Paving the Way for Women in the Building Trades Since 1984

Aug 29

This story is part of our Skilled AF podcast series, spotlighting diverse and inspiring voices connected to the skilled trades community.

Juanita Douglas is a true pioneer. In 1984, seeking better pay to support herself and her 7-year-old son, she became a union commercial carpenter in Petaluma, CA, and quickly fell in love with the trade. After a successful 30+ year career as a carpenter and later a surveyor, she retired, only to return to the industry. Now, as Senior Manager of Construction and Labor Relations for Rising Sun Center for Opportunity, she helps prepare youth, women, and reentry individuals for high road careers that offer family sustaining wages in the construction trades.

In this interview we cover:

Landing her job as commercial carpenter and the retelling of her wild story of having to go job site to job site until she found a role
Hurdles she faced being a BIPOC woman and single mother and how she overcame them
How she stayed physically fit for the job – there’s a fun fact in this one
Her journey from carpenter to surveyor and how she made the switch
Her role in developing the workforce that built the Warriors’ Chase Center which led to finding her passion as a teacher
Her role now at Rising Sun and info about their Opportunity Build program – a certified pre-apprenticeship program for a career in the construction trades, that has a heavy focus on getting women into the industry
The wraparound services that Opportunity Build’s program provides participants post graduation – childcare financial support, mental health services and drug counseling
How she’s training people through the lens of building decarbonization and the new local pathways they’re creating around heat pumps
Biggest myth about construction she’s heard
Her love for the industry and advice to the next generation