Judaline Cassidy didn’t set out to start a movement. She just wanted girls to stop asking permission.
Three decades in the trades will teach you a few things—like how to fix a broken pipe, hold your ground and push back when someone tells you, “That’s not for you.”
And Cassidy’s been doing all three since she was a teenager.
“I am dyslexic, and plumbing helped me fire up that side of my brain, solving puzzles and figuring things out. And people take plumbing for granted. What I do improves people’s lives every day. I’m Wonder Woman with a wrench.”
She means it. She’s been a plumber for more than 30 years and a proud member of UA Local Union No. 1 in New York City since 1996. But beyond the job, Cassidy has become something else: a mentor, speaker and the founder of Tools & Tiaras.
‘Jobs Don’t Have Genders’
Cassidy was raised by her great-grandmother in Trinidad and Tobago, in a home filled with love—and expectations.
“It was a patriarchal society, and women were geared to be homemakers and take care of their husbands.”
But Cassidy wasn’t wired that way.
“I wanted to be Wonder Woman, and a lawyer. I loved watching Lynda Carter; she could lasso the truth out of people and fight for justice at the same time.”
Law school was too expensive, so she looked for a different path. Trade school offered two options: plumbing or electrical. She chose plumbing.
At 19, she got married and moved to the U.S., chasing opportunity with a wrench in her hand. She never looked back.
When the Quote Becomes the Mission
In 2017, Cassidy was invited to speak at the MAKERS Conference. She stepped onstage and said something that would end up changing everything.
“When you give a girl a tool and a tiara, you give her independence, confidence and power.”
It hit her mid-sentence. That wasn’t just a line—it was a mission. So, she built something.
Tools & Tiaras is a nonprofit that introduces girls—ages 6 to 14—to the trades through monthly workshops and weeklong summer camps. Real tools. Real trades. Real confidence.
The timing matters. Cassidy says girls start to doubt themselves around 8 or 9 years old. “That fire in them gets smothered with blankets from the world,” she says. “But if she had that ‘little girl fire’ in her still burning, no one would stop her.”
The Camp That Builds More Than Skills
Each camp starts with architecture—because, as Cassidy says, “everything starts with the architect.” Then it’s on to plumbing, electrical, welding, sheet metal. No fluff. Just hands-on work.
They cut tile. Wire panels. Learn how to measure, drill and fix. It’s the real stuff, scaled down for smaller hands.
But it’s not just tools they walk away with.
Cassidy also runs a signature life skills series called T.O.O.L.S. (Total Ownership of Life Skills). The girls learn finance, public speaking, activism, self-defense—things every kid should know but too few are taught.
The week ends with a trip to an active jobsite and a graduation ceremony. Each girl walks away with her first set of tools: a belt, hammer, four-way screwdriver, tape measure and box to carry it all in.
It’s not a gift. It’s a start.
Built by Women Who’ve Been There
All the instructors are tradeswomen. No suits. No tourists. Just people who’ve lived the grind and still show up with something to give.
Cassidy takes vacation time to lead the camps herself.
The girls come from every kind of background. Different races. Different income levels. But they leave with the same core lesson:
“We teach the girls that if we truly come together as sisters supporting each other, we would have world domination.”
‘If You Believe in You, Nobody Can Take That Away’
The word Cassidy keeps returning to? Empower.
“If we don’t feel empowered, we won’t be able to excel,” she says. “Me feeling empowered helps me on the days when the men talk crap about me, or people judge me and say I can’t do something. That helps me on days when things get difficult.”
Early in her career, as an immigrant woman of color with an accent, Cassidy walked onto jobsites where no one would talk to her. She still remembers the silence.
But she pushed through.
She’s earned her place now. But she says the industry still has a leadership problem—specifically, a woman in leadership problem.
“In order for women to change the industry, they have to get into leadership, and we don’t as yet have the power structure for that.”
It’s not just about getting more women in. It’s about keeping them there—and giving them a path to lead.
“Women love the craft, want to succeed and want to become leaders.”
The Ripple Effect
Tools & Tiaras is working.
Cassidy’s seen alums go on to study engineering and architecture, career paths directly shaped by camp.
Even her own daughter is now a sheet metal worker.
The next step: expansion. More camps. More instructors. More girls with wrenches and something to prove.
Maybe even a full-time pivot to running Tools & Tiaras. Cassidy’s thinking about it.
Because this was never just about plumbing.
“I want girls to see themselves as builders of whatever world they envision.” And she’s building that world one tool—and one tiara—at a time.
