MONIQUE ADAMS: Success In Her Reach
At 25, Adams seems to also know her own worth, a lesson she learned while enduring the hard knocks she encountered growing up. Raised the youngest of three by a single mother in Los Angeles, Adams admits to being the tough kid on the block. As a teenager, she hung out with the wrong crowd, getting into countless fights to demonstrate her fearlessness. “Coming up in L.A. with one parent was pretty hard,” she says. “But I had to realize that there were consequences to the mistakes I made.” Armed with that realization, she decided to “straighten up” her act, which paid big dividends in her life. As a high school student, she began earning good grades while making extra money doing handy work for her aunt. Although she was a promising student, she left high school at age 16 in favor of receiving her GED so she could start earning a living for herself. Thanks to her handy work experience, she easily found jobs working for small independent contractors. But after spending several years working without benefits, she knew she needed to pursue a real career. That’s when a friend told her about PVJOBS. During her first visit to the job program, Adams felt like she finally found the direction she needed. “The PVJOBS staff educated me about the unions and encouraged me to become an apprentice,” she says. “So I enrolled in the carpenter’s apprenticeship program, and it’s kept me focused on establishing a career.” Today, Adams continues to serve as an apprentice while working on various contracting assignments. While she still has a long journey ahead of her, she feels like she’s on her way to realizing the career she’s long sought after. “Being an apprentice may be demanding, but it’s satisfying,” she says. “It’s helped me to feel like becoming successful is obtainable.” |
s one of the few female apprentices with Carpenters Union Local 1506, Monique Adams remains acutely aware of her gender while serving in her training program. “As a woman, you’re always treated like you don’t know an A from a B,” she says. “Then again, having the longevity of a well-paid career makes it all worth it.”