started and what your areas of focus are right now.
Tonya Hicks (28:19):
Yes. So I started as a residential company to be able to have women at an entry level, with being residential, learn the trade and do home repair work. I couldn't find enough women. Even going to different programs back around 2015, I couldn't find enough women to join. It was so many women that wanted to learn how to get into the trades and how to grow into the trades. So to make a long story short, I went from that to training women and coaching women to come into this male-dominated industry of construction and also home repair.
(29:07):
And then I decided to branch out to other male-dominated industries, being manufacturing, transportation, aviation, automotive, agriculture. Because as I went along, I realized that we all had the same issue. We was just in a different industry as a male-dominated ... Even I started networking with the women in film and television industry, and they had the same issues, too.
(29:41):
So we're actually about to launch, for the very first time, the membership portion of Women Do Everything where women can join as members and take advantage of the different activities, the different events, and also different certifications, whether it is OSHA safety certifications or some of our sponsors that are looking to have more women in their industry are looking to partner with us to do some training as well.
(30:13):
So at the end of the day, I want women to get into these industries to help them make more money. During the pandemic, women were hit significantly, and I was really concerned about the economic development of women and how we were set back. So my goal is to get more and more women into these male-dominated industries which have 15 to 20% women representation, female representation, which is sad, but there's still many, many industries where less than 10% of women are represented.
(30:56):
Sometimes you just need to lean on somebody to keep going. If you're one of a few or the only woman at your job, you need somebody to do the three Cs, cuss, cry, and complain. So sometime if you just get it out, you can keep going. I'm a part of a lot of different women's trades groups on Facebook, and that's what we do. "Girl, guess what happened? Guess what this man said to me today." You got a whole group of women encouraging each other. So that's why I started the organization.
(31:32):
We're having our first women's summit and career expo March 28th, 29th, and 30th in Atlanta, Georgia. So we'll be sending out a save the date. We'll actually start taking registrations soon. That summit is more about introducing women to different things that they can do, from gig work to entrepreneurship and, like I said, to a career change in these male ... All of them are in male-dominated fields. So we want to help women win.
(32:11):
One of my goals is, which is our slogan, show her the money. We want to show her the money and show her a pathway to get there and show her women that have gone before her and women that she could reach out to say, "Hey, how did you get past this part?" Or, "Give me advice about this." Or, "What do I do when I'm having a down day?" I mean it seems simple, but it's not.
Yin Lu (32:38):
It sounds like this is the first time that this conference is happening. Very exciting. I hope I personally can make it if I can get an invite. I'm curious. What type of support are you needing at this stage in order to make sure that this first annual Women Do Everything conference is a big success?
Tonya Hicks (32:54):
We're actually looking for sponsors that are looking to invest in women and looking for more women to join their companies. Our current sponsors are Delta, Bank of America, UPS, and Staples. They've been an amazing support for women, aside from what they're beginning to do with us. But women invest so much in our communities. I mean in every sector women have been needed. Not since the World War II have women been needed to work.
(33:35):
So we need everybody to come together to kind of rally these women up to say, "You can do this, and we're behind you." I mentioned Staples before. That's where I got my first Gateway computer. Staples has been like a partner for my business from the very beginning. So we're looking for companies that want to invest in careers for women and also interested in growing their team with women in different jobs.
(34:07):
We need more women project manager, electricians, technicians, and more women in leadership. So we want those type of sponsors and partners. We also are looking for partners that are not just global, but I mean nationwide staffing agencies that also hire for some of the larger companies, even construction companies. No matter how small your company is, if you only hire one woman or you want women in your organization to join Women Do Everything and be supported, we welcome that as well.
(34:47):
So no matter what their budget is or where they want to come in to join us, we welcome that. But we have all type of classes or sessions. We have quite a few sessions on different things about mental health and just the stress and the strain from motherhood to making it through this pandemic or just working in hostile environment. We are doing everything we can to pull together resources to help women even with dependent care, either childcare or elderly care or disabled care.
(35:25):
Women are normally the caregivers in the family. So we're looking for also people in the medical community, whether it be pharmaceutical or hospitals or any of the dependent care or AARP, anybody that is willing to support women that work.
