The Construction Veteran Podcast
Welcome to the Construction Veteran Podcast. This is a podcast connecting and celebrating veterans in construction, those who have the desire to be in the industry, and those who support them to create the built environment.
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The Construction Veteran Podcast
From Military Intelligence to Welding Pioneer: Stephanie Hoffman's Inspiring Journey
What does it take to transition from a military intelligence analyst to a leading figure in the welding industry? Stephanie Hoffman, a US Army veteran, shares her remarkable journey in our latest episode. From overcoming gender barriers to managing a welding application and training lab at Miller Electric, Stephanie's story is one of resilience, determination, and breaking stereotypes. You’ll hear about her early struggles, including how she was initially rejected by a vocational program due to her gender and faced attempts to sabotage her welding tests. Today, she’s a trailblazer inspiring the next generation, drawing from her extensive experience and early exposure to welding from her father’s construction company.
Stephanie opens up about the transformative life lessons she gained from her military service—skills that include developing thick skin, confidence, public speaking abilities, and an analytical mindset. She candidly discusses the emotional challenges of dealing with imposter syndrome and maintaining a work-life balance, especially when family is involved. This heartfelt conversation also touches on her decision to pivot from hands-on welding to focus on business strategy and development, emphasizing the importance of valuing personal relationships over career success.
Navigating the public eye as a woman in a male-dominated industry is no small feat, and Stephanie shares the pressures and unexpected challenges that come with it. From becoming the first female welding content expert on Netflix to handling negative reviews and public scrutiny, her experiences offer a raw and authentic look into the emotional toll of visibility. We also delve into the unique contributions veterans bring to the corporate world, highl
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If you're a military veteran in the construction industry, or you're in the construction industry and support our military vets, and you'd like to be a guest on the podcast you can find me at constructionvetpodcast@gmail.com , or send me a message on LinkedIn. You can find me there at Scott Friend. Let's share the stories and motivate others!
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I don't think you're going to get too far, especially in industries like we're in, without having those foundational skills and coming from the bottom and working your way up.
Speaker 2:This is the Construction Veteran Podcast. Construction Veteran Podcast Connecting and celebrating veterans in construction. Now here's your host, scott Friend. Welcome back to the Construction Veteran Podcast. I'm Scott Friend. I am stoked to bring you guys somebody who's very well known in the welding community, stephanie Hoffman. We go through her story about becoming a soldier and going on to become very successful in the welding industry. Let's dig into it. Hey, stephanie, how are you?
Speaker 1:Good, how are you?
Speaker 2:I'm fantastic. I appreciate you doing this. So Stephanie and I haven't had the privilege of meeting in person yet, but I took a chance after watching a show on Netflix, which we'll talk about here in a little bit, and reached out to some folks and found out Stephanie is a fellow vet and so I thought it'd be really cool to get her on the show. She's got a really interesting background we'll get into. But, stephanie, before we kick it off, tell me a little bit about where you're from and what branch you served in.
Speaker 1:So I'm from a little town called Forkett River, new Jersey. It's right on the Jersey Shore, like the central part of Jersey, on the shore there. And I was in the US Army, I was an intelligence analyst.
Speaker 2:Very cool, and how long did you serve?
Speaker 1:I did four years and then four years in the inactive reserve and I got recalled once.
Speaker 2:Oh, no, uh-oh. So you got recalled like this was during an active war yeah, time time frame was this.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, I got recalled. It was kind of a nightmare. Uh, my daughter was, I think, two and a half three months old and we had to get.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was, it was a nightmare oh, I bet, yeah, so that would have been, was that during Iraq.
Speaker 1:I was it was for Afghanistan. Okay, man, what a bummer. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I think that that hopefully that program I think has gone by the wayside.
Speaker 1:I think so, yeah, I know I had to. It was a big stink cause I didn't have anybody for my daughter, you know, to take care of her because I wasn't married to her dad and stuff. And then we had split and he really didn't have a job or anything going for him in life and my dad was almost dying at that point and my mom, she couldn't, you know, handle it. She was working and everything else and yeah, it was a, it was a disaster and it was all going on right around Christmas time and it's awful man.
