She bakes. She shoots hoops. She owns her title as electrician's helper here at Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

She is Veronica Outlaw, and she helped wire the panels for the first carrier fire response system in all the shipyards.

An alumna of Rappahannock Community College and proud owner of an associate’s degree in Electronics Engineering and Technology, she's the youngest of her family and does right by them every day she’s at work.

From the time Outlaw was young, she loved to do stuff with her hands. “Ever since I was a little girl, I would always ask for Lincoln Logs and Legos. Of course I [also] wanted Barbie dolls ... but I always wanted to build things.”

When she was 12, she built a truck out of popsicle sticks because she knew her dad wanted a truck for his birthday. Complete with a figurine of him with a photo of his face on it, it sat by his bedside every night.

“That’s one thing I’ll do,” Outlaw said, “I’ll put my heart and soul into something. I don’t have a lot of money to buy you nice things, but I will make you something incredibly nice.” She also bakes cakes and works with arts and crafts.

This love for hands-on work continues to serve Outlaw well in her work. Her longtime desire to create things and build is why she'd rather stay an electrician's helper for now than move on to engineering.

“With my engineering background, I can create,” she explained. “But as an electrician, I can actually build something. I can send up a wiring diagram, but it’s up to me how I want to wire it.” 

Working at the shipyard and bartending at night, Outlaw says she's always been a hard worker, which she credits to her parents, who raised her to be self-sufficient.

After she was born, her mother stopped working in human resources at the hospital but later started her own business from home. Her father worked for Newport News Shipbuilding for 35 years.

“It was cool to get this job because it also allowed me to follow in my father’s footsteps,” Outlaw said with a smile.

Before she became an electrician's helper, she had trouble finding a job that would allow her to use her education--until one day, her friend suggested she apply at the shipyard. She worried she'd been out of school too long, but she took the chance and has never regretted it.

“I always wanted to help my country,” she expalined, “but I never wanted to go into the military. So I was really excited, because this was my chance to give back.” 

Outlaw also loves working with her work family. "We’re a close-knit shop, and we always try to do cool little things for each other," she said. "Ronnie, who’s from my shop--I made him an Alabama birthday cake. He didn’t even want to cut it because he thought it was so nice!” she said.

Outlaw said she puts her whole heart into her work on and off the shipyard so she can be satisfied knowing she gave everything she could. And so far, it's paid off.  

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