CHARLOTTE, N.C — Becoming a plumber was the last thing Hatisha Mike thought she would be doing. She never considered the idea until she received an email a few months ago. 

“They had a zoom call with She Built This City, and I just joined the zoom call and that was probably the best thing I’ve done this far,” said Mike. 

What You Need To Know

  • "She Built This City" is a Charlotte nonprofit focused on getting girls and women into construction and trade.

  • This summer, they teamed up with Lowe's and Three Way Plumbing to offer a 15-week pre-apprenticeship program for eight women. 

  • The current program session began in early July and will wrap up in October, when these women will receive a certificate of completion. 

Mike owns a catering business and also sells insurance, but after that call, she decided she wanted to add plumbing to her résumé. 

“We’ve been learning how to measure fittings,” she said. “We’ve been learning about commercial residential. They even brought the truck here so we’ve gotten a lot of good information.” 

Mike is one of eight women currently enrolled in She Built This City’s Pre-Apprenticeship Plumbing Program.

She Built this City is a Charlotte nonprofit focused on getting girls and women into construction and trade.

The nonprofit teamed up with Lowe's and Danielle Martini of Three Way Plumbing to offer a 15-week pre-apprenticeship program. 

“There are not a lot of women in this industry and I don’t understand why,” said Martini. 

Martini has been running her plumbing business for over 20 years and is hoping this program can attract more women to this industry. 

“They don’t know and they haven’t been given that opportunity to explore,” she said. “Schools don’t focus on the trades, and there’s so much about STEM. STEM is involved in all of this so the trades are dying out.” 

This program is not only providing women like Mike with hands-on experience. Once they finish, the plan is to help the women find jobs so they can began growing in this field. 

“From what I know, you have to at least work two years before you’re able to gain your plumbing license, so I would hope to become a master plumber and have people work under me,” Martini said. 

This program session began in early July and will wrap up in October, when these women will receive a certificate of completion. 

If you are interested in learning more about this program and other programs offered by She Built This City, click here.