Freeing frisky lovers from a set of fuzzy handcuffs at 2:00 a.m., or granting law enforcement access into an apartment containing a dead body — it’s all in a profitable day’s work for Upper East Sider Sahar Yona.
The 27-year-old residential and commercial locksmith is one of the less than 12 percent of American women — and 8 percent of adults under age 30 — making bank in the blue collar profession.
While the New Yorker’s classmates were gearing up for their junior year of high school in 2017, cramming for the SATs and applying for college and student loans, Yona — who dreamed of becoming a criminal lawyer as a kid — made the drastic decision to withdraw from the academic rat race.
“I just decided I didn’t want to do school anymore. I was a great student, but I just really wanted to start making money,” Yona, the self-crowned “Locksmith Girl NYC,” told The Post.
The unconventional entrepreneur, charging base rates ranging from $50 to $125 per job — not including her time and labor, travel expenses and after-hours fees — asked to withhold her total annual earnings. But locksmiths in and around the city are earning $60,000 to over $100,000 a year, according to reports.
“I had no idea what locksmithing was at first. I’d never used a screwdriver or anything,” said the high school dropout. “But once I got trained and learned the trade, I fell in love with it.”
With college tuition costs soaring past $100,000, and the threat of artificial intelligence commandeering jobs from hardworking human beings, a majority of Gen Zers — adults born between 1997 and 2012 — say they’re not pursuing undergraduate degrees to get their hands on a traditional 9-to-5.
Instead, they’re earning up to six-figures by getting their hands dirty.
A whopping 60 percent of the whippersnappers are pursuing blue collar careers in 2026, per recent data — which spotlights construction, electrical work, HVAC, plumbing, automotive repair and building maintenance in the top 10 most popular trades among workforce novices.
But the Z’s aren’t the only demographic ditching formal office gigs.
Women of all ages — a tranche that currently hold more jobs than men — are storming the gates of historically male-dominated fields to become the high-yielding, hardhanded maintenance mamas of Manhattan and beyond.
After racking up years of experience and launching her own locksmithing business in January, Yona is oft-inundated with praise from her mostly female clientele — who say how much safer they feel knowing a woman is coming to help.
“I’m happy to be a woman in the field who people call during some really challenging, frustrating times,” said Yona. “Every day I hear how much more comfortable clients feel with me.”
And while the pay is great, the gig can be challenging, Yona admits — and puts her in some pretty tight spots.
She’s narrowly avoided being robbed by crooks, she said — and once unlocked a door to discover that someone had committed suicide on the other side. A typical evening could mean helping out party girls who’ve lost their keys — or it could mean helping the cops evict a renter. The hours are brutal, too.
“I usually only get like three hours of sleep. I’ll have a job at 2 a.m., then get a call at 4:00 a.m., and another at 6:00 a.m.,” she said. “I’m lucky if I get a quick nap in my car between jobs.”
Judaline Cassidy, 56, a NYC plumber of more than three decades and netting upwards of $120,000 annually, isn’t big on resting either.
The lady laborer, founder of Tools & Tiaras, Inc., a Brooklyn-based nonprofit, works tirelessly teaching girls ages 6 to 17 the art of plumbing — as well as construction and engineering — and how it can make them a great living.
Women make up only 3.1% of plumbers, per the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“A lot of kids don’t realize that trades are a path way into middle class and to becoming rich,” Cassidy tells The Post. “When you learn a skill like plumbing, you can work in the field, or work in plumbing design, engineering or estimating. And you can do it without taking on college debt.”
“We can earn more than come of our college-educated counterparts,” she said. “Young people can start making money right away.”
Top-earning plumbers can rake in upwards of $149,000 per year in New York, according to ZipRecruiter.
Unfortunately for Cassidy, a native of Trinidad and Tobago, bringing home the big bucks as a lady plumber was a mere pipe dream when arrived in NYC in the 1990s.
“I wanted to be Wonder Woman and a lawyer as a kid. But when I went to [vocational] school, I fell in love with plumbing because it’s all about solving puzzles,” said Cassidy, who chose the atypical trade to avoid competing with other girls for secretarial and seamstress roles.
But as a newcomer to New York, the 4-foot-11 dynamo was shunned by misogynists in the profession — like the jerks who told her to “‘go home and do dishes.’”
“I went in my car and cried. But I didn’t give up,” she said. “I knew I could be making great money, building a career that I absolutely loved.”
Cassidy ultimately became the first woman permitted into the Staten Island Plumbers Local Union 371. The city’s unions eventually merged to become the Plumbers Local Union No. 1. Cassidy is an executive board member.
The powerhouse now imparts her love for plumbing to her tween and teen summer campers — who mostly attend under duress by their parents.
“Day one, the girls are like, ‘What the hell am I doing here?,” Cassidy chuckled. “But once they learn the history of plumbing in New York City, the equipment and tools, how to solder, press, cut and snap cast iron, they love it.
“Knowing how to fix things gives them confidence, and teaches them that jobs don’t have genders,” she said.
Lynn Berger, a 20-year career coach in Manhattan, told The Post she’s all in favor of the trend towards more tradeswomen. But she warned against any flying leaps into blue collar professions — simply because the barrier to entry is low and the pay is high.
“You have to be sure you have an aptitude towards a trade before deciding to fully pursue it. There’s a lot of physical labor and extreme attention to detail that go into many of these jobs. Are you well suited for that? Do you have the temperament needed to navigate [potentially dangerous] situations? Does this trade actually interest you?,” said Berger, encouraging prospects to self-evaluate.
And while blue collar posts are considered more AI-proof than in-office work for the time being, Berger notes that most industries still require workers to be trained on the latest technologies, tools and devices for the job — forcing some to invest in additional schooling, or to pay for specialized licenses and certifications.
“Typically, you can’t just walk in and start making $100,000 on day one,” said the coach. “Shadow someone in the field first, get an up-close look at what the job requires, and talk to them about what it takes to succeed before deciding.”
Layla Beharrylal, 17, an apprentice to Audra Fordin, owner of Great Bear Auto Repair & Body Shop on Sandford Avenue in Flushing, Queens, already has her foot on the gas when it come to her future.
“I’ve always wanted to work alongside another woman in the automotive field,” said the high school senior, one of the only girls from a long line of male mechanics in her family. “Audra’s shown me that we have the power to educate, not intimidate, other young women interested in entering the industry.”
Empowering gals to join her and the barely 2% of lady mechanics has become Fordin’s mission since inheriting her family’s shop in 1998.
Without revealing her exact income, Fordin told The Post that who share her expertise can amass between $50,000 to $150,000 on the job.
But the married mother of three’s main focus isn’t cash, she said. It’s helping others.
She launched the Women Auto Know initiative in 2010, offering $35, 90-minute monthly workshops to ladies who admittedly know nothing about vehicles, but are sick of being overcharged by conmen mechanics and salesmen.
“Women are usually nervous, at first,” said Fordin, who teaches folks how to change a fuse, the whispers, headlights and taillights, how to jump start a battery, and how to check brakes and fluids on their own cars. “But once we get started, and she’s learning the different parts of the body and engine, something amazing happens.”
“Twenty minutes ago, she was afraid to open the hood. Now she’s under there showing the woman next to her what she just learned,” added the 50-something. “That’s my favorite thing to witness.”
The automotive authority of nearly 40 years says her life’s work isn’t just about fixing cars. Instead, it’s fixing the relationship between women and their cars.
Beharrylal wants to do the same.
“I hope to inspire young women to not be afraid of pursuing careers in male-dominated fields,” said the prodigy.
“We belong in those spaces just as much as anyone else.”
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