How to Get Into the Trades as a Woman: Apprenticeships, Representation & Skilled Trades Careers w/ Judaline Cassidy
Want to join the skilled trades as a woman? Judaline Cassidy shares how to start, find support, and thrive in a trades career, from plumbing to advocacy.
Host Andrew Brown sits down with master plumber and trades advocate Judaline Cassidy, founder of Tools and Tiaras, to talk about how women can break into the skilled trades. They dive into the reality of being a female plumber, how trades careers for girls are growing, the power of social media, and how to navigate the path through skilled trades apprenticeships.
If you're looking to join a fulfilling career in construction, carpentry, HVAC, or plumbing, this episode offers real stories and tactical advice from someone who’s lived it.
IN THIS EPISODE:
● (00:03:15) – How Judaline broke into plumbing and proved herself on the jobsite
● (00:08:47) – Why she picked plumbing over electrical and never looked back
● (00:17:33) – Social media’s role in promoting women in skilled trades
● (00:24:50) – How the Tools and Tiaras program empowers girls to explore trades careers
● (00:35:20) – The challenges of being a female plumber on commercial job sites
● (00:49:10) – What girls need to know before starting a skilled trades apprenticeship
Key Takeaways:
● Seeing a female plumber in action can shift a young girl’s entire career path.
● The Tools and Tiaras program introduces trades careers to girls through hands-on learning.
● Union-based skilled trades apprenticeships offer equal pay, benefits, and career longevity.
● Women in skilled trades must prove themselves repeatedly, but change is happening.
About the Guest:
Judaline Cassidy is a union plumber, public speaker, and founder of Tools and Tiaras, a nonprofit that introduces young girls to the trades industry through monthly workshops and summer camps. A longtime advocate for women in skilled trades, Judaline’s mission is to empower girls with tools and the confidence to use them. Her story spans countries, decades, and ceilings shattered, all with a wrench in hand.
Keywords :
Women in Skilled Trades, Female Plumbers, Trades Career for Girls, Tools and Tiaras Program, Skilled Trades Apprenticeship
Skilled Trades, Trades Industry, Andrew Brown, Judaline Cassidy, Toolfetch, Carpentry, HVAC, Electricians, Plumbers, Millwrights, Construction, Craftsmanship, Problem-solving, Creativity, Tradespeople, Advocacy, Trades Careers, Industry Experts, Contractors, Education, Skilled Trades Advisory Council
Resource Links:
Keywords :
Website: https://www.judaline.com/
LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/judaline-cassidy-b1570021/
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Transcript
I want girls to envision themselves in the role. So meeting a
Speaker:female plumber for the first time changes their mind. Meeting an
Speaker:architect for the first time. One of our girls is going to be a pilot.
Speaker:She met a female pilot from JetBlue that we introduced her to that
Speaker:sparked her interest in being a pilot. Now she went to aviation school,
Speaker:high school. She's going to become a pilot.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Andrew Brown. You're listening to the Lost Star of the Skilled Trades
Speaker:podcast, a show that shines the spotlight on
Speaker:careers in the skilled trades that are high paying, honorable,
Speaker:rewarding and fulfilling. The trades are the backbone of the
Speaker:economy that keep us running, and without them, our world
Speaker:would cease to exist.
Speaker:Today we have a special guest, Judaline Cassidy, founder of Tools
Speaker:and Tiaras. Welcome, Julian, to the show.
Speaker:Thank you so much for having me, Andrew. I'm excited to be here and
Speaker:speak with you about the things that we both love, the trades.
Speaker:Super happy to have you on the show today. I recently had
Speaker:a young woman plumber on the podcast by the name of
Speaker:Paige Knowles. She goes by Plumber Paige
Speaker:on social media. And she was talking about
Speaker:when she showed up at residential homes,
Speaker:they would open the door, they'd be like, wait, wait, wait, wait, you're working on
Speaker:our plumbing. They thought it would be a man because typically, a lot of
Speaker:times when it comes to plumbing or trades, they don't always
Speaker:equate it to women. But interesting enough, they would say to her,
Speaker:are you sure you can pick that up? Are you sure you can do that?
Speaker:And some of the men who answer the door was saying, like, oh, my God,
Speaker:I don't know how to fix this. But she does. And what's interesting is
Speaker:you had a similar type experience when you first moved to New
Speaker:York. A foreman on the job site said something memorable to you. Can
Speaker:you share that story? It was me getting back into
Speaker:plumbing. I was a housekeeper for a while when I first came in the country,
Speaker:and a nanny. My neighbor knew I was a plumber. So he told the company
Speaker:he has a plumber, but didn't tell them it was a woman. So
Speaker:when I showed up on the job site, the foreman looked at me and he
Speaker:says, there's no way you can be the plumber. That was his first reaction.
