Leading a Business in a Male-Dominated Field with Deana Neely

In this episode of the Kindling Project podcast, host Melissa Halpin speaks with Deana Neely, founder and CEO of Detroit Voltage, a woman-led electrical contracting company. They discuss Deana's journey into the electrical field, the challenges she faced as a woman in a male-dominated industry, and her commitment to promoting energy equity and clean technology. Deana shares her experiences of overcoming personal barriers, building relationships in the construction industry, and the importance of community engagement in the future of energy. The conversation also touches on the significance of skilled trades, the impact of technology on business growth, and Deana's upcoming projects, including a children's book series aimed at educating youth about clean energy careers.

Learn more!

https://detroitvoltage.com/meet-deana-neely/

https://www.instagram.com/detroitvoltage

https://www.facebook.com/detroitvoltage

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Transcript

Melissa Halpin (00:13)
Welcome back to the Kindling Project podcast where we talk to women lighting their own fires, creating bold paths and shifting culture. Today's guest brings power in every sense of the word. Deana Neely is founder and CEO of Detroit Voltage, a woman led electrical contracting company focused on energy equity, clean technology and building wealth in black communities.

She's a game changer in a space where women, and especially women of color, are still rare. Welcome, Deana!

Deana (00:45)
Thank you so much for having me. What a beautiful introduction.

Melissa Halpin (00:49)
I'm

so excited to talk to you. I think that you're gonna inspire a lot of our listeners today with your story I know I follow it on all the channels and you're always just doing something amazing

Deana (00:52)
next slide.

Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.

Melissa Halpin (01:05)
So what would be one word for you to describe how 2025 is going so far?

Deana (01:10)
Mmmmm

Supernatural.

Melissa Halpin (01:12)
yeah, that's a good one. That can include the good, the bad, the crazy.

Deana (01:17)
It's definitely

the good, supernatural in a very good way. Yes. Yes.

Melissa Halpin (01:21)
yeah? I love that for you.

Yeah, you're definitely leading the way.

I know that you're in a field where women are underrepresented. What got you into electrical work in the first place?

Deana (01:34)
Ooh, so I have the most random founder story ever, and I'll try to give you the shortest version of it. So I started working in local government at 18 years old. My grandfather told me the city of Detroit was hiring and you need to go get a good city job. And so I ended up getting hired in and I was actually one of the youngest, if not the youngest in the entire department.

Melissa Halpin (01:39)
Okay.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Deana (02:02)
And this was at a point where they were moving things over from good old pen and paper to computers. And so I was brought in to help, you know, float around the different departments to bring them up into the new age of technology, right? And so, but while working in buildings and safety, when I doing that, but then they moved me around to other departments, I finally got to the mechanical division.

Melissa Halpin (02:10)
Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Deana (02:29)
And the chief of that department just loved me. He was like, you're not going anywhere. You're staying with us. And so in that department is where I tell people it was such fertile training ground for me. And I had no idea at the time. And so I had an opportunity to work with contractors, city officials, inspectors, and the mayor's department. And I did that for about...

nine years and then I met a guy who was an electrician and a contractor. And so we met, fell in love, really, really quickly, had two babies and...

Melissa Halpin (02:59)
Mm-hmm.

Meta guy, that's the way a lot

of these stories start,

Deana (03:08)
The baby's here. And so I had two babies and decided that I would stay home with the children while helping him to grow his company. And that's exactly what I did. So I did that for about another nine years or so. And then I started to see all of the new development that was happening in the city of Detroit. I saw people, you know, buying up.

properties from all over the world. And I also started to research federal contracting before it became popular as it is right now. And so I said, honey, I think I should start my own company. could, you know, start my own business. I could subcontract you the opportunities and it'd be a great way to contribute to the household because I'm still a stay at home mom at this point. So he thought it was a good idea. I ended up studying, got my contractor's license and started Detroit.

Melissa Halpin (03:37)
Okay.

Deana (03:57)
voltage. Well, three months later he left me. And so there I was with this new business that had not generated any revenue. I had these two babies and I was now a single mom trying to figure it out.

Melissa Halpin (04:07)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, and you did figure it out though. You did, yeah. So what kind, I mean, that's a pretty big barrier right up front. What other kinds of resistance did you face when starting and growing this business? And then tell us how you moved through that.

Deana (04:14)
And I did. I did eventually. I did eventually. So that's how it started.

