Druanne Pierce
My grandmother used to say: 'Your greatest power is your power to choose.' ... I made a choice to become a good mechanic.
AVIATION MAINTENANCE
Druanne Pierce, co-owner and vice president of Plane Safe Aircraft Maintenance
These days, Druanne Pierce’s world is chock-full of blue skies and tailwinds. Pierce has been fixing aircraft of all shapes and sizes since earning her Airframe and Powerplant License in 1993. For the past two decades, she has been co-owner and vice president of Plane Safe Aircraft Maintenance, which maintains and repairs more than 200 small planes every year at an airy wood and brick hangar at Waukesha County Airport.
But before her life reached the clear, calm airspace where the sun shines nonstop and the clouds are harmless wisps, Pierce had to deal with turbulence. And there was a lot of turbulence.
The bumps started early. Her first attempt at aviation was tossing a paper airplane off the roof of the old seven-story West Allis Inn, where she lived as a child. “I wrote a secret message inside the paper airplane thinking it would fly for miles and miles and reach some far away land,” she recalled. “But it just fell straight to the ground.”
Against the wishes of her mother, who wanted Pierce to do something with her artistic abilities, she signed up for the Aviation Maintenance program, which had a two-year waiting list at the time. In the meantime, she attained her High School Equivalency Diploma and started taking commercial art classes at MATC. Then she made it into the aviation program. Lilli, her maternal grandmother, loaned her money to buy a car to attend school, creating a lasting bond between the pair and cementing Lilli’s role as a supporter, encourager, and mentor. After starting classes, Pierce received a package from Lilli. Inside was an aviation handbook from the 1940s along with a cloth patch from New York’s LaGuardia Airport that read “Academy of Aeronautics.” Lilli revealed that she had wanted to be a “Rosie the Riveter” during World War II.
“I had no idea my grandma wanted to work on planes,” Pierce said. “She was so proud and excited for me. She was and will always be my inspiration.
“My grandmother used to say: ‘Your greatest power is your power to choose. You have the ability to control much of your life, mood, and situations with the choices you make.’ I made a choice to become a good mechanic.”
As the only female in the program at the time, Pierce ignored sexist remarks from classmates and put-downs from her instructor, and went on to earn her degree with honors. In the years since, more women have graduated from the program, and Pierce, who came back to teach aircraft physics, aircraft propellers, and aircraft fuel systems courses at MATC, noted: “Once I started actually learning and getting to fix things, it felt so natural. It felt like home. I knew that working on planes was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Her first job, though, was a nightmare. She endured lower pay, frequent insults, and continual mistreatment. One of her instructors encouraged her to take legal action, but she didn’t. “I knew if I did that, I would never get another job in aviation ever again for the rest of my life,” she said. “I had two children to provide for and needed to work.” She persevered until she got a job with Sussex-based printer Quad Graphics, servicing cargo planes. She got a raise and was able to get off government assistance. In 1998, she met Sam Cryer, another aircraft mechanic. A few years later, they started a mobile aircraft-repair business. They purchased a truck and trailer and never looked back. “She has been there right from the beginning,” Cryer said. “We got so busy that Druanne left Quad to dedicate all her time to the new company. We took that truck and trailer all sorts of places to fix planes: airports, farm fields, anywhere and everywhere.”
In 2006, they settled into a hangar at the Waukesha airport. This year, Plane Safe was voted the best service provider by the airport’s tenants. Today, the firm has seven additional employees and services single-engine, twin-engine, piston, light turbine, and turboprop aircraft, along with experimental aircraft and restored military planes.
Pierce also shares her knowledge, especially with young women, to spur interest in the aviation field. She has spoken at the Wings Over Waukesha air show and to local Girl Scout troops. Her company participates in Youth in Aviation and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) events. “This is a field that will need people in short order,” she said. “The older generation is retiring.”
Her goal now is to find a way to reach out and speak to young people, those who are struggling, to encourage them and assure them that there are resources available. “Sometimes I look back, and I think about everything that has happened in my life and all that I have done, and wonder how the heck did I accomplish all that? There have been some dark times,” she said. “I realize I have an awful lot to be grateful for and proud of. I feel so very blessed. I want to show others that hard work pays off and that you can do and become anything you put your mind to.”
Mariya Sorensen
The more women we have, the easier it will be for them to stay in the industry. We need to expose girls as early as possible to the opportunities that are there for them.
CONSTRUCTION
Mariya Sorensen, senior integratedconstruction manager at Mortenson Construction
It’s almost impossible to think of Mariya Sorensen doing anything without a plan. Yet there she was in the summer of 2009, arriving in the Wisconsin Dells from Belarus with $400 and her passport in her pocket, and having absolutely no idea what she was going to do after her seasonal jobs ended. “When I came to America, I wasn’t planning to stay. I wanted to explore, study and travel,” she said. “I had no idea what was going to happen.”
Sorensen was no ordinary summer worker. Back in her hometown of Babruysk, she excelled in mathematics and physics in primary school and high school. She attended college in Minsk, the nation’s capital and largest city, and earned an electronics engineering technology degree from the Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics.
