How Ferguson Is Tackling the Skilled Trades Gap: Building Future Plumbers, HVAC Techs & Electricians w/ Melissa Hazelwood
Ferguson is investing big in skilled trades education. Melissa Hazelwood joins host Andrew Brown to reveal how they're building trades labs for plumbing, HVAC & more.
Join host Andrew Brown on The Lost Art of the Skilled Trades as he talks with Melissa Hazelwood, Director of Community Relations at Ferguson, about how one of America’s top plumbing and HVAC distributors is helping solve the trades labor crisis. From building hands-on training labs with Explore the Trades to investing in K-12 career awareness, Ferguson is reshaping how young people discover and enter high-paying trade careers.
Discover why early exposure matters, how Ferguson’s Skills Lab program works, and how companies can step up to support trades education in their own communities.
In This Episode:
(02:15) — Why early exposure to the trades matters
(07:40) — Spotlight on “Castle Jarrett” and student engagement
(14:30) — Inside the Ferguson Skills Lab initiative and its national reach
(23:10) — The role of parents, guidance counselors, and social perception
(32:45) — Women in construction: tools, tiaras, and trade camps
(41:00) — Advice for companies wanting to support skilled trades education programs
Key Takeaways:
Trade careers for kids should be introduced early through hands-on play, mentorship, and relatable role models.
The Ferguson Skills Lab initiative is a groundbreaking example of private industry investing in skilled trades education programs.
Explore the Trades partnerships help connect contractors, schools, and community leaders to offer scalable, real-world training.
Programs like women in construction training camps are essential to diversify the trades and empower the next generation of builders and problem-solvers.
About the Guest:
Melissa Hazelwood is the Director of Social Impact at Ferguson, where she leads initiatives that support skilled trades education programs through national partnerships like the Explore the Trades partnership. She plays a key role in the Ferguson Skills Lab initiative, which has already reached thousands of students across the U.S. Her work bridges industry expertise and community service, ensuring that trade careers for kids remain a visible and viable path—especially through her support of women in construction training camps and other inclusive outreach programs.
Melissa shares how Ferguson's community-first mindset and collaboration with organizations like Explore the Trades are creating real social impact in the trades industry. Whether you're a parent, contractor, educator, or just passionate about craftsmanship, this episode is filled with insights on the future of trades careers and how we can all play a role in supporting the next generation of tradespeople.
Keywords:
Skilled trades education programs, Trade careers for kids, Ferguson Skills Lab initiative, Explore the Trades partnership, Women in construction training camps, Skilled Trades, Trades Industry, Andrew Brown, Melissa Hazelwood, Social Impact, 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:
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mkhazelwood/
Ferguson website: https://www.corporate.ferguson.com/esg/story-hub/news-details/2024/Building-the-future/default.aspx
Transcript
Telling kids where water comes from, telling kids, you know, how the
Speaker:house is built. You know, I think the more we have these conversations
Speaker:with our kids, the more that we show them the different opportunities
Speaker:that are available in life. It has to be part of the conversation.
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, Melissa Hazelwood of
Speaker:Ferguson. Welcome, Melissa, to the show. Hey,
Speaker:Andrew, thanks for having me. It is great for you to be on the show.
Speaker:I was thinking about a teacher and his name
Speaker:is Edvin Jarrett. He teaches young
Speaker:kids about plumbing, carpentry,
Speaker:electrical work, masonry work every day at a
Speaker:elementary school named Mayfair in Pennsylvania.
Speaker:And I see he live streams almost every day on
Speaker:Instagram. And you're seeing the kids using all these different tools and you're
Speaker:like, wow, there's really a teacher out there that's engaged
Speaker:with students who want to learn at a young age.
Speaker:How important do you feel is it to
Speaker:educate these kids about the opportunity and the trades, especially so
Speaker:young? First, I want to say Evan is a
Speaker:remarkable teacher and what he ignites in his classroom
Speaker:is just off the charts. I had an opportunity to go visit with
Speaker:with him and his students and he calls it Castle
Speaker:Jarrett and it really and truly is. And those kids are so
Speaker:engaged and just they're having the time of their life in
Speaker:school, no less. You know, I think it's just one of those things
Speaker:where getting in front of kids earlier and educating them about the skilled
Speaker:trades is, you know, when you think about the young kids in the kindergarten,
Speaker:first, second, third grade, it's just about igniting their curiosity,
Speaker:giving them opportunities to play with their hands, play with water,
Speaker:get dirty, and just use their imagination. And then as
Speaker:they progress through that K through 12 continuum, once they hit
Speaker:middle school, it's okay. Here's some hands on projects, here's some
Speaker:opportunities. This is what you could be if you were to
Speaker:pursue a career. I think at Ferguson, we really try to address
Speaker:that K through 12 continuum. And it's, you know, how can we get in
Speaker:front of kids earlier and how can we get in front of parents and tell
Speaker:them, hey, these are opportunities for your kids? Not every kid
Speaker:is destined for college, and that's okay. It's not a bad
Speaker:path. There are two tremendous paths for kids in life.
