Women in Welding: Breaking Barriers in Skilled Trades Careers with Shanen Aranmor
Women in welding, skilled trades careers, and welding education programs take center stage. Shanen Aranmor of Weld Like a Girl joins host Andrew Brown to explore virtual welding training, SkillsUSA welding, and how mentorship and early exposure shape the next generation of tradespeople.
Host Andrew Brown sits down with Shanen Aranmor, founder of Weld Like a Girl, to discuss breaking stigmas in the trades industry and opening doors to rewarding skilled trades careers. From welding education programs and virtual welding training to SkillsUSA welding competitions, Shannon shares actionable ways to inspire tradespeople—from second graders to Gen Z apprentices.
Whether you’re interested in carpentry, HVAC, electricians, plumbers, or millwrights, this episode reveals how craftsmanship, problem-solving, and creativity fuel career growth in the skilled trades.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- (00:00) – Why skilled trades careers matter and the stigma facing women in welding
- (04:35) – Encouragement, guidance counselors, and role models for women in welding
- (12:20) – Early exposure: shop classes, welding education programs, and community colleges
- (22:50) – Tech that sparks interest: virtual welding training, gamification, and simulators
- (35:30) – Homeschool competitions, mentorship, teamwork, and craftsmanship
- (52:15) – Inside SkillsUSA welding: sculpture judging, soft skills, and employer expectations
Key Takeaways
- Exposure changes everything. Kids can’t pursue skilled trades careers if they’ve never seen welding booths, tools, or shop classes.
- Representation is powerful. Role models show that women in welding belong in the trades industry.
- Tech builds bridges. Virtual welding training creates safe and scalable on-ramps for students and schools.
- Soft skills matter. SkillsUSA welding competitions reward teamwork, communication, and professionalism as much as technical skills.
About the Guest
Shanen Aranmor, founder of Weld Like a Girl, is a certified welding inspector, educator, and fabricator based in Yuma, AZ. She develops welding education programs for schools, veterans, and youth, advocates for women in welding, and champions pathways into skilled trades careers.
Keywords
Women in Welding, Skilled Trades Careers, Welding Education Programs, Virtual Welding Training, SkillsUSA Welding, Shanen Aranmor, Weld Like a Girl, Andrew Brown, Michael Krupnicki, Skilled Trades, Trades Industry, Carpentry, HVAC, Electricians, Plumbers, Millwrights, Construction, Craftsmanship, Problem-Solving, Creativity, Tradespeople, Advocacy, Education, Skilled Trades Advisory Council, Industry Experts, Contractors, Toolfetch, SkillsUSA
Resources
LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanenaranmor/
Website: https://weldlikeagirl.us/
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Transcript
If you're good with your hands, we need to encourage the crap outta that so that
Speaker:you are gonna be a builder, whether you're gonna be an engineer or you're gonna be
Speaker:a welder or an electrician, whatever.
Speaker:But like we need to encourage, I mean, there's a school
Speaker:in Illinois I am aware of.
Speaker:They are required to take a quarter of home ec or take a quarter of
Speaker:electrical, a quarter of welding.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Just, just.
Speaker:Open the world to the kids.
Speaker:Let them know what there is out there.
Speaker:'cause most kids don't know.
Speaker:Hi, I'm Andrew Brown.
Speaker:You're listening to The Lost Art of the Skilled Trades Podcast.
Speaker:A show that shines the spotlight on careers in the skilled trades
Speaker:that are high paying, honorable, rewarding, and fulfilling.
Speaker:The trades are the backbone of the economy that keep us running, and without
Speaker:them, our world would cease to exist.
Speaker:Alright, welcome back to another podcast on the Lost Art of the Skilled Trades.
Speaker:I'm super excited 'cause I am down here at the Welding Summit down in Woodlands,
Speaker:Texas, and I met Shannon Aranmor Yeah.
Speaker:Lemme get it.
Speaker:Let me get it right.
Speaker:Uh, from Weld like a girl.
Speaker:Correct.
Speaker:Uh, welcome Shannon to the show.
Speaker:Thank you, Andrew.
Speaker:I appreciate it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Um, I'm gonna throw this statistic out to you and I just want to
Speaker:hear your thoughts about this.
Speaker:Um, the welding workforce data site from the American Welding Society says we have
Speaker:about four to 5% of women who are welders.
Speaker:Why do you think we don't have more women who are in the welding field?
Speaker:And that only stays about four to 5%.
Speaker:It is increasing, but usually when I talk about this, I say, do you know
Speaker:that uh, only 95% of welders are men?
Speaker:And they're like, wait, what?
Speaker:Like, you know, put, put the spin on it.
Speaker:Um, you know, right now.
Speaker:The, the, the world is shifting.
Speaker:We are definitely seeing more women and high school girls interested, more single
Speaker:moms interested in going back to school.
Speaker:The, it, it is turning the, the tide is turning.
Speaker:And in construction in general, I know, uh, NAWIC, the national
Speaker:women, uh, in construction group, they've, I think they said 14% of the
Speaker:construction trades now are women.
Speaker:Um, but I think it just, it hasn't been encouraged.
Speaker:It has not, it's not been something traditionally that you are even
Speaker:allowed to explore if you're female.
Speaker:I know where I live.
Speaker:I've had, I've had young ladies come up to me and say, I really wanted to
Speaker:get into welding, but my dad said I can't 'cause I wanna go to the prom.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:I'm like, what does that have to do?
Speaker:Anything, anything?
Speaker:And she's like, well, I can't be a girl if I want to be a welder.
Speaker:And I was like, you don't have to make that choice.
Speaker:So sometimes what I'll do if I'm gonna be interviewed or filmed or something
Speaker:is um, if it, if it's like a. An event that's gonna be recorded, that's kind
Speaker:of gonna be used for young women.
Speaker:Um, I'll even like go a little over the top.
Speaker:I'll get a little more girly than I normally would, um, just to show them that
Speaker:yes, you can be in a dress and you can go to work with steel toes on the next day,
Speaker:but you have to, you know what I mean?
Speaker:I think we just really need to encourage, we don't set, we don't
Speaker:provide a lot of opportunities.
Speaker:Now, there are some fantastic places.
Speaker:There are schools and there are community colleges and there are businesses
Speaker:that have maybe opportunities for girls to test out welding, but we
Speaker:just don't have enough of those yet.
Speaker:And so how do you know what you don't know?
Speaker:Like how do you know you like welding if you've never even seen it?
Speaker:Yeah, and it's interesting too because it depends how you grew up, right?
Speaker:Um, if you were, your parents said, Hey, go to college, right?
Speaker:But maybe you had a technical spark or mechanical ability.
Speaker:And I always say this like, what is happening in schools?
Speaker:Are kids sitting down with guidance counselors and guidance counselors saying.
Speaker:You know what, you'll be really good as a welder.
Speaker:I don't know if that is actually happening.
Speaker:And it's like, where are shop classes in schools and kids
Speaker:just don't have the information?
Speaker:And then they go to college and then sometimes they figure out
Speaker:after, or they drop outta college.
Speaker:Maybe they're in their mid twenties and then they find trades.
Speaker:Well, so I, um, when I was completing my welding degree, I was a substitute
Speaker:at a high school and this young man came into my classroom and he said,
Speaker:I really wanna take your class.
Speaker:But the, the principal told me I was too smart.
Speaker:I was heated.
Speaker:I marched in her office without really knocking.
Speaker:And I was like, what are you doing?
Speaker:And she said, well, these kids can't be successful in English class, so
Speaker:we're gonna put them in welding.
Speaker:And I said, ma'am, do you want your bridges built by people
Speaker:who cannot read directions?
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:She's like, well, what do you mean?
Speaker:I was like, there's, there's wps, there's blueprints, there's all
Speaker:kinds of things, and it's a really technical area, but you are now
Speaker:announcing to the entire school that if you're dumb, you go into the trades.
Speaker:I was like, that's exactly the opposite approach that we, we need to take.
Speaker:If you're good with your hands, we need to encourage the crap outta that so that
Speaker:you are gonna be a builder, whether you're gonna be an engineer or you're gonna be
Speaker:a welder or an electrician, whatever.
Speaker:But like, we need to encourage, and maybe even, I mean there's a
Speaker:school in Illinois I am aware of.
Speaker:They are required to take a quarter of home ec or take a quarter of
Speaker:electrical, a quarter of welding.
Speaker:You know what I mean?
Speaker:Just, just open the world to the kids.
Speaker:Let them know what there is out there.
Speaker:'cause most kids don't know.
Speaker:If your parent's not a welder, how do you know what welding is?
Speaker:How I did not understand the depth of machining until I started contracting
Speaker:with project MFG Project manufacturing there, welding and machining competitions.
Speaker:Especially at the national level.
Speaker:I mean, this is really high end competitions.
Speaker:The winning team gets a hundred thousand dollars.
Speaker:That's a lot of money.
Speaker:Oh yeah, that is a lot.
Speaker:50,000 goes to the school and then 50,000 goes to the team of usually three or four.
Speaker:I'll be on the welding side of the competition and then I get to see
Speaker:machining and I was like, whoa.
Speaker:If I had seen this in high school, I don't know what, what
Speaker:direction I might have taken.
Speaker:I mean, I love welding, don't get me wrong.
Speaker:One of my favorite things, but I just didn't even know what CNC machining
Speaker:was 'cause I'd never seen it.
