Woman electrician “shocks” the business

CLEVELAND– Cheryl Waiters didn’t need permission to start knocking down boundaries.

In her inspiring memoir, Blood, Sweat, and High Heels, Waiters chronicles her victories and struggles as an African American female working to overcome gender and racial biases in the male-dominated field of construction. Set against a backdrop of racial tensions, civil unrest and social movements, Waiters takes readers on a journey through the years of JFK, Martin Luther King, Women’s Liberation and Black Panther Movements.

Raised with a difficult upbringing, Waiters has spent her entire life battling antagonism and defying stereotypes, from serving in the Air Force to working the construction site.

After landing a prized job as an electrician on monumental sites in the city of Cleveland, Waiters found herself in a career that not many women held, encountering racism and gender prejudices on a daily basis. Her coworkers, not understanding why a woman would want to work on a construction site, much less an African American one, were both unwelcoming and cruel.

Forced to develop nerves of steel in a hostile work environment, Waiters went on to build national recognized structures such as Jacobs Field and Gund Arena. Her place in history secured, Waiters now wishes to encourage other women with her memoir, and put on a pair of high heels.

“Women are the co-heirs of the Universe,” says Waiters.

With former appearances on Good Morning America and an undying dedication to women and African Americans, Waiters proves to be an admirable heroine that America never knew it had, exhibiting grit, resolve, and beauty in the face of a draining social ugliness. With the courage of a movie heroine, such as those in Erin Brockovich, North Country, and Norma Rae, Waiters joins a class of women who find themselves in a place they aren’t meant to be, and ultimately do what they were born to do.

Blood, Sweat, and High Heels
By: Cheryl Waiters
ISBN: 978-1-4620-5496-1
Paperback: $16.95
Available at www.amazon.com and www.barnesandnoble.com

For more information, visit www.bloodsweatandhighheels.com

About the author
Cheryl Waiters has been a professional electrician for the past twenty-two years. She holds the distinction of working on some of America’s most nationally recognized structures, including the Cleveland Indian’s Jacobs’ Field and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Gund Arena. She hopes to use the platform of her memoir to spread the message of racism and gender bias to a wider audience. She continues her work as an electrician in Cleveland.