Speaker:And, you know, really just showing them at a young
Speaker:age what is possible makes all the difference. You know,
Speaker:he's also called, I guess, AKA the dope teacher. Yes.
Speaker:Oh, yes. Yeah. And he constantly pops up
Speaker:on my. My LinkedIn. But more so, he's got a much larger
Speaker:following on Instagram. Just what he's doing is just
Speaker:outstanding. And he's been recognized, you know, on the media. And it's
Speaker:teachers like that that really engage kids, and it's all about trying to get them
Speaker:at a young age. Because obviously there's so many stigmas about
Speaker:the trades that really, kids are
Speaker:feeling like they're more engaged to go to college versus,
Speaker:you know, working with their hands. And that's one thing that I do, is just
Speaker:to give kids least an opportunity as another option
Speaker:in their path versus going the college path. Because for me, I was only
Speaker:given one option, go to college. And it honestly did not serve me. It did
Speaker:not serve me in any way possible. And I kind of walked around for four
Speaker:years, kind of lost and switched majors about three or four
Speaker:times. If these kids are at least, especially the ones that
Speaker:have that technical spark or have that mechanical ability,
Speaker:they're learning that at a young age that it's okay to work with your hands.
Speaker:Evan's doing that firsthand. Evan
Speaker:breaks every single stereotype in his classroom, right? He's
Speaker:got girls, he's got boys, he's got young kids, he's got older kids.
Speaker:He even works with young adults in the trades. I
Speaker:spent time in his classroom, and he's handing these 4th graders
Speaker:blowtorches to solder some pipe. And it is
Speaker:amazing, but the kids can do what you teach them to do.
Speaker:You know, you always hear kids are little sponges, but in Evan's class,
Speaker:you see it. They soak it in. They do not want to
Speaker:leave. They come in fast and furious, ready to learn. They roll up their sleeves,
Speaker:pull their hair back, and grab whatever tool they're doing that day
Speaker:and go to work. And they genuinely did not want to leave
Speaker:his classroom. It was just the best thing that I think
Speaker:I've ever seen. So I would definitely say that Evan is the dopest
Speaker:teacher. He makes it fun and he makes it exciting. And,
Speaker:you know, I happened to. You know, I don't know if it was about a
Speaker:couple months ago, I saw Explore the Trades,
Speaker:actually on his podcast and Explore the Trades for the People who Don't Know as
Speaker:an organization that is working to get the younger generation into
Speaker:the trades. Kate Simeno is on our foundation, the Skilled
Speaker:Trades Advisory Council. And she's done an excellent job, especially with that
Speaker:organization, to get kids really interested in trades. And I have these
Speaker:posters that they send out to guidance counselors and
Speaker:schools around the country. I think they have these posters in about
Speaker:20% of all schools, which is quite amazing. And it shows why.
Speaker:Consider a career in the trades, the electrician career
Speaker:kit. It's a great way to. At least when kids walk into a
Speaker:guidance counselor, they see college, college, college, and then they see these posters.
Speaker:It's like, oh, wait a second, I'm interested in working with my hands and I
Speaker:can make this amount of money. The organization goes to
Speaker:all the trade shows or a lot of trade shows around the country and they're
Speaker:doing a great job and Kate's doing a great job. But I'm very curious
Speaker:about Ferguson and how the skills
Speaker:lab program kind of came about, I guess a couple years
Speaker:ago, working with Explore the trades and how to get kids into
Speaker:the trades. Can you tell us a little bit about that program and. Absolutely. So,
Speaker:you know, one of the things that I don't think you'll find very surprising is
Speaker:we hear from our customers all the time that they can't find
Speaker:kids or they can't find the talent to run their
Speaker:business, much less, I mean, they can't even consider growing their businesses. They can't
Speaker:even find people to handle the work. And you know, in our country we're building
Speaker:and we're building. And a few years ago, Ferguson started out on a quest to
Speaker:really address the skilled trades gap. I mean we spent 20 or
Speaker:30 years telling every kid, I mean, we told you, right Andrew, like go to
Speaker:college, that's the only place you can go. So we knew we had to address
Speaker:this gap to support our customers. I came across
Speaker:Kate and we started having really good conversations,
Speaker:brainstorming. How can we use the expertise
Speaker:of, you know, Ferguson Associates? How can we use the expertise of
Speaker:the contractors from the nexstar network? I mean she's got ready
Speaker:made electricians, plumbers, H vac techs ready to support
Speaker:this. How can we use all of that experience
Speaker:to give kids even more hands on experience and
Speaker:more opportunities to pursue a career in the trades?
