SHONTELLE BRATHWAITE isn’t afraid to get down and dirty in the trenches. She is, after all, setting a shining example for her 13-year-old daughter. Wearing her hard hat and protective boots and work uniform, she doesn’t want to be one of the boys. She wants to be respected for the job she does.
“I am the only female in my department. There are six males I work with. My supervisor is Jimmy Balran and my manager is Justin Inniss. I have a good rapport with both and I get along well with all the guys,” she told EASY magazine.
Shontelle is a quality control officer at FLOW and every day is not the same.
On any given day, Shontelle is pulling conduits or troubleshooting issues with your internet or phone or cable. She also goes to check on quality of services and to do site surveys so when the technicians arrive for installation all the infrastructure is already in place.
“I have only been here for two years and already I am looking to move up the ladder. I love my job and I love what I do. I want to pursue a course in project management so when the big projects roll in I am capable of handling them.
This is not the first time Shontelle has been in a male-dominated field.
For 16 years she was a contractor at Cable TV Services as part of the MultiChoiceTV team.
“It was my first real job upon leaving the Polytechnic. I did odds and ends when I left Springer Memorial until I was hired there.”
Shontelle said she wasn’t sure what she wanted to be while growing up.
“It was only in fifth form I made up my mind the direction I wanted to take my career.”
Shontelle said she was a tinkerer at home, picking apart appliances to see what made them work. Nuts, bolts and electronic components fascinated her.
“If they were broke I would try to fix them. When a skills training workshop came to [Springer] school about the electronics field, a light bulb was switched on.”
Shontelle applied to the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic (SJPP) and finished a course in consumer electronics.
Armed with that knowledge, she gained her first real job.
And soon she was out on the road working alongside the men, climbing onto rooftops and shimmying up and down ladders.
“I was the only female in my department back then too. Just as I was the only female in the course at SJPP. I used to have it rough at first as they would think I don’t know what I am doing but eventually they started to respect me and my skills.”
Shontelle said at times on jobs men would try to “help” her but she quietly let them know she is capable.
“I find the male customers would sometimes be sceptical and make certain remarks, but my co-workers would tell me not to dwell on it because it is only because I am a woman why that happened.”
In the last three years at Cable TV, she became a supervisor and so was stuck in the office.
“I used to miss the road and the hands-on work so much I would volunteer to help the guys so I could be out there working. I even used to come in on Saturdays just because it meant I could go in the field.”
While never been seriously injured on the job, she was home for a week with soft tissue damage to her hand when a 28-foot ladder was buffeted by the wind and it slid down and injured her.
But how did she end up at FLOW for the past two years?
“A supervisor there called me and said there was a job opening and if I was interested. I sent in my résumé and got a call two days after. I did the interview and they must have liked what they saw because I was hired,” she said, laughing.
“I took the opportunity because I saw that in this position there is room to improve and excel.”
Shontelle said she has given advice to young women who see her in her hard hat and wanted to know how she keeps it together with so much testosterone around.
“I tell them be yourself and keep focused. The men will give you heat but don’t take it to heart. Once you are good at your job you will get the praise you deserve.”
Shontelle says her mum and cousin Alison are her two biggest cheerleaders.
“They always give me encouragement. When I told Alison I was getting my first interview she was happier than I was.”
Shontelle, who turns 40 next month, says she wants her daughter to realise she can do and be anything she wants to be: “I have a brother who is an electrician and a sister who is a plumber. My daughter wants to be a cosmetologist or an air traffic controller. We always tell her you can do anything once you put your mind to go for it.”
