Fuelled by creativity, Tahlia Williams, 34, switched gears from working in hospitality to signing on for a four-year painting apprenticeship at the age of 29.

Rewinding the clock by one year, Ms Williams launched her own small trades business, Tahlia Maree Painting & Decorating.

With just four per cent of female painters represented in Australia, Ms Williams felt walking into the male-dominated industry would require a fierce level of devotion.

Morphing from introvert to extrovert, she recalls how she survived navigating an entirely new world.

"I kind of had no choice but to come out of my shell, especially after starting my apprenticeship," she said.

"I never faced any sexism or bullying, but I had to communicate differently in a way and learn the language of the trade, which took me a good year or two to fall into.

"It was like I had to figure things out as I went to relate to the people I was around, but it wasn't overly hard, because I'm also a bush brat who's not afraid to get dirty."

Born in Broken Hill, Ms Williams later moved to Wilcannia for a couple of years where she was taught how to make paint from scratch at an Indigenous art school at the age of eight.

Creating traditional Aboriginal paintings, it was the same time the young "bush rat" said she realised her adoration of all-things art.

"I was never much of a talker when I was a kid, I was very shy," Ms Williams said.

"[My family and I] moved from place to place growing up, so painting was my way of expressing myself without talking, which I fell in love with.

"So, I'm a creative driven by music and very arty, while still a little bit of a tomboy. It's all part of what led me to this career."

After having a daughter, "ridiculous hours" in the hospitality sector were piling up, leaving Ms Williams to reassess her lifestyle to better juggle single parenting and work.

The first year as a new apprentice, she won a Bert Evans Apprentice Scholarship, which contributed $15,000 toward new tools and work gear over the span of three years.

This is when the bulk of her apprenticeship with Orange's Simon Roberts Painting & Decorating kicked off, where she soaked up knowledge like water to a sponge.

During her time there, Ms Williams also won the Master Builders Association (MBA) Women in Building Award in 2021.

"I needed that little bit of freedom with my daughter, who was only four when I started my apprenticeship, and I knew I'd eventually start my own business so I could call my own shots," she said.

"That's why I did what I needed to do, showed up on time, did exactly what I was told, so I could get all of the facts and learn as much as I could.

"Launching my own business was always my plan, and this is absolutely my calling, because it's the happiest I've ever felt in my life

"It just brings me so much joy that I would probably do it for free; but I get paid for it."

Going out on her own as of March 20, 2023, Ms Williams is currently booked out with work eight months in advance.

In October later that year, she also took out the Lady Tradie Finalists category in the Australian Ladies in Business Initiative (ALIBI).

From "sitting at home on the couch" weighing up options six years ago to now, Ms Williams says the new chapter in her story includes no regrets.

"Being a woman in a male-dominated trade can be a challenge, but it's a lot more accepted now than it was when I first started out, feeling like I was the only one at the time," she said.

"But female tradies are coming out of the woodwork more and more now, and for me, it's so important as a single parent that I'm showing my daughter women can do whatever they put their heads and hearts to.

"I want to show her that you can do anything by yourself if you've got the right mindset, just like my mum showed me, who was a single mum for a long time as well.

"She inspired me by showing me she could do it; so I could do it, too."