Speaker:So how do you know what you don't know?
Speaker:You gotta get kids out there to, to get their hands dirty on stuff.
Speaker:Any of the, um, spark force or any of like, it used to be called nuts,
Speaker:bolts and thingamajigs, any of those kinds of camps that you can have kids
Speaker:participate in so they can see to kind of test drive stuff is definitely
Speaker:the way to at least open the door.
Speaker:But specifically to your question for girls and women.
Speaker:Remove the stigma.
Speaker:It's not a man's job.
Speaker:There are some fantastic people on social media that talk about this all the time
Speaker:and, um, uh, they're entertaining because they'll talk about, you know, um, one of
Speaker:the approaches is this woman has really super long nails, which I couldn't do, but
Speaker:she's talking about like, you be pretty in the, in the workforce and you're not,
Speaker:you're not trying to steal someone's man.
Speaker:You're just trying to do your own job.
Speaker:And, and I think the more also that we have women who are intelligent
Speaker:and they do trade jobs that are well-spoken and entertaining, the more
Speaker:we're gonna have access to that too.
Speaker:Kind of giving you permission to be whatever you wanna be.
Speaker:You don't have to be like, oh, I can't go to the prom because
Speaker:I'm gonna wear steel toes.
Speaker:Yeah, you gotta be who you wanna be.
Speaker:But at the end of the day, you know, when you're talking about stigmas in,
Speaker:in, in schools, and it was always thought as like an option B for a kid like you.
Speaker:They're, they're one of the bad kids.
Speaker:They're not, they're not excelling.
Speaker:So yeah, you can be a welder, a plumber or, or an electrician.
Speaker:And I think those adages are starting to go away.
Speaker:What you were saying, like on social media, when you see somebody and I,
Speaker:I always think of somebody who's, uh, doing great things on social media.
Speaker:So someone like, um, let's say, uh, I'm just trying to think.
Speaker:Um hmm.
Speaker:Well, I look at Built Pretty.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah, she's in construction.
Speaker:Um, I believe she graduated from Harvard, so that's totally not what you'd expect
Speaker:for someone in the trades anyway.
Speaker:Um, but, uh, she's well spoken.
Speaker:She will go up to different tools and explain what the Bridgeport is all
Speaker:about and how exciting it is and how it, what it builds and what it does.
Speaker:So she's educating at the same time.
Speaker:As she's promoting the trades and because she's a dynamic personality
Speaker:and a fun vivacious young lady, like, you wanna look at her, you wanna
Speaker:listen to her, you wanna follow her and be like, yeah, I could do that.
Speaker:Oh, it just popped in my mind.
Speaker:Jamie McMillan.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:She's an iron worker up in Canada.
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:I've got to meet, uh, her.
Speaker:I spoke with her at a vocational school, uh, last year.
Speaker:She's doing great things.
Speaker:Like she's a dynamic woman.
Speaker:She cares.
Speaker:Um, she had an interesting background.
Speaker:She's a DHD.
Speaker:Like you can really relate to someone like that.
Speaker:And I love those type of stories.
Speaker:And I'm gonna be speaking tomorrow about, I know I get to introduce you.
Speaker:Oh, even better.
Speaker:About inspiring sort of the next generation attracting Gen Z. And
Speaker:really it's about understanding what they want, what Gen Z wants.
Speaker:You know, it's a lot of the themes, uh, we were talking about, um, during the,
Speaker:the whole conference is mentorship.
Speaker:Having a mentor.
Speaker:Some of them, some people have not had mentors, someone to look up to.
Speaker:Um, but I believe it's about how do you connect with that
Speaker:generation, especially someone you know, who's a little bit older.
Speaker:So how does Gen X connect with Gen Z?
Speaker:Someone who's just sort of coming into the industry.
Speaker:And I believe that Gen Z has different motivators because those are the
Speaker:next generation of welders from 13, age 13 to age 28, that's Gen Z.
Speaker:That's our next workforce.
Speaker:And how do you, how do you connect with those individuals to, like
Speaker:you said, get them interested in working with their hands?
Speaker:Well, I, um, I try to do it earlier than 13.
Speaker:Um, I have 22 second graders that come into my school twice a year, and seven
Speaker:and eight year olds are sponges and.
Speaker:Um, what I typically do, I work with, uh, in the mornings.
Speaker:I have a high school program that comes in.
Speaker:They're a charter high school and they don't have any trades programs.
Speaker:So they come to my fab shop for three hours a day, Monday through Friday, and
Speaker:they learn how to do real life projects.
Speaker:We've done fabrication projects for the city, the state, and
Speaker:different parks, um, the county.
Speaker:And so they're in the, the process of learning how to build things.
Speaker:And then I will have 22 second graders come in once a semester and the high
Speaker:school students become the mentors.
Speaker:It's, it's fantastic.
Speaker:Andrew.
Speaker:I'm gonna tell you, the first time I did it, I was ready.
Speaker:I had my helmet on, I was like geared up.
Speaker:I was a little nervous about this and I stood back and I was like having one of
Speaker:those moments where your eyes start to sting a little bit and I was like, this
Speaker:is exactly why I quit my big girl job.
Speaker:This is why I left corporate manufacturing to, to spark a difference.
Speaker:And to like ignite that fire in the kids, but also to
Speaker:empower those high school kids.
Speaker:They didn't think they could.
Speaker:I didn't even tell 'em that this was gonna happen.
Speaker:'cause some of them have, some of them are, are at risk
Speaker:in, in different ways, right?
Speaker:And so they, they showed up one day and I said, oh, uh, I got about 20 minutes.
Speaker:I need the extra, extra, extra small gloves at that booth.
Speaker:I need the extra smalls at that booth.
Speaker:I need extra small jackets.
Speaker:I was explaining where, where in our facility, everything had
Speaker:to go, miss what's going on.
Speaker:I said, well, we got 22 second graders coming here in 20 minutes.
Speaker:So you gotta, you gotta snap, you know, step it up, miss.
Speaker:What do you mean?
Speaker:I'm like, well, you're gonna teach them how to weld.
Speaker:Well why didn't you tell us?
Speaker:I said, would you have come to school today?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:Well, there you go.
Speaker:There's your answer.
Speaker:That's why I didn't tell you.
Speaker:So when you can, so there's so many good things that happen with this.
Speaker:Um, but one of the things is that the high school students are empowered.
Speaker:They wanna come back.
Speaker:And so they might actually stay in the trades or they'll just
Speaker:explore them more as options.
Speaker:But then those seven and eight year olds, they didn't know
Speaker:what welding was the day before.
Speaker:And you'll hear them like, little bubbles bursting.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Like coming up from soda and they're, I wanna be a welder.
Speaker:And they're all excited.
Speaker:And so, you know, starting, starting that passion that early, like I, I feel like
Speaker:we're, we're focusing too much, too late.
Speaker:We have to start earlier.
Speaker:Kids don't know what they don't know.
Speaker:If you don't have anyone in the trades in your family, you don't
Speaker:know what those trades look like.
Speaker:How do you know you could be the best electrician or carpenter in the whole
Speaker:world, but you didn't even know that that existed or so many other trades.
Speaker:I mean, think of it, NCCR has 70 plus trades.
Speaker:There's, I didn't even know there were 70 trades growing up.
Speaker:Like we just gotta, we gotta start really early.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I think reaching sort of the younger generation.
Speaker:Um, especially, and I, I keep saying Gen Z because that's really
Speaker:our, our, our next workforce.
Speaker:Uh, but having those type of programs and teaching them at an early age, and
Speaker:it's really up to us, even organizations and companies absolutely right.
Speaker:They need to look, we can't be invisible in, we need to
Speaker:show up where they are, right?
Speaker:Whether it's social media, whether it's at a middle school, whether it's
Speaker:at an elementary school, um, but even when you do show up at an elementary
Speaker:school or you show up at a middle school, you need to be impactful because
Speaker:it's a different audience, right?
Speaker:So if you're speaking in front of adults, it's a little bit different
Speaker:than speaking to a 10-year-old or 12-year-old because they tend to tune
Speaker:out, you know, sometimes quickly.
Speaker:And it's funny, I was thinking about this, um, I was, uh, speaking at a vocational
Speaker:school and I speak at some vocational schools, uh, around the country, and
Speaker:it was the first time I was doing this, and I was like, okay, I, I've spoken
Speaker:to obviously a lot of audiences, but.
Speaker:Not so much kids.
Speaker:So I was like, how do I connect with them?
Speaker:I was like, let me go to my own kids and let me ask them, how do I
Speaker:connect with a younger generation?
Speaker:And my daughter, who's eight, Avery and my son, 11 Ethan, he's like,
Speaker:dad, you have to talk about Fortnite.
Speaker:You have to talk about Xbox.
Speaker:You gotta talk about cell phones.
Speaker:I'm like, really?
Speaker:That's Roblox?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Rob.
Speaker:Oh, thank you Roblox.
Speaker:That too.
Speaker:So the next day I show up nine o'clock at the school, and
Speaker:the first thing, I say, who?
Speaker:Who plays Fortnite?
Speaker:Who plays Xbox?
Speaker:The thing is, I got their attention right away, but I needed analogy.
Speaker:If the power went out, your wifi would go out.
Speaker:You wouldn't be able to connect to your games and linemen and electricians.
Speaker:This is what they do.
Speaker:It was, it got them connected.
Speaker:If I stood up and I said, you know what, we need 320,000 welders by 2029.
