A Chicago woman who left prison in 2020 with no money has built an all-women construction firm that generated more than $1 million (£790,000) in revenue in 2025 and has secured over $4 million (£3.2 million) in government contracts, including work for the Chicago Housing Authority and the city's transit authority.
Pink Hats Construction and Development Group, founded by Traci Quinn, a former registered nurse, now employs Quinn's four daughters as its core team alongside six part-time female staff. The company won a Builder of the Year award from the Southland Development Authority in 2024 and counts the Harvey Housing Initiative and the Chicago Transit Authority among its clients, per theBlock Club Chicago.
The path to those contracts was not straightforward. When Quinn began applying for municipal work, the City of Chicago required contractors to fund projects upfront and claim reimbursement later. She had no capital. Loan applications followed, but financial paperwork proved its own obstacle.
'I was too embarrassed to say I didn't understand the financial jargon,' Quinn toldthe BBC. 'Finally I broke down and said I needed help.' Non-profit organisations then assisted her with bookkeeping, financial planning and bidding on public contracts.
Pink Hats earned $125,000 (£95,000) in its first year and theSouthland Development Authorityconfirmed revenue had grown more than eightfold to exceed $1 million (£790,000) by 2025.
Quinn spent two decades as a registered nurse before the arrest that changed her direction. Working in hospitals, she observed cannabis easing symptoms in patients with conditions including seizures, which led her to open a medical dispensary in California.
In 2016, she was arrested transporting 50lb (23kg) of legally purchased cannabis into Tennessee, a state with some of the strictest drug statutes in the country. She was convicted of trafficking despite having acquired the drug lawfully.
'I bawled, I cried, and asked God why. I'd taken care of people my whole life,' she told the BBC. It was during her sentence that Quinn said she felt a calling to start a construction company focused on redeveloping Chicago's underserved communities after her release.
She launched Pink Hats in 2020 with no industry background. Early sub-contractors delivered work that fell short: structures were unsound, and finishes were unacceptable. Quinn enrolled in construction classes and joined mentorship programmes with established firms to build the technical knowledge the business required.
Women account for roughly 11% of the US construction workforce, with Black women representing fewer than 7% of workers, according to official figures the BBC cited. Quinn said resistance was consistent.
Source: International Business Times UK
