Carrboro woman hailed as hero for helping to train women in construction jobs

WRAL first met Spencer on March 7, 2022 when she was on a Cary job site with other women working in construction. They took a short break to celebrate their rise in the industry.

One of the women, Cheryl Casatellie said, "My dad actually raised me with tools in my hands." She’s not alone. The number of women trained to fill these jobs has been rising in the Carolinas and Georgia.

Helping to spur that trend, especially in the Triangle area is Nora Spencer, CEO of the non-profit "Hope Renovations."

Spencer said, "Obviously, the national recognition is incredible and it’s not something that we really ever expected, certainly not something that I expected when I started this non-profit we launched two and a half years ago."

The CNN honor includes GoFundMe accounts for the 50 women selected. Subaru promises to match donations up to $50-thousand dollars.

Spencer is focused on helping more women go through a 16-week training program which will prepare them their future in the field.

She said, "The career progression is pretty fast because there’s such a need for folks at all different levels of this industry."

In just two-and-a-half years, Spencer says they’ve completed 175 jobs in the communities which includes helping seniors repair their homes.

Last March on their job site, the female construction workers proudly wore safety helmets with stickers that said, "Proud to be Crushing Stereotypes" and "Being Savage, not Average."

Spencer said, "It’s so exciting to see these women figure this out, you know, see that there’s so much opportunity for themselves that they may never have even considered before."