Speaker:They look at me like eye roll.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Like eye roll.
Speaker:So I knew it can, I knew it worked because at least six of those kids came up to me
Speaker:after just inquiring about the trades.
Speaker:And that's how you connect to the younger generation.
Speaker:So yes, we can be pur purposeful of getting to the the schools, but
Speaker:we need to be impactful that we need to make some sort of impact.
Speaker:So my solution is to bring a welder.
Speaker:I have a portable booth.
Speaker:I bring a welder, I bring some interns or some high school kids.
Speaker:And, um, we bring tons of PPE in different sizes.
Speaker:And during career fairs we have a stream of children coming through and they will
Speaker:pull the trigger and they get to see the sparks and the auto darkening helmet.
Speaker:They've got one person, um, helping with PPE, getting on jackets and
Speaker:gloves that are the appropriate size.
Speaker:'cause now they make some woo woo.
Speaker:Um, but, uh, and then explaining the auto darkening helmet, now
Speaker:you're going through a career fair.
Speaker:It's a pretty quick turnover, so the kids don't get to learn a lot, but
Speaker:they at least get their hands on it and then they can ask more questions.
Speaker:And so once you've opened that door, game changer.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:And if parents see that as well with their, if it's a career day and
Speaker:they're with their kids, then they can start asking questions as well.
Speaker:I think, um, that type of work also.
Speaker:Gamification, vr.
Speaker:Um, I had a chance, we were talking about Fabtech, uh, before we started
Speaker:recording, and I made my way onto the American Welding Society's trailer.
Speaker:So people who don't know, they have a trailer that goes around.
Speaker:Um, and Stephanie Hoffman, I think at that time was running the,
Speaker:uh, running the, uh, the trailer.
Speaker:And I remember going on the trailer, so they have five or six Lincoln
Speaker:Electric virtual welding machines.
Speaker:And I remember seeing this kid, Jordan, Jordan never welded before young kid.
Speaker:And he is with his parents.
Speaker:He just happened to go onto the, uh, the trailer and they set him up and all of
Speaker:a sudden he simulated did some sort of bead and he got an 80 out of a hundred.
Speaker:All of a sudden he lit up, like, wow.
Speaker:Even the parents like, wow, maybe Jordan has this mechanic.
Speaker:Maybe Scott, you know, just has it, and he is also competitive, so now he's
Speaker:gonna wanna get a better score than 80.
Speaker:Exactly, exactly.
Speaker:On top of then the conversation started.
Speaker:So having not, yes, onsite, I think it's great if, if you can set that up,
Speaker:but also the virtual side, like um, uh, AWS's trailer, but also there are
Speaker:companies like Transfer and Interplay learning that do these VR experiences
Speaker:that kids can really start learning.
Speaker:I remember just putting on the shield and, uh, running the transfer system
Speaker:and I was in a factory and all of a sudden the belt went down and I had to
Speaker:put the helmet on and I had to, well, it just got me in like, oh, okay, now
Speaker:I get a sense for what it's about.
Speaker:I like that real world application.
Speaker:That transfer has, I also really, like Miller Electric has a
Speaker:handheld, it's really inexpensive.
Speaker:The Lincoln Electric Vertex are fantastic, but they're $46,000.
Speaker:Um, a handheld one for $3,000 is much more likely for maybe, um, companies to
Speaker:go to a career fair or even like, have that in the guidance counseling office.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:While you're waiting for your appointment.
Speaker:Play welding.
Speaker:You know, I don't know.
Speaker:It's, I, I think you're right.
Speaker:You know, the gamification of the trades is definitely gonna be
Speaker:important in our upcoming years.
Speaker:But there are some tools now that are out there that are not inaccessible.
Speaker:Most people can't afford a $50,000 machine, but a $3,000 machine you
Speaker:can get a grant for, or maybe that's just part of your HR bus budget.
Speaker:If you're a manufacturing company and you're trying to recruit the
Speaker:people that you need in the future.
Speaker:While we were talking, I was thinking about another program that works really
Speaker:well because we talked about that a not a lot of shop classes in schools, uh, and
Speaker:some teachers are taking that initiative and creating their own shop class.
Speaker:So I'm thinking about, uh, there's a, a teacher by the name of Edwin
Speaker:Jarrett, AKA, the dope teacher.
Speaker:That's what they call him, right?
Speaker:I dunno if you know him, but he's out in Pennsylvania and every
Speaker:day he goes live on Instagram.
Speaker:And these kids who were like 10, 12 years old, they have blow torches.
Speaker:You.
Speaker:They have sawzalls, they're cutting under supervision.
Speaker:We talked about obviously, you know, getting kids used to working with,
Speaker:you know, torches or power tools and he's doing this and all of a sudden,
Speaker:you know, there's water coming outta pipes and they're trying to plug
Speaker:the hole, like he's taking it on himself to teach those students.
Speaker:And that program is now well known.
Speaker:But if more programs were like that exactly, kids would be more interested
Speaker:in potentially working with their hands.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Uh, so I come from a skills USA background.
Speaker:I competed nationally in welding fabrication and so, um, pretty heavily
Speaker:involved with skills, but also, uh, with project MFG, which I'd mentioned before.
Speaker:Project MFG does welding competitions, machining competitions, and additive
Speaker:manufacturing competitions to really elevate and promote the skilled trades.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:My second event with them, uh, one of my favorite people that works there asked
Speaker:me, he's this old grizzled army guy.
Speaker:He's like, Hey kid, what do you think about this?
Speaker:And I said, this is great, but who's here at any competition?
Speaker:What you've got are high school or community college programs that are
Speaker:already participating in welding.
Speaker:What we need to do is look outside of that box.
Speaker:Not that there's anything wrong with that.
Speaker:Like keep encouraging that like crazy, but we need to go outside of that box.
Speaker:And I said, look, if you're fishing in the wrong, so sorry.
Speaker:If you are fishing in the same pond, you're never gonna find different fish.
Speaker:Ooh, I like that.
Speaker:And he was like, okay, what do you got?
Speaker:And I said, there's 11,000 homeschooled children in the state of Arizona.
Speaker:None of them have access to CTE programs.
Speaker:Like, oh wait a minute.
Speaker:So he's like, all right, um, we're gonna do a competition in your shop.
Speaker:It has to be the end of the fiscal by the end of the fiscal year.
Speaker:And I was like, bro, that's June in Arizona.
Speaker:Like, do you have any idea where I live?
Speaker:And so it was really warm that first year, and now we do it in, um, either
Speaker:January, February, or this year.
Speaker:We'll be doing it in November.
Speaker:But, um, but what we do is a team of three homeschooled kids
Speaker:with no welding experience.
Speaker:We match them up with people that are not their own siblings.
Speaker:So we don't have any of that, you know, me fighting and stuff.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um, and they have in the morning, they have an opportunity.
Speaker:They get matched with a mentor.
Speaker:Each team gets matched with a mentor.
Speaker:And, um, how old are these kids?
Speaker:Uh, 10 to 17.
Speaker:10 to 17, okay.
Speaker:And the ratio of, uh, boys to girls?
Speaker:Um, is it, it's, I would, I haven't looked at the actual percentage,
Speaker:but I would say probably about.
Speaker:65% boys, 45% girls.
Speaker:Like it's, it's almost equal.
Speaker:Um, it might be equal some days.
Speaker:It depends on which, you know, but the homeschooled parents, I mean,
Speaker:they have such freedom in their time.
Speaker:They can, they can decide, you know, I'm gonna teach this unit in two hours
Speaker:or I'm gonna teach it in 10 hours.
Speaker:So, um, what happens is in the morning, the mentor connects with them.
Speaker:They have approximately an hour for welding, approximately an hour for
Speaker:cutting, whether it's plasma cutting, oxy fuel cutting, or, um, chop saw.
Speaker:Uh, we have done, um, angle grinders before with cutoff wheels, and
Speaker:that was too stressful for me.
Speaker:I had to like, we had to let that one go.
Speaker:Um, but I do use variable speed.
Speaker:Uh, all of my grinders are variable speed, so I turn them way down
Speaker:when we're working with kids.
Speaker:That's smart.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Um, and they don't have that kick.
Speaker:Yeah, they're a little heavier, but they don't have a kick.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There's a lot of torque in those.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And so we'll use now like just flap discs for that.
Speaker:But, so then they have, um, another, the third hour in the morning is to look at.
Speaker:Blueprints.
Speaker:Very basic, very basic welding blueprints and like, how do you assemble things?
Speaker:Then they have lunch and then they come back and they are given a print.
Speaker:Everyone's given the same print and they have three hours to compete to build this
Speaker:particular thing, and then it gets judged.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:And um, the first year we let the kids decide who got to take the project home.
Speaker:The second year, I have a sign in my shop that says all disputes will
Speaker:be solved by rock, paper, scissors.
Speaker:And I thought that was fantastic.
Speaker:But we got a few complaints from moms that were like, well, why couldn't
Speaker:we get a third of the project?
Speaker:I'm like, I. We made a doghouse out of metal, and if you cut it into
Speaker:three, it's not a doghouse anymore.
Speaker:So then we realized we don't, that's not gonna be our approach anymore.
Speaker:So we find a local nonprofit and I work with them ahead of time
Speaker:to figure out what project we're gonna make 20 or 24 of or whatever.
Speaker:And that way they can auction them off or do whatever they're
Speaker:gonna do for a fundraiser.