Speaker:I wasn't upset because. And I don't get upset when people assume that
Speaker:I can't be the plumber because I'm so adorably cute. So I get that, like,
Speaker:how many plumbers are cute I could understand with my height. They
Speaker:look at Me and like, oh, my gosh, she's so small. There's no way. So
Speaker:to his, you know, credit, that's probably what he was thinking. Just like the
Speaker:guy Lucy Page. It's just perspective and
Speaker:what they have been able to see on television, even in their
Speaker:houses, people don't show the pages. And I and all the
Speaker:other amazing female plumbers, so how could they know it's
Speaker:not really their fault. So I never take it as an insult. I just look
Speaker:at it as a moment to blow their minds.
Speaker:That's a good way to look at it. But I also think that social media
Speaker:has really helped us, and I've said this on a few other podcasts, that social
Speaker:media has really put women in front of
Speaker:people, because I see plumbers, welders,
Speaker:all different types of trades, and women are popping up, and they had these huge
Speaker:platforms on Instagram, on YouTube, and they're showcasing
Speaker:exactly what they can do with their hands. And it really shows other
Speaker:women. Yeah, I can do that stuff. I would definitely
Speaker:say because of social media, people got to know who I am. Right.
Speaker:And that's how I got to know Paige and a lot of the other
Speaker:female plumbers. Because for so long, you live in.
Speaker:Plumbers might live in rural areas as women and don't know there's
Speaker:a bigger family that they belong to of females. So
Speaker:I agree with you. Social media has really, really helped me
Speaker:as a person to get my message out of the love
Speaker:of the trades and also for my nonprofit, it has also
Speaker:helped us with that. So definitely. And people like you
Speaker:bringing spotlight to the amazing superheroes in the
Speaker:trade, so definitely helped. And totally across the
Speaker:board. I mean, it's just as advocates like yourself, myself, Mike Rowe,
Speaker:some other people out there doing some really great work, really showcasing exactly
Speaker:what people in the trades are doing and trying to get the next generation
Speaker:into the trades. All different trades are hurting,
Speaker:you know, on the shortages across the board, and we need more
Speaker:people getting into the trades and sort of debunking those sort of old
Speaker:myths about the trades. I do want to talk to you about sort of your
Speaker:foundation. Just a quick moment, but I want to kind of roll back in.
Speaker:When you were growing up in Trinidad and Tobago,
Speaker:what was it like for you? Because you were one of the first three in
Speaker:plumbing. Yeah. To get into that program. The others dropped out. I
Speaker:stayed, but it was three of us that actually they finally let in.
Speaker:And two of them left. And I stayed, but it was difficult. Just like I
Speaker:said, the guy looking at me, there's no way she could do this. And I
Speaker:dropped down and I did push ups and I blew his mind. And I got
Speaker:into the program. I always like to defy people's
Speaker:expectations. And then also in the Caribbean and a lot of
Speaker:other countries outside of the us women are raised
Speaker:to be more caregivers and caretakers and housewife
Speaker:and teachers and secretaries. Like those kind of
Speaker:careers. There's not a chance of you seeing somebody doing
Speaker:what I do. Well, if you had an interview and you were doing pushups on
Speaker:the floor, I'm sure that kind of blew away whoever was saying that,
Speaker:no, you can't do that. How long was that? Was it more trade
Speaker:school oriented? Was that the program? So the program
Speaker:was skills in general. So if you wanted
Speaker:to become a tailor, that was offered,
Speaker:seamtress that was offered back then, a lot of the young
Speaker:people might be listening. There was such a thing called shorthand
Speaker:typhoon. So secretarial women would get to that. The
Speaker:culinary arts, electrical, plumbing and
Speaker:auto mechanic, that was also one. But in my
Speaker:mind, like I felt like I am very practical
Speaker:and logical with my decisions. So in my head I
Speaker:figured electrical you get shock, plumbing you get wet.
Speaker:And I was like, here I come. And that's kind of like how I
Speaker:chose it before I kind of got into it. And then I
Speaker:fell madly in love with it. And I've been doing it for
Speaker:25 years plus. Well, it's interesting, everybody's journey. Just
Speaker:to give you a little bit of background about myself. So I was really
Speaker:a high tech person. Like I was going to be a programmer.
Speaker:That's what I kind of studied in school. But when I was
Speaker:living in New York City on 2011, during
Speaker:9 11, I got the crazy idea of actually going down
Speaker:there and helping. So I went down there a handful of days after 911
Speaker:and I worked back to back with first responders and really
Speaker:tradespeople on site. So that really changed
Speaker:everything for me and my trajectory where I thought I was going
Speaker:into it, that literally I quit my job in IT and Citi
Speaker:and I formed a company called Tool Fetch with my brother, an
Speaker:industrial tool and supply company to provide tools to plumbers,
Speaker:electricians and welders for the last 25 years. So you talk about
Speaker:trajectory changes. Now you had a different trajectory change cause you wanted to
Speaker:be. Was it a lawyer? How did that change for you?
