![Here's How Three Trailblazing Women Rose Through the Ranks in the Wastewater Profession](https://cole-tpomag.imgix.net/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.tpomag.com%2Fuploads%2Fimages%2Fsrb030.jpg?crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&h=620&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=75&w=1024&s=2961b49d5720a8f93cf29f9f34e5410f)
Jewel Minor, Barbara Jackson and Vernia Hawthorne look out over the James River toward the main wastewater treatment plant. The retention basin is on the banks of the James. The treatment plant is on the opposite side of the river.
Barbara Jackson, Vernia Hawthorne and Jewel Minor entered the wastewater profession from different areas, but they had one thing in common: determination to succeed.
It wasn’t always easy. There were few women at the utility where they worked, and those who were there didn’t...