CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - A single mom and a small business owner are on their way to Washington, DC to join the First Lady Tuesday night.
Jackie Bray, of Kings Mountain, and Bruce Cochrane, of Lincolnton, have been invited to sit in First Lady Michelle Obama's box at the State of the Union Address.
Bray is a single mother. Last January, she was laid off from her job as a high speed packaging mechanic.
That is when she enrolled in Central Piedmont Community College to prepare for Siemens pre-hiring test. After finishing the course and passing the test, Ms. Bray was hired by Siemens in August of 2011.
This type of partnership between businesses and community colleges is exactly what President Obama hopes to strengthen to maximize workforce development strategies, job training programs, and job placements, according to a statement from The White House.
Ms. Bray now works as a process operator, combining her machinist background with new skills she has been trained on since working at Siemens: laser training, robotics training, penetrant inspection training, and product orientation.
Cochrane comes from a family that has manufactured furniture in North Carolina for decades, but when Cochrane Furniture was sold in 1997, the new owners moved manufacturing to China.
Two years ago, Mr. Cochrane decided the time had come to start his own furniture company back in his home state.
In January 2012, production began at Lincolnton Furniture in the same plant his family once ran. Lincolnton Furniture is expected to add 130 new jobs to the area. Mr. Cochrane attended President Obama's Insourcing American Jobs Forum earlier this month.
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