From a very early age, Sasha always wanted to make a career out of electrics or electronics. As a child, she was always taking things apart and re-building them. However, Sasha has not had a conventional route into this role. From the age of 13-16 she worked at a hotel in St Annes, then went on to complete her ‘A Levels’ in biology, psychology, chemistry and law. However, she discovered an entrepreneurial spirit and, almost by accident, found herself buying and selling fridges and other large kitchen appliances. What started as a couple of eBay buys soon became a burgeoning business called ‘Pre-loved Kitchen Appliances’. In no time at all she had over 1000 ‘likes’ and lots of great reviews on Facebook and Sasha had to find warehouse space to keep up with demand.
However, Sasha had not given up her dream of becoming a qualified electrician and was delighted when her mum, as a tenant of Progress Housing Group, received a letter to ask if she knew anyone who would be interesting in applying for an apprenticeship with the Group. This was the first year that Progress Housing Group had directed their apprentices solely to tenants (or their children) and the timing was perfect for Sasha.
Sasha contacted the Group and sailed through the selection and interview process and, as they say, the rest is history!
As previously mentioned, Sasha is Progress Housing Group’s first female apprentice, so just this very fact means that she is a role model for other women, not only in the organisation, but also outside. Her family are quite rightly proud of her achievements, and her success at getting an apprenticeship has opened the eyes of some of her friends – for instance one of them is now considering applying for a plumbing apprenticeship.