Kimberley Smyth
Plumber and Business Owner
Hey Sista Plumbing
In her early 20s, Kimberley was told she’d never be a plumber but she kept her dream alive. Now she is the owner of Hey Sista Plumbing and a busy mum of four. And if you need any more reasons to love her, she helps women by providing an all-female service to women at risk from domestic violence backgrounds.
“I was the child that sat at the back of class who wasn’t engaged. I was often asleep. I fell pregnant with my first child in year 11 and had my daughter at the end of that year during the school holiday. Then I returned with the rest of my class to complete year 12. I was at a Catholic co-ed school so it was a pretty big deal at the time.
My friends and family laughed at the idea of me doing a plumbing apprenticeship. It was ten years before I finally started my mature age apprenticeship. By then I was a mother of four, but I had the confidence to not listen to others’ ideas of what I could and couldn’t do.
I cried the day when I finished my apprenticeship and passed my exams. I’m proud I didn’t listen to my doubts because now each year is better than the last and my children can see that they deserve to be happy, no matter what career they choose.
I love it when women I work for ask how they can start in a trade. And when they call their daughter in to show them while I work. I love that my job lets me talk with other women and give them hope for the future at a difficult time in their lives.”
Website: www.heysistaplumbing.com.au
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