Speaker:Because there are a lot of schools that want these programs, but they're lacking.
Speaker:And so Kate and I, you know, we talked several times and we said, hey,
Speaker:what if we build these labs? What if we take the products and services that
Speaker:Ferguson sells and use the knowledge and experience
Speaker:and mentor opportunities from your organization? We tie them
Speaker:together and we Help schools build these labs. It
Speaker:just took off from there. We started as a pilot program in
Speaker:our first year because we, you know, starting something new, we didn't necessarily know
Speaker:how it was going to go. And we had three schools and it
Speaker:just took off from there. I can imagine what it's
Speaker:like to see the faces on, you know, some of these
Speaker:schools that get the sponsorship from Ferguson that they're going to build a
Speaker:lab and they're going to get X amount of tools and these
Speaker:kids are basically changing their lives. How many
Speaker:students really are in these programs and what is the
Speaker:actual trade that they're learning? Is it plumbing and H Vac or is it
Speaker:certain trades? We have reached over
Speaker:2000 students in the three years that we have
Speaker:built or refurbished plumbing and H Vac labs.
Speaker:So right now we're just doing H Vac and plumbing. But Kate,
Speaker:I hope she doesn't mind me sharing this with you, is going to offer
Speaker:electrical labs this year as well. So, you know, just
Speaker:continuing to grow and to meet the market, what the demands
Speaker:are, what do we have in our back pocket that we can offer and you
Speaker:know, explore the trades has these three different trades
Speaker:and why not? So I think you're just going to change the
Speaker:trajectory of so many kids lives and give them the
Speaker:chance to be successful at what they're good at. I love when industry gets
Speaker:involved, you know, especially a tool distributor who's in the
Speaker:business. And obviously one of the goals is to make sure that the next generation,
Speaker:they keep it going, whether it's H Vac, electrical, plumbing,
Speaker:welding and making sure that they basically you're investing
Speaker:in the future of skilled trades and that's extremely, extremely important.
Speaker:And obviously working with an organization like Explore the Trades that is doing
Speaker:an amazing job across the board and getting the awareness out.
Speaker:What does a typical day look like in a skill lab?
Speaker:How many hours are they spending at the end of the skill
Speaker:lab? Do they take a test of some sort to get any type of
Speaker:certification or is it more so of like it's setting you up
Speaker:to maybe go into a trade school later on or maybe go into an
Speaker:apprenticeship later on? Good question. I think it varies by school.
Speaker:They do have a set curriculum. Most of the time they're using an
Speaker:NCCER curriculum and it's plumbing one, Plumbing two,
Speaker:H Vac one, H Vac two. They are working
Speaker:up to be able to become an apprentice. So depending on
Speaker:when they start, like if they start at the ninth grade level, then they would
Speaker:probably be absolutely ready to enter in an Apprenticeship outside
Speaker:of high school, it's learning on the job training.
Speaker:Most of them, I think receive their OSHA 10
Speaker:certification. So they are getting some safety certifications,
Speaker:stackable credentials based on their program. So I think it depends
Speaker:on school to school, state to state, what are the different
Speaker:requirements. I just had Boyd Worsham, who is
Speaker:the NCCER president on the podcast a handful
Speaker:of months ago. And you know, it's a great organization and what they do,
Speaker:especially in the trades, the actual lab itself,
Speaker:I want to know more about this because I'm super excited that just, you know,
Speaker:giving the audience a little bit more detail in sort of that day to day,
Speaker:how do they find instructors to lead those
Speaker:classes? Is somebody who's already working at the school, do they have to bring in
Speaker:somebody new to run a lab? I think it's both. I
Speaker:think sometimes you have some successful contractors that
Speaker:have the skill set to offer multiple trades at an existing school.
Speaker:Evan Jarrett is, case in point right there. He could teach almost any
Speaker:trade. Some schools that are just starting from scratch and, you know,
Speaker:we want to offer plumbing. This is our first foray into the skilled
Speaker:trades, you know, offering it to our students. They would have to go out and
Speaker:find a certified plumber to come in and that is willing to teach
Speaker:the course. So, yeah, I think it just, it differs by school.
