Local woman breaks the stereotype
By Angela Woodford, Special Correspondent

The Mechanicsville Local
Dec 26, 2007

Mechanicsville resident Faith Dickerson balances life’s demands like any other mom, running a business by day and spending her time off with her spouse of 13 years and two young children.

But what Dickerson does for a living often piques people’s interest. At age 39, Dickerson is a master electrician and owner of InnoTricity, a Mechanicsville-based electrical contractor. One of her four employees is also a woman.

"I wanted to help another woman get into the trade because it’s a really good trade," Dickerson said. "It’s not about being a woman’s job or a man’s job. Some women can do it and some can’t. Some men can do it and some can’t."

That doesn’t mean Dickerson hasn’t encountered some resistance along her path to the trade’s top ranking of master electrician. When she took a union apprenticeship for electricians about 10 years ago, Dickerson said her mother was apprehensive. "Mom was supportive, but she knew it was a male-dominated field and she was worried I wouldn’t fit in," she said.

Dickerson held secretarial and retail jobs for years, but she didn’t like the work and it wasn’t a good fit for a self-described tomboy who was mechanically inclined even as a child. "I pushed myself to do these jobs because that’s what I felt I was supposed to do," she said. "This was 22 years ago, and things were different."

Dickerson also had to deal with the idea of traditional gender roles in her apprenticeship. Some of her mentors were men who were nice, she said, but their desire to help her with certain parts of the job hindered her training.

"It was an emotional challenge because a lot of times on the job I felt neglected … as a woman I had to elbow my way in to get them to teach me because they wanted to do stuff for me."

The fact that Dickerson is thin didn’t help. She said she had to prove to her co-workers she could carry her weight – literally – in a job that entails heavy lifting. "I had to tell them, ‘Don’t let my size fool you.’ I’ve always been strong for my size," she said.

Dickerson enjoyed her work with the union, but didn’t like the travel it entailed. Three years ago, she founded Dickerson Technologies Inc., renaming it InnoTricity last year. InnoTricity is about to upgrade to a Class A Contractor, allowing Dickerson to take on larger jobs.

Currently, the bulk of InnoTricity’s business is with general contractors and homeowners who want custom fixtures.

"I can do everything from a ceiling fan to wiring a 6,000-square-foot house," Dickerson said. She’s also the area’s only installer for low-voltage window candles, and hopes to offer more energy-efficient lighting solutions soon.

Dickerson’s favorite part of the job is working one-on-one with customers, especially on lighting.

The customer puts out the idea and I work to meet their tastes and lifestyles," she said. "One of the reasons I’m doing this is because I like working with people."

While being a woman in a male-dominated field can be tough at the job site, Dickerson said it’s a plus when working with homeowners. Many times, her customers are women, and her gender helps ease their concerns about letting a total stranger into their homes.

Many people are, however, intrigued when they call InnoTricity to discover the woman answering the phone is not the secretary, but the business owner, she added with a smile.

"My business is not even listed as minority status," she said. "You do have people ask you why you wanted to get into this line of work, and it all depends on the angle you’re approached from. It can be condescending, but it can also be genuine interest."