If you’d asked me three years ago where id like to be when I’m eighteen, I would never have said being a builder; but here I am!
I never had any strong sense of direction in what I wanted to do for my career and honestly didn’t give it much thought because I was so occupied with my gcses, stressing about them took up so much of my head space that I just took the easiest path set in front of me which was sixth form, which was really pushed by my school. When I started sixth form thought, I quickly realised it wasn’t for me so I took some time off, to really give thought to whether this is what I wanted to do.
And my dad just said to go to work with him instead of dossing round the house, so I did. To my surprise, I really enjoyed what I was doing and realised this was something I found very interesting and I could actually do this not as a temporary thing.
At school, it was made to seem as though apprenticeships were pointless. I have learnt a lot from my apprenticeship such as learning how to deal with customers and talking to different kinds of people, I never would’ve thought I could have such a laugh with old men! Even though I work for my dad, he still treats me like a normal apprentice so I’ve learned how to work for someone and the value of money.
I’m currently doing my level 2 in carpentry and joinery but I also get to learn other trades, not just what I am doing at college. I really like this because I love the variety of it, and we are always doing something different from day to day.
I was actually surprised when I tried plastering because I really liked it, and it seemed to come quite naturally to me. I have always been a perfectionist so I think that’s why I enjoy plastering because I like when I get it perfectly flat and all the edges straight.
I am aiming to keep getting improving with my pIastering and would eventually like to go into Venetian plastering. I would love to be skilled enough to do such a challenging and high quality job with such intricate designs. I think id really enjoy Venetian plastering and plastering in general because of the precision that it takes. In the future, id like to use my real life experiences working in the trades to go into interior design, focusing on the functionality of spaces rather than the soft furnishings.
If there is one thing I can accomplish though more than anything, I would love to encourage other girls and women to get into a trade. This is why I decided to make a tiktok series ‘learn to plaster with lil’ to encourage more women and girls to give it a go.
It is always stereotyped as something only men do because its a mans job, but it shouldn’t be like that. I’d like to say to all the women- don’t let it stop you if its something you think you’d enjoy.
A lot of people are surprised when they find out my job, and are skeptical that I can do it properly, but I just use that as motivation and it makes me even more determined to prove that I can, and that women belong in the trades just as much as men.
Lath and Plaster 