Ooh, most of the resistance initially was here. It was in my own mind. I kept telling myself, nobody's gonna wanna do business with a woman, electrical contracting business owner. Like, what does she know? Why would they trust you? And so that was one part of it. Then the other part, the fear of going out and...

Melissa Halpin (04:37)
Mmm.

and

Yeah, yeah.

Deana (04:56)
selling myself, letting people know what services that I offer. So all of those limiting beliefs is what's my first major hurdle. What's, I see you plastic.

Melissa Halpin (05:00)
one.

I really relate

to that. really, and I think a lot of women do. And at every level of my career and every decade, it sneaks back in and I have to remind myself that I can do this. And if not me, who? Yeah.

Deana (05:18)
I love

that if not me who I was called to this for a reason and so once I was able to tackle those thoughts and say no I can do this I'm skilled enough to put the right people in the right place we can do this then I was able to move forward so it took me so I would do a lot of networking events because again I was going through this divorce I didn't have any money it was a real struggle and so I ended up

Melissa Halpin (05:21)
Yep.

Yeah.

Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Deana (05:48)
going to these different events and you know finally after showing up over and over again sometimes three four times a week they were like you're the electric lady right and I got

Melissa Halpin (05:58)
Yeah, that's where I

met you. And also you have the perfect personality for it. You just show up with like bright lipstick and a big smile and you make people feel comfortable.

Deana (06:05)
Thank you.

Thank you. I'm happy to listen. I didn't feel that way though, right? So, you know, though people receive me in a different way in my mind, I felt like I wasn't enough. This isn't enough. We can't do it. Yeah.

Melissa Halpin (06:15)
Right.

I hate that.

I hate that for you and for all women because we all have that voice. Yeah. I don't even know. Is it even ours? It's in our minds, but I feel like it was placed there.

Deana (06:31)
for sure. And it's noisy, it's loud.

Yeah, I don't think it's ours. I think it's of the enemy. And I think it's a way to keep us from our true God-given purpose. Because if we listen to that voice and we don't move forward and we don't pursue the things that we are called to do, then that voice is one.

Melissa Halpin (06:53)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah. And it's also the only barrier that we have 100 % control over, right? I mean, there's a bunch of other structural barriers, whether it's funding, whether it's nepotism, whether it's sexism, whether it's racism, whether it's access. But, you know, we can fight those. But we really ultimately don't have 100 % control over it. But that little monkey in our minds...

Deana (07:05)
Hmm.

Melissa Halpin (07:24)
We got that one.

Deana (07:24)
it's busy. I mean, it's just busy. It's just busy. So I finally was able to get my first contract. It took me a few months and I was really at the point where I'm like, I'm gonna have to go back to work. Like I'm not making any money in this business. And then I got that first contract and literally they just never stopped coming. My phone just consistently just rung and rung and rung.

Melissa Halpin (07:31)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I love that.

Deana (07:50)
And in my first six months of operating, we generated over six figures in revenue and I knew this is real. This is what I'm supposed to.

Melissa Halpin (07:57)
Yeah. This is real. Real.

Yeah. I think right around the time that you were starting your business, I had my studio in Detroit. And it was in Corktown for four years. And we were doing a lot of design work that was leading into build out work. So we would work on a brand. We would work on a website for a hair salon or art gallery or barbershop.

Deana (08:13)
Hmm.

Melissa Halpin (08:19)
And then ultimately, as their creative team, they would ask us, can you help us with the building signage? Can you help us with the interior? Can you design the build out? And so we moved into some more environmental design work. And at that time, what I remember the most is that even getting contractors was just super hard. Finding them that were available, that were reliable, that understood the codes, like everything in Detroit. I had moved to Detroit from the Bay Area in California.

It was like a tangled web of who you know and what you know and what are the codes and does it apply to your little area and your type of business and so I have some insight into like how complicated that whole process is and probably still is I don't know was and still is

Deana (09:03)
Very much so still is and you know, that's part of my competitive advantage at this point, right? Because I'm able to cut through the red tape, right? I navigated that process. I worked on the other side of the counter and now I'm on this side. And so now I can help people.

Melissa Halpin (09:05)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Deana (09:19)
you know, navigate that space because it can be very tricky and it and it's and it could be intimidating, right? Because you don't know what you need. The inspectors come out and they tell you one thing and you hear another thing. It's just a lot. And so having a having a woman owned business to kind of help you walk through that and I think we're just more detailed in general. I mean, it's no shade to me and I love them all but

Melissa Halpin (09:33)
Yeah.