Yin Lu (35:45):
Very good. Okay. I am conscious of time and the fact that it's almost the end of your day. So just a few more quick-fire questions looking forward to the future. I'm curious to get your take on the IRA bill and what you think are the future implications now that the bill has begun to take shape in being applied in the day-to-day. What impact does the IRA bill passing have on your work?
Tonya Hicks (36:11):
The IRA bill I feel like is almost like a godsend almost, so to speak. I mean just the electrification of America, I'm an electrician. So you know this is one of those things I feel like the thing we've been waiting on. We didn't know we were waiting on it. Just the rebates for low income to low middle income to upper middle income as well, those rebates are going to mean a lot to helping people switch over from gas to electric.
(36:51):
I'm really, really excited about that. But for lower income people, it's 100% rebate. That's going to be a game changer. I think it's an opportunity for elderly people, people on fixed incomes to be able to afford much needed repairs and conserve energy. So I'm very, very excited about the IRA. For small contractors, it's a lot of different online handyman, handy woman type people on these sites that'll be able to make money through the IRA by making some of these much needed repairs.
(37:34):
So I'm very excited about it. I think it's a game changer. It's something I never saw our government doing, and I'm really, really looking forward to educating and helping people transition into using electric rather than gas, but also helping them put more control in their hands from automation, whether it's with a Nest, HVAC thermostat, or whether it's all the different apps and the different smart breakers.
(38:09):
It's so many new products in the industry. Also, with EV chargers. This year I became a manufacturer. A lot of people don't know that I'm manufacturing my own EV chargers for home and commercial, and it's called SHE EV.
Yin Lu (38:26):
What does that stand for?
Tonya Hicks (38:28):
SHE stands for Smart Home Energy, but it's a play on words because I'm a girl.
Yin Lu (38:33):
Brilliant.
Tonya Hicks (38:37):
Just the need. My company is leading the charge for safe charging station areas for women. You don't think about it, but when you're plugged up, you're like a sitting duck. If you're a woman and you have children or you're an elderly person or a person that's really vulnerable or seen as vulnerable to criminals, you need to be in an area that's well-lit and safe because it's not like you can drive off. You have to unplug to drive off.
(39:09):
So my company, I've just decided I'm going to lead the charge with our politicians and with the companies and with all these parking companies to say, "Hey, we need this to be a safe area for women and elderly people to charge."
Yin Lu (39:28):
Super exciting that you continue to evolve and grow. This is a new company that you're starting that is different from Power Solutions, or is this part of the Power solutions umbrella?
Tonya Hicks (39:37):
Power Solutions is its parent company.
Yin Lu (39:40):
Nice. Nice. Very good. Okay, one more question. Earlier, you mentioned, you're like, "I still feel like salmon swimming upstream." What keeps you optimistic? What keeps you continuing to want to do the work?
Tonya Hicks (39:50):
As you know, I've been in The New York Times. I was the whole page, and that article went around the world. I've even been featured in Forbes Japan. So from those articles, in particularly, I get messages from women all over the world, even some husbands and fathers that told me that they recommended their daughter look at me as an example. That's what keeps me going. It's not just paving the way, but holding the door for them to come on behind me.
Yin Lu (40:27):
Well, it's a beautiful note to end on. It has been such a fantastic conversation. Tonya, thank you for taking the time out of your obviously very busy day to chat with us. I learned a whole bunch and just really deeply appreciate all the work you're doing to try to level the playing field for women.
Tonya Hicks (40:43):
Oh, thank you. Thanks for having me.
Jason Jacobs (40:47):
Thanks again for joining us on My Climate Journey Podcast.
Cody Simms (40:50):
At MCJ Collective, we're all about powering collective innovation for climate solutions by breaking down silos and unleashing problem-solving capacity. To do this, we focus on three main pillars, content, like this podcast and our weekly newsletter, capital to fund companies that are working to address climate change, and our member community to bring people together, as Yin described earlier.
Jason Jacobs (41:12):
If you'd like to learn more about MCJ Collective, visit us at www.mcjcollective.com. If you have guest suggestions, feel free to let us know on Twitter @MCJpod.
Cody Simms (41:27):
Thanks, and see you next episode.