Speaker:Like what was the pivotal point for you to move over to
Speaker:being a plumber or wanting to be a plumber? I really truly wanted to
Speaker:be a lawyer. It just seems so
Speaker:cool and so like really smart and like
Speaker:people will be coming to you for advice. And even now when they do
Speaker:interviews, I've seen one for kids in Trinidad and Tobago and
Speaker:they ask them that they all want to be lawyers. But my great
Speaker:grandmother who I lived with had passed away with that.
Speaker:I didn't have the financial access to go to university.
Speaker:In most Caribbean countries which was owned by the British,
Speaker:our system of education is similar. So primary school,
Speaker:secondary school is free. But to go beyond that to
Speaker:actually become a lawyer, doctor, those things are not free. I
Speaker:couldn't afford it. So that's why I went to that trade school.
Speaker:It was free. It was the best decision. I never look back
Speaker:and have regrets of being a lawyer because I think I'd make
Speaker:up for it by watching every episode series of Law and Order.
Speaker:I kind of use negotiation skills all the time
Speaker:with my job with the nonprofit. So it's really cool.
Speaker:No regrets. It happened for a reason, right? I was
Speaker:on 9 11, I that happened for a reason. Changed my trajectory. That
Speaker:changed your trajectory into a long career and
Speaker:you're happy and giving back to people who are coming
Speaker:into the trades and young women who are coming into the trades. And that's
Speaker:is an amazing feeling. When you actually got to New
Speaker:York City and when you said originally when you went to the
Speaker:job site and he said to go blank yourself, was that your
Speaker:first real job as a plumber at
Speaker:that point, what was it like for you working? I assume it was all
Speaker:predominantly men at that point. Were they even accepting at that
Speaker:point? Because even X amount of years ago, it's
Speaker:come a long way, even a handful of years ago. Cause it's more accepted with
Speaker:social media and everything. What was it like day to day? It
Speaker:was difficult. That day I changed everybody's mind.
Speaker:Uh, they looked at me, I negotiated with that guy
Speaker:and that's how I got to work that day. And Jimmy kept me.
Speaker:Cuz the negotiation deal was I work for free. And he fell for
Speaker:it. He ended up keeping me. I became the first woman to work for that
Speaker:plumbing company. The men took me on and
Speaker:treated me like one of the guys. And you know, Neil
Speaker:Messina, another amazing brother, he passed away last
Speaker:year. He taught me like, you know, the things that I didn't know.
Speaker:Because my plumbing system that I learned is the one pipe system
Speaker:from England and in America we have the two pipe, the vent and the
Speaker:drain. So I had to kind of relearn certain things and the men taught
Speaker:me. But then there was when I shifted from residential Work, which
Speaker:that was. And I went to big construction is
Speaker:where it was tough because that small group of guys with
Speaker:that shop, I'm one of the guys. If they did see me as one of
Speaker:the girls, it was when my accent made them laugh the way I said
Speaker:things right? But when I went into big construction, that was tough
Speaker:because I would be the only woman on a 50
Speaker:story, 40 story building. Now, no other trade. Maybe
Speaker:sometimes a laborer, maybe sometimes on the back
Speaker:end, somebody from Turner or one of those. So nobody would talk to
Speaker:me. But there's always one guy who would break
Speaker:protocol and come over. Hi,
Speaker:my name is Andrew, shake my hand. And then all the
Speaker:other guys saw that and now they change because one guy
Speaker:step up. It just takes one person to change the industry. All the men
Speaker:who are listening to us and you see that woman coming to job, be that
Speaker:one guy, be that guy. Because I had so many of those guys.
Speaker:Every time I go to another site was starting over and over again.
Speaker:Every job site a woman goes to as a
Speaker:tradesperson, she starting as zero, day one. No
Speaker:matter how long you've been in the business. And there's always that one guy who
Speaker:would come up in front of everybody in the shanty, that's what we say in
Speaker:New York City, and shake your hands. And then everybody else see.
Speaker:And then him saying, I'll be the one that would work with her,
Speaker:works with me, then can report to the masses.
Speaker:She knows her stuff. You know, I won everybody over
Speaker:with my amazing personality and my skill.
