Akilah Beavers & My Favorite Fixer

Akilah Beavers is a self-taught handywoman and the founder of My Favorite Fixer, based in Arlington, Virginia. Drawing on a background in procurement and vendor relationships, she built a community-based platform with three parts: connecting women with trusted, vetted handywomen for safe home repairs, offering hands-on DIY classes for everyday women, and running a pathway program that helps women turn those skills into a career in the trades — an industry where women remain deeply underrepresented.

With our $500 Giving Joy microgrant, (generously donated by ARC Collective, a woman-founded and led media company), My Favorite Fixer is purchasing the tools and setup it needs to launch its Pathway Program classes: reusable tool kits, hands-on practice materials, safety equipment, and classroom setup supplies. Because the tools are reused across every future cohort, this one investment lowers the cost of every class that follows — turning a single grant into a repeatable training model that also generates class revenue and strengthens My Favorite Fixer's pipeline of trained candidates for its Fixer Network.

The Expected Impact

This grant is expected to directly benefit 20 to 25 women in the first cohort, representing an estimated 50 to 75 family members who gain safer, better-maintained homes. As the grant-funded tools are reused across future sessions, an additional 60 to 100 women and their families are expected to benefit, with 10 to 15 women moving into the Pathway Program's career track — bringing the project's total projected reach to roughly 90 to 140-plus women over 2026 and 2027.

Looking Ahead

Over the coming months, My Favorite Fixer will set up its training classroom with the grant-funded tools, launch its first fully equipped Pathway Program cohort, and continue its She Fixes Summer Series of hands-on classes, including electrical, HVAC, and plumbing sessions taught by licensed instructors. The team will also build outreach to community colleges and workforce re-entry programs, document outcomes and testimonials from early cohorts, and use those results to plan fall programming and pursue further funding and partnerships.