Speaker:Are there any success stories that have sort of popped
Speaker:up over the last year or so? We could say like, wow, this person
Speaker:didn't know anything about this particular trade and now has come
Speaker:out of the program and wants to be a
Speaker:plumber, wants to, you know, be in H vac. Any success
Speaker:stories out there that you'd want to share? You know, not one
Speaker:sticks out too, too much. But I think the number of students that
Speaker:I've had the opportunity to talk with, giving them
Speaker:that accessibility to the trades, knowing that it
Speaker:has just changed the course of their lives. I talked to one young lady
Speaker:in Evan's classroom and I think she was in the seventh grade and she was,
Speaker:I think they were transitioning over to the high school in the eighth grade and
Speaker:she was just saying how she was going to pursue plumbing and she wanted to
Speaker:become a plumber and it wasn't even on her radar before that. You
Speaker:hear that all the time. There's some that, you know, don't necessarily want to pursue
Speaker:a trade and. But now they have a skill set that they can leverage for
Speaker:the rest of their lives. I think it just varies, but it, you know,
Speaker:just knowing that in three years simply doing what we do Every
Speaker:day as a business, we've reached 2,000 students.
Speaker:2,000 students. And we're just going to keep going and keep working with
Speaker:organizations like Explore the Trades to make inroads. Yeah,
Speaker:it's about making an impact. And what you said, 2,000 students. Those
Speaker:2,000 students were impacted where
Speaker:maybe they just never worked with their hands before. And
Speaker:now they've been shown a trade which turns
Speaker:into either lifelong skills or can turn into a
Speaker:lifelong career about maybe opening up your own business
Speaker:one day. It just shows the opportunities that are available. And
Speaker:I just, I really love that it's done at an early age. And I'm a
Speaker:big believer about at least showing kids that
Speaker:what the possibilities are. And, and even at the younger age, even if you're
Speaker:just reading books to kids and it's about plumbing, you know,
Speaker:there's a couple of different examples about people who have books. And
Speaker:I'm just thinking of a woman by the name of plumber Paige,
Speaker:Paige knowles. She's like 22, 23 years old. She
Speaker:wrote a book about plumbing, but she reads them to
Speaker:younger kids who can understand about what it's like to work with your
Speaker:hands, how water moves in your house, how pipes
Speaker:work. And just showcasing that to them
Speaker:gets their juices flowing. And on top of it shows
Speaker:parents as well who may not
Speaker:know much about the trade of what's possible about
Speaker:working with your hands. And then opens up the conversation about, hey,
Speaker:when my kid gets older, maybe there is an opportunity because the
Speaker:money is there. With all the men and women retiring over the next
Speaker:five or 10 years, about 40%, it leaves a huge
Speaker:gap. But now parents might be interested. Are you seeing
Speaker:parents as sort of an area where a young individual
Speaker:might be interested but the parent is saying, no,
Speaker:that's not for my kid. Have you seen anything like that
Speaker:throughout the program or have they been sort of open minded
Speaker:and. Yeah, so throughout this particular program, I haven't
Speaker:had any direct access to the parents, but I think
Speaker:that's what we've seen for the last 20 or 30 years. Right. Skilled trades are
Speaker:great, but you don't mean my kid. Right. And so I think, you
Speaker:know, I hear our CEO talking about this all the time. He's very, very passionate
Speaker:about the skilled trades. Will always tell you we need to be having these
Speaker:kitchen table conversations. So how are the parents,
Speaker:how are we equipping the parents to talk to their children? And I think that's
Speaker:the next step with all of this. Right. How are we giving guidance counselors
Speaker:and parents the resources to Truly, you know, talk to their
Speaker:kids and to understand that this is a tremendous career option.
Speaker:Your kid is coming out of high school with a ready made job that he's
Speaker:going to get paid for to train in while he's learning the
Speaker:specific trade, he or she, they will have
Speaker:no debt, they can work and they're on track if
Speaker:they want to to own their own business. I think the trades
Speaker:embrace that entrepreneurial spirit that you can own your own business. You
Speaker:could really build something special for yourself in the long term. And
Speaker:I can't stress, you know, I think I'm still paying for my own grad
Speaker:school debt. These kids are coming out with zero debt
Speaker:and they're just setting themselves up for success. You know it's interesting what you said
Speaker:about your CEO kind of being passionate about this.
