How 27-year-old left her job to start Locksmith Girl of NYC
Sahar Yona, 27, says she sleeps every night with two phones and a laptop next to her, with the volume turned up full blast, so she can hear potential clients’ calls at all times.
Yona is a 24-hour-a-day residential and commercial locksmith based in New York City because, as a self-employed business owner, “every job is important,” she says. She says she wants to make money and build a customer base as quickly as possible at Locksmith Girl of NYC, which she launched under its current name in July 2025.
He has momentum on his side. In January, during a time when business was slow, a video she posted on TikTok in which she told women in New York to ask men to pick their locks at night if they felt unsafe garnered more than 600,000 views. Since then, he says he has found more jobs than ever before, up to 60 a week from men and women. On his busiest day so far this summer, he says he worked from 4 a.m. to 1 a.m. the next morning.
Not an online influencer. As of Friday afternoon, there were only nine videos on his account. But his message clearly resonated: Yona declined to share his personal income, noting that he charges varying rates based on the difficulty of each job, but said he now makes more money as a business owner than he previously did as a subcontractor working for large locksmith companies. average annual salary of a locksmith $82,161 in New York, according to job site Indeed.
Yona is part of a growing trend, according to the locksmith trade organization ALOA Association of Security Professionals. While women make up less than 1% of the nation’s more than 5 million installation, maintenance and repair workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more women than ever are locksmiths, an association spokesperson says.
Jennifer Richards, a fourth-generation locksmith who has run her family’s business in Hickory, North Carolina, for the past 31 years, says the field is designed specifically for women who are “mechanically inclined” and want to own their own business. His six employees, including his sister, brother-in-law and nephew, are all related to him.
“Female locksmiths can think through problems and have a gentle touch,” says ALOA member and instructor Richards, who states that more women have taken her classes in the last three years. “It’s actually an advantage to have light hands… you can feel the movement [of the pins within the lock] It’s much easier.”
$7,000 and one person with ‘entry’
Richards estimates that the majority of locksmiths work alone. While equipment like locks, drills and key-cutting machines can be expensive, he says it’s a relatively attainable blue-collar job, considering you usually only need a van rather than a storefront and a team of employees.
Yona says he spent $7,000 buying starter tools. She entered the industry by accident: In 2021, while working at her father’s Muay Thai studio, she interviewed for a receptionist position at a locksmith’s office. Yona says her interviewer—who, she says, eventually became her mentor—told her that she had the temperament to work in the field and that she should get her locksmith’s license.
“I’ve never held a screwdriver in my life,” he says. But she says she has a strong “get to work” personality and decided that being a female locksmith could give her a leg up in the male-dominated industry. He says he spent two years training, applying for a license and purchasing his tools. He later worked for subcontractors in the city to gain experience.
Yona is in New York.
Sahar Yona
As a subcontractor, he says his hours and income are relatively consistent and predictable throughout the year. But all her co-workers were men, she says, and she experienced misogyny from customers, colleagues and bosses.
He decided to become his own boss in November 2024. Those who find Yona on TikTok say she knows she works alone and is generally more patient. In general, he adheres to the strict boundaries he learned as a subcontractor with clients, saying: Before accepting a job, he must see a photo or video of the lock and speak with the person on the phone.
Still, he says he feels guilty when he takes an hour to relax at a bathhouse, play pool at a local bar or walk his German Shepherd-Rottweiler mix in Central Park. “What I’m afraid of is that I can’t go too far from my car. My car is my legs,” he says, adding: “I have to be available.”
If Yona gets a call while she’s on her way to dinner with a friend, she says the friend will usually jump in Yona’s car and drive to work with her. Those moments, he says, are becoming increasingly rare. She adds that she was always thinking about work and feeling a little paranoid, and in her spare time began researching the scope of a brick-and-mortar store for NYC Locksmith Girl.
In other moments of free time, Yona practices lockpicking. “I like the challenge” of the job, he says, by legally entering places that would keep people out.
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