Deana (09:46)
We are just more detail oriented and we want to get you to the finish line as quickly as we possibly can. you know, we're more process driven and all of those things that make us really good leaders and multitaskers. And so those things have been really, really, really advantageous for me as a business owner.

Melissa Halpin (10:00)
yeah.

I can absolutely see that in every field, but especially the one that you're in. I know it's male dominated, but you have gone in there. And I think what you're describing is really more about relationships. It doesn't really matter if you're an electrical contractor, a painting contractor, an interiors contractor, an architecture contractor.

Deana (10:09)
Mm-hmm.

Melissa Halpin (10:26)
It seems like you personally, I think women in general, we care about the relationships. It's not just the craft, Or the delivery.

Deana (10:33)
But you know, I think that's important for you to touch on that too, because people do business with who they like, knowing trust, right? At the end of the day, just like you were saying, once you got into the design work, they were asking you, do you know somebody that can do this? It starts to open up more opportunity for you.

Melissa Halpin (10:39)
Yeah.

Right, right. If they had a good experience with you, they'll trust your referrals.

Deana (10:56)
For sure, for sure. Well, even for me, it's even a step further from referrals, right? So I have customers that'll say, I know you don't do this specific thing, but can you put together a crew that can do it? Like, can you? You know, we trust you.

Melissa Halpin (11:09)
Yeah, That's how my, that's,

yes, I think this is really a good lesson for entrepreneurs. That's a lot how my business grew. Is that we grew our capacity by meeting the needs of existing clients, right? So it didn't matter if we started out doing your logo or your website. Pretty soon we're doing your opening event and then we're doing your interior and then we're doing your kid's grad party on the side and it just all becomes about.

You know, we built capacity as the needs presented themselves. And also, that's a fun way to run a business. And I do think maybe that's maybe more female-oriented. don't know. We don't like to stick in our lanes. We like to try different things. We like to experiment. We like growth, right?

Deana (11:38)
Uh-huh.

Definitely. I know I don't. I kind of color outside the lines from time to time. Yeah.

Melissa Halpin (11:56)
Yeah, yeah. I mean,

I had kind of heard of you, known about you. You've been given a bunch of awards and had some media. Before I even knew you were an electrical contractor, I was thinking of you as like an advocate or an influencer or some kind of social media personality because you are kind of, you know, erasing the lines and moving outside of the lines. And I love that.

Deana (12:19)
And you know the interesting thing about that, you know, was having a conversation with one of my girlfriends not too long ago and we were talking about influencers and she mentioned that I was an influencer. I'm like, I'm not an influencer. Like I don't, I'm a business owner. And she's like, no, you're an influencer. Like you don't realize that. And I'm like, no, to me, to me, I'm just a woman.

Melissa Halpin (12:35)
Right, right.

Right.

No.

Deana (12:44)
that stepped out of her comfort zone to make this business work. And through that, yes, I have achieved a certain level of success and media attention and things of that nature. All of it's been totally organic, but I still don't see myself as an influencer. And that could be, you know, part of my little limiting beliefs as well, right? Like in my mind, I'm like, I'm not an influencer. I'm just...

Melissa Halpin (12:49)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Right,

Well, maybe influencer has gotten kind of a bad rap as a term. But I mean, I think a business owner is the perfect person to influence and guide other women. I mean, through the lens of the Kinley project, we always talk about putting Kinley on your fire, on your inner fire, that sort of inspiration that

where we guide each other and we help each other move towards our passion projects or our best selves or alignment. And so in that sense, influencer or inspiration or just leader, I think all those words are kind of interchangeable. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I feel like you're kind of allergic to the word influencer, like I'm allergic to the word the sales.

Deana (13:47)
You're right. Yes, I guess I just need to look at it in a different way.

Melissa Halpin (13:57)
Like sometimes a certain word you're just like I'm not a salesperson Yeah, but then you how do you run a business without you eventually have to sell the service or the product? Right, but but it's just kind of having like maybe an allergy to a certain word or a certain way that a certain personality was described to you

Deana (14:01)
I know, label me that.

For sure. For sure. Yeah.

could be it for sure. Yeah.

Melissa Halpin (14:19)
Yeah.

So tell us about some of your proudest milestones in growing this business.