When her summer in the Dells ended, Sorensen decided to stay. She moved to Milwaukee, took a job as a waitress and found a small apartment. “For me, it was one day at a time,” she said. “I never knew if I would still be here the next day.” She heard about MATC, and, almost on a whim, she enrolled in the college’s Architectural Technology program. Three years later, she earned her associate degree. Today, all Sorensen does is plan. As an award-winning, senior integrated construction manager at Mortenson Construction, Sorensen leads a six-member team that fabricates buildings on a screen using computer modeling, digital design, robotics and virtual reality equipment and then analyzes and solves potential problems before the first shovel hits the dirt. “I like to call myself a virtual superintendent,” she said. “While in college, I realized construction was the one thing that I wanted to do. I love the challenges that every day brings and the reward of seeing the accomplishments at the end of the project.”
When she started at MATC, the soft-spoken Sorensen kept to herself, working on assignments and improving her English. “Everything was so new and so terrifying,” she recalled. “I knew that I could quit at any time, but I also knew I had come all this way and wanted to do well.” After earning her degree in 2012, Sorensen took a job as a drafter at a local roofing company. She then became an engineer and an estimator. In 2017, she took a job on Mortenson’s virtual design and construction team.
Founded in 1954 in Minneapolis, Mortenson Construction has built almost 250 entertainment and sports venues in the United States, including Fiserv Forum, home of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks. In Milwaukee, Mortenson is perhaps best known for constructing healthcare facilities.
Sorensen has worked on numerous projects, including the Dwight and Dian Diercks Computational Science Hall at the Milwaukee School of Engineering; The Art Preserve, an art museum and a satellite campus of the John Michael Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan; and the Center for Advanced Care at Froedtert Hospital Campus. Her meticulous work has been widely praised: She won Mortenson Pinnacle Awards in 2018 and 2023. In 2019, she was named an outstanding woman in construction by the Daily Reporter, which covers the construction and development industry in Wisconsin.
“Mariya’s persistence and passion for driving innovation helps her and her team meet new challenges and achieve innovative success,” Mark Peterson, an integrated construction manager at Mortenson, said in 2019. “Mariya helps the team think ahead, plan smarter and leverage technology to improve our construction processes.”
Sorensen is also committed to getting more women into construction and other science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields (STEM). She is involved in empowHER, a national group that supports, advocates for and recruits women in the construction industry, and frequently speaks to high school girls and college women about her experience. She was a guest presenter at MATC two years ago, instructor Daniel Inyang said. “The students were so impressed that one of them said ‘she blew my mind’ with the level and quality of the advance work she was doing as a program graduate,” he said.
“The more women we have, the easier it will be for them to stay in the industry,” Sorensen said. “We need to expose girls as early as possible to the opportunities that are there for them. Show them what they would be like working in the industry. As a leader in a culture where I have been allowed to thrive, I feel like I have more of an impact. My hope is that I can be a role model to them.”
Samantha Albert (left) and Charlene Lee
I see so much power in women, and I don't want us to settle. We are strong, and we belong in the trades, too.
AUTOMOTIVE, TRUCK DRIVING
Samantha Albert and Charlene Lee
Samantha Albert’s first year in the college’s Automotive Maintenance Technician program was a rough ride. She was a single mother raising a son with special needs and suffered a bout of lupus, a painful autoimmune disease. Some of her classmates—mostly males and right out of high school—sometimes hid her tools and made snide comments, Albert said.
“It was tough. I had great instructors, but some of the other class members were younger than me and didn’t have the same life experience,” Albert recalled. “As the year went on, I wanted to give up.”
The college stepped in to help. When Albert reached out to Erik Riley, her advisor in the Manufacturing, Construction and Transportation Pathway, he connected her with Charlene Lee, who was earning technical diplomas in the college’s Truck Driving and Diesel and Powertrain Servicing programs.
With the college’s support, Albert and Lee started a student organization called Labor Ladies. They formulated a mission, created informational flyers and buttons, and developed a webpage on the MATC website.
“We as a college are making change by bringing about this new student organization,” said Becky Alsup, dean of the Manufacturing, Construction and Transportation Pathway. “Samantha has had a leading role in making a difference. Now there is more support, more networking and more interaction available to these women.”
The group aims to support, motivate, and advocate for women pursuing educational and career goals in the trades.
“We believe in the potential of every woman to excel in traditionally male-dominated trades, and we are committed to breaking down barriers, shattering stereotypes, and fostering an environment where women can reach their full potential,” Albert said. “We want to inspire a generation of women who are confident, skilled, and ready to make their mark in the world of trade programs,” she added.
The group meets at the Oak Creek Campus, where many of the MCT programs are taught. Albert and Lee also got Karen Feliciano, the instructor who created the college’s first bilingual welding program, to speak at meetings.
“I view it as a safe place for women to come, talk, and share what is happening in their classes and in their lives,” Lee said. “A place where they can see a friendly face.”
Albert, who graduated from the Automotive Maintenance Technician program in May 2023 and from the Auto Collision Repair and Finish Technician program in May 2024, and Lee are also visiting local high schools to share their stories.
“The power to communicate with other women is awesome,” Albert said. “I see so much power in women, and I don’t want us to settle. We are strong, and we belong in the trades, too.” ■
Learn more about MATC’s Manufacturing, Construction & Transportation programs at matc.edu.