Getting more women involved in the trades seems like a fairly new push, but one heating and cooling business in metro Detroit has been owned by women for more than 70 years.
C&C Heating and Air Conditioning in Roseville has women taking the lead in a male-dominated field.
The company looks a lot different since it opened in 1948, but one thing remains the same: A woman has been in charge.
"I always say I didn’t know any different because I just always say my grandma and my mom running it," Dayna Hottle said.
Hottle is now the third woman in her family taking the helm. Her grandmother, Billie Corrion Foster, who passed away two years ago, started the company with her husband, brother and sister-in-law.
Her daughter, Donna Corrion then took it over.
"She worked in the office and sold parts and guys would come in and ask for metal to be done and she would come back and bend metal," Corrion said.
Now, Hottle is the general manager, making it her mission to get more women and young girls involved in the trades.
"I want to mentor and empower women," she said.
Hottle is on the steering committee of Women in Nexstar and a member of Women of HVACR, offering schoalrships to women wanting to break into the trades. Her boss-lady status inspired former C&C employee Starr Sciortino.
"You just need that one person to take a chance on you, ya know," Sciortino said.
She started off working in the office at C&C, but after realizing the career potential in the trades, she's now an electrical apprentice.
"I think we should have women all across the board in trades," she said.
Still, Scirtino said she's the only woman in her class. Hottle's solution is to educate people.
"We have to educate this next generation on the opportunities that the trades can provide," Cottle said.
If you'd like to learn more about the scholarship, visit their website at https://www.womeninhvacr.org/scholarships