Speaker:So that's what I did. I took it brick by brick, person by
Speaker:person. But it weighs on you. It's tough. I mean, you're
Speaker:basically having to some degree prove yourself each and
Speaker:every time. I'm sure it took a handful of years
Speaker:for them to eventually, you know, word of mouth and
Speaker:that type of stuff and see people on maybe the same job sites,
Speaker:that type of stuff. It just took time to get more
Speaker:accepted. There's a woman up in Canada, her name is
Speaker:Jamie McMillan. She's an iron worker. She's doing wonderful work. I've spoken with her
Speaker:a couple of times. She was down here when she was in Las Vegas, and
Speaker:I've met up with her for a show. And just what she had to
Speaker:go through as an iron worker, but also giving back to
Speaker:the community, giving back to women who are up and coming, want to be
Speaker:iron workers. It's not easy. It's not easy to get that
Speaker:every single time. Improving yourself, it wears on you
Speaker:mentally. You feel like you've done the work. You would think
Speaker:that the testament of how long you've been there is
Speaker:proof that as a woman, a woman of color, a woman
Speaker:immigrant with an accent, for me to be here
Speaker:25 and counting, I have to know my trade.
Speaker:It couldn't be because, I mean, I'm adorably cute and
Speaker:smart. It just can't be that I have to know my craft too. Right. So
Speaker:you would think that that would be logical that Jamie's been here
Speaker:because I know her. We've been around a long time. If we didn't know it,
Speaker:we wouldn't be working. That's a great thing about the trades. Like, you have to
Speaker:know what you're doing over a period of time to keep working. So you would
Speaker:think that would help, but as a woman, it doesn't. They find
Speaker:excuses to fool while you bet. You're still here.
Speaker:Yeah. And it's great that both of you and other women have persevered right through
Speaker:this and have kept it going, but it just. You become
Speaker:quote, unquote, role models to other women who think
Speaker:like it is possible to do well in the
Speaker:trades. What is the feeling? This only goes
Speaker:from experience. What I talk to a lot of different tradespeople is the fulfillment
Speaker:aspect of completing something. What is it like to
Speaker:complete a project, especially a large commercial project?
Speaker:You know, after you did that, you helped put that plumbing in. What is that
Speaker:feeling? Like there's a shift that happens as
Speaker:an individual when you complete something or you use a
Speaker:tool. It's almost like, I mean, I love superhero
Speaker:movies. I feel like when I'm finished with something like a
Speaker:superhero, when I've made somebody's day better because their plumbing
Speaker:wasn't going bad, and I come in there, I improve their lives daily
Speaker:through plumbing. So there's no other feeling. Like
Speaker:I get a intoxicating high when I go in.
Speaker:I go in with them not believing I'm the plumber,
Speaker:me convincing them that I'll make their day better. And by the time
Speaker:I'm ready to leave, they so happy and want to bless you
Speaker:with gifts and stuff like that. So I don't know. It's intoxicating
Speaker:and it brings a sense of pride to know that you are part of a
Speaker:community that keeps on building America.
Speaker:And you have this pride of walking down,
Speaker:whether it be the UN 42nd Street. And I know our kids
Speaker:and our families get tired of us pointing out all of these
Speaker:buildings and stuff that we did, but we've left our
Speaker:mark, I think as tradesmen and tradeswomen and
Speaker:tradespeople, you know, include everyone. We are leaving
Speaker:our handprints and our work prints in every
Speaker:building we touch. For generations, I've only met
Speaker:happy go lucky tradespeople who are only satisfied
Speaker:to say, I built that bridge, I built that tunnel, I put that plumbing
Speaker:in, and they light up. Exactly. When you talk about
Speaker:a project, I'm always in awe with a lot of the work that's done. The
Speaker:only feeling that I got recently and you like this, is when
Speaker:my residential plumbing, my sink froze. There was
Speaker:no water coming up. And my wife's like, you got to fix that. I'm like,
Speaker:okay, I'll fix it. So I blast these two heaters
Speaker:underneath the sink. Finally, it fought out, and for about
Speaker:two minutes, I felt a sense of fulfillment. My wife gave me a
Speaker:pat on the back, and it was a good feeling. But I can imagine the
Speaker:sense of that feeling about putting that together in a high
Speaker:rise building. And you did that work. It's an overall great
Speaker:feeling. Especially like, I used to work in really big high rise
Speaker:buildings in New York City, and now I work for the city of New York
Speaker:in public housing. And right then and there, I
Speaker:get to see the immediate effect of what I
Speaker:do. Somebody's been. Water is flooding their apartment. I come in
Speaker:there, I break the wall, I take the pipe out, I put a new. And
Speaker:I just made their day better. They can sleep. So you can see it immediately.