Speaker 2:When it rains, it pours Golly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we got through that and I ended up. I didn't have to end up going to that, but it was. It was a lot, it was terrifying. You know, I'm a single mom. My daughter is like two and a half months old and they're like, oh yeah, you gotta come no-transcript.
Speaker 2:One Marine that was with us, he, I think he said he was like washing dishes in his kitchen and some Marine walked up in uniform and basically told him he'd been recalled. What's funny is most of the people I met were, I mean, not that they weren't critical, but they were kind of serving in roles that they could have farmed out to a civilian. Yeah, um, one guy was retired from his military service and his civilian career and he got recalled. I don't know if there's truth to that, but that's what he told us. I don't know if there's truth to that, but that's what he told us. Yeah.
Speaker 1:But yeah, that's that's nuts.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you are, man. Let me go down the rap sheet. So you're a mother, wife, golfer, welder extraordinaire, and now we find out a little bit about your veteran background. So how do we, man, I don't even know where to start with you, stephanie.
Speaker 1:So what, what? What are you doing right now in the industry? Uh, so now I work for miller electric. Yeah, so now I'm the I'm the managing kind of director of a new application, welding application and training lab here in the northeast, so I cover the entire northeast. Oh cool, so do you get to?
Speaker 2:play with all the new fun toys like the AI, welding and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:So I, I do, I get to do it as much as I want. Um, my role is yeah, my role is kind of more for like on the the business development strategy, um and sales support side. Now, um, it's not so much the the hands-on welding stuff that I stuff that I've been used to in my career. I actually tried to get out of welding altogether not too long ago and that didn't happen. I got bored pretty fast and then ended up with Miller. But you know, I wanted to shift gears a little bit because I was finishing up my MBA in engineering management, so I wanted something that was going to be a little bit more aligned with like business strategy and development and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:And this kind of came up and it was kind of a perfect fit because when everybody found out that I had sold my businesses and left the American Welding Society as well, everybody and their mother was offering me different opportunities. But a lot of them they sounded great in the beginning and then they all started to fall back to a lot of like content stuff and you know, hosting this and going to these things, I was like I don't want to be doing this stuff anymore. You know, I have more to offer the industry than just, you know, recording videos and stuff and supporting content wise for companies. So you know, I told everybody no and and held out and I thought it was probably just going to be just a lot of golf in my future. Um, and then this came up and I've been super happy with it. So I've been there for six months now.
Speaker 2:Good yeah, cause for a while there. So you're I believe. Correct me if I'm wrong. Uh, your time with the American welding society. You played a big role traveling around and like introducing people to the industry. Is that right yeah?
Speaker 1:So I was. I guess my official title was the program manager of workforce development, but really what I was was kind of a national spokesperson for them I did at first it was an 18 week a year tour. At first it was an 18 week a year tour and then it was a lot between my fabrication stuff that you know, running that business and then eventually opened up a welding school, and then doing the tour on top of it. They were nice enough to peel it back to 14 weeks, but you know the tour was 14 weeks. But then there was other events you know that I'd be asked to support and go to. So it was a lot of time traveling and, um so yeah, so I was a lot of time traveling and um so yeah, so I was just kind of promoting careers in welding, engineering, manufacturing, um, anything like that. I did that for six, five, six years.
Speaker 2:Did it during that time? Did you see like a big uh, not push maybe, but did you see the industry maybe start turning towards getting more people in, getting younger kids interested in the industry at all?
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's been. So I always laugh whenever I talk about this. You know, when I started I've been in the industry over two decades now and when I started you know it was kind of like a place where all like the burnout kids, kids with no future. You know, you ended up at the vocational school and I was the first female to graduate my vo-tech program and it was a big, big deal for me to go into that program. They actually didn't even want me in there because they were like, oh you know, we don't have a bathroom for her to get changed in and like really, really kind of silly excuses. And so I ended up getting into that program, excelled there. And you know, when I first started getting into the industry, everybody would just basically laugh at me when I would go into these, into these interviews and stuff. And it was, you know, they would purposely do stuff to see me struggle or fail in an interview for a weld test and stuff. And you know I was super new, naive, didn't know, wasn't super confident on equipment and machines and, like you know, background settings and things like that. So I just expected them to like kind of have it ready for me to go and that wasn't the case.