Deana (14:26)
I've had so many. I think my very first milestone, so I have been collaborating with Google for many, many years. And in my second, it was either my second or third year of business, they ended up reaching out to me for a campaign. And so we had this global campaign that we ended up doing.

Melissa Halpin (14:36)
Mm-hmm.

Deana (14:51)
and my children were featured in it as well. And that right there, that was just so special to me. Special just as a single female business owner that figured it out, right? And got the support from a major corporation and funding as well. And so that was very special for me. And that was like my first real

Melissa Halpin (14:58)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Deana (15:17)
media attention, I would say.

Melissa Halpin (15:19)
And what a cool thing for your kids to be part of.

Deana (15:22)
That's what made it special for me.

Melissa Halpin (15:23)
They're gonna remember it forever.

Deana (15:25)
Forever, forever. And know, kids, have a way of, children have a way of humbling you, right? They're not looking at you like other people might look. You're just mom, right? You're nothing special. They can humble you quickly. But after we filmed the campaign and the commercial ended up airing, it was airing everywhere, and they were going to school bragging to their friends. And I'm like, so I'm a little cool after all, huh?

Melissa Halpin (15:31)
yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah,

you got their attention probably for just five minutes, but.

Deana (15:55)
That's it.

That's it. That's it. Because they never really, you know, doted on me about it during that time, but they were like bragging on me to their classmates and in school and things of that nature. So that was cute.

Melissa Halpin (16:09)
I love that for you. I heard Tina Fey has a joke. I'll probably mess it up. But was something about having a teenager is like having a crush that's not into you. You're just kind of like, hey, how are you doing? And they're like, get out of here.

Deana (16:15)
That is so true!

I They

gave you a one word answer. How are you? How was your day? I know. But I love you and I do everything for you. Just a tiny bit. I'm sure it will. I'm sure.

Melissa Halpin (16:29)
Fine. Mom.

I it feels so good when we can just get a little appreciation for the hard work. Yeah, I'm hoping it pays off in the long run. I'm sure it will.

I'm sure it will. So let's talk a little bit about innovation. What do you feel is the future of energy?

Deana (16:52)
Ooh. my gosh. it's, well, my focus is on the electrification of vehicles. That's charge. mean, electrification, electric vehicle charging stations, ensuring that they are readily accessible. That is where my focus has been. However, with the new administration, it's kind of been a pause on things. I'm wondering like, what's going to happen with that? Like what's going to happen?

Melissa Halpin (16:59)
Okay.

Yeah.

I know.

Yeah, yeah.

Deana (17:17)
So we're all just.

Melissa Halpin (17:18)
I mean, I

know on so many levels, like hanging on by our fingernails. But I don't think that clean energy, smart technology, green energy is going anywhere in the long run because I don't think we have a choice, right? mean, administrations come and go. And there's weird political reasons for things. But I just feel like sustainable energy is actually the only answer.

Deana (17:34)
We don't.

Melissa Halpin (17:43)
We're gonna have to all get on that page eventually.

Deana (17:46)
No, and it's like sooner than later, like now.

Melissa Halpin (17:49)
Yes,

yeah like right like yesterday. Yeah for our care for our world. Do you think Detroiters are ready for sustainable energy?

Deana (17:51)
Yeah!

No, but I really want to do more community engagement. was actually on a call earlier today and late last week with some folks at the city, just really trying to figure out how we can, I think awareness around the topic needs to happen first because there's not a lot of conversation about why they should be more involved in clean energy.

Melissa Halpin (18:16)
Yes.

Right, education.

Deana (18:21)
It's the educational component that's missing everywhere, right? So people don't feel the need to buy an electric vehicle because they don't see the benefit. They also don't see enough infrastructure. So I understand why they are hesitant, but I want to do more around educating the community. But no, as of now, I don't feel like they're ready.

Melissa Halpin (18:34)
Right.

Yeah. Do you have any advice for other business owners who want to embrace green tech?

Deana (18:48)
I think that you should at least start doing your research and see how you can implement it into your business. And then once you start to do that research, like really get serious about it. There's a lot of funding even available. You know, and you know, start seeking some of that stuff out, start to reach out to companies like mine and allow us to do some assessments for you.

Melissa Halpin (18:57)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah.

Deana (19:14)
See how we can, you know, further help you, but I think it's necessary and we need to all collectively do it. But now, like now, like yesterday as you said. Yeah.

