Stoneham Woman to Appear On HGTV's 'Handyman'

Mark your calendars: The series premiere of HGTV's "All American Handyman" airs Sept. 4 at 9 p.m. and Stoneham’s own Allison Oropallo will be competing against 20 highly-skilled contestants for a grand prize of $10,000. The contestants will do their best to impress three experts, including HGTV’s Mike Holmes, Scott McGillivray and a weekly special judge.

Oropallo made her point that women, not just men, can compete in a predominantly male profession.

“One of the biggest reasons for my association with the show is to give a strong message to women (that they) can do anything they set out to do,” Oropallo said. “That you don’t have to be a man to do what society considers men’s work. I get great satisfaction in completing, creating, building and designing.”

Oropallo gets her satisfaction knowing she can do anything she puts her mind to.

“All my life I have constructed things on my own or figured things out,” Oropallo said. “It isn’t just the finished product that excites me. This message is important for females to achieve their independence and to accomplish their dreams.”

Oropallo, 28, was not intimidated by the male-dominated cast, as she welcomed the competition.

“I would say that the intimidation came from knowing that males are traditionally expected to do the type of work that I love. I have come to know that first impressions are challenging because men are respected right off the bat,” Oropallo said. “I would not have done it if I did not think I could win, but I would say as a female in a stereotypically male dominated show is more competitive for me than intimidating. I love it.”

Oropallo, a teacher at  in Arlington, believes her edge is what other people consider hard work.

“Challenge to me equals fun, things that are easy are boring,” Oropallo said. “I always tell my students, the tougher the challenge, the more gratifying it is to complete. The best creations come from dedicated hard-working people.”

Oropallo had very little time to prepare for this big event because she was one of the last contestants picked in the Philadelphia audition.

“I didn’t have time to prepare,” Oropallo said. “I was notified of being on the show one week before filming.”

Oropallo admitted she is very excited yet very nervous all at the same time.

“The anticipation for each task was indescribable. We didn’t know any of the challenges for the show, so every moment I mentally went through all possible skills I might need,” Oropallo said. “I have never been so nervous for anything as I was for each project I was asked to complete in the show. The competition was on the spot. We had no time to prepare or plan. We didn’t even get to use our own tools and we had to react quickly to what the judges expected us to complete with what we had and under the time limit we had. It was a great feeling to compete in this type of contest.”

Oropallo just went with what her father taught her and that was that she could do anything even though what she loved was traditionally male dominated.

Oropallo lives by the motto, “You can do anything. Period!”