Speaker 1:And now, you know, fast forward, you know, 10, 15, now, almost 20 years later, and it's been this renaissance of, you know, promoting the trades, not just for young girls to get involved, but just anybody in general. Because now they have this incredible skills gap, you know, between all these people retiring and now the people that were kind of you know, mid to lower level employees are getting promoted at an accelerated rate into those supervisory leadership roles within this industry and there's nobody to kind of backfill this position. So you know, some of these people are wearing multiple hats. Backfill this position. So you know, some of these people are wearing multiple hats. So just similar to, like World War II, any of the big you know wars and stuff, where you know, hey, all of a sudden, these, the geniuses, they go, oh well, I have a great idea, let's. We got to tap into the women. Now, you know, like all of a sudden during World War II, women are welders and doing this and they're capable, right, and then for decades we weren't capable and now all of a sudden there's this mega demand again for skilled labor. So now they have to do the same thing they did back then. So I always kind of laugh.
Speaker 1:So there's definitely been a huge push and I've been a part of a lot of initiatives where it's like, okay, how can we get the younger generation, how do we fill that skills gap? And sometimes I get a little annoyed because it's always like about being a girl and I hate that. I hate that so much. It's not about being a girl, it's just about having passion and pride in your work and having work ethic Right, and how do? How do we make that appealing to young kids nowadays? Um, so, working with a lot of organizations to kind of change the narrative a little bit, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I I agree with you as far as like the rapid uh growth, as far as like younger folks in the industry. Um, I've been in the industry for a while now too, and I, I can. I see all these apprentices come out and within like three years, these, these folks are running jobs and it's just wild. Uh now, whether they're capable or not I'm not sure, cause that's not a you know three, four years to get all that knowledge in to run large work.
Speaker 2:But it's funny you talk about them trying to screw up your test because kind of jokes on them. You basically had to force yourself to learn all this stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So you're probably much better skilled than those guys were when they became foremen.
Speaker 1:The best is when I've had there was this guy. I'll never forget him. I literally left there and I was like maybe I'm just going to go be a hairdresser or something. And I left there and I called my instructor at the time and I was like why did you send me here? Like was this supposed to be a joke? Like I don't understand why you did this to me and I didn't want to be like the boss's daughter kind of thing, working for my dad and his company. And you know, years later, the same dude is calling me, begging me to come work, and just like, do side work for him or have my company, you know, do support him, or can you send me any of your students, you know. And I would just like laugh and just like, yeah, yeah, I'll be there at seven, see you there. And never show up. Screw him over every chance, like wow, because it's like you know a few. But yeah, that was probably. That was one of my uh, my greatest accomplishments was selling that guy, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so without going into too much detail of like the story of how you got into it because I think jason did a really good job over at our junkies um, good buddy of yours about how you kind of started in this, but can you give us a quick snapshot of kind of how you even got interested in welding?
Speaker 1:yeah, oh, my dad ran a paving heavy construction company and just going to job sites with him, always enamored with welders he wasn't a welder himself but being a daddy's girl and wanting his attention, uh, I just saw that. And then one day he let me kind of work in the shop and they gave me a couple like stick electrodes or hard facing rods I don't even know what it was and I just started burning rods and next thing I know, I found out that I could do it as like an elective. It was still when, when you know, metal shop was in. I feel like I'm dating myself now. I'm saying metal shop was in high school.