Melissa Halpin (19:20)
Thank

Yeah, yeah,

I'm with you on this and I'm on board for getting involved too. I care about this a lot. And I think there's a lot of women in our community that care about this. So you kind of mentioned funding and I feel like you might be like a super sleuth when it comes to finding funding. Do you have any tips? Do you have any tips for other entrepreneurs that are trying to find those grants or those opportunities, ways to get their business off the ground?

Deana (19:29)
Absolutely.

Mm-hmm.

Absolutely. So we're talking about business grants. One of my strategies that I teach my mentees is to utilize Google tools. So I told you, well, I'm sort of almost like a Google ambassador. Like they fly me all over the country. We talk about how I utilize their digital tools to grow and scale my business. And one of those things that I use is Google alerts. And you can set a Google alert.

Melissa Halpin (20:11)
Okay.

Deana (20:14)
which will scour the web for you and find different grant opportunities. So it's not you just sitting there behind a computer all day doing it. You can set an alert that says, find, you know, small business or whatever size business you are, find grants for women owned business in Detroit or in Michigan. if you're in energy, find energy grants, like it'll do it all of the work for you. Yes, you have to.

you know, do the research once it brings back those queries. But I think that is a great, easy way to find opportunities that, you know, you might not have been able to see if you didn't search for them.

Melissa Halpin (20:52)
That's a good tip. Yeah. What other kind of Google tools are available? I know I use the whole Google, what do they call the, the sweet.

Deana (20:53)
Yeah.

recently changed it to Workplace. I think it's called Workplace.

Melissa Halpin (21:02)
Workplace,

okay. It wasn't coming to mind, but I mean, I've used Google Drive and all the Cloud tools for my business really since they started.

Deana (21:10)
same here. So and not since they started, but it's been about, it's been at least eight years now that I've been using Google's tools and you know, they consistently add on more tools and take some away. But some of my favorites to use amongst our team would be Google Sheets, Google Docs, of course, Google Drive. Just those basics.

Melissa Halpin (21:22)
Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah.

Deana (21:35)
Gemini we also use so I was an early adopter of Gemini before it was called Gemini. What was it called? I can't think it was called something else, but I was like one of those businesses that they allowed to test it out before market. Yeah, and then they and then they changed it a little bit and then they renamed it Gemini. So yeah, that was before chat GPT came and just stole all the shine.

Melissa Halpin (21:48)
wow.

was

Gemini first?

Deana (22:01)
It was first for me.

Melissa Halpin (22:02)
I have not played with Gemini as much as chatGPT, but I really should. And I imagine that it does a good job of scouring your other Google tools. Like if you could feed it some sheets and some docs to say, hey, this is the history of this client, and I'm writing a new proposal. Is that the kind of thing that it could help with?

Deana (22:13)
yes.

It can do so much. The fact that it does have access and integrations into the other Google tools that are there, yes, it can definitely be helpful. One of the things I love using Gemini for is Google Ads. It can build out the most perfect, I'm talking about an SEO perfect ad with just the perfect amount of characters.

Melissa Halpin (22:31)
Thank

okay.

Deana (22:45)
I don't know if you have any experience with utilizing Google's ads, but that process used to be quite intimidating and just time consuming. having access to those different AI tools are very helpful as well.

Melissa Halpin (23:00)
Well that's another thing I hadn't thought about. So you're using Google Gemini to help you write your Google Ads and does it test them in different markets for you as well?

Deana (23:06)
Absolutely.

It doesn't test them in different markets, but it can give you a lot of the different language that you need in order to get those ads up and running. And if you have specific questions about, you know, what area might buy my services the most, or it can do some additional research for you as well. So yeah, I love it. You gotta put those tools to use.

Melissa Halpin (23:32)
my gosh, we gotta get you in our community and like teach them one of your classes. Like this is for every entrepreneur.

Deana (23:38)
Absolutely, yeah, it's invaluable information. once you, so I ended up, I didn't even tell you the story about Google. And I don't know if we have time here, but that's an interesting story in itself. Okay, yeah, yeah, so what ended up happening is I got to the point where after I started to get my first few customers, you know, we got a little busy. All of that was just word of mouth. I still didn't really have a lot of money.

Melissa Halpin (23:48)
Tell us. I want to hear it.

