Building a future: Trade school director is helping Latina women build careers

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Texas Technical Trade School specializes in construction and offers students HVAC and electrical training, which is s 80% hands-on and 20% theory. That was the perfect fit for Jesus Figueroa, a recent graduate of the program.

“Ever since high school, I never really liked school, honestly. I didn’t want to go to college and just sit in a class where I didn’t want to be there. So I did something that I would actually get my hands on and do something productive with my time,” Figueroa said.

Elvia Quintanilla is the school’s Founder and Executive Director. She said that although the field is dominated by men, there’s room for everybody, as we saw with Hurricane Beryl and the recent derecho.

Quintanilla is working to recruit women to join the trades by offering scholarships, gas, and even childcare assistance to set students up for success.

“We’ve been working very hard to market the trades a little bit different because it was a little dull, you know, it was a very like laborious looking. It’s not, you can be a superintendent in a refinery, you can be in manufacturing, you can be industrial.”

The school has partnered with nonprofits like SER Jobs, an organization that provides social services. The program recently assisted in welcoming the newest class of all women ready to get certified.

“It’s important to recruit more women because we think very differently from men. And I think you need both perspectives in the field,” Quintanilla said.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2% of electricians are women. Quintanilla is working to change that. She said that through her own experiences, such as growing up in what she describes as a “chaotic” household, becoming a teen mom, and going through a divorce, she found the inspiration to not only transform her own life but also make a difference in the lives of others.

“We manage our children, we manage our family, we manage our parents sometimes, you know, as Hispanic in the community. I was, you know, scared to dive into male dominant field. The trades in the schools is a male dominant field, but I could tell you that if you really care about what you want to do, if you really believe, you don’t have to even believe yourself, just stick to it. Just go and show up for yourself every day that you can be very successful.”

Texas Technical Trade School is located at 9700 Almeda Genoa Rd. You can find information on classes at their website, here.