Speaker 2:Oh, I had it too. I think they're bringing it back which is good I see V schools coming back.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So then, and then I went off to the vocational school and, uh, yeah, and I just kind of did it ever since. And it was funny when I when I joined the military I originally wanted to go into the Air Force but I had some tattoos at the time and it was taking forever for them to get back to me for the waivers for my tattoos. So I joined with the Army as an intel analyst and I picked that job just because it had the highest sign-on bonus. But my ASVAB scores were so high that I only got like I was like it was, it was Intel analyst, linguist, cryptologist, and this is when, like cryptologists and linguists, you were still able to do that as a like somebody coming in. Now I think you can't even like enlist as one of those MOSs and then also UAV operator. In hindsight I wish I would have picked UAV operator. But but my brother, he retired after 21 years. He was a mass sergeant in the Army. He was like oh, I'll be an intel analyst, it'll transfer really well into private contract work. So I was like all right, cool, it's got a big bonus, I'll do that.
Speaker 1:I got in and they're like here's a laptop, I'm like out of station in Korea. As soon as I get over there, I start getting becoming friends with like some of the interrogators and then some of the the mechanics and stuff there, and then they're all like, oh, can you weld this? Can you show us how to set this machine up? Can you do this? So it found me even over there and yeah. So I've always kind of just kept going back. No matter what I tried doing, I always found myself back in welding. And then as soon as I got out of the military, it was literally that was I tried applying for Intel jobs and nothing was biting. It was probably because my resume was total garbage. And yeah, here I am still a welder all these years later.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so they didn't even offer you like an engineer spot or anything like that.
Speaker 1:No, at that time it was so needs of the Army after 9-11. So, like the fact that you got to remember too and people are in like high war times, a lot of the people that are enlisting are coming from lower income backgrounds. Right, that's typically the large pool of people joining the military and they're just not scoring those types of scores often on on the ASVAB. So I got a plethora of just the nerdiest jobs out there and I remember like I was like you know, you're starting to meet all the people that you're going to be working with and stuff, and they're all. They're all like oh yeah, we play World of Warcraft and we play this video game and that video game, and like I don't, I don't know anything, I'm not, I'm not one of those people?
Speaker 2:Oh, no, nothing in common.
Speaker 1:I didn't really have a lot in common. That's why I kept. I just like ended up, like you know, I met one person who was like, oh, this person is into building Jeeps or this. And then I just, you know, I I found myself, uh, you know, back to uh, to the welding and fabrication and stuff like that, even though that's not what I was supposed to be doing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I'm glad you did Um, so you got out and you had a little bit. How long were you welding before you enlisted?
Speaker 1:By that time Gosh six years.
Speaker 2:At that point, okay, so you had a pretty robust background then. Yeah, so did that make it easier. When you got out, it sounded like you already knew you wanted to go back to that trade. Yeah, you said you applied to a few jobs, but did you kind of always have in the back of your mind like I want to go back to welding, I want to go back to fabrication?
Speaker 1:Um, no, I don't think I did.
Speaker 1:I I didn't know what I wanted to do back then because, you know, when I left my actual thoughts where I was going to stay in the military for a career and I ended up having my daughter and just you know, long-term care plans and stuff just weren't in the cards for me, like I didn't feel like I had somebody if I had to like do deployments or if I, you know, in the unlikely chance as an intel analyst, that something catastrophic happened to me, that you know she would be in good hands, unless something catastrophic happened to me that you know she would be in good hands, not that like my mom wasn't capable, but you know she's older and she was still working and I just couldn't put that on her or my younger sister.
Speaker 1:Both of my brothers were in the military and deploying all the time and you know I just couldn't do that and I couldn't trust her father, unfortunately, and yeah. So it kind of changed my outlook on what my career was going to look like, I guess. And then when I got out I just went right back to where the money was and that was welding. You know I had to do something, yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, I think there's a lot of people in that situation, maybe not with kids, but I mean, I know when I got out I wasn't 100, sure I. I kind of fell into this just because I I met some people and it worked out really well and obviously I stuck with it. But I think there's more people kind of in that situation that I don't know what I'm going to do, I can't find work, I'm just going to take kind of whatever comes. And then there's a lot of success stories like yours. Well, obviously it led to something huge, which is great.
