When Chandra Wakeland was a young girl, most of her friends spent their summers soaking up the sun by the pool or at summer camp. Wakeland spent hers going to work with her father, a chief estimator for a steel contractor.
“I would go to work with my dad during summer school while he was building cell towers and doing tenant improvements and large buildings and malls. I always thought it was so fun seeing projects being built,” she says. “I was always surrounded by it. All of the guys in my family were handymen. They could do anything.”
But while the construction seed was planted from the time she was a little girl, it wasn’t a straight line career path for Wakeland.
“After I graduated, my focus was not construction. I was 18 and trying to find a job. I was applying everywhere, but I couldn’t get one because I had no experience. Then, my dad told me his job was looking for an administrative assistant. I thought, ‘Oh, that’s kind of cool. I’ll try it,’ and I got the job,” Wakeland says.
THE CLIMB
A year into her role at Remco Machining and Fabrication Inc., Wakeland began to dream of one day owning her own company. She spent almost seven years climbing her way up the industry ladder, becoming a project manager and subcontract administrator on multimillion-dollar projects, including state and federal work. Along the way, Wakeland met her now husband, Joshua, who was an electrical apprentice at ABC in San Diego at the time. It was he who gave Wakeland a first glimpse at the programs offered by Associated Builders and Contractors.
“People say, ‘Oh, you work in construction? You swing a hammer?’” she says. “They don’t even understand that there’s a whole other side to this industry. There are so many roles you can play other than being out in the field swinging a hammer.”
“I remember this one morning on my commute to work with my dad very vividly. I told him, ‘I think I want to own my own construction company one day. Do you think I could do it?’” she recalls.
In 2018, at just 25 years old, Chandra Wakeland quit her full-time job as a subcontract administrator and dove into the deep end, starting her own electrical contracting company: Wakeland Electric, a Southern California-based commercial electrical company serving Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange and San Bernardino counties.
Having already spent seven years in the construction industry, Wakeland was well-equipped to withstand the challenges that come along with being a woman in a male-dominated space.
“I knew what to expect from a male-dominated industry, whether I was an employee or a business owner. Not everyone will respect me, or women in general. A lot do, but I’ve been yelled at on the phone before, guys have called me names, and I just laugh at it. That’s all you really have to do,” Chandra says.
FORCE OF NATURE
Like Rome, Wakeland Electric was not built in a day. In the beginning, many people—including her husband—found the idea of Wakeland owning a construction business naïve. “I just had a dream to start my own business, and my husband was an electrician. I told him, ‘We have to own our own company.’ He said, ‘No way. We’re never going to do that. That’s a nightmare. No way,’” Chandra says. “Well, I got my way.”
“When I was 19 or 20, I first started to tell my friends that I wanted to start a business. They said, ‘There’s no way. You can’t own a construction company,’” she recalls. But Wakeland was relentless.
“I don’t really get discouraged by what other people think. If I set my mind to something, I’m going to get it done. So, I didn’t really think anything of it. Was it a long shot? Yeah. But the fact that I met a man who was a tradesman was even better, right?”
The comments to dissuade Wakeland’s career goals continued. “I never really went around telling people that I wanted to own a construction company. I knew that it was sometimes perceived as a negative thing, being a woman owner in a male-dominated industry,” she says.
THE DREAM TEAM
It took several years of sacrifice and hardship to build Wakeland Electric into the successful company it is today.
“When I started my business, winding down with girlfriends wasn’t my focus. They were supportive in the beginning, but didn’t understand the true hardship and sacrifice we had to make. I lost a lot of friends on the way, but if I’m not working and busting my butt off, I’m not getting paid,” she says.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit nearly a year and a half later, Wakeland Electric was still in its infancy. Residential projects slowed down, and Wakeland and her husband were forced to make difficult decisions to ensure the company’s survival. “We had never done this before. My husband had never estimated a project. We had never run an electrical company before, never had to deal with the processes and procedures of hiring and firing employees. I did that for other companies, but this was my own,” she says. “It was intimidating, but I wasn’t afraid, and I’m still not afraid now.”
