Michelle Gainey, other panelists offer ‘honest’ advice on navigating the workplace at Job Corps “Women at Work” open house

PITTSBURGH’S FIRST LADY, MICHELLE GAINEY, gives honest advice about women in the workplace at the Pittsburgh Job Corps panel discussion, March 10. (Photo by Rob Taylor Jr.)

PITTSBURGH JOB CORPS CELEBRATES WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH

Oftentimes, being a woman in the workplace is tough.

People doubt your abilities. People want to pay you less. People don’t want to give you the promotion.

Pittsburgh’s Job Corps hosted a “Women at Work” open house and panel discussion on March 10, and the young women ages 16-24 received a mighty dose of honesty from the women on the panel.

Those women included Pittsburgh’s First Lady, Michelle Gainey, who brought the realness.

“I’ve faced challenges in most places that I worked,” she told the students. “What I’ve learned is how to do me. What I’ve grown into is how to carry me and how to own me so I can go in a space, and sit at a table and hold my head high and use my voice so that you can still clearly hear me. It’s not easy. Don’t always be quick to speak, but be quick to pay attention, watch with your eyes and listen with your ears, and take every experience, every interaction, and think about it, because that’s how we all grow.”

Gainey then told the students that she once worked a job, “where I had to go outside and walk around the building. I had to put my earphones in my ears and I had to get some gospel music going, and call my husband or my bestie, so I (wouldn’t) go back in my job and lose my mind.”

The Job Corps students were all ears after that story.

“But it took me a long time to get there,” Gainey added. “It took me a lot of watching other people make those mistakes and flip a table, cuss somebody out, lose their job…I watched a young lady get escorted out a building and then they packed up her stuff and left it with security. Don’t do that. And the thing you want to know is, yourself is far more valuable than getting into it with somebody at your job. Your mental, your emotional is far more precious than to be on a job screaming and acting out. Just take your time, talk to your bestie…work it out, get some suggestions, always document, who was there, who heard, what happened, what time, what was going on, and just listen and watch. If you don’t have the experiences, you don’t get to grow, and that’s necessary.”

A point often made during the discussion was that the adult women on the panel were once young students, trying to figure life out, trying to learn the art of interpersonal relationships, trying to obtain the work and soft skills needed for the workplace.

“My husband (Ed Gainey) didn’t get to the point to where he could be mayor without skinning his knees,” Michelle Gainey told the students. “I wasn’t prepared to be the First Lady of the city without skinning mine. We both had to walk, we had to have the experiences, we had to pray, we had to breathe before we got here.”

SOME OF THE PANELISTS INCLUDED MICHELLE GAINEY, FAR LEFT, THERESA MONROE, SECOND FROM RIGHT, AND MELISSA CAMERON, FAR RIGHT.

The Pittsburgh Job Corps is a U.S. Department of Labor career technical training program that is located in Lincoln-Lemington, off Washington Boulevard. Students either live on campus or commute, and the Pittsburgh campus offers 11 career training areas, such as security and protective services, culinary arts, electrical, nursing and certified medical assistant, and HVAC.

Students were able to ask a variety of questions to the panelists, which, in addition to Gainey, included Becky Flaherty, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Pittsburgh; Theresa Monroe, an artist and former Job Corps student; and Melissa Cameron, a Department of Corrections officer and Job Corps alumna. The event was moderated by Beth Caldwell, CEO of Professional Pittsburgh Women. She toured around the country with comedian and host Steve Harvey for four years (2014-2018), speaking to audiences on success skills and how to start businesses.

Students were particularly interested in how to make it at a job that’s male-dominated. Enter Cameron, the corrections officer, who admitted that at the beginning, she was “very frustrated” as a female working inside a male prison. But her lieutenant told her to just “be you,” and from that point on, Cameron excelled.

“Be you and embrace who you are, because people are going to see that magic,” Cameron told the students. “I used to have people come up to me and compliment me on my work. Just always be you in the workplace and show everybody the skills you bring to the table.”

Gainey told the students that when you get that first job, understand that “you’re perfect as you are.” But, don’t forget to seek out mentors at the job. Gainey said she didn’t know early on to seek out the mentors. “Someone who I got to know one-on-one very closely or someone who I just watched from a distance, to see how they came to work, how they dressed for work, what time they got there, how they carried themselves, how they handled conflict…,” she said.

She encouraged the students to be open to learn on the job. Learn from your mistakes, your successes, pay attention to the environment.

“You’re going to make mistakes and that is OK,” Gainey said, “because those mistakes are the experiences you have to have so that you can learn and grow.”

The four panelists told the students that it’s important to save money as a woman in society, because one never knows the unexpected financial issues that could come up. They also emphasized creating a support system in the workplace and outside of work, because leaning on others with similar experiences can help the entire group cope and recover in a positive manner. And they stressed to the students the art of having confidence in yourself, at all times. Theresa Monroe, the artist and former Job Corps student, told the students how passionate she was when she started writing her first children’s book, some 18 years ago.

“I would work on it every other day, and then all of a sudden I got discouraged,” Monroe said. “I put it down, wouldn’t work on it…years went on, I had my first daughter, and then my second daughter…”

Last year, her family urged her to finish her book.

“It took me 17 years to write a book, but it took me two hours to finish it,” Monroe said. “There are going to be challenges, you’re going to run into obstacles, you’re going to feel like giving up, like you can’t do it. But that is your decision, and you have to be open and keep a belief in yourself.”

 

 

 

 

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