Speaker 1:But oh gosh, three months, two months, oh wow, it wasn't long at all. Like as soon as I got out and I was back home, just people started calling asking if I wanted to go work here or work there, and that's actually where I first one of the other. That's kind of how I've gotten to education. At first, too, is because my old welding instructor called me and was like hey, do you want to be the TIG instructor, like the you know specialty alloys and stuff like that instructor here at this program? And I was like yeah, and it was, you know easy hours, you know Monday through Friday and done by 1.30. So I did that for a little while and I caught the educator bug there and then went back into like industry and you know, after I kind of got my my, my footing there and, um, I ended up getting my degree in education and then became a welding instructor a couple years later.
Speaker 1:So but, uh, you know, I was a pipe welder most of my career. Um, yeah, so I did a lot of um like pressure vessels, hydraulic repair, um anodized aluminum pipe in the yachting industry. So for a big part of my early career, um, I was in more boat and yachting magazines and I wasn't anything welding related.
Speaker 2:That's awesome, yeah, so here's a question why welding? So you were. You said your dad had a paving company, right, yeah, of all the trades, what was it about welding? That really stuck out for you oh gosh, um.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I think it was the challenge. I was always kind of like a tomboy too and I'm like heavily competitive. And the second people started kind of saying, oh, you can't do that, you don't want to do that, don't do that. That's when I was like I think I want to do that, I want to keep trying, I want to keep doing this. And you know, getting into the program and seeing how good I was at it, like so fast, like I was getting certified, I got a couple of 6G certifications on specific materials faster than my welding instructor got them, like he was failing them and I was getting them first rip, you know, and that's a really hard test to pass. And you know, I'm like a junior and senior in high school getting those certifications and I think it was just, you know, everybody kept saying that I guess too, like just the thought of being a welder, people just kind of always thought it was like a dead end or, like you know, it's just like some type of skid, you know, and I just kind of like stuck with it and just kept opening up new opportunities and new opportunities and meeting people. Now I have a pretty large network of people and even when I tried to get out of it recently, I still found myself back in it. I just love it.
Speaker 1:I don't know what it is about it. It's not a one-way street, I think. Like a lot of times vocational programs are kind of paved to be you're going to go out there, you're going to learn a trade and you're going to work for somebody. That's not the way it has to be. You can work for somebody, build some skills up, then you can work for yourself and then you can offer your services to those people that you are working for and then you can go and turn it into like you know.
Speaker 1:So like, if you look at my career, I went from you know being the bottom of the barrel to you know, moving up in different industries. So I went from you know pipe welding to education, to consulting, to owning two different businesses, marketing, you know. And then all of a sudden, now you're working, you're getting marketing skills. You're getting you know strategy and strategic development type skills that you're building out, financial skills. Now, all these, this whole like you know, catalog of skill sets that you're kind of collecting and that's worth something to some companies. And I started to figure that out quite quickly. And yeah, and I mean so, it's not the one lane highway here and in any of these trade skills industries. It's just, you know, having the knowledge and the foresight to be like, hey, I can take these skills, these are worth something to somebody. I don't always have to be, you know, the guy digging the ditch, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I'm real big on trying to expose people to yeah, you might be digging that ditch for a little bit, but there's not just in like management or consulting, but there's all these different aspects of the industry too. You might end up getting into quality control or scheduling or safety or you know.
Speaker 2:there's so many different paths that you can take. And that's what I really love about our industry is that, like business development, like you're doing, there's all these different roles that you can go into. But I think I'm not alone in saying this is that the people that have kind of walked the walk already get a lot more respect, a lot more work, because they, hey, I've done that, I've been there, so I can speak intelligently to that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you definitely need that. I don't think you're going to get too far, especially in industries like we're in, without having those foundational skills and and and, coming from the bottom and working your way up. You know, sometimes it just comes with a different layer of respect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I I try to encourage folks like man, maybe you get out and you try welding and you know six months to a year into it Okay, I'm not a fan of welding. Okay, well, there's a myriad of a myriad of other trades that you can get into that are still can be very profitable, especially, like you said, start your own business.