Amidst the chaos, the couple came to a decision. “I always had the mentality and mindset that you have to act big to be big,” Wakeland says. A year into Wakeland Electric, the couple sold their house to pay rent for an office building and moved back into Wakeland’s parents’ home while they built the business.
Though the ownership dream was really Wakeland’s alone, together, she and her husband brought the vision to life. For the next six years, the dynamic duo worked endlessly to grow the business.
“We just work well together. You hear a lot about the struggles of a husband-and-wife business, and in the beginning, it was a little bit of a struggle learning to work and live together. We’re together all the time, and that’s rare for couples,” Chandra says. “At our wedding, my father gave a speech and said, ‘I don’t know a better team than you guys.’”
FAMILY VALUES
Wakeland credits a huge portion of her success to her family’s unwavering support.
“They have supported us from the moment we filled out our paperwork to start our business. They’ve always believed in us and encouraged us. When times were tough, they said, ‘Don’t give up. Keep pushing,’” Wakeland says. “That’s been the amazing support behind our will to not give up.”
“I had always told my dad, ‘You’re going to work for me someday, but I’ll let you know when I’m ready because I need to do it professionally,’” Chandra says. At the end of 2023, she made good on that promise.
“I called my dad, and I said, ‘How much money do you make? Don’t ask any questions, just tell me what you make and what perks you have,’” Wakeland says. “He had been working at his previous company for 17 years, but he took a leap of faith and believed enough to come to Wakeland Electric and help us. It was pretty exciting.”
After quitting their full-time careers, Wakeland’s father now runs Wakeland Electric’s field operations, and her mother works as the company’s executive assistant, helping with website marketing and fleet management.
While most family-owned business consists of the children working for the parents, the traditional, yet unconventional family dynamic between Wakeland and her parents at Wakeland Electric works well. “My parents respect that this is my business. If I want something done a certain way or if I have a process or procedure, they respect it. They give me advice and we collaborate. Working with them hasn’t changed anything,” Wakeland says. “My parents are literally my best friends, and if anything, it has made us even closer.”
KEEP PUSHING
In recent years, Wakeland Electric has tripled its revenue and built a workforce exceeding 40 employees. The company takes on 90% state and federal jobs and is heavily involved in the local community, from its financial support of Construction vs. Cancer (a fundraiser for pediatric cancer patients) to its participation in charity golf tournaments and countless ABC San Diego chapter events.
Wakeland Electric was recently named a 2025 ABC Top Performer, ranked for its STEP Gold certification and its status as a women-owned small business. Though the company’s success has skyrocketed in the past six years, Wakeland still believes there is work to be done.
“If you think you know everything, you’re already wrong. Even at 31 years old and running this business, I still have a lot to learn. If we aren’t evolving and trying to get better with the industry, we’re going to lose,” she says. Wakeland extends this mindset to her employees, reinvesting revenue into equipment, employee training and safety.
“My employees, payroll and my business come first. I know many people who have started businesses, and they made money, but they haven’t reinvested it in their business,” she says. Twice a year, Wakeland Electric holds a two-day safety stand-down where employees receive up-to-date training.
When it comes to diversifying the industry’s workforce, Wakeland’s growth mindset is similar. “I would tell every young woman, if you don’t know what you want to do yet in a career, get into construction. Start as a receptionist or an administrative assistant and work your way up. There are so many places in construction where a woman can thrive,” she says.
To those women with ownership aspirations, Wakeland says this: “I truly run every aspect of the company, from the top the bottom, all the way down to the daily logs and RFIs. It’s very hard to do. Being a woman business owner in this industry is extremely tough, especially being young, but you just have to keep your confidence. That’s how I’ve overcome challenges, and I’m so grateful to be where I am today.”
