“All of the trainings taught me how to find a goal and follow it.” Joni Segock, Elim
Joni’s first time attending a training was in 1991. She went to Portland, OR to get her heavy equipment operator’s license. That training opened the door for her to drive the articulated rock truck in her home community when a trained operator was needed. She then realized that if she didn’t take the opportunity to take trainings when she had the chance, she could be missing out on employment opportunities that could be available to her in the future. She found herself working in the trades because Joni “likes working outdoors and doesn’t care to push papers.”
Last month Joni attended the Women in the Trades course that Kawerak helped sponsor. When asked what she was up to, she said “I’m learning the basics of carpentry. By myself I have been building little things since I was 11, that’s how I started doing things. I figured I would take this class because I self-taught and I wanted to learn how to do it right.” Her goal is to take the skills she learned from the course with her back home and build a coffee shack. Joni would then be opening the first coffee shop in Elim! To help her further this goal even more, Joni is taking the “Starting a Business” workshop held in Elim and working with Kawerak’s Business Development Specialist Alice Bioff as well as Alaska Small Business Development Corporation for one on one advice and support to open her future small business. If you can dream it, you can certainly do it, and there is support to help get you there!
Joni, a single mom, says to all the women out there, “go for it [professional development opportunities] while you are young, and do it while your mind is young.” She remembered one of the very first trainings she ever attended, which was a mining course. She was the first and only woman to attend at the time and she completed the course while she was pregnant!
“If it wasn’t for Kawerak, I wouldn’t have been able to attend any of the trainings. I am grateful that Kawerak helps further our people in the workforce.”
Keep up to date with trainings at Kawerak through our Facebook page, our website kawerak.org/training or by giving us a call at 1-800-550-4341. Think you know a training that would benefit your community? We would love to hear it!