Speaker:So the kids are now con contributing to the community as well.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:How long?
Speaker:It's fantastic.
Speaker:How is this going?
Speaker:On a couple years?
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:I think we're in our, uh, we'll be, I think we're in our fourth year now.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Is there, do you have sponsors that.
Speaker:Help with this, or We have, um, we haven't, and we had not in the past,
Speaker:but this past year we had a local company that, um, does framing and
Speaker:they donated all of the material.
Speaker:They donated the money for the material.
Speaker:Um, but yeah, we're, we're definitely like gonna have to figure that out
Speaker:'cause we wanna grow that program.
Speaker:And Project MFG is the, the overarching, it's their competition
Speaker:hosted at Wild Like Girl.
Speaker:And, um, I, there's prizes.
Speaker:I mean, it's just, it's cool and it's fun.
Speaker:And, uh, our local south southwest business contractors, um, they came to
Speaker:talk to the kids about a career fair that they have where you can go and do
Speaker:active things over a two day period.
Speaker:So it's, um, it's growing.
Speaker:But the, the cool thing is the kids work as a team.
Speaker:It's a fabrication team of three.
Speaker:They have to work together.
Speaker:And so what some of the teams will do, the kids will decide, I'm better
Speaker:at this, you're better at that.
Speaker:And they'll actually delegate.
Speaker:Other kids are like, let's do everything together.
Speaker:And it doesn't really matter to us.
Speaker:We just, you know, the mentor steps back and is there primarily for safety
Speaker:or if the kids can't lift something.
Speaker:Um, but in the afternoon it's the kids working on the project
Speaker:themselves and at the end of the day and local nonprofit benefits.
Speaker:And so everybody wins.
Speaker:It's a win-win around.
Speaker:Is there one sort of story or success story out of that program?
Speaker:Is there one person that sticks out?
Speaker:One participant, one boy, one girl.
Speaker:There's one that I have on my social media.
Speaker:Um, his name is Jace and he talks about being a 10-year-old cowboy and welder.
Speaker:He's so confident.
Speaker:I just love it.
Speaker:Like he's, he's adorable.
Speaker:Um, but one of the things that really strikes me is, and we try
Speaker:to make the, the projects small enough that the kids aren't.
Speaker:First of all, they'll fit on our welding tables, but also
Speaker:the kids aren't struggling.
Speaker:We don't wanna set them up for failure in any way.
Speaker:Um, but there was this one little girl, I mean, she was just tiny.
Speaker:I think she was 10 or 11 years old, and she goes and picks up this two
Speaker:foot by two foot eighth inch plate and just picks it up like she is
Speaker:Wonder Woman and brings it over to the plasma table and slams it down.
Speaker:And she's like, I got this.
Speaker:And I'm like, yeah, you do.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So it's, it's just a really empowering kind of day kind of experience for them.
Speaker:Um, but a lot of them have gone on and taken a welding class at our
Speaker:local community college or they've, you know, used, um, we have a program
Speaker:called ESA in, in Arizona, and that's basically the educational equivalent.
Speaker:Um, so whatever the child would've cost to go to school, the family can
Speaker:use that on educational materials.
Speaker:Um, there are some pretty strict restrictions now, but
Speaker:it used to be that they could.
Speaker:Take a class with me and then go buy a welder.
Speaker:'cause that's now an educational piece of equipment.
Speaker:So yeah, I mean, we're, we're moving the needle a little bit.
Speaker:I mean, we've, you know, not impacted thousands of kids yet, but That's right.
Speaker:But you're, we're, we're working on it.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:But it's, it's a slow progression.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And you're, you're making impact.
Speaker:There are obviously programs out there that are making impact, but the, just
Speaker:to see the, and I, and I'm say it was Chase, Jace, the young Ja, Jace Jace.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Um, at 10 years old, who was also a cowboy.
Speaker:Yeah, no, he totally identifies as a welder.
Speaker:Now, after one day, wow.
Speaker:Uhhuh, um, I, I don't even know what I was even doing at 10
Speaker:years old, but I wasn't Exactly.
Speaker:Wasn't like, uh, but at least they're, even if they don't go into, let's say,
Speaker:the trade, they, they're still, you know, getting familiar using their hands
Speaker:and they can do stuff around the house.
Speaker:I, and they don't necessarily have to go down the path, of course,
Speaker:if it's not right for them, but at least they're getting exposed.
Speaker:That they want to take, you know, an extra step or take a
Speaker:course or go to a welding school.
Speaker:And, and another important piece that I think we forget sometimes is that if kids
Speaker:don't go down the path of the skilled trades, they now have a respect for it.
Speaker:They now understand like, oh, that's, that's hard work.
Speaker:Or that's, that's more complicated than you might think.
Speaker:Anytime someone takes a class with me and it could be an, uh,
Speaker:an adult, they walk out going, oh, that's where they make the money.
Speaker:They make like, yeah, because you don't just.
Speaker:Walk up to a TIG machine, grab the tools and within 20
Speaker:minutes you're awesome at it.
Speaker:I mean, there are very few exceptions, but like for the most part, I
Speaker:tell them, I'm like, people go to school for 16 weeks to four years.
Speaker:Absolute.
Speaker:To become proficient at this.
Speaker:And it's practice and practice plus patient sequels progress.
Speaker:You gotta just keep, go, keep doing it, keep doing it.
Speaker:Reps. And, and you know, I remember the first time that I put down a, a
Speaker:decent stick weld, I was so excited.
Speaker:I go up to the professor and I'm like, look at this.
Speaker:And he looks at me and he goes, okay, good.
Speaker:Burn a thousand more rods.
Speaker:I'm like, no, but I got it.
Speaker:And he's like, no, go burn a thousand more rods.
Speaker:And I was like, what?
Speaker:This guy's hard.
Speaker:And then I was like, ah.
Speaker:'cause sometimes it's beginner's luck, you know?
Speaker:And you've gotta have that muscle memory.
Speaker:But even if people don't go into the skilled trades, just to have that
Speaker:appreciation of the work and the craftsman craftsmanship that goes into it.
Speaker:It, I think it's really important.
Speaker:It's a, it helps 'em develop respect.
Speaker:It is, and it's a sense of fulfillment as well, by getting,
Speaker:you know, that work done.
Speaker:Um, but you, you need to have the technical skills.
Speaker:You also need to have the soft skills.
Speaker:And you, you talked about skills.
Speaker:USA and I light up every time that I, I, I hear about skills, USA 'cause I
Speaker:was down there last month, um, and I was down there with skills, USA who
Speaker:did a partnership with TikTok, and I was one of three creators to go down
Speaker:there and create videos and content.
Speaker:And I spoke to a lot of kids, but I, I went over to, did you see
Speaker:the welding sculpture competition?
Speaker:Yeah, no, I, I saw the, the, the aftermath of all the sculptures.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I, I like to go through and I take video of all these sculpture.
Speaker:I'm like.
Speaker:Oh my God.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:We don't, we don't, uh, have live welding.
Speaker:We, we have live welding there, but we don't have them construct
Speaker:their, the sculpture there.
Speaker:But that's, um, I'm the tech chair for that and I love it.
Speaker:It's, it's so crazy.
Speaker:And I'm like, these kids are young.
Speaker:How do they have that, you know, just as such a young age.
Speaker:And I, I think of like Barbie, the welder, like, she was, like, she had said
Speaker:that she was just, she learned herself.
Speaker:Like she was not, like, she just, no one really taught her.
Speaker:She was kind of like, she did it on her own.
Speaker:But these kids at a such a young age, some of the high school projects are better,
Speaker:or at least as good as the community college or, you know, post-secondary.
Speaker:But anyway, you were saying I interrupted 'cause I was excited
Speaker:about welding sculpture, but, um, you were at, you were at skills.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Skills.
Speaker:And you know, when, when you think about shortages and, and welding
Speaker:and other trades, you go there, you're like, where is the shortages?
Speaker:Because they're not anywhere.
Speaker:And these are just high school kids.
Speaker:But they're super excited to want to learn a trade.
Speaker:And we were talking about soft skills.
Speaker:The kids that are come outta Skills, USA, that are a part
Speaker:of Skills, USA, they have both.
Speaker:They have to, they have both.
Speaker:It's part of the competition it's built in.
Speaker:And some of those kids, they get offers right off the floor.
Speaker:Um, and I, I love when you walk into some of technical schools and they have the
Speaker:skills, USA flag and you talk about it, and the sh you know, the shop manager,
Speaker:whoever's there, they light up, they start, oh yeah, you know, our students
Speaker:went there and we got second place.
Speaker:And I just, I love it down there.
Speaker:I. Um, I've been on an airplane several times and um, first time it happened
Speaker:I was working for Miller Electric as a trainer and I had a helmet bag
Speaker:and the guy looks over and he is like, is that a, a welding helmet?
Speaker:He's the guy sitting in the middle seat.
Speaker:And I said, yeah, it is.
Speaker:And he asked me something and um, he said, where are you headed?
Speaker:And I said, oh, I'm just coming back from skills.
Speaker:'cause we, um, as a team, we would always go and help and set up
Speaker:and judge and all that at Skills.
Speaker:And he's like, oh, skills.
Speaker:USAI competed in that.
Speaker:And so he was all excited.
Speaker:He had, um, he had done some kind of like, job display, um,
Speaker:and he said it changed his life.