Deana (24:03)
for ads and things of that nature. And so my last thing was like, okay, I need to figure this out. Like I need support and I need to figure out how to get more new customers. It walks Google. So a friend of mine told me that Google was looking for businesses in construction in Detroit to help them create a digital footprint. Now, how ironic is that, right? And so I ended up applying and

Melissa Halpin (24:27)
Right, right.

Deana (24:30)
was the only business selected to participate in this beta program that they had developed. And so they flew in from the headquarters. We came up with this whole digital strategy. It was only supposed to be like, I want to say like a six week program or something like that, very brief. But here I am almost nine years later.

Melissa Halpin (24:50)
You're still an ambassador.

Deana (24:52)
And they're still, you know, so what they ended up teaching me how to do is fully optimize my Google business listing. And that's something that all business owners should have. Right. Because Google is the largest search engine in the world. And so if you're not there when people are searching, you're not showing up. And that's one. And that's at no cost. And then the other one was they taught me how to run those those digital ads. So they gave me.

Melissa Halpin (25:03)
Mm-hmm.

Deana (25:17)
I want to say it was a hundred dollar credit. They gave me a hundred dollar ad credit and I was, you know, complaining to them. I felt like it was such a money pit and I knew a lot of other business owners that had used ads and they didn't work out for them. They're like, listen, relax. We got you. We're going to show you how to do this. And so that first month, that ad generated a hundred dollars, generated 20 grand the first month. Okay. So the second month.

We optimize the ads a little bit better and honed in on more of our, or more of my target audience. 30 grand, $100. Okay, 100. So within four months, that $100 ad credit was generating like 50 to 60 grand a month. So within six months, we generated another six months, I mean, six figures of revenue.

Melissa Halpin (25:41)
What?

Wow.

Deana (26:06)
just by, just by, and so that's how I became an ambassador for them. And that's why they, you know, fly me all over the country to talk about how I utilize their tools because they saw firsthand what it was able to do for my business.

Melissa Halpin (26:07)
that's amazing.

That's a fantastic story. That's super inspiring. Yeah. I do think the ads are a hurdle for a lot of business owners, like you said, because they think it's going to be a money pit. And I find a lot of clients have started out doing some of the ads on the social media platforms and spent a lot of money and not gotten any traction.

Deana (26:24)
Yeah.

Yes.

Melissa Halpin (26:41)
And traditional

advertising, mean, whether it's magazines or it's your local flyer or your community newspaper. so people feel like ads don't get me anything.

Deana (26:52)
Yeah, yeah. Well, my story was much different.

Melissa Halpin (26:55)
Yeah, much different. Yeah. And it really shows how Google can help you target your customer if you get that right. Yeah.

Deana (27:03)
sure. Yes,

yes.

Melissa Halpin (27:06)
you are just such an inspiration.

Deana (27:08)
Thank you.

Melissa Halpin (27:09)
So as a woman building in public, what's changed for you and how you view yourself and how you view leadership? I mean, you're really out there now, not just as a business owner, but as a human and as a face.

Deana (27:21)
Yeah, that's a good question. So I think,

Once I got out of my comfort zone and I really saw the impact that I've been able to make in my own community, amongst my team, it kind of empowered me in a way that I didn't expect to be empowered. So I'm like, you know what? I have something here. I'm able to offer a lot to the world. And so why not embrace that?

Melissa Halpin (27:40)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Deana (27:47)
And so, you know, I think I just kind of stepped into it one day. I can't tell you when it happened, but it was like a light that just.

Melissa Halpin (27:54)
Yeah, you moved into your own space.

Deana (27:56)
moved into it and I accepted it and I was like, okay, but even though like, I'm still there are still times when, you know, I've been winning a lot of different awards and you know, being honored for a lot of different things and I'm always like me. It's still a shocker like me.

Melissa Halpin (28:10)
Yeah.

Yeah,

that feels genuine though. It doesn't feel like a false modesty. You feel real. Yeah, it feels real. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. But have you always kind of had sort of a glowy personality? Have you been like the chatty one or the leader as a kid? Yeah, came naturally.

Deana (28:17)
No, it's real.

It's definitely real.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, I was always

the problem child. Like my mother would say that mouth, that mouth. And you know, I told her, that is my gift. And you know, one of the things that I ended up realizing is that it was a gift. But when I was in school, I was just recently honored at my high school.