Speaker:When this program was sort of brought up, did it make its way all the
Speaker:way to the top of like Ferguson is making this initiative
Speaker:in these labs and sort of what was the response from upper
Speaker:management? You know, I think that's why we've been able to be so successful in
Speaker:our Ferguson Cares, which is our community engagement program. I think that's
Speaker:why we've been so successful is our culture of
Speaker:service and community engagement and particularly with the skilled trade
Speaker:starts at the top. Kevin is so passionate about the work that we're doing
Speaker:and it just filters down and we employ over
Speaker:30,000 associates. I would say it's closer to 35,000 associates and
Speaker:every single one of them wants to give back to the community and engage
Speaker:particularly and the skilled trades. I mean it's what we do every day
Speaker:as a business and it just makes sense. Yeah, I mean if you have
Speaker:passionate people, especially at the top who want to see the industry
Speaker:grow and just have this, it's more mission driven
Speaker:that you want to see the trades, you know, keep going and get
Speaker:the amount of people. And I do the same thing in my own business called
Speaker:Tool Fetch. We're industrial distributor. You know, I've been
Speaker:supporting people in the trades for about 24 years and really
Speaker:with my journey and why I kind of got into this is that I was
Speaker:a high tech guy and I knew nothing about so do the trades.
Speaker:And I had a, a life changing event for me
Speaker:where I found myself on ground 0911
Speaker:a few days after the World Trade center incident working back to back
Speaker:with firefighters, EMS and tradespeople.
Speaker:And that whole incident of just being down there and seeing what
Speaker:people in the trades did to find survivors, some that didn't have
Speaker:the right protection on just changed my trajectory.
Speaker:Instead of going into it, I started a tool and
Speaker:equipment business with my brother to really support the men and
Speaker:women in the trades. Welding and carpentry and electrical. For me,
Speaker:it's been mission passion all
Speaker:24 years behind the scenes. You know, a
Speaker:handful of years ago I started doing social media and popping up and
Speaker:really supporting and speaking across the country and working with the
Speaker:Skilled Trades Advisory Council or our foundation with Kate and
Speaker:a few other members really making an impact in the trades.
Speaker:And each one of us on our foundation really is making impact. It's
Speaker:just mission driven. There's nothing doing this podcast. I get excited
Speaker:speaking to other people who have the same passion and people in the industry.
Speaker:I love this stuff. This is important. So it's always good to get around people
Speaker:who want to see the same results, especially in the trades. Kevin is our
Speaker:CEO and he's been in that role for a number of years. But he came
Speaker:from a family of waterworks folks. His family owned a
Speaker:waterworks business in Midwest Ohio. And that's how he came into
Speaker:Ferguson. Ferguson acquired his family's company back in the
Speaker:1990s. So, you know, he's been around this his whole life.
Speaker:And I didn't have the same experience growing up because, you know, I
Speaker:was in the era of everybody goes one way. But my
Speaker:husband works in the industry. He works in civil utilities.
Speaker:The type of people that he works with are remarkable, hardworking
Speaker:individuals. And I hate how as a society
Speaker:we have lifted up everybody in the corner office while we have
Speaker:undermined everyone that built the corner office. Right, which is they're
Speaker:both important. I have tremendous respect and
Speaker:admiration for people that work in the trades and I'm so passionate
Speaker:about changing the way people think and, you know, really
Speaker:just closing that skills gap. We need more tradespeople.
Speaker:You have a sort of a background in it that your husband is in sort
Speaker:of that world and obviously you're in that world. I try to have these conversations
Speaker:with. I have two young kids, I have an 11 year old and an 8
Speaker:year old girl and a boy. And I always talk about the
Speaker:trades as an option. Obviously they're young and they gotta figure
Speaker:out what they want. But I always kind of put it out there that you
Speaker:could work with your hands. It's not something that's gonna be fully outsourced.
Speaker:Even during downtimes, there's still work that needs to be done. Even
Speaker:in, during COVID times, they were essential. Maybe large
Speaker:projects weren't being done, but stuff breaks, your boiler breaks, your
Speaker:Water heater breaks, electrical work needs to be done. I
Speaker:always feel that there's always work to be done, infrastructure
Speaker:work that needs to be done. But having these conversations with your kids
Speaker:is extremely important, just to see if it would pique their interest.