Speaker:And I said, oh, I, I know it did for me.
Speaker:I mean, I'm, I'm a welder because I competed in that.
Speaker:And the funny thing is I did not expect to, and I didn't want to.
Speaker:My advisor asked me one year, I was doing part-time 'cause
Speaker:I was going back to school.
Speaker:He asked me, would you be a part of Skills, USA, the fabrication team?
Speaker:I said, Nope.
Speaker:Why?
Speaker:He said, because, 'cause I didn't grow up with tools.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:I didn't grow up with power tools.
Speaker:I took a machine tool class.
Speaker:There is a bandsaw that's still in this school where I now teach
Speaker:part-time that bandsaw, Andrew, it is big enough and powerful
Speaker:enough to cut a frozen cow in half.
Speaker:I heard those words and I'm like, whoa, stepping back, not happening.
Speaker:So while I wasn't necessarily afraid of tools, I learned how to
Speaker:use those tools in that program.
Speaker:I don't want you to rely on me.
Speaker:What if I didn't learn enough?
Speaker:What if I wasn't experienced enough?
Speaker:What did you know?
Speaker:Is that enough mentality?
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:And so the next year he asked me, would you be on the fab team?
Speaker:I said, Nope.
Speaker:And a couple of weeks later he came back.
Speaker:He goes, okay, would you agree to be the alternate to the alternate?
Speaker:I was like, that sounds back up to back up.
Speaker:That sounds pretty safe.
Speaker:The next day I was the alternate.
Speaker:Within two weeks I was on the team and we were competing at regionals.
Speaker:We won regionals, we went to state, we won it state.
Speaker:And I'm like.
Speaker:This was so not where I was going, you know?
Speaker:And, um, when we got to nationals, we did not podium and that's okay.
Speaker:I know exactly why.
Speaker:It was our teamwork, it was our soft skills.
Speaker:Um, but specifically our teamwork score was low.
Speaker:And I, I knew exactly what was happening.
Speaker:Um, one of my teammates every day during practice prior to going to nationals,
Speaker:would stand there and hand me a grinder.
Speaker:And I'm like, I'm not your grinder girl.
Speaker:We have to all do this.
Speaker:We are a team of three.
Speaker:And we, the rules said that each teammate has to be able to do all welding
Speaker:processes in all the positions required.
Speaker:And so I've gotta be a part of this too.
Speaker:And so that was like, um, we weren't, we weren't, we did not
Speaker:have the best team dynamics.
Speaker:I tried hard, but, you know, that's okay because, and that was the last class
Speaker:that I had to do because within about a year I was at Skills USA on the stage.
Speaker:Hanging medals and I have gotten to hang medals every single year since then.
Speaker:So while I didn't earn a medal, I have the privilege of hanging medals.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:So it totally changed my life.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Imagine if you just never went, I, I was chicken.
Speaker:I didn't do it for like two years.
Speaker:I was like, no.
Speaker:So what do you tell, I don't want you to rely on me.
Speaker:So what do you tell somebody who's thinking in your situation?
Speaker:I don't, I don't want to be there.
Speaker:Do you, do you recommend them to a hundred percent?
Speaker:Take chance?
Speaker:Well, I, I say, you know, practice.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:I mean, that's the thing.
Speaker:We had, once we knew we were going to nationals, we had about a month.
Speaker:And so every single weekday we met as a team and we built things
Speaker:and we read blueprints and.
Speaker:I got to be pretty good at reading blueprints.
Speaker:So anything that had to do with that, like that was my job.
Speaker:And then someone else, he was really good at this.
Speaker:And so, you know, we kind of identified our strengths knowing that we all
Speaker:had to share in every aspect of it.
Speaker:But, um, but you're gonna get better if you don't practice.
Speaker:You're never gonna get better.
Speaker:And, um, one of my, one of my teachers thinks that I said this
Speaker:and I, I think he said it, but, um, we both give each other credit.
Speaker:He's a, um, former Marine, so probably it's probably, it was
Speaker:him and he's just being nice.
Speaker:But, uh, he said, practice plus patience equals progress.
Speaker:Perfection is not necessary, but you have to be in it.
Speaker:You have to be there.
Speaker:You have to show up.
Speaker:And when you show up and you learn how to use those tools,
Speaker:you build your confidence.
Speaker:You may not be the best, but it's not always at skills.
Speaker:USA, it's not always the best welder or the best, in my case.
Speaker:'cause I'm the tech chair for welding sculpture for nationals.
Speaker:It's not always the best sculpture that wins.
Speaker:It's the combination.
Speaker:It's the complete package.
Speaker:Because for, for welding sculpture, they create a sculpture.
Speaker:They have to put together a professional portfolio, a notebook.
Speaker:They have a written knowledge exam about all basic, but all four processes
Speaker:in both cutting, uh, four welding processes and two cutting processes.
Speaker:So even if your sculpture is all TIG welded, you still have to have
Speaker:a basic knowledge of other ones.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:Then you have an interview.
Speaker:And now, two years ago we added the live welding component so that we know
Speaker:that you actually did some work that you actually can do because you're
Speaker:showing up with a sculpture that's beautiful, but how do we know that
Speaker:you're actually the one that did it?
Speaker:Right?
Speaker:Of course.
Speaker:And so there's, we're, we're, we try to put like, hmm.
Speaker:Evidence, I guess in the notebook and stuff.
Speaker:But this is a live welding component is, is kind of one of the things that
Speaker:we're using to help us with that.
Speaker:So you could have the best sculpture possible, but if you have nothing
Speaker:in your notebook that's you're not gonna hundreds of points, that's
Speaker:not gonna, you're not gonna win.
Speaker:So what set the winner apart?
Speaker:Oh my gosh, Andrew, this year.
Speaker:It was one point between each one, one point.
Speaker:One point.
Speaker:So what was out of a thousand points?
Speaker:It is nerve wracking.
Speaker:I can't stand it sometimes.
Speaker:So how did that one point, what, what was the difference?
Speaker:It could have been you got, you got two more points for your sculpture on
Speaker:creativity, um, but you scored three points less on your welding knowledge.
Speaker:I mean, it's because we have so many components and the cool thing, because
Speaker:it's such a challenging competition to score, uh, you know, it's, it's
Speaker:a subjective art is subjective.
Speaker:So what I do is I have a minimum of three CWIs that look at the
Speaker:weld and if they've ground down the welds in their documentation, there
Speaker:should be photographs of the welds.
Speaker:So they're looking at the welds and the cuts.
Speaker:I have a minimum of two people that have either degrees or a lot of experience
Speaker:in art, and that way they're looking at design, creativity, negative space,
Speaker:positive space, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:Different perspectives.
Speaker:CWIs will have maybe nothing to do with.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And then, um, we have usually a minimum.
Speaker:So sometimes it's more, but usually I have about three people that are
Speaker:not in welding at all and not in art.
Speaker:They are the people that come in and go, would I buy that?
Speaker:You know, like it used to be when we were in Kansas City, it used to be
Speaker:the head of baking that would come in.
Speaker:She was my Oh, that's funny.
Speaker:And but as long as you judge each sculpture Yeah.
Speaker:And you, you use a consistent rubric.
Speaker:It doesn't matter if your background's different than mine.
Speaker:Yeah, I like that.
Speaker:You know, and so it's, it's trying to be fair as, as, as fair as you
Speaker:can be in a competition that is, I mean, there, there's no theme.
Speaker:We don't restrict participants to have a theme.
Speaker:So you might make something that's really meaningful to you.
Speaker:And that could be a, a large mouth bass, for example.
Speaker:We always get fish every year.
Speaker:And that could be reminiscent of the time that you went, the times that
Speaker:you went fishing with your grandpa, and that's really important to you.
Speaker:And then someone else might create a sculpture with roses and maybe that
Speaker:has to do with something in important in their life, a family member.
Speaker:So how do you compare fish to roses?
Speaker:That's true.
Speaker:So you, so wait, wait.
Speaker:Who, who, who won?
Speaker:Um, do you remember what the, the, well there's two different levels.
Speaker:There's the secondary and the post-secondary.
Speaker:Um, I, I mean, I could look up my text, but I can't remember.
Speaker:There's so many good ones and I don't judge them.
Speaker:I am in the interview process, but I. I'm the tech chair.
Speaker:I don't have time anymore, which is good.
Speaker:It takes a lot of stress off of me because it's, it's hard.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:It's all hard.
Speaker:I usually tell my judges like, walk through and then, but also
Speaker:keep the post-secondary and the secondary in different buckets in
Speaker:your head because you're, you're looking, you can't compare them.
Speaker:They're gonna be competing independently.
Speaker:Um, but they were, they were all, I mean there were so many fantastic
Speaker:sculptures and the competition.
Speaker:Now has the, um, kind of the walkway where you can meander through.
Speaker:It used to be just around in the per perimeter and sometimes the
Speaker:sculptures that weren't as maybe like dramatic didn't get the attention.
Speaker:But now that you have to walk past all of them, people see
Speaker:sculptures in a different way.
Speaker:They're like, oh, I wouldn't have noticed that one.
Speaker:But that's really cool.
Speaker:Yeah, I remember going live on TikTok with my audience and I was going
Speaker:through that and Sarah Stork Yes.
Speaker:Came on and she's like, yeah.
Speaker:And 'cause you know, she's, yeah, she was one of our winners.
Speaker:Uh, yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, I know Sarah because she competed for, um, twice at
Speaker:Skills and she podiums both times.
