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Math always came easy to Allannah Thomas, but found it was not so easy for others, like the women she used to work with at an HIV outreach organization. The women were HIV positive and were looking for jobs.

"They'd all taken the [General Equivalency Diploma test] and repeatedly failed the math test over and over again," says Thomas. "So I kept thinking, how are they going to get out of the life if they can't get the credentials that will at least give them the basic kind of job?"

Ten year ago, Thomas started Helicon Inc., and in that time she has taught math to more than 5,000 women at more than a dozen organizations like Nontraditional Employment for Women in Chelsea, Manhattan, which helps train and find employment for women in construction trades.

Thomas says when the women first come to class they usually have between second- to eighth-grade math skills.

"I never really knew how to read a tape measurer and that was our first quiz on the tape measurer, so I did terrible, I did terrible on it," says student Uniqua Ratford. "But as soon as she explained it to us, and she only explains one time, as soon as she explains to us you're like a brainiac."

Thomas provides her service for free along with all the supplies for the classes.

"If somebody is dedicated to doing this for free, then I am going to give it my time and take my time, I am not going to waste it," says student Majule Slaney. "I am going to value their time and take all the information I can."

Ratford says what she learned in Thomas's class has helped her in her other classes.

"After we finished the math class we are working down in carpentry and painting and things like that. And you have to be able to know what fifth-eighths of an inch is," says Ratford. "So the skills that she teaches you are essential for all the different trades."

Thomas hopes that what she teaches her students will be passed down from generation to generation.

"Usually when women understand that they are going to be doing math professionally, they start to think of themselves as being capable of doing other things," says Thomas. "The best thing is that women almost invariably say, 'Oh, I can help my child with math.'"

"She loves to do what she does and you can tell that she has a passion for what she does, she makes learning fun," says Ratford.

So, for multiplying the chances for women to succeed in the workforce, Allannah Thomas is the New Yorker of the Week.

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