Carey Oakes began her lift career as an apprentice with Otis in 1990 at age 16. She worked as a lift engineer with Otis in Liverpool for 10 years. Oakes worked mainly in the city’s “Three Graces” — the Royal Liver, Cunard and Port of Liverpool buildings. In 2000, she joined Schindler, where she worked for 14 years as an engineer, lead engineer, service manager and escalator service manager (North). During her 31-year career, she also worked for two major lift consultancies. She joined Knowsley Lifts in 2019.