Speaker:But putting it and phrasing it in a good light versus
Speaker:saying like, don't do that, you don't want to do that. I put it in
Speaker:a different light that it's an opportunity that can lead into
Speaker:maybe owning your own business one day. Because you
Speaker:see these articles in the Wall Street Journal recently, over the last year or
Speaker:so, especially small H vac companies,
Speaker:plumbing companies, private equity is coming in and buying this up. Like
Speaker:small $4 million companies that somebody who's
Speaker:been in the industry for 25, 30 years looking to get out
Speaker:and these private equity companies are just gobbling it up. So they see the
Speaker:opportunity as well in the trades. Yeah, absolutely. And you
Speaker:touched on it a little bit earlier, just about telling
Speaker:kids where water comes from, telling kids, you know, how the house
Speaker:is built. You know, I think the more we have these con
Speaker:with our kids, the more that we show them the different opportunities that are
Speaker:available in life. It has to be part of the conversation.
Speaker:You know, I have children as well. Mine are similar in age to
Speaker:yours. So we're having very similar conversations. But one thing
Speaker:I stress to them is not everyone in the
Speaker:trades has to swing a hammer. There's so
Speaker:many different things that you can be doing. My daughter, who is
Speaker:10, is very interested in welding and so she'll go out
Speaker:with her dad in the backyard and they'll. They were building her tree house recently
Speaker:and just little projects like that where she gets a taste of
Speaker:everything. And I love my daughter, but she is not one that's going to sit
Speaker:behind a desk when she gets older. She just has too much energy and
Speaker:she is really good with her hands, which I think a lot of children are.
Speaker:And they like to do the hands on projects. They like to be out and
Speaker:about and moving. And the more we can foster that, you
Speaker:know, sense of curiosity and experience in them, I think
Speaker:the better off they're all going to be. I think kids should under supervision.
Speaker:Parents should have their kids play with their tools. So
Speaker:the reasoning behind this is that I always have tools around the
Speaker:house. And just recently I had both my kids, we were kind of
Speaker:sorting through things like all the different tools. And my son would like
Speaker:say like what's this? And my daughter would be like, what's this? You
Speaker:start to say like, for this Application. This is how you read a tape
Speaker:measure. All the basic stuff that are just
Speaker:lifelong skills. And they got really interested in it. But if I didn't
Speaker:expose them at an early age, it would just kind of,
Speaker:maybe it would pass them by. If you at least explain these
Speaker:couple of things, like building a treehouse. I mean, that's just like
Speaker:hands on work that you remember growing up. That
Speaker:again might be the reason why you go
Speaker:into a trade. Just these little stories of these little things and trying to make
Speaker:an impact in your kid's life. It could really set them up for
Speaker:their career. That maybe is in the trades. Oh yeah, what great
Speaker:conversations that you're having with your kids. And you said the tape measure, that's
Speaker:my favorite one. Because you know, they're going through school and they're like, when am
Speaker:I ever going to use this math in real life? When am I ever going
Speaker:to need fractions? And a tape measure is a great tool to
Speaker:pull out. Look, this is why you need to know fractions and this is why
Speaker:you need to know math. And it just makes it all real for them. And
Speaker:I think the more you can do that, the better off your kids are going
Speaker:to be. I do. And it's interesting about different career paths
Speaker:because I speak to all different people, whether they're young,
Speaker:they're career changers. So a career changer would be someone
Speaker:like someone who's in my family who worked for a
Speaker:supermarket chain for 15 years and now is going to be an
Speaker:electrician at 36. Just sat down with him actually, and
Speaker:we actually did a podcast together and learning about his
Speaker:journey. But the excitement that he's getting by getting
Speaker:into a career that he's happy with, that he wants to be an
Speaker:electrician, but he literally has to start all over again. But what's
Speaker:interesting is that he's bringing in experience.
Speaker:Working for a supermarket chain, he was more of a white collar job,
Speaker:but he learned leadership, he learned how to work with people and now
Speaker:is transitioning over to be an electrician. But he's. All the skills that
Speaker:he learned is being sort of brought over. So he almost has like an
Speaker:edge to some degree because he's been in an industry.
Speaker:It's different, but it's helping on the soft skills and other things. So
Speaker:I always say it's never too late to join a trade
Speaker:because there are examples out there where people into their mid-40s,
Speaker:50s who make that shift. So wanting to work with their hands and
Speaker:they're happier for it. Yeah, absolutely. It is never Too late to
Speaker:get into the trades. We need so many more tradespeople
Speaker:definitely reaching that very crucial level. I mean, you think
Speaker:about everything that we're building in the United States. We're talking about all of the
Speaker:aging infrastructure. You know, there's not enough people to do the
Speaker:existing work. So when you just get into like the data centers and the
Speaker:megaprojects, who's going to build that? How are we going to continue to grow as
Speaker:a country? Look at the disasters that just happened, right, with Hurricane
Speaker:Helene and the wildfires in California. Who's going to rebuild all of that? I
Speaker:mean, you think about when you have an H VAC issue at home, it
Speaker:takes a week to get a tech out, right? It's not because they don't want
Speaker:to come, they just have that much work to do.