Speaker:And like I said, it's very. For that little moment you did that and she
Speaker:gave you a nice little pat on the back. And then maybe she was nice
Speaker:enough to let you watch your TV show instead of hers, like we normally do
Speaker:for that moment. Right. It felt really good. That's what we feel
Speaker:on a daily basis. That's why you see construction workers, like
Speaker:we walk around with our head lifted high. It's such
Speaker:a pride to make things. With your hands, you know,
Speaker:It's a wonderful thing. You should. Because I do feel that tradespeople
Speaker:should be more recognized because they tend to be the ones behind the scenes.
Speaker:But I always say they make the economy run because if they all disappeared tomorrow,
Speaker:we'd be pretty sol if we didn't have it. Well, we
Speaker:did see that, right? I saw the shift of how people looked at
Speaker:us when Covid happened. We were the ones who still
Speaker:had to go to work through it all. Some people, they were able to
Speaker:work remotely. How could I do plumbing remotely? We had
Speaker:to be at ground zero making those
Speaker:temporary hospitals and those oxygen lines and
Speaker:yeah, we did that so we worked through it, and I think a lot of
Speaker:people didn't realize how important, especially the plumbing
Speaker:is for general overall health of a
Speaker:nation and a community. Because one of the main things they told us to do
Speaker:was wash your hands, right? So if nobody's house had
Speaker:water, how would they do that? Right? So I saw a
Speaker:respect. There's two things I saw to shift the way people looked at me as
Speaker:a plumber when I first started. People looked at me in the street
Speaker:and judged me that I probably wasn't smart enough. I'm so
Speaker:filthy. That was the look when Mike Rose started dirty
Speaker:jobs. That changed big time. People started looking at me
Speaker:different. And then during COVID now I don't see the
Speaker:judgment look like I did before, or their parents
Speaker:telling the kids, don't grow up to be like them. I don't see that anymore.
Speaker:I really don't. I saw the shift through the years of being in the business.
Speaker:I do believe that Mike Rowe did change that old adage when
Speaker:he started showcasing all these people in blue collar and the
Speaker:money that they make by doing some of these jobs that you never thought
Speaker:would be, you know, really successful. But he sort of paved the
Speaker:way for this on social media. Because I want to go back to social
Speaker:media because there is a lot of pushback, and I hope you can give some
Speaker:color to this. A little bit more is wages.
Speaker:A lot of kids, they say, whoa, why would I
Speaker:want to go into plumbing or welding or carpentry?
Speaker:I'm just an apprentice. I'm only making $18 an hour. I can work at
Speaker:McDonald's. I could work at Chipotle and make more money. What would
Speaker:you say to people out there, and especially women who are thinking about
Speaker:getting into plumbing? How long would it take to start
Speaker:making money? But you have to start somewhere. You have to start as
Speaker:a. As an apprentice. Everybody starts somewhere. It doesn't matter what career
Speaker:you in, whether it be a lawyer. You have to study from the bottom. If
Speaker:you decided to be an influencer, everything,
Speaker:there's ground zero and there's up from there. The difference
Speaker:between someone working at McDonald's, that is. Nothing's wrong with that
Speaker:because like I said, I was a housekeeper and a nanny. The
Speaker:difference is you will get in a career in the
Speaker:trades than a job. Those are
Speaker:jobs. And it's not the path to success. Being an
Speaker:apprentice and then journeying out or even if you never went, which I.
Speaker:I believe in the union, apprenticeship. Let's say you didn't even do that. And Andrew
Speaker:they came up with, with you they gained knowledge that they can then
Speaker:open their own business and become a business owner
Speaker:and become wealthy. Or they can say you know what, I don't even want to
Speaker:live here anymore in the usa. I'm tired of the coal.
Speaker:You know, I wanna eat mangoes and coconut water every day and
Speaker:go to another country and still have a job. Because that's what the skilled
Speaker:trades does. There was recent data that shows the new
Speaker:millionaires are coming from the skilled trades.
Speaker:H vac, plumbing, electrical, everybody's going to need that.
Speaker:You never say never. But the chances are I take in my
Speaker:job tomorrow is slim to none. All of those
Speaker:other things could get automated. The food could get
Speaker:automated just like the factories making the car gut. All of those things
Speaker:at some point could get automated. But what we do,
Speaker:that robot has to be really adorably cute, smart,
Speaker:skilled, all of that in one package to do what I do
Speaker:and bring personality to the job, to the person. I don't see the
Speaker:robot winning me on that point.
Speaker:Robot0Doodling1
Speaker:those things are just jobs and what we do is careers that
Speaker:you could change. You could be on the back end. You don't always have to
Speaker:work with your hands, with the tools. You can design plumbing, you can work in
Speaker:designing fixtures. You can, it's like so many, I think people really
Speaker:don't understand how vast every
Speaker:single field is, whether it be sheet metal, electrical,
Speaker:elevator operator, boilermakers, the welders. There's
Speaker:just so many different broken down divisions and sections within
Speaker:that you will always have a career, you have a. Skill that's in demand.
