It’s International Women’s Day on Sunday so to mark that today we’re profiling the first female member of our solar installer network, Loretta Hill of Roland Lawrence Electrical.
Loretta, 16, has travelled a long way to join Roland’s company in Sydney. She’s from Bonalbo, a small town 100km inland of Lismore in northern NSW.
Her transition from high school student to apprentice electrician started when she came to Sydney last year on work experience. “I actually loved it,” Loretta says. “And it was way better than school. I’d always wanted to be in a trade somewhere.”
Although she was only in Year 10, she was keen to leave school so when Roland offered her an apprenticeship, Loretta got special approval to finish early. Now she’s working and doing her electrical apprenticeship at St George TAFE.
Loretta says she’s had no problems working with the boys, although she’s not as physically strong. That’s something she’s working on. She plays Rugby Union for the Rockdale Rangers. She plays winger. She can run fast.
Even today, the solar industry in Australia, like all trades, is highly male-dominated so Inner West Community Energy would like to mark International Women’s Day by welcoming Loretta to our network of preferred installers. We wish her well in her new career and we look forward to profiling her solar work here in the years to come.
She’s pretty happy to be doing this. “It makes me proud that I’m one of the few girls,” she says.
- Gavin Gilchrist
- Project Manager
PS Don’t forget our next Solar Information Night will be on Tuesday, March 31, at Gasoline Pony, Marrickville, 7pm.
Bookings Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/solar-information-night-free-advice-on-going-solar-in-the-inner-west-tickets-97890215269