Speaker 2:Really, that's where a lot of the money does come from. Yeah, if you want to get you know, do really well financially, but at the same time, you don't have to do that because there's, as you know, there's people within three, four, five years of their career that are making very good money and supporting their families.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I always tell people, like when I used to be an instructor, I would tell people, you know, you don't have to be good at everything in this industry. Like just recently I went out to Miller headquarters and I started getting some advanced MIG process training. So like on our AccuPulse, versapulse, hdmig, rmd, all these you know, outside of short circuit welding, which a lot of like home hobby MIG welders like that's, that's the process you're using, right, and I don't consider myself a very good MIG welder. Like I can do it, I can make it look good. I don't like doing it.
Speaker 1:But then when I got into these advanced like heavy manufacturing processes I'm like wow, like there's a specific talent to this. Like the speed all that is so different than what I'm used to with. Like I would consider it a slower process of welding with the short circuit, right, and you know you don't have to just be that Like you could go. If you're really good at TIG welding, you just TIG weld. Or if you're really bad at all types of welding, you can get into welding sales if you really love the industry, there's sales, right, there's you know.
Speaker 1:Uh, you know, like you were saying, you know there's QA, qc. You can go be an inspector, you know do quality type stuff, like there's lots of other. You can be a welding engineer, right. There's lots of different avenues within the industry that kind of all support each other. So you know, if you have an interest in something, you can still find different ways that your skillsets might apply better. You know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Well said, and that's just one trade. Yeah, To liken it to the service, you know you've got like the boots on ground. You can think about the army Like everybody's basically supporting the infantry, If you want to look at it that way, like the front line right and there's a lot of those support roles. But it takes that big machine to really keep the infantry moving and rolls. But it takes that big machine to really keep the infantry moving and it takes this big machine to keep the welders burning rod.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, they need all those support folks. So there's so many things that you could do within the industry. So I would just try to tell people man, see what you like, see what you're interested in, try for a little bit. It doesn't work out. There's just so many other options out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2:So other options out there? Yeah, for sure. So this is kind of a loaded question. I don't think there's any wrong answer, but are there any things that you you picked up from your time in the service that you think might've helped you along your journey?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, um uh thick skin Um okay, that's fair, you know, just dealing with different types of people. That definitely helped. I think it it built my confidence to be on my own, which I didn't have before the military, because I never left my house Not left my house, but I never left my hometown. Really, you know so like being out there and you know being stationed in like South Korea, for instance, you know like you're on your own out there, you're trying to talk to your family it's like 13 hour time difference, right You're. You're not even on the same page as them at the time throughout the day, right, um, so that that kind of built me up Um. But then the thick skin part comes from when I was in um, in the military as an analyst, I dealt a lot with like human trafficking and to be, you know, 18, 19 years old, dealing with those types of um, that type of reality.
Speaker 1:I think that kind of builds up a certain layer of skin that most people don't have. And, like I said, the confidence to talk to people as an analyst. And then I'm, you know, I'm showing up and I become the G2 Sergeant Majors Assistant. I'm dealing with like generals and crazy stuff like help build my confidence, public speaking skills, definitely as an analyst, and then when it comes to, like, my business approach, it trained me to be a very analytical person. I look at things differently than maybe other people don't. I see opportunity, places where other people might not see it. So I think I definitely gained a lot more skills than I. I guess I didn't even realize how much I kind of gained from it. A lot of times, you know, I guess I didn't even realize how much I kind of gained from it.
Speaker 2:A lot of times.