Speaker:AI is not going to take your job. You know, they said robots are going
Speaker:to take over the blue collar skilled trades. They didn't realize that AI is coming
Speaker:for your white collar job. I mean it's just, it's really funny but like you
Speaker:said, the younger generation, Gen Z, I'm only
Speaker:phrasing what the Wall Street Journal said, that they're becoming the tool belt generation.
Speaker:Because it's really true that they are looking at a four year college
Speaker:degree, that's a hundred plus thousand dollars. Or I can start in
Speaker:this apprenticeship, start making money, I can learn and earn, work my
Speaker:way up. I always say even in the trades, yes, when
Speaker:there's a recession people don't do big projects but there's always something
Speaker:to do, right? Plumbing always fails in residential homes,
Speaker:is always something and it's always worked. You're always in demand and
Speaker:I try to instill that into parents, into kids and like
Speaker:you said there's a lot of different paths that you can take, not just be
Speaker:in the field, you can own your own business one day if you want to
Speaker:be entrepreneurial. I wanted to switch over
Speaker:quickly and I just wanted to see if you wanted to give some feedback on
Speaker:this about. Because also the union versus
Speaker:non union path, can you shed any light a little
Speaker:bit about, you know, if somebody's thinking about union
Speaker:versus non union, the different paths sort of the take and why or why
Speaker:not. So it's good you asked that question because I was going to talk a
Speaker:little bit about the union with that last question about the difference. Do you
Speaker:see? So I'm on the executive board of my union. Every time we
Speaker:bring new apprentices in to start our apprenticeship program, the
Speaker:chairman of the board, he asked his questions, all those who are vets and they
Speaker:stand up and we give them the respect that they deserve, we clap and we
Speaker:say thank you for your service and we're really proud of that. And then the
Speaker:next question is all those who went to college and
Speaker:every month almost half of the room put
Speaker:their hands up that they went to college and
Speaker:now here they are. That shows you seeing that every
Speaker:time now being on the executive board, the hands go up. So many of them
Speaker:spend so many money going to college. The union route
Speaker:is better because of the things that you get. And
Speaker:as a woman they're equal pay for me. So they. The guy who's
Speaker:6 foot 2, my partner Chip that I love so much,
Speaker:he's 6 foot 4 something he was. And I'm
Speaker:4 foot 11 and 7 eights and he gets the same salary
Speaker:and I get the same salary. We do the same work and we're doing it
Speaker:together. The apprenticeship is a path why I love it
Speaker:that somebody could learn the science behind what they do.
Speaker:Most people start off non union. When I got into that company I was non
Speaker:union and then I got into the union. So the path of the
Speaker:apprenticeship, what I love about it is learning the knowledge
Speaker:behind what you do because you could be non union And
Speaker:Andrew, you teach me every single thing and I just do it because
Speaker:I just saw you do it like that and that's the way to do it.
Speaker:But I really wouldn't know what is the science, the
Speaker:mathematical equations behind that. And then with the
Speaker:union you have access to a 401k plan,
Speaker:a pension, very good healthcare. That's the big
Speaker:difference. It's a great path if you can get in. And I know
Speaker:as a union we can do a lot better Letting People in. But
Speaker:I, I saw the five years of studying
Speaker:what I did. I know why I do what I do. So when a customer
Speaker:asks me why is the trap a certain height? That's what
Speaker:people don't realize because of my amazing work is behind the wall.
Speaker:There's a science and that's what you learn with the union
Speaker:apprenticeship. And you get to earn while you learn and avoid that
Speaker:college debt. It's a great path to be on. There's definitely a lot
Speaker:of pros being in the union, but you did touch upon this, that there's only
Speaker:a certain amount of seats. Right. So I'm picturing my, my extended
Speaker:family member who wants to be an electrician and he's trying to do it in
Speaker:California. He couldn't get it and he had to take a different job
Speaker:in a solar company. He's going to reapply again. What would you suggest
Speaker:that that happens if somebody applies, they just don't get in? Would you say to
Speaker:keep going for it, like reapply? And I would say keep going. I
Speaker:would say keep going. I know it's hard because you got to think about it.
Speaker:Everything in life has a limited amount of space. And like when
Speaker:we have our influx for kids who are trying to come in, there's a long
Speaker:line for days and we only give out 200 applications
Speaker:every classroom. The classroom can be unlimited size and it's
Speaker:safety. So I always tell people, don't give up. And even
Speaker:sometimes, what's sad too, sometimes people get in
Speaker:and by their second or third year, it's tough because
Speaker:people think it's easy. Not the elements you work in,
Speaker:the personalities and in the school you have to
Speaker:get a 70 average and you have to learn Pythagoras theorem and
Speaker:volume. And so people drop out. It's
Speaker:hard. Like some people might only make it to the third year. So when
Speaker:somebody, someone journeys out, it's a huge
Speaker:accomplishment. And I would say to anybody, just keep on trying.