Speaker:So it's never too late. I think we need to start looking at
Speaker:other non traditional groups, more like, you know, women
Speaker:military members that are aging out of the service or getting out of the service,
Speaker:retiring. I think that they would be tremendous
Speaker:trades folks. So, yeah, anybody and everybody that is willing
Speaker:and wanting to learn that has the work ethic. You know, you hit
Speaker:a point about women. And women only make about 3 or 4% of really
Speaker:the trades out there. And I've, I've met some really inspiring women
Speaker:in multiple trades, whether it's welding, electrical,
Speaker:carpentry. And some of them are just well known
Speaker:influencers online showcasing what they can do with their hands.
Speaker:Years back, you just didn't know, like you heard there was, you
Speaker:know, some women in the trades, but you didn't know. And then people pop up
Speaker:like Barbie the welder, this, these works of art
Speaker:that she makes with her hands. And I had her on a podcast last
Speaker:year and she's real and she's inspiring other women
Speaker:out there that yeah, you can work with your hands and
Speaker:there's an opportunity. And those are the women out there who really
Speaker:making extreme impact. And it's other
Speaker:girls see that and say, you know what, I can do that because they did
Speaker:that. So social media has really changed the game across the board for
Speaker:the trades, I feel. Speaking of social media, there is
Speaker:a plumber in New York City. She's a union plumber, actually. Her name
Speaker:is Judelyn Cassidy. I don't know if you're familiar with her.
Speaker:She came over from Trinidad and Tobago 20, 30 years
Speaker:ago and she's made her own way. And she's a union
Speaker:plumber in New York City. And recently, I would say within the
Speaker:last 10 years, I want to say 2017, she started a
Speaker:nonprofit called Tools and Tiaras where she is teaching young
Speaker:women ages 6 to 14 the skilled trades. And
Speaker:she hosts workshops and summer camps. Last year
Speaker:we had an opportunity to partner with her and sponsor
Speaker:30 plus girls to go through her camp. And they're learning electrical, they're
Speaker:learning sheet metal, they're doing H Vac, plumbing, all
Speaker:different kinds of trades. And the kids can't get enough of it. We see
Speaker:the pictures of these young ladies in their hard hats and
Speaker:they're just smiling ear to ear and loving everything that
Speaker:they're learning. And the investment that Julian and other female
Speaker:tradespeople in New York are making in these young ladies
Speaker:is remarkable. And I just would love to see more of those
Speaker:types of camps and workshops and hands on opportunities for
Speaker:kids. That is a perfect example there. And I was also thinking about
Speaker:another woman on my foundation, Mary Gaffney. And she
Speaker:has a camp called mywic Women in Construction and is
Speaker:out in Pennsylvania. And she takes about 60, 70 girls
Speaker:over the summer and they're given free tools. And it's
Speaker:usually sponsored by an organization. I think in this case it was
Speaker:sponsored by Milwaukee. And they get free boots and they learn
Speaker:how to work with their hands. And I had met a young lady
Speaker:about a year, a little over a year ago, Maddie,
Speaker:and she came into that camp, I don't think she really knew nothing
Speaker:much about, you know, swinging a hammer, reading a tape measure. But she came
Speaker:out, she teaches now the camp, and
Speaker:now she has aspirations to own her own construction company one
Speaker:day. So you never know when they go through
Speaker:these camps, these programs that they come out, they
Speaker:have aspirations to do something or start their own company.
Speaker:So in that case, and I've heard of her, when, when you said the name,
Speaker:it didn't spark my, my memory, but when you said Tools and Tiaras was like,
Speaker:oh, okay, I know. And then you see Evan Jarrett and all
Speaker:these different people doing things. It's quite amazing.
Speaker:It's impacting people's lives in so many different ways.