Melissa Halpin (28:36)
you

Deana (28:52)
And when they brought me back, that was one of the things I just remember so well, like the teacher saying, you have to stop talking. You shouldn't be talking. You shouldn't do, do, do, do. And, you know, even my mom would be like, you're that one that's always going to challenge everything and not go with whatever it is, you know, the norm. And so that is my gift. That is my gift.

Melissa Halpin (28:52)
Mm-hmm.

I'm so glad you knew that. don't know why we discourage little girls so much from being chatty and talking and taking up space, but we got to put an end to that.

Deana (29:23)
Yeah, I've always taken

up space, I will say that.

Melissa Halpin (29:27)
Yeah,

well that's just an early sign of leadership, I think. And we don't discourage little boys from doing it. It's just a girl thing, I think, we're overcoming. Yeah.

Deana (29:31)
Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely,

absolutely. I agree with that.

Melissa Halpin (29:41)
Yeah. Well, there's not just gender equity. know that you're that you're concerned with building wealth in black communities. Do you want to address that?

Deana (29:49)
Yeah, so one of the things that's interesting is that, you know, construction or the skilled trades was taken out of Detroit public schools. I mean, I don't know, maybe about 20 years ago or something like that. But when it was taken out of the schools, I mean,

That's a way for children to spark a certain level of creativity in order for them to allow them to use their hands. Some of them are not called to go to college or universities or things like that. And so what I've realized being in this space and generating a certain level of wealth is that, and I'm not doing the actual work, right?

Melissa Halpin (30:16)
Bye.

Right.

Deana (30:33)
I'm just a business owner. I'm employing these electricians, but I'm paying six figure salaries. And so what it allowed me to see was this right here is a way to generate wealth.

Melissa Halpin (30:36)
Right.

Right, right.

Deana (30:46)
And I mean, lots of it. You can go anywhere in the world and become an electrician or something to do with the skilled trades. And you can really, really, really set yourself up for success. You can make a mass, a ton of money in this space.

Melissa Halpin (31:06)
Right.

Yeah. And it feels more secure than some other fields because it's evergreen. People always need houses, and they need buildings, and they need repairs. It doesn't seem to be going away the way that maybe some other professions are disappearing to AI or disappearing to robotics.

Deana (31:18)
It's not going anywhere.

Absolutely, it's not going anywhere anytime soon. And like I said, you can go anywhere in the world and your skills and your talents will be needed.

Melissa Halpin (31:33)
And how about in the schools, are they bringing back any of the skilled trades training?

Deana (31:38)
not in the schools, but that's where Detroit Voltage is coming in. So, you know, we're consistently talking about workforce development and training and, you know, how can we play a bigger role? You know, what can we do? How can we give back? How can we educate those youth that, you know, don't know that this is an opportunity for them? You know, I do a lot of, I have a lot of conversations and,

Melissa Halpin (31:52)
Right.

Deana (32:04)
do a lot of career days and things of that nature just to bring awareness and expose these youth to the skilled trades because it is a way to change, they can change their whole life.

Melissa Halpin (32:15)
And I definitely think that skilled trades have been sort of maligned in the way people view how smart and how creative and how capable you have to be to understand construction or mechanics or electrical or HVAC. Any of the things that are required to build a building, for example, it requires a level of skill and a level of intelligence and creativity and problem solving. And I feel like...

Deana (32:28)
great.

Melissa Halpin (32:41)
you know, when I was in high school, and it feels like a zillion years ago, it was sort of like, it's blue collar work. It was sort of like there was this whole push of everybody needs to be STEM all the time. Everyone has to get a white collar job. Everyone has to be behind a computer. And it sort of just like drops out a whole level of intelligence and intuition that some people have, you know, from the playing field of what you can do. Yeah.

Deana (32:52)
them.

Absolutely, absolutely.

And so why not encourage that? And I think the younger the better, right? Because unfortunately the skilled trades does have like a negative or dirty connotation to it. And it's like,

Melissa Halpin (33:12)
Yeah.

Deana (33:20)
At the end of the day, when you need that toilet to flush and it's not flushing, you're calling a plumber. Like you're not trying to fix it yourself. When your lights go out and you don't know why they're not working, you're calling an electrician. You're spending that money. So why wouldn't that be more valued?

Melissa Halpin (33:32)
Yes. Yes.

I don't know. I don't know. But I think, I have a feeling this is gonna be part of your legacy, changing that narrative.

Deana (33:44)
yeah, yeah, that's definitely my goal. It's definitely my goal. We have to we have to do a better job at educating people. Yeah.