Speaker:I know as a, as a union and stuff like that, we can do a
Speaker:lot better letting people in or maybe figure out a way to
Speaker:do the classes differently because it's over five years because you
Speaker:have to still work. So there's room for improvement. Like any
Speaker:other company or any other industry. There's always room
Speaker:for improvement. But I would still choose the union
Speaker:path over any other any day because I was able
Speaker:to. I grew up in Trinidad and Tobago, extremely poor
Speaker:and to have the lifestyle that I like to say is a soft girl
Speaker:lifestyle now and the diverse things that I have and the access to the things
Speaker:that I have. None of that would be possible if I wasn't making
Speaker:a union salary. And that's just the facts. Yeah, look, it's
Speaker:the hard work that you put in and the work that you've done is paid
Speaker:off over time. Takes time to build. And that's what kids need to learn, is
Speaker:that it's not instant gratification, it's delayed gratification.
Speaker:It might take a handful of years to get to where you want to. This
Speaker:is not easy work. And again, I was just using example of my
Speaker:extended family member. Like, you know, he was telling me what he needs to study.
Speaker:Like, it's not easy stuff. It's not. Sometimes
Speaker:people equate that you're in the trades so you. You're not higher education.
Speaker:I'm only using that as an example that I hear. It's
Speaker:not like that at all. You need to learn math and like, really complex stuff
Speaker:that you need to learn. I wish I was close to where I could go
Speaker:get my books, some of my books that I have from school or even when
Speaker:I had to study the plumbing code to get the city job that I have.
Speaker:It's like a Bible. You should see that book. It's no
Speaker:joke. And electricians are even worse. Their code is even bigger than
Speaker:ours. It's like four Bibles put together. It is not
Speaker:what you think. One of the myths I want to debunk.
Speaker:People assume that people choose the trades because they
Speaker:wasn't smart enough to go to college. That is a lie. Because
Speaker:every single one of you listening to Andrew and I's and my
Speaker:voice right now, you use buildings that we
Speaker:built and you trust us that our mathematical
Speaker:engineering, all the things that we did worked out great.
Speaker:So you had to be smart to build these things that you guys use on
Speaker:a daily basis. So it's not because we wasn't smart enough for
Speaker:college. It's because we were smart enough not to go to college
Speaker:as is itself and get that debt. Exactly. And that's a great way
Speaker:to put it. Like, college is not for everybody. The trades is
Speaker:not for everybody. But I only feel that if you have that
Speaker:mechanical ability, if you have that technical spark and you're going through
Speaker:school, there should be a guidance counselor who would sit
Speaker:with you and say, hey, like, you know, you are good with your
Speaker:hands. Maybe consider a trades path. It can't just be college, college,
Speaker:college, college. And there should be an option for the trades. And
Speaker:hopefully that conversation that's happening in schools it's
Speaker:not like kids are taking shop class today. A lot of those shop classes were
Speaker:taken out, so they don't have that ability. Some people are going into trades
Speaker:because they have family members that have gone into the trades or they know
Speaker:somebody's in the trades. But I think we need to do a better job when
Speaker:it comes to career expiration into the trades. Overall,
Speaker:I wanted to shift over to giving back to your
Speaker:community. And you're doing that really through a foundation called Tools and
Speaker:Tiaras. Can you talk a little bit about how that program works
Speaker:and how you're really changing the game, making an impact? I started
Speaker:Tools and Tarot because I wish I had learned the
Speaker:empowerment that I feel from being a plumber. When I was a little girl,
Speaker:I had it, and then we lost it. So at Tools and Tears, we have
Speaker:free monthly workshops for girls in careers
Speaker:in steam. They learn electrical,
Speaker:plumbing, welding, auto mechanic, architecture,
Speaker:bricklaying, welding. So
Speaker:those are the skills that they use with their hands. Right. We do that in
Speaker:monthly workshops and our summer camp. And then we also teach them
Speaker:life skills like public speaking, self defense,
Speaker:financial literacy, activism, to be part of the community
Speaker:and help. So that's what we do. And the reason why I did it, I
Speaker:wanted kids to grow up respecting the skill trades and the
Speaker:people that they see. And we've seen that the girls really, really
Speaker:take to it and want to do those careers. So we just
Speaker:expose them to amazing women within these industries. So we don't
Speaker:have any male teachers. I have men who help us. I
Speaker:call them Malays, and they help us in the back and give us
Speaker:whatever we need. But I want girls to envision themselves in
Speaker:the role. So meeting a female plumber for the first time changes their
Speaker:mind. Meeting an architect for the first time. One of our girls is
Speaker:going to be a pilot. She met a female pilot from JetBlue that we introduced
Speaker:her to that sparked her interest in being a pilot. Now she
Speaker:went to aviation school, high school. She's going to become a pilot.