Speaker:She is an incredible artist and she's a really kind person and
Speaker:she's got a fantastic attitude.
Speaker:Did she tell you about the sandwich story?
Speaker:She did not.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Well, I'm gonna maybe botch this story a little bit, but hopefully not.
Speaker:Um, basically someone found out a, a male person found out that she
Speaker:was a welder and he was like, well, why don't you just go back in the
Speaker:kitchen and make me a sandwich?
Speaker:One of Sarah's really beautiful sculptures is a giant sandwich.
Speaker:Oh, no way.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, that's, and she did such a cool job.
Speaker:That's funny.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So she made a sandwich.
Speaker:That's funny.
Speaker:Um, she's supposed, I'm gonna bring that up because she's supposed
Speaker:to be on a, a future episode.
Speaker:So Yeah, ask her like, do you make sandwiches?
Speaker:Yeah, just ask her.
Speaker:That's the first question.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So do you make sandwiches?
Speaker:Do you go to the kitchen and make sandwiches or do you go to the
Speaker:welding shop and make sandwiches?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Oh, that's gonna be a fiery episode then.
Speaker:Yes, it will be.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:She's cool.
Speaker:Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:Uh, you're a part of skills, USA and that's also, I'm gonna
Speaker:bring that up tomorrow during my presentation about programs that
Speaker:are really working out there.
Speaker:Um, did you have a, a, did anybody in your family, did you grow
Speaker:up, anybody in your family was a welder or nobody in your family?
Speaker:No one.
Speaker:Huh.
Speaker:So, um, my background's a little weird.
Speaker:Um, I was the first person in my family to go to college because it was expected.
Speaker:You're going to go to college.
Speaker:So, um, what'd you study?
Speaker:What'd you?
Speaker:Biology.
Speaker:Biology.
Speaker:Oh, you really kind of really, I love, well, I love science.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And um, and I was really good at it.
Speaker:I wasn't very good at math.
Speaker:In fact, I was the kid that was like in the gift and, and talented.
Speaker:So they put you in the gift and talented math.
Speaker:And I'm like, oh God.
Speaker:So, um, I remember in eighth grade putting my hand on my hip, looking at my teacher
Speaker:saying, I'm never gonna use algebra again.
Speaker:And then in ninth grade, looking at my geometry teacher, I was
Speaker:struggling so hard in geometry.
Speaker:I'm like, I'm never gonna use this again.
Speaker:Super sarcastic, right?
Speaker:But I love science, unfortunately for a lot of families, and I've
Speaker:seen this so many times and a lot of families where no one went to college,
Speaker:they don't know how to guide you.
Speaker:So I'm like, well, what do I do to go to college?
Speaker:And they're like, I don't know, just figure it out.
Speaker:So what do I study?
Speaker:They're like, I don't know.
Speaker:What do you like?
Speaker:Well, I like biology.
Speaker:I like science.
Speaker:So you get out of school.
Speaker:With a four year biology degree, and you are qualified to do nothing.
Speaker:I mean, really, like, we didn't even have Starbucks back then,
Speaker:so I couldn't even be a barista.
Speaker:So I mean, I just, I didn't know what to do.
Speaker:And they were like, you can go to medical school, you could teach high
Speaker:school, or you can go on to grad school.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Or, so what I, I wound up, um, working for two years in big pharma and realized
Speaker:that I was selling my soul to the devil and that wasn't gonna happen.
Speaker:So I went back to grad school.
Speaker:So anyway, um, became a college professor in a completely different area.
Speaker:I was in the field of wellness.
Speaker:Oh, you really kind of zigzagged it out, but, but I'll tell you, the
Speaker:way it all connects, it all does.
Speaker:It's magic.
Speaker:It, I didn't expect that.
Speaker:But, um, so I was a college professor in wellness and I taught stress management
Speaker:as one of the classes, and I drank the Kool-Aid and I thought that you
Speaker:should become a college administrator.
Speaker:And so when I moved to Arizona, I became a college administrator.
Speaker:I learned a lot of things about myself, and one of them is
Speaker:that, that is not my passion.
Speaker:Um, everyone's angry.
Speaker:It's the opposite of wellness.
Speaker:Students are angry at faculty.
Speaker:Faculty are angry at administrators, and administrators are angry, okay?
Speaker:So they wouldn't let me teach very much, but I, I held onto
Speaker:the stress management class.
Speaker:I say this for a very specific reason, 'cause that's how I got into welding.
Speaker:Every time I would teach stress management, I would try to find
Speaker:something out, either at the college or something in the community that
Speaker:that would be relatable to people that can't close their eyes and breathe
Speaker:into a box or say, oh, or whatever.
Speaker:Like some of the traditional stress management things were.
Speaker:So in Iowa I did boxing, beginning, beginning, intermediate, advanced boxing.
Speaker:And then in Arizona I did blacksmithing.
Speaker:You take a piece of hot metal, you stick it in a forge, everyone
Speaker:has hearing protection on, so you can say whatever you'd like.
Speaker:Raa, raa, ra as you're smashing metal, and then you make something beautiful.
Speaker:You can give it to your mom for Mother's Day and you can
Speaker:say, mom, I made this for you.
Speaker:I thought about you the whole time.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So, um, when I was, um, when I was taking blacksmithing one semester,
Speaker:the instructor came to us and said, I'm actually leaving in a few weeks.
Speaker:We're moving to Colorado and this class is going away.
Speaker:And I went to the head of the welding department and I was like,
Speaker:look, taking this class, I think like eight times, I don't even know
Speaker:how many semesters I've taken this.
Speaker:So I'm a novice blacksmith 'cause I keep taking the same class over and over again.
Speaker:But I'm a a really good teacher, so if you'd like, I could be your placeholder
Speaker:until you find the right person.
Speaker:And he said, very wisely, I'll take a chance on you, but you
Speaker:gotta take a welding class so that the welding students don't have a
Speaker:vocabulary that you don't understand.
Speaker:So, okay.
Speaker:So that next semester, the only thing that was open happened to be
Speaker:welding sculpture, didn't matter.
Speaker:I just, it was like a survey class.
Speaker:It wasn't a very artsy class.
Speaker:It was more of a, a little bit, a couple weeks of this, a
Speaker:couple weeks of this, you know.
Speaker:A couple weeks of that and I found out I was really terrible at Oxy fuel welding.
Speaker:And so the next semester I took Oxy Fuel welding 'cause it's not gonna win.
Speaker:I'm the granddaughter of a stubborn Irish woman and Oxy Fuel is not gonna win
Speaker:At the drop add week, I went to that same guy that gave me a chance to, to
Speaker:teach the blacksmithing class and I said, look, it's drop bad and I don't
Speaker:wanna fail so maybe I should just like, I don't know, audit this class.
Speaker:And he, he gave me a really wise piece of advice and I will tell students
Speaker:this probably every week of my life.
Speaker:Just when you are re sorry.
Speaker:Just when you are ready to give up, you are one week away from a breakthrough.
Speaker:And I was like, oh, I dunno.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So I went to every open lab available.
Speaker:I practiced and practiced and practiced.
Speaker:We'd now passed that Sunday, that was beyond the the drop add week.
Speaker:And I'm getting nervous.
Speaker:I went to all the open lab and one night I get in there and there's a young
Speaker:man who had taken some of the classes I had taught as, um, as an instructor
Speaker:and he was in the welding program.
Speaker:And I said, Steve, what is the secret?
Speaker:'cause I'm not getting this.
Speaker:I don't, I mean, you're now like the whole mentor becomes the mentee thing.
Speaker:You know, I, I was college professor, administrator, now I'm asking this
Speaker:college student for advice 'cause I don't know what I'm doing wrong.
Speaker:And he said, you gotta find your song.
Speaker:I'm like, what?
Speaker:This is where you're punking me, right?
Speaker:Remember I still have to give you a grade this semester?
Speaker:And he's like, no, I'm serious.
Speaker:You gotta slow down.
Speaker:You gotta find a way to relax 'cause you're going too fast.
Speaker:And so the next night I come in for open lab and I hear the carpenters
Speaker:playing through the lab and I go, Steve, is that your song?
Speaker:He is.
Speaker:You kill, you tell anyone you die.
Speaker:I'm like, okay, your secret, safe with me.
Speaker:I'll never reveal his last name.
Speaker:Um, but anyway, his point was to slow down.
Speaker:And when I finally.
Speaker:Just sat down and just tried to relax.
Speaker:I'm like, okay, just chill out.
Speaker:And I got it.
Speaker:And I was so excited.
Speaker:I was like a 5-year-old.
Speaker:I was like, oh my God, look at this.
Speaker:And from that moment forward, the, um, the instructor called me welder.
Speaker:Ah.
Speaker:And that's another piece.
Speaker:Validation.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Because you become empowered now.
Speaker:Now it's possible for me to do this.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And so, um, fast forward, he kept asking me if I was gonna get the degree.
Speaker:I'm like, I don't need another degree.
Speaker:Thanks.
Speaker:And, um, skills, USA competed at nationals, came back, didn't
Speaker:podium, but we did a very good job.
Speaker:And a young man who had been very sexist and obnoxious to
Speaker:me was struggling at a machine.
Speaker:And he said, Hey Shannon, can you fix this?
Speaker:And I listened to the noise that the machine was making and I go, I can, I can.