Speaker:The other aspect of the trades, which I find
Speaker:a little bit difficult, is trying to
Speaker:understand what they want to get into. Which trade, Career expiration,
Speaker:into the trades. And I had a chance to have
Speaker:an individual on my podcast a handful of months ago, rasheer Shah
Speaker:of Skillcat. And Skillcat trains
Speaker:people in the trades by an app. 10 or
Speaker:$20 a month. But you can learn H vac, I believe you can learn
Speaker:plumbing and a few other trades. I know that
Speaker:Ferguson and explore the trades are kind of working
Speaker:a little bit with skillcap. Can you tell or share a little bit more
Speaker:about the partnership with Skillcap? In my early conversations
Speaker:with Kate, one of the things that we talked about is this is not an
Speaker:exclusive partnership. We want more partners to come to the
Speaker:table. We want more industry to come to the table because that means we can
Speaker:get in front of more kids. That means more kids will have an opportunity to
Speaker:learn the trades. And, you know, Kate approached me about a
Speaker:year ago and said, hey, skillcat wants to get in on
Speaker:the program. What are your thoughts? And like I've said from the beginning with Kate,
Speaker:the more the merrier. The more people that are willing to
Speaker:get in the trenches with us and help children
Speaker:learn and have the opportunity to go into the trades, I think
Speaker:the better off we're going to be. Yeah. And I agree. And skillcad
Speaker:is another option for people to learn. If you want to
Speaker:learn VR, there are companies who do the VR experience,
Speaker:I believe, Interplay Transfer. There's a couple companies out there
Speaker:that have that virtual environment. I had an opportunity to put the goggles
Speaker:on at SkillsUSA down in Atlanta
Speaker:Championships, and I was with Transfer, and I really got the
Speaker:feeling of being a lineman, being a welder.
Speaker:It was just another way to get interested in working
Speaker:with your hands. So I think the VR experience, I think apps like
Speaker:skillcat and, you know, the programs that obviously
Speaker:Ferguson is doing to explore the trades, it's just a variety of different things that
Speaker:are going on out there. That's really exciting. That, I think has,
Speaker:to some degree, almost transformed over the last handful of
Speaker:years how kids can sort of get into the trades and
Speaker:just it creates so much awareness out there, which is really
Speaker:amazing to see. Yeah, absolutely. I think we talk about, you know, education
Speaker:doesn't always happen in the classroom. Right. So how can
Speaker:kids learn outside? And I think programs like skillcat
Speaker:complement that learning really well.
Speaker:Now, the tools of the trade. Melissa,
Speaker:this has been a great conversation, but in every episode,
Speaker:we always ask our guests a tools of the
Speaker:trade. What's the best advice you have
Speaker:for companies that want to support trades
Speaker:education but don't know where to start? How do they start
Speaker:to, you know, if they want to go down that path and really
Speaker:give the trades, you know, some helpful support.
Speaker:Where I would start is get them to reach out
Speaker:to, you know, a local organization like explore the
Speaker:trades that is already doing this work, like a SkillsUSA, like a
Speaker:Tools and tiara, and figure out where they could
Speaker:potentially fit in. I think the more we work together and
Speaker:the more that we collaborate, the more inroads we're going to make
Speaker:and we don't have to go at it alone. Right. Chances are somebody is doing
Speaker:this work and the more the merrier, truly. I think it's just about
Speaker:reaching out to your network and building those relationships. I like that. You
Speaker:know, and Explore the Trades is one of them. Obviously. Ferguson, the
Speaker:Skills usa. If you've never been down to a Skills USA
Speaker:championship, please go down there. It is just unbelievable the
Speaker:amount of advocating and the amount of support. I mean, it's just they're all
Speaker:the kids who are in the trades or aspiring to be in the trades are
Speaker:all in these red jackets. I'm going to be down there too, myself. I'll be,
Speaker:I believe, on the leadership side and being one of the judges, which is pretty
Speaker:cool. So I am just sort of integrated into SkillsUSA and I just love
Speaker:that organization and just overall what people are doing,
Speaker:it is kind of fragmented around the country, what people are doing, but each one
Speaker:is doing their own thing and making an impact.
Speaker:If people want to find out more information about you or Ferguson, where
Speaker:do they go? I would suggest they go to our corporate website, which
Speaker:is corporate.ferguson.com and there's a link for Ferguson
Speaker:Cares. And we kind of go into all of the things that we're doing within
Speaker:the skilled trade. So yeah, or they could reach out to Ferguson
Speaker:cares. Ferguson.com Melissa, it has been great
Speaker:having you on the show. Thank you so much for telling me about Ferguson and
Speaker:about the program that you're offering. I think you're making an impact
Speaker:and appreciate what you guys are doing. Andrew, thank you so much. It has truly
Speaker:been my pleasure. I appreciate it and thank you to our listeners. If you're looking
Speaker:for a dynamic keynote speaker to elevate your next event, head over to
Speaker:andrewbrown.net and review some of my speaking topics. Trades
Speaker:awareness, career exploration, advocacy and addressing
Speaker:the trade shortage. 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.
