Destiny Cole

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I was part of a scholar’s program called Promises to Kids. My coordinator at the time, Patrick, was helping me try to get into the beauty industry. I was supposed to go to Paul Mitchell, but there were a lot of hiccups. A lot of stuff wasn't working out, so I had to stop and try to look for something new. And so, he told me about the HomeAid San Diego WORKS Construction Training Program.

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And I'm thinking, it's construction, I would be sweaty, I'm not that strong, I don't know if I'll be able to lift stuff. But once I started the courses, I thought this was interesting. First of all, I thought I knew how to use the tape measure, but I found out I didn’t know how to use the tape measure. Even other things like hammering nails or using a drill the proper way, like using light pressure and pacing yourself when you're doing it. We touched on every single portion of safety and anything to do with construction, drywall and even the corporate side. There's a whole process to this.

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I liked learning about blueprints because I want to get into project management—so it was nice to at least have an introduction to that.

I was pretty shocked when I was hired because I felt like there were a lot more people who knew more about construction than I did. So, I honed in on the things that I'm good at, which are networking and seizing every opportunity. So, I was hired, and Lennar sent us to Irvine for a week and I thought it was super cool. We got to learn about the culture and the history of the company. I've never had an onboarding like that where they were so appreciative of us and really wanted us to learn.

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Having people around you that are supportive is so important. My supervisor, Roberto Hernandez, has been in the industry for 20+ years. He’s really awesome and teaches us how to do repairs and get our hands dirty. He just has knowledge of everything and I’m trying to follow in his path to be well-rounded in everything. I see him and he has a great network of people.

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This job, in customer service and warranty services, is all about connections and building relationships with the trade partners or the construction managers.

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At first, I was nervous because it is a male-dominated industry for sure, but once you get in here, it's more about gaining people's respect regardless of your gender. If you're a hard worker, they're going to appreciate that about you. When I first started here, I was asking a million questions because I wanted to learn. People see the hard work and dedication and see that I was putting in an effort, and everybody's kind of doing a little clap for you, seeing you grow.

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They’re happy to see I have a new car today because I was going back and forth to appointments with homeowners, paying Uber 20 bucks here and 20 bucks there.

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I’ve gotten to know everybody. And even in this trailer, I’ve bonded with the guys and I appreciate them a lot. Dylan, Roberto Lopez, Roberto Hernandez, they're all just great guys and they teach me practically everything.

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My favorite part is seeing the impact that I can have on the homeowners because not everybody's going to be happy, but I just want my homeowners to know that I'm going above and beyond for them to try to work things out. They have to go through certain channels to do things, but because I already know the numbers and the direct lines, I can just nip it in the bud in seconds instead of them waiting two weeks for an answer.

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I genuinely love to help people, and I love to change people's mindset and perceptions on things. So, if I can be the light at the end of the tunnel after they went through all this, I want to be able to do that for them. These are first-time homebuyers, and I actually have empathy for them.

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I want people to see my true personality and my heart and how I am as a person. And I hope that is portrayed well. I want everybody to be able to feel like I'm coming from a good place with the best intentions. I've been connecting with my homeowners more and one of the communities just closed last week. We had our last walkthrough, so it's nice to see the project go from nothing to something and everybody's moved in.

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I'm close to some of my homeowners’ kids and they'll come up and run to me and hug me when I'm going on work orders. It’s so cool to see the relationships that I built with them and the trust they have for me, that I'll make sure that they're okay.