Speaker:So I, I said, um, I, I'm gonna get this degree and I wanna, I, I said, I'm
Speaker:going to work for the best damn welding manufacturer in the co uh, in the country.
Speaker:He's like, uh, the head of the department said, okay, well teach for me for a
Speaker:little bit, work part-time at a fab shop, get some experience and then do that.
Speaker:And so that's how I became a trainer at Miller Electric.
Speaker:Oh, okay.
Speaker:And so, um, at Miller, when I was training in all my territory was Denver
Speaker:and West Edmondson, Canada, a and South.
Speaker:I was all over traveled like a ton.
Speaker:It was almost a hundred percent travel.
Speaker:And when I would work with predominantly men, largely the population was men
Speaker:that were men with, like they were in their fifties that had changed jobs.
Speaker:Maybe they were working for Granger or maybe they were working for somebody
Speaker:else the weeks before, or maybe even like Firestone or something.
Speaker:They were somehow adjacent to welding, but they weren't really welders.
Speaker:And then they were working for distributors and, and my job was
Speaker:to make them look like rock stars.
Speaker:I would say it doesn't matter what color the wrapper is, the
Speaker:theory is gonna be the same.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So you're gonna be really good at this.
Speaker:Even if you can't weld really well, you're gonna understand what you're doing.
Speaker:And honestly, if you're a salesperson, you only have to weld a short weld
Speaker:because then you put the torch in their hand and because they
Speaker:wanna show you what they can do.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So I did this and here's where it all ties together.
Speaker:This guy looks at me and he goes, you're like a little ninja.
Speaker:You come in and you encourage us, and then you like sneak outta the booth.
Speaker:He's like, you're a welding, you're a wellness coach with a welding helmet.
Speaker:But you have that background of being sort of a teacher.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:And it's, it's helped you throughout your career to teach others.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:I could tell it.
Speaker:I could tell.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And I'm super passionate about it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:My sister knew how to write complete sentences when she got kindergarten.
Speaker:'cause I'm four years older than her.
Speaker:Uh, she knew who multiplication tables in first grade.
Speaker:'cause I learned 'em in fifth.
Speaker:Interesting, right?
Speaker:Like flashcards and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:'cause that's just always been in me.
Speaker:Um, so, but I think the, the wellness piece really has helped me so much because
Speaker:I can work with, at risk youth, I can work with veterans, I can work with special
Speaker:Olympians, I can work with people of all different abilities and disabilities
Speaker:because it's part of what you do.
Speaker:You kind of translate you, you figure out where someone's at and, and
Speaker:figure out how to explain it to them.
Speaker:I grew up with a special needs aunt.
Speaker:She wasn't down syndrome, but it was adjacent.
Speaker:It was a chromosomal, uh, issue.
Speaker:And I realized when I was about 11 that she was always gonna be 10.
Speaker:And that was, that was tough.
Speaker:That's tough.
Speaker:But it was also like, now we're not fighting.
Speaker:'cause we used to like pinch each other as we were kids.
Speaker:She was just eternally 10.
Speaker:And then that, that realization made me step up.
Speaker:And from that moment forward, I'm like, now I'm your protector.
Speaker:And when she would feel dumb or someone would say something that was
Speaker:confusing, my job was to translate.
Speaker:Ah, okay.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:So that makes you Yeah.
Speaker:A better teacher.
Speaker:And I don't care what the topic is, I just happen to be
Speaker:super passionate about welding.
Speaker:I love welding.
Speaker:I love, like my phone welding dogs, welding, donkeys, welding,
Speaker:run, running marathons, welding.
Speaker:Like, it's, it's just, there's, it's just everything.
Speaker:And I love it.
Speaker:I'm so passionate about it, but I, I love to, to ignite that spark in someone else.
Speaker:I love to see the light bulb go on over their head and they feel super empowered.
Speaker:I'm like, yeah, that's it.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:You have that natural ability and thanks for sharing about
Speaker:that story about, about her.
Speaker:Um, but you found your passion and you've found what you love to do.
Speaker:Not many people get to do that.
Speaker:And it's, it's interesting how the, just the, um, you know, your path, it just, you
Speaker:didn't come from a blue collar background.
Speaker:It just, you know.
Speaker:Just worked out that way.
Speaker:Uh, but you're doing amazing stuff.
Speaker:Um, is there anything else that we didn't cover that you'd wanna share?
Speaker:Um, just anything about your program or, sure.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So it's, well like a girl, but we are co-ed.
Speaker:I wanna make sure that I'm clear.
Speaker:'cause a lot of times guys will be like, what I wanna learn?
Speaker:I'm like, great, but it's well like a girl.
Speaker:I'm like, yeah, 'cause I'm a girl.
Speaker:And honestly the name is because when you say you run like a girl or you fight
Speaker:like a girl, it's usually an insult.
Speaker:And you will get high school and college professors across this country that tell
Speaker:you that girls can make better welders.
Speaker:Now, I'm not gonna say that girls are better at welding.
Speaker:I'm gonna say girls are easier to teach at younger ages.
Speaker:If I have a high ski, if I have like a high school girl and a high school boy,
Speaker:same age, 17 ish somewhere, 16 ish.
Speaker:He's gonna hip check me, shove past me, get in the booth and
Speaker:burn the crap out of everything.
Speaker:'cause he already knows what he's doing.
Speaker:Now I'm making a gross generalization, but I, this has happened several times.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:More than several times.
Speaker:You have experience with that?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:The high school girl will say, okay, so when I do this, this happens.
Speaker:And, you know, we go through the motions and when I do this, this happens.
Speaker:And then, and she'll ask 20 questions.
Speaker:By the time she actually pulls the trigger or strikes the
Speaker:arc, she's about halfway there.
Speaker:I have to go back in the booth with the boy and say, okay, you
Speaker:done burning my stuff up now?
Speaker:'cause this is what we really wanna do.
Speaker:And they're like, oh, okay.
Speaker:So I think, you know, that balances out after obviously a certain age.
Speaker:Um, but initially it's easier to teach girls and I think it's
Speaker:'cause they're, they're partly afraid they don't wanna get hurt.
Speaker:They don't know anything about it.
Speaker:And so they're like, I just wanna make sure that I'm doing this right.
Speaker:So the name well lick a girl is, um, to say, yeah, I, well
Speaker:lick a girl, try to keep up.
Speaker:Actually, I don't do that, but some of my girls, some of my interns have said that.
Speaker:Um, but yeah, so we're a, we're a working fab shop and um, we work, we
Speaker:have classes for the private sector.
Speaker:You know, if you, you and your kids are happening to come through Yuma,
Speaker:Arizona, you can be like, okay, I'll look at the website, or I'll give
Speaker:her a call and see what's going on.
Speaker:You could take a class that would be like a three hour class.
Speaker:You would, it's all project based and so you guys would take home the thing
Speaker:that you're supposed to make that day.
Speaker:Then I also work in the mornings, as I mentioned, with um, uh, charter
Speaker:high school and then I work with other charter high schools and I work with, uh,
Speaker:juvenile courts sometimes, um, a couple times a year I get to work with special
Speaker:Olympians, do some things with veterans.
Speaker:Um, wanna do more with that.
Speaker:Uh, there are some resources that I'm exploring, but I also have
Speaker:the only power hammer in our town.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:So, 'cause the blacksmithing, right?
Speaker:Where, that was where I started with welding.
Speaker:And so, um.
Speaker:When my sister decided to move to Portugal, um, I was kind of a
Speaker:little mad at her for, for leaving.
Speaker:'cause you know, Portugal's not quick, not a quick trip from Arizona.
Speaker:So she, um, I think she tried to bribe me by giving me a power hammer.
Speaker:So, um, so we have a power hammer that's named after her.
Speaker:It's the Allison Asosa.
Speaker:Interesting.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Never heard that before.
Speaker:Yep.
Speaker:Uh, so it's, uh, that's our name for it.
Speaker:But anyway, um, the veterans, there's a, a program called vet art and there's
Speaker:some other things that we're trying to explore with veterans to, to really
Speaker:help them, you know, take any of the stress or anxiety out and, and make
Speaker:it something productive and healing.
Speaker:I mean, a lot of, a lot of pottery classes, a lot of blacksmithing classes
Speaker:that I've heard of and that I've seen, um, for vet that are made specifically
Speaker:for veterans are very therapeutic.
Speaker:What is it like for you when someone makes a breakthrough through your program?
Speaker:Um, I try to keep myself together, but sometimes I'm like, I think
Speaker:I have something in my eye.
Speaker:Um, I think that that day that, um, the high school students were teaching the
Speaker:young, the, the second graders that was, uh, that day my husband walked in and
Speaker:he looked around and he is like, whoa.
Speaker:I said, this is what, what I quit my big girl job for.
Speaker:This is why I don't have the benefits that I used to have.
Speaker:This is why I decided to break off and make my own company.
Speaker:And yeah, I mean, it makes it worth it.
Speaker:It's really hard.
Speaker:I mean, having your own business, especially if you're not manufacturing
Speaker:something, you know, I'm prim primarily a school, but, 'cause I'm a school,
Speaker:I'm a fab shop, but I'm a school and so you have to give opportunities to
Speaker:students and that's the main thing.
Speaker:And so you're not gonna do anything quick.
Speaker:So if someone asks you to make something, my first question
Speaker:is, what's your timeline?
Speaker:'cause if you need it now I'm a CWI, I qualify welders all the time.
