Jessie Cannizzaro grew up around plumbing, but she did not realize how much she loved the work until her early 20s.
Cannizzaro, a master plumber and owner of Wauwatosa-based
Milestone Plumbing, was 7 years old when her father, Tom Cannizzaro, brought her along on the job. Tom ran his own plumbing business with the help of Jessie’s mother, Sue Cannizzaro.
Later in life, Jessie Cannizzaro was taking business classes at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and working at restaurants when Tom had a stroke. Once he recovered enough to return to work, she picked up tools and joined him.
“I was able to get tools in my hand again as a young adult, and realize that I actually really, truly enjoyed the reward that comes from working with your hands and seeing what you’ve accomplished,” Cannizzaro said.
This pivotal moment prompted her to follow in her father’s footsteps. At age 22, she went on to start an apprenticeship working with her dad, which was the first step in her own journey as a plumber.
Because her parents worked side-by-side for almost 30 years, Cannizzaro noticed the way Sue helped Tom, raised her and her sisters and took care of the home.
“I think my work ethic most definitely is modeled by watching how much she did and how well she did it all of those years,” Cannizzaro said.
Forging her own path
Cannizzaro eventually broke away from her dad’s plumbing business to finish her apprenticeship with another plumbing company.
By that time, Tom was older, and the stroke “had taken its toll” on him, she said. It was difficult for her to work with him at times, which put a strain on their relationship.
“My dad did not take it well when he found out I was leaving and going to another company,” Cannizzaro said. “I think from a place of love and wanting to protect me, he told me that he didn’t think I would make it at another company.”
She said her dad, who is now 81, had a more traditional perspective about a woman’s role.
“It was the right path because getting out of his company allowed me to get other experience and build that confidence and figure out how to do things on my own, rather than just being in his shadow,” Cannizzaro said.
Cannizzaro went on to start Milestone Plumbing in 2011 in her basement and garage. But when she told her parents she was starting her own company, Tom was concerned, she said.
She opened her business shortly after the Great Recession, which she said reminded her dad of how money was tight in the late 1970s when he started his own business. He did not want her to go through the same challenges, Cannizzaro said.
“I know he’s incredibly proud now of what our team has built, but in the beginning, he was very skeptical and thought it was just not a good idea, that it was going to be a big mistake,” she said.
In 13 years, Milestone Plumbing has grown from a one-woman plumbing shop to a team of 19 people, she said. Now that she spends more time managing the company, Cannizzaro no longer works in the field full time, but she’ll still “jump in and help” if she’s needed on a job.
Cannizzaro, who is now 43, plans to be part of the team “for many years” to come. She is working to restructure the business so the team can run and grow the business without her for future generations.
“As I look around and see how many people depend on Milestone for a paycheck, that’s a scary thing,” Cannizzaro said. “We need to be set up so that if something happened to me, they would (still) be able to get that paycheck and this business would still be able to thrive under their leadership. So that’s been a major focus for our growth and will continue to be so for the next probably few years.”
Navigating a male-dominated industry
Cannizzaro is no stranger to the resistance women often face when working in male-dominated industries. People used to be “very surprised” when she appeared at their doors as a plumber, she said.
“It still will surprise people when they find out that I am a licensed plumber, but they normally are familiar with who Milestone is, so it isn’t the shock that it used to be,” Cannizzaro said.
As an apprentice, Cannizzaro encountered a client in Waukesha County that seemed confused to see her standing at his door to install new sinks.
“He was like, ‘You’re just dropping those off, right? And then the plumber’s coming to install them?’ And I was like, ‘No, sir, I’m here to put these in,’” Cannizzaro said. “The look on his face said it all, like this man has never been exposed to this type of a situation before.”
He sat on a bucket and talked to her while she worked. At the end of the day, he gave Cannizzaro a wooden pot he had made, which she felt was a sign of “acceptance,” she said.
“He had come into it with one method of thinking in the morning and by the end of the day and watching me perform my craft, he had changed his opinion and had actually accepted me,” Cannizzaro said. “That gift was symbolic of appreciating what I had done for him that day.”
Advocating for the trades
Cannizzaro works to challenge the stereotype that the trades are for people who can’t get into college, she said.
“That’s not true, and I am an example of that,” Cannizzaro said. “I have a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from UW-Milwaukee, and I’ve chosen to spend my life in the trades because it is an incredible source of opportunity, and it is something that should be respected as much as any college, if not more.”
Cannizzaro said she advocates for the trades to students in grade school or high school as well as people who are considering a career change.
Two years ago, Cannizzaro helped create a children’s activity and story book based on the experiences of Milestone team members. The story centers around a girl who learns what a plumber is doing inside her home. At the end of the story, the girl decides that she wants to go into plumbing.
She visits schools to send the message that being a plumber – and working in the trades in general – is a respectable career path that “can bring incredible opportunities,” she said, adding it’s also important to reach parents with her advocacy so they can see the trades as a respectable career path for their children.
“Our parents have such a strong voice in the direction and decisions that we make,” Cannizzaro said. “I think the activity book has been equally as helpful for the parents as it has been for the students, to show that a trade career is a great career path to choose.”
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Jessie Cannizzaro. Credit: Valerie Hill[/caption]
