I Support The Whitehouse Council on Women and Girls Campaign

Hello everyone! I am pleased to see the Whitehhouse is taking initiatives to empower women, girls, and minorities. I am tickled at the hashtag for the campaign that is #YesSheCan. I fully believe that if you are strong and smart and have a burningn desire to learn, there is NOTHING you can't do!!! My dad used to say that to me all the time! He used to tell me that I had an ability with my hands and was capable of doing anything my heart desired. He knew that way before I saw my own potential. Mentoring young people is vital to help society in the future. Someone has to take over the wheel some day when I retire. It is about time to see evidence of change! It is great to see the American culture has somewhat evolved in the position taken regarding women and minorities. I know all too well that change doesn't happen overnight. I see more messages of encouraging girls to chase their dreams than ever before. It will still take many more years before women and minorities can get a good shake at equality. I find it funny that women were called to work in male-dominated jobs duriing World War II. Once the men returned home, women had to retreat back to the kitchen. I know the push back has alot to do with white men not losing their economic foot hold in the work field. God forbid they have to step up their game and compete with hard working women and minorities. I am happy affirmative action gave me a means to get my foot in the door in my trade. If it wasn't for that, I would not have great income and a pension on the horizon. By the way, I am a proud union journeywoman electrician out of Local #3 IBEW in New York City. I get the same pay as the man standing next to me. I thank the union for making that possible!! It makes sense why unions are degraded in society. Meanwhile, they offer a path for equal pay and work opportunities! I do not mention my union affiliation or the names of coworkers or contractors in my book for potential legal issues. It is not skipped out of lack of pride I assure you. I enjoy teaching a course to electrician apprentices called, Principles of Trade Unionism. It is great to mentor and inform the next generation of electricians. Knowledge is indeed power. I encourage women and minorities to join a union if you want equal pay and a fair shot at learning a trade. It is a huge challenge to get people to stop discounting a person's ability simply based on skin color or gender. It is frustrating to show up on the job to work and coworkers (women do it too) discount ability based on an initial appearance. I know I used to run around and carry double of what my male coworkers would do. This was in an effort to display what I was capable of and earn respect. I ended up ruining my body in this process. I knew I was making progress when my coworkers stopped seeing me as a female and just one of the guys. I knew all too well that my personal life could tamper my reputation. I was careful to maintain a professional relationship with my peers and avoid putting too much of my personal life on display at work. No matter how private you try to be, people will still make assumptionss as to what you do on your own time. Some of these assumptions can be negative in nature and some can be made to find humor. My hope is that my efforts helped the next female who steps on the job hungry for a paycheck and earned respect as an equal. At the end of the day, a great means to take care of your family and not rely on anyone else. I never wanted to rely on a man for my welfare. I did that once in my life and learned a powerful lesson. I married at 18 yrs old and he passed in an accident just before my 21st birthday. I was left stranded trying to pick up the pieces of my life. I knew from there on to make my own money and take care of myself. Anyone who comes into the situation is extra icing on the cake. I have a censored version of my book. The book is entitled, Consruction Tales: A Young Person's Guide to Accomplish Anything in Life. It is geared for younger readers in an effort to show them difficult things can be accomplished. No matter the push back, I was there to work and earn a paycheck. It is not easy to endure negativity on a regular basis. You must just dig deep and prove them wrong. Once you prove them wrong, you will gain a form of acceptance and life can become easier. I never concern myself with what people have to say. I usually make fun of it and keep chasing my goals. You can do it too! I am off to get some more things accomplished today! Construction Tales (adult/teen) can be found for Kindle, Nook, iTunes, and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Apple. As always, thanks for reading! Cheers! Leslie M Jasper (future Stakley)