2026 Top Women in HVAC: Liliana Morales

This is a profile of Liliana Morales, a Chicago HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) instructor and solo operator, featured as one of this year's Top Women in HVAC honorees. Morales runs RR Tradeschools and founded Chicago HVAC Chicks, a group supporting women entering the trade. She trained at a HVAC technical institute in Chicago and has worked four years as a service technician and solo operator, plus a year and a half teaching.

Morales talks about being told HVAC was "a man's trade" before finding a Facebook community, HVA-Chicks Coalition, that showed her women could succeed in the field. She says the most rewarding part of her work is watching her students diagnose and fix problems on their own. She also describes having to repeatedly prove her technical skill to skeptical clients and friends, something she says changes once people see her work firsthand.

For a homeowner, this isn't news about equipment, rebates, or upgrades to your house. It's a personal profile highlighting the people behind the trade, part of an industry effort to recognize women working in heating and cooling and encourage more to enter the field. There's nothing here that changes what an HVAC project might cost or how to find a rebate, but it does put a face on the workforce that installs and services the systems homeowners rely on.