Speaker:I can give you people that can get this done faster than we can, but
Speaker:I'm not gonna probably do it myself.
Speaker:I'm gonna have other people help me because that's the
Speaker:only way they're gonna learn.
Speaker:Maybe if it's really important, I'll do mo most of it, you know, but still, I'm not
Speaker:gonna have you just hand me the wrench.
Speaker:Like, I don't want, I don't want that kind of relationship where, you know, dad
Speaker:has you hold the flashlight or something.
Speaker:That's not how we do it.
Speaker:You're gonna be in there.
Speaker:So, um, I think that that's part of it is, you know, that we just, we we're, because
Speaker:we're not a manufacturing facility, we're not, uh, a high volume fab shop, that
Speaker:does kind of hold us back a little bit.
Speaker:But, um, I have two students who have gone on to get full ride
Speaker:scholarships to pipe welding schools.
Speaker:Ah, super cool.
Speaker:One of them, well, both of 'em are employed.
Speaker:One of them, um, well, uh, one of them employed full-time and the other
Speaker:one, um, has to wait till he is 21.
Speaker:He has a CDL, but he, he wants to work on the pipeline, but he
Speaker:has to be 21 in order to, to.
Speaker:Operate with a CDL.
Speaker:Um, but I've had several other students that were the first people in their
Speaker:families to get a full-time job.
Speaker:I love that.
Speaker:That's gotta be so fulfilling to you.
Speaker:Amazing.
Speaker:Amazing.
Speaker:I I just, you know, when people find their own passion and what they're
Speaker:supposed to be doing, and it sounds like it just, you know, you're
Speaker:happy No Sunday night blues for you?
Speaker:No.
Speaker:I mean, it's just, uh, no.
Speaker:You work a lot.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I mean, they're, they're not a lot of days off.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:You know, coming to the welding summit, I'm like, God, I'm sitting
Speaker:so much, I'm so uncomfortable.
Speaker:My hip flexors are tight.
Speaker:Like, I don't, I only sit when I'm eating lunch.
Speaker:But, um, but I love it and I love the fact that, um, as a part of running
Speaker:my own business, I can, I can, I can explore things that I can teach
Speaker:my interns and my students, um, you know, workshops or Warriors is here.
Speaker:Lyle Palm is here from workshops Warriors.
Speaker:They're out in San Diego.
Speaker:They're a fantastic facility.
Speaker:They offer machining and welding for veterans and people transitioning out of.
Speaker:Military?
Speaker:Well, I've done workshops with them trying to recruit women, trying to help them get
Speaker:more female veterans into their program.
Speaker:But this past year they asked me to join them at their gala,
Speaker:which is on the USS midway.
Speaker:Ooh, beautiful.
Speaker:Okay.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Beautiful.
Speaker:It's, it's a, it's an expensive fancy dress up dinner.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:And, uh, when they asked me to do that, I, I said, well, you know,
Speaker:could I donate something because you're comping my tickets and my
Speaker:husband and I would love to join you.
Speaker:And I'm thinking like, I'll just make something.
Speaker:And then a couple weeks go by and they're like, oh, you're
Speaker:gonna be our featured artist.
Speaker:I'm like, you guys, I'm a welding fabricator.
Speaker:I'm not really an artist, but apparently I can't get outta that.
Speaker:So now it's just, I'm gonna have to own it.
Speaker:But, um, come on.
Speaker:So, um, so I made something that I didn't have a lot of time to do,
Speaker:but I put my heart and soul into it.
Speaker:And so I didn't have the students weld a ton of it, just 'cause I,
Speaker:I've like, this has to be a piece that someone's gonna spend $8,000 on
Speaker:to donate to workshops for warriors or, you know, somewhere about there.
Speaker:Um, but.
Speaker:That is the kind of thing that I try to teach the students too.
Speaker:We're gonna make donations.
Speaker:Some of the things that you do are gonna go to whatever this national
Speaker:foundation is gonna be, and it's gonna be a local chapter most of the time,
Speaker:just because I wanna keep the money locally, um, to help our community,
Speaker:but I want them to be a part of it.
Speaker:So you're gonna build something that, that is going to help benefit other kids.
Speaker:But most of the structures that we build are permanent installations.
Speaker:They're like, welcome signs or things that are very big.
Speaker:So as you drive by, you're like, I was inside of that.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, so it's, it's kind of an interesting way to do things, but I want, I want
Speaker:them to be as involved as possible, but like this, um, flag that I did for
Speaker:workshops for Warriors, um, I already knew how to braise, but we, we were
Speaker:brainstorming interns and I, and so I was like, what if we took shotgun?
Speaker:Actually, my intern Grayson thought of the, um, shotgun
Speaker:shells as the stars of the flag.
Speaker:So, um, I experimented taught them, we braised everything from
Speaker:the back to kind of hide it, but it, the heat input blew the metal.
Speaker:So the blue background of the canton of the American flag.
Speaker:Oh, right.
Speaker:So like, I get to experiment as the business owner, I get to experiment, I get
Speaker:to learn things, I get to make mistakes.
Speaker:I, that way when I go back to the students, I'm like, I already made
Speaker:this one, so this one's not yours.
Speaker:You have to make your own mistakes, but I, I already learned this one for you.
Speaker:Um, but everything I do, either as a fabricator or as an artist, I can help
Speaker:them, I can translate that to them and be like, Hey, what do you think about this?
Speaker:Or what if you, have you ever taken stainless steel stick
Speaker:stick electrode on steel, rusted?
Speaker:The steel stainless isn't gonna rust.
Speaker:They're like, whoa.
Speaker:You know, like, like the things that I get to screw up as a person who owns this
Speaker:business, um, it, nothing is ever wasted.
Speaker:That's the thing.
Speaker:Mistakes are your best teacher.
Speaker:No, no experience has ever wasted.
Speaker:Yeah, that's a great, if you could share those, if you can share those pictures.
Speaker:Sure.
Speaker:I would like to share it along with this when this episode airs.
Speaker:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker:As well.
Speaker:Absolutely.
Speaker:So we could definitely, I'd like to take a look at that.
Speaker:That's pretty cool.
Speaker:Yeah, that's an honor.
Speaker:Um, I was pretty pleased.
Speaker:Yeah, that's an honor.
Speaker:It was.
Speaker:I, um, well, and I mean, no pressure, like, it's only workshops for Warriors
Speaker:and it's only on the USS midway, and I'm like, like all I could think of
Speaker:is please someone at least buy it for like, at least a thousand dollars.
Speaker:Like, I just, you know, I put a lot of time, as much as I could,
Speaker:but I didn't have a lot of time.
Speaker:Um, but I'm already working, I already have, um, ideas for
Speaker:next year's project, and so I'll start it significantly earlier.
Speaker:Yeah, you'll have more, more time.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:I'm sure it came out and, and came out.
Speaker:It was cool.
Speaker:Yeah, it was interesting.
Speaker:I mean, there's always things that you look at.
Speaker:If you're a fabricator or an artist, there's always things that
Speaker:you're like, oh, I wish I, I, I would do this differently, but I'm
Speaker:like, I just had to let that go.
Speaker:That's the wellness piece too.
Speaker:I have to practice that.
Speaker:I'm like.
Speaker:Take a deep breath in, let it go.
Speaker:This is what came out.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:This is what we have.
Speaker:It's only only so much you can control.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:And also I think too, if your intentions are good, I really do.
Speaker:A lot of times when you build something, it may not be perfect,
Speaker:but if you are putting your heart and soul into it, it's the right thing.
Speaker:I a hundred percent agree with that.
Speaker:And you'll get better every time you do stuff.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:It's uh, it's just reps practice.
Speaker:Mm-hmm.
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:If people wanna find out more about you on social media or your
Speaker:website, where, where do they go?
Speaker:So, um, Instagram is weld like a girl, um, with, uh, underscores
Speaker:in between weld like a girl.
Speaker:And then our website is, uh, weld like a girl us.
Speaker:Um, I'm also on, uh, LinkedIn, well like a girl and then also Shannon Amore.
Speaker:And um, Facebook is well like a girl.
Speaker:I just, I think it's just us afterwards.
Speaker:I don't think it's a.in there.
Speaker:Um, so I used to do Twitter, but it was super time consuming.
Speaker:I do TikTok kind of just getting into that just because of all, all
Speaker:of the security issues that were questionable for a while for TikTok.
Speaker:So I'm kind of a newbie.
Speaker:I think I've probably posted maybe a hundred things to TikTok,
Speaker:but I'm, I'm working on it.
Speaker:I'm getting there.
Speaker:I, I will learn.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:That's great.
Speaker:Um, I will post that all in the show notes.
Speaker:Perfect.
Speaker:Thank you for everybody to see, uh, amazing story.
Speaker:Uh, I'm glad that, uh, we connected here, uh, at the summit.
Speaker:Uh, thank you for so much for being on the show today.
Speaker:I really appreciate it.
Speaker:Thank you so much for inviting me, and I'm, I'm grateful that I get to be, um,
Speaker:the person who to introduce you tomorrow at your speech at the welding summit.
Speaker:Yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
Speaker:Alright.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thank you.
Speaker:Thanks for listening to The Lost Art of the Skilled Trades.
Speaker:Visit us@andrewbrown.net for more resources and tips.
Speaker:Join us next time for real stories and meaningful initiatives as we celebrate
Speaker:our men and women in the skilled trades and shape the future together.
