Monica Harwell (MH) and Andrea Cleveland (AC)
MH: I was the first lady to climb poles there. They hated me. Nobody wanted to work with me. They kept bouncing me back and forth from one truck to another. But uh, I will never forget my first climb on the top of the pole. They was like, ’Ok lady. It’s your turn.’
AC: ‘You’re up!’
MH: …’You gotta go up.’ And they placed bets on me. She’ll never get up that pole. You know, I wasn’t going to tell you guys like ‘Mommy didn’t do it.’ So I just started climbing, and when I got to the top of the pole I was hanging 50 feet in the air, and I started painting my fingernails. And everybody was like, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘When I go up there I want them to know there’s a woman up there.’
AC: I remember when it was parent’s night and you were coming straight from work, and you said, ‘Would you feel embarrassed if I go there with my work boots?’ And I said, ‘Not at all, I’m proud because it shows that my mother works.’ And it’s funny to me because what I”m doing now, driving a forklift with at Con Ed.
MH: When I was getting you the job at Con Edison, I really didn’t want you there. Cause of all the stuff that I went through dealing the guys. But uh, they swear things have changed. Do you see that change?
AC: You have people they just don’t like you just because.
MH: Yeah.
AC: But I stopped being afraid of what other people thought about me. I learned that from you. Even people that have just crossed paths with you here and there. They say ‘Man your mother, like that’s a bad woman.’ [Laughs]. You know.
MH: You know you’ve stayed strong in so many things, and that’s why I’ve always called you my eagle. You don’t belong on the ground. And, believe it or not your strength also motivated me and made me keep going.
