b'NTCA MEMBER SPOTLIGHTHamiltonthisgoesalongwaytounder-reached out tostanding your customers, she said, fellow females in tile with thenoting that she fi most womennds social mediaopenandeagertoparticipatein group Tile Chix TILE CHIX on Facebook. available training opportunities. Becausewedontoftencome withmanyyearsof always did it this way experience,Ithinkwe donothaveasmany pre-conceivedorrigid notions, she said. We areopentonewinfor-mationandpractices, which is so important.Afewmonthsago, Hamiltondecided toreachouttofellow femalesintileviathe socialmediagroup TileChixonFacebook. Inoticedthatsome womeninthegroups didntposttoomuch orwouldonlycom-mentoccasionally,she explained. We can sup-port each other and cre-ateawelcomingplace The job above was the most challenging for Hamilton.to learn and grow. The customer had removed a wall between the kitchenHamiltonalsohopes and formal living room and a small wall at the end ofTileChixbecomes their island, leaving space for seven tiles in the middleacatalystforyoung of the fl oor. They had no extra tiles and the only oneswomentoenterthe Hamilton had access to were the remaining seven between the living room and kitchen.trades. Not all students I had to remove those seven tilesand not breakwant to go to college, anyand move them to the middle of the kitchenshesaid.Participating around the island, she said. I managed to carefully get them up and didnt even chip any. It looked amaz- incommunityevents, ing, was time consuming and I challenged myself asschools, and Girl Scout well. Coming up with a way to transition the two roomscamps,careerdaysor was also a challenge and I used the slate and installed diagonally. other demonstrations at 68 TileLetter | May 2020'