Now an Assistant Coordinator at the Chicago Regional Council of Carpenters Apprentice Program, Kina McAfee hopes to use her story and influence to inspire more young women to join the trades. After studying political science and urban studies at Northwestern University, Kina started volunteering with an organization that was rehabbing apartments. Needless to say, that's where her love of carpentry began.
Though she has faced her fair share of obstacles being a woman in the trades (and was even shut out from work sites for that reason alone), she learned to "work 10 times harder" to prove her capability and skill—which she did, earning the respect from countless of her colleagues and superiors. Now in her role at the apprentice program, she works to make the path a bit more obstacle-free for the women who follow in her footsteps.