Melissa Halpin (33:45)
Yeah. yeah.

Mm-hmm

Yeah, and also from somebody who's spent a lot of her career Behind a computer at a desk in an office It might not be all you thought it was cracked up to be It might be more interesting to move from project to project and get in your car and go to a different jobs There's a lot of different things about the sort of flexibility and change in construction projects

Deana (34:05)
It's the truth.

Melissa Halpin (34:19)
I really loved it when I got into that kind of work, even for myself as a designer, because it's that satisfaction of a job well done and then moving on to the next. Yeah, yeah.

Deana (34:30)
It's exciting. It's exciting.

It's exciting to see a project in its very rough stages all the way to completion. And now you know that you've had a part in that.

Melissa Halpin (34:37)
Mm-hmm.

Well, I'm excited for you. Is there anything else that you want to share about what you're doing, about your legacy, about what's next for Detroit Voltage?

Deana (34:51)
I have so much. My latest greatest is a children's book that I've written. Well, it's a 10 book series and I'm so excited about this book, but it definitely exposes the clean energy sector and different careers. And I'm so excited for it because

Melissa Halpin (34:57)
You hear?

my goodness.

It does? I've s- Wow!

Deana (35:14)
It kind of starts that conversation at a very young age. ooh. So the book, so the manuscript is done. It just needs to go into editing and I'm hoping within the next few months, I'm pressing to get it done because I already have so many people that are interested in purchasing the book. I probably sold thousands of copies before it's done, which is crazy.

Melissa Halpin (35:17)
you

When is that coming out?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah?

That's

awesome. that's awesome. Well, you'll have to come back when you're doing your sort of book tour and talk to people about publishing. I know that's a big kindling project in our community. A lot of women want to write a book.

Deana (35:46)
I would love to. Oh, I would love to.

Mm-hmm. And we should, and we should, because we have so much to talk about. I have another manuscript that is, you know, teaching women how to start their own construction business. And that's been on the draft floor for a few years now. And it's like, okay, get this thing out there. What are you waiting on? People need to hear it. But I think when you write a book, it's something very personal about it. And the perfectionism kind of kicks in a bit.

Melissa Halpin (35:58)
And we should.

Yeah.

huh.

Uh-huh.

Yeah.

Deana (36:23)
you know, it's your baby and you don't wanna release it too soon and then you wanna make sure you have enough information in it and it's all those things, but I just need to get it done.

Melissa Halpin (36:23)
Yeah.

You know what, drop that into Gemini. Get some help. It'd be like, here's my rough draft. Yeah. What's missing there? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My husband wrote a book about AI a couple of years ago over the pandemic. And he wrote a book about using AI in creative and software space. But he also used AI to help edit the book and find the holes.

Deana (36:36)
Truth.

Yes, and that's a good idea.

Smart.

Melissa Halpin (37:00)
Yeah, yeah, Yeah. I'm sure more and more people are

Deana (37:01)
I love that. Okay, I'm definitely gonna do that.

Melissa Halpin (37:03)
doing that.

Well, tell us how our listeners can support you, how they can find you, how can they join this conversation.

Deana (37:09)
Yes. So all of your listeners can find me at Deena Neely and it's, you know how to spell it. I think it'll be in there somewhere. Okay, and the show notes and so all social media platforms and then also Detroit Voltage. Please support us. We're always looking to do business in the Metro Detroit area. So we're always open for that.

Melissa Halpin (37:18)
It'll be in the show notes for sure.

Deana (37:33)
And we're training, I didn't mention my other contracts. So I have a contract with DTE where we're training and hiring about 2,200 people statewide. And so it'll be for wire down. So when wires come down, when there's a storm or inclement weather, and we're just going out to secure the area. So very much so non-technical. So if those that are interested in that, please feel free to reach out to me. I'd love to give you a shot.

Melissa Halpin (38:00)
Thank I hope that you do hear from people on that. And I just want to thank you for showing up with so much purpose and power. Your work is not just about energy. It's really about transformation. And I think it'll inspire a of women today. You're proof that women can lead in any space, electrical communities and otherwise. And I'm honored to share your story.

Deana (38:22)
Thank you. I appreciate you having me.

Melissa Halpin (38:25)
Yeah. And you can find Deana and I also in the Kindling Project Ignite Facebook community. Listen to this podcast. Please download, like, and rate. That helps us. And until next time.