Speaker:You know, since I started, we started to see the first set of girls because
Speaker:we start really young. I start really young. One of the first people,
Speaker:six years old, I put tools in their hands, whether it be a welding
Speaker:torch, a drill, a hammer,
Speaker:and they love it. So that's the core essence of our program,
Speaker:is just to get girls touching tools sooner,
Speaker:earlier, thereby sparking their interest within
Speaker:careers and also mostly empowerment and
Speaker:knowing if they never took this path, they will always be an ally
Speaker:for our industry. I'm a big believer the earlier
Speaker:you can get tools into kids hands under supervision,
Speaker:you know, the better. So they get used to wanting to work with their hands
Speaker:and they are giving back to the community. For women who have
Speaker:never touched a tool or power tool, you know, a young age
Speaker:and the percentage now goes up that they may go
Speaker:into a trade, you know, I don't know if you know of
Speaker:a teacher out there. His name is Edvin Jarrett, he's out of Pennsylvania
Speaker:and he works for a school. He's doing wonderful things in a school where
Speaker:he's teaching kids at a young age. And they have blowtorches and they're running around
Speaker:and then I always see him live on Instagram. There's also
Speaker:a woman by the name of Mary Gaffney who's on our foundation called the
Speaker:SkilledRays Advisory Council and she runs the
Speaker:Mywic, it's a women in construction. She's got a camp where she takes about
Speaker:80 women and they go through the program over the summer. They get free
Speaker:tools and work boots and some of the women have come out and
Speaker:girls have come out and they've gone into the trade. So it's wonderful what you're
Speaker:doing and I love these programs because that's how you get the hearts of the
Speaker:kids at an early age.
Speaker:Now, the tools of the trade. In every
Speaker:episode, we always ask our guest a tools of the trade.
Speaker:What's one piece or career advice you can give a
Speaker:young woman wanting to get into the plumbing trade? What would you
Speaker:say to her? I would say, first of all, really,
Speaker:really make sure you want to do it because it's one of the tough trades,
Speaker:physically and mentally. And if you check all of those
Speaker:boxes and you say, yeah, I still want to do it, believe in
Speaker:yourself. You can do it. Hard days are going to come,
Speaker:but I want you to remember your why and your why
Speaker:will keep you going. When days get difficult, give it a
Speaker:shot. Don't be afraid. You have all that you need. That's what I
Speaker:would tell her. That is great advice. You know, again, going back
Speaker:to your journey and what you went through and how successful
Speaker:you've become and being in the union, being in New York
Speaker:City, pushing against all that with all the men
Speaker:on the job site, you came through that and it's possible.
Speaker:So thank you for what you do and you impact many people's
Speaker:lives, you know, young and old. So thank you for what you
Speaker:do. Thank you. Likewise, Yu. It's my honor and privilege to
Speaker:do what I do. And I think it's incumbent on all of
Speaker:us, when we learn, we give and when we have knowledge,
Speaker:we teach. We're just supposed to do that. So it's an honor and a
Speaker:privilege. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to share my story.
Speaker:If people want to find out more information about you website or social
Speaker:media, where do they go to find you? Just google my name right? It's easy.
Speaker:I love being having an unusual name Julian Cassidy but tools and
Speaker:tarot we on all the platforms, LinkedIn, Instagram,
Speaker:Facebook, TikTok. You can find us and
Speaker:you can see what we do in and if you believe in what we're doing,
Speaker:just support us and show the girls some love. That's
Speaker:great stuff. Definitely check out Judah Lynn's stuff. She's doing great things out there. Thank
Speaker:you so much for being on the show today. No, thank you for having me
Speaker:and. Thank you to our listeners. If you want more valuable insights and trades related
Speaker:information, head over to andrewbrown.net and join our Trades
Speaker:Movement newsletter where we advocate for the trades, share inspirational
Speaker:stories, provide resources and you join a passionate
Speaker:trades community. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast so you never
Speaker:miss another episode. We'll see you next time.
Speaker:Thanks for listening to the Lost Art of the Skilled Trades. Visit
Speaker:us@AndrewBrown.net for more resources and tips.
Speaker:Join us next time for real stories and meaningful initiatives
Speaker:as we celebrate our men and women in the skilled trades and shape
Speaker:the future together.
