A 21-year-old New Zealand electrician has become the first woman to ever win the Electrical Training Company apprentice of the year award.
Opal Vickery won the award last week and is already working as a qualified sparkie. She now earns $31 dollars an hour.
She told TVNZ1's Breakfast the qualification has meant she can now start setting herself up for life.
"I'm fully qualified and almost have enough money for a deposit on a house," says Ms Vickers.
She said the fact that she is the only woman in her company doesn't garner any negativity from clients.
"Everyone's really supportive. All of the time when I have clients people are like 'are you an electrician and you're a girl, that is awesome'.
"It's super cool to be able to just see the joy on their face when they can understand and see that, oh if she can do it there's a pathway for so many other people as well."
Ms Vickers has big dreams for her future, and the future of electrical training.
"I just really want to give back to all the people who have given and inputted into me.
"I want to be able to go to electricians in the future, or future apprentices and be like 'look this is what I managed to achieve, you can achieve that and greater too' and be someone who people can look to and be inspired by."
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