Roofers Local 11's Donetta Thomas on Finding Her Path Through Hire360

from America’s Work Force Union Podcast · host BMA Media Group

She did not grow up thinking about roofing. She spent years in other work before deciding she wanted real pay, real benefits and a real career path. A woman she knew had gone through Hire360 and told her to look into it. She did. Now she is an apprentice with Roofers Local 11 in Chicago, and she is not going back. On today's episode of America's Work Force Union Podcast, Donetta Thomas tells her story of entering the building trades through Hire360, the Chicago workforce development organization that connects women and people of color to union construction careers. She walks through what Hire360's pre-apprenticeship program actually does to prepare people for the trades, what life on a roof in Chicago really looks like and what she would say to any woman or person of color who is sitting on the fence about making the move. Visit hire360chicago.com to learn more about Hire360 and rooferslocal11.org for more on Roofers Local 11.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jul 30, 2026

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Roofers Local 11 apprentice Donetta Thomas discusses her path from career change to union construction through Hire360’s pre-apprenticeship program in Chicago, what the physical and logistical realities of roofing work actually look like and her direct message to women and people of color thinking about the trades: the hardest part is deciding to start, and once you start, everything else is learnable.

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Roofers Local 11's Donetta Thomas on Finding Her Path Through Hire360

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This episode is 31 minutes long.

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This episode was published on July 30, 2026.

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