Rail Apprentice Spotlight: Regina King, A Go Getter’s Triumph
Published on August 20, 2024
by Pauline Mae Allera
Communications Division
Rail Apprentice Spotlight: Regina King, A Go Getter’s Triumph
Hailing from New York City, Regina King, a Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) employee embarks her new journey as one of the rail apprentices under the Electronically Sustainable Environmentally Reliable Vehicle Education (eSERVE) Academy. King worked previously as the storekeeper for the rail inventory department. Having lived in Charlotte for only two years, she excels in her new career as an apprentice.
King shared her story from working in retail, specializing in inventory management, and its transferrable experience to the apprenticeship. “My background is mostly inventory warehouse,” King said. “For 12 years I've been working at an inventory warehouse in several retail positions, and I started off as a salesperson. I kept getting promoted and I've been going to stores to fix the inventory and stuff like that.”
Moving to Charlotte, she noted the various careers within her family and its influence on her. “I came to Charlotte and all of my family works for the city,” King said. “Two of my sisters are teachers, one of my sisters is a director for the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority), my brother’s a motorman and my older brother’s a firefighter. So, when I saw the city inventory specialist position on the website site, I applied for it.”
She always knew she didn’t want to be just a storekeeper forever; King yearned to do more and found that within the apprenticeship.
“I was the one issuing the parts to the technicians,” King said. “When I learned about the apprenticeship program I thought, ‘This looks pretty cool!’ Because on my downtime, I used to always be on the floor asking technicians, ‘Hey, where does this part go to?’ or ‘What does this part do?’”
With her excitement and curiosity, King acknowledged potential challenges on her path. "I have no experience with rail car technology and electric technology, none of that,” King said. “This is pretty much new to me, and when the opportunity came up, I applied for it, took the steps everyone did and now I'm here.”
Prior to her role as a storekeeper at CATS, King faced monumental struggles, including an uneasiness with transitioning back into higher education. “It’s been 18 years since I've been in school so that's nerve wracking,” King said.
Despite securing a job, King later realized there could always be more – a career.
“Ten years went by and I'm still making more money than my family,” King said. “Now I understand my previous role was just a job that was just getting me paying my bills. Last year when I applied for inventory, I realized this is actually a career – a city career and a good pension.”
Besides an epiphany regarding her career, the aspiring rail apprentice experienced an insurmountable struggle one would never wish to encounter.
“I experienced something a year and a half ago,” King said. “I lost my little sister.”
No one was present at the time to help her process the situation and her grief. Reflecting upon that part of her life, King felt something needed to change.
“I feel like her passing pushed me to move here, and as sad it is to say, open career opportunities,” King said. “I didn’t want to be back in New York no more, because she was living with me. So, I understand that I needed help. With that, I attended therapy and had a mental breakdown during it. You never know what the next person is going through.”
Overcoming loss is not easy, but with time it can heal. Looking back to the past, King persevered through her grief, reminiscing upon a significant achievement pivotal to her journey.
She recalled to a time when she lowered the budget of a store in Brooklyn in her previous role.
“I went to the store, and I had a year to bring the store under budget,” King said. “So, it's a lot of internal, external shrink. I changed the process. I locked a lot of stuff up and gave employees certain keys to the store. When my physical inventory came around next year after, we were under budget. That store had been over budget for seven years!”
With everything King has been through, she always keeps pushing. Being one of the first four rail apprentices, she considered the impact she wants to leave behind.
“There's four of us now, so hopefully later on, the class will get bigger, and it's one for all of us to pass together,” King said. “I don’t want no one to give up. We all are going to lean on each other. The support and that communication that we could bring will carry on to the next group.”
The rail apprentice encourages anyone who is interested in applying for the rail apprenticeship program, despite limitations in their way.
“Just keep pushing,” King said. “Keep driving.”
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