A Day in the Life of a Custodian

A series in the Washington Post is detailing the daily routines of women in a variety of careers, from gallery owners and stay-at-home parents to chief executives. A recent article in the series profiled a Los Angeles custodian and single mother, Jenny Mejia.

Mejia, an immigrant from Honduras, has been a custodian for 16 years and currently works the night shift cleaning a commercial building. She takes her role as a frontline worker seriously and is dedicated to thorough cleaning to protect the health of residents in the facility she cleans.

The article looked beyond Mejia’s work tasks, like cleaning floors and high-touch surfaces, to enrichment opportunities she participates in. She joined a nonprofit organization called Building Skills Partnership, which offers free training on infectious disease. In these courses Mejia learns how to protect herself from exposure viruses, bacteria, fungus.

Mejia also takes free Parent University classes that help her get more involved in her children’s education, as well as an English as a Second Language class.

“Right now, the need for more training opportunities in the janitorial and other low-wage industries is especially important,” Mejia said. “We have been shouldering the burden of preventing the spread of the coronavirus.”