Speaker 1:You know, I kind of like live with this like I didn't do much in the military, you know, and I don't really talk about my service time ever Like, if you ever listen to anything that I've ever done, it's something that's like a side comment, maybe mentioned, maybe I don't even bring it up. It's not that I'm not proud of it, it's just I don't feel like I like I look at what my husband did in the Marines or what my brother's done, you know, like my brother has like bronze stars and stuff and and and, like I just don't feel like a I guess maybe a little imposter syndrome there. You know, like I'm not deserving of any type of recognition for what I've done. Um, you know, and you, you just it's just a weird, a weird spot to be in, I guess you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I, I a hundred percent can identify with that too, Cause I felt the same for a long time. I think it took me I don't know, maybe a decade, maybe a little less, to kind of start to feel comfortable in my own skin and like who I was, and not just identifying with my service. But what what's helped me personally is I had to think I'm a very, very, very small percentage of the entire population of the U? S that's ever served. If you look at, like the, the, the grand scheme of things too, and then you go and talk to those folks with the bronze stars or you know, even a medal of honor or something crazy like that, somebody that's that's really been there on the front line, and even them they're like hey, thanks for your service.
Speaker 2:I just did the interview before this. Um, the guy was retired after 27 years and thanked me for my service. I'm like man, like I appreciate that. Thank you. You know you stuck it out. I did seven years active but just knowing you had this small piece of the pie that you serve. So I totally, totally identify with that and I appreciate you saying that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, um, I don't think you would change much on your journey, but I know you had, uh, you know, twists and turns. You decided to go kind of different routes, uh throughout education and owning your business. If you had somebody kind of on the same path, uh maybe in the trades, thinking about starting their business or getting into education, do you think you have any piece of advice to somebody of hey, don't do what I did, kind of thing, or something that you could change?
Speaker 1:Oh man, I don't know. Um, I guess for me, like, I guess, if you're asking like kind of what my regret was, was hey, I try to say it a little nicer than regret, but yeah. I mean anything you could have done better.
Speaker 2:I guess is like the focus wasn't there.
Speaker 1:It was about making money because the money was going to support her. Like the money wasn't what she needed, she needed me. And now I sold my company you know the fab shop and the school, thinking like, oh, and I left AWS doing the tour stuff and I'm like here I am, come hang out with me now. Let's do all this bonding time. And she's like I have a life now. Like you know, I love you but I can't hang out with you every day. So that's, you know, part of the reason I got a little bored quickly and you know just, I guess really you know just counting your blessings when it comes to the people that are in your life and enjoying that time with them and giving them the time and the attention they deserve to. You know, I guess a better work, life balance.
Speaker 2:No, and full transparency, like within the last year, is when it that finally started to hit me, cause I was so hell bent on climbing the ladder and my oldest daughter, 10. And so I'm thinking you know, worst case, or maybe best case, however you want to look at it I've probably got eight more years with her in the house If she decides not to move out when she's 18 or you. You know what I'm saying, but it's that's not that much time, like these 10 years. She just turned 10. Uh, the time we're recording, uh, we're recording this. She turned 10 last week and I'm like where did this decade go? I mean, it was so fast. And so now I'm like you know I'm I'm pretty happy where I'm at financially, you know where I'm at in the industry, and if I don't get that promotion, it's not that big of a deal. I'm just really happy. I get to spend time with my wife and kids and that's what's most important. So I appreciate hearing that from somebody else too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's, it's tough, you know, and then for me it was always. I felt like there was a lot of eyes on me at a lot of times and it was like, if I don't do the next thing, like this pressure of like having to always like one up myself and letting that kind of get in the way of what was really important, you know, and that should have been me me taking a couple of days off here and there.
Speaker 2:you know Well, social media makes it a lot worse too. I mean, you know, we're finding out now. Obviously, a lot of these things that we see are not what they seem and you're like man, that guy I worked with uh, they got this promotion and they're doing awesome. Well, lo and behold, you know their family likes falling apart, maybe behind the scenes, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, I live that, you know. You know me and my husband. Our marriage was was going to shit fast because I was never home. I, my priorities were work first, family second, third, like the pressures of of being something and being, you know, being this person everybody was supposed to look up to. And when I sold the school and I was like, hey, you know, when you sell this, do you want my social media to like I'll include that deal? And I was, I tell everybody now like that was the greatest. I would have took nothing for the business. Just, you know, just take that.
Speaker 2:You know, because it's been so nice. You sold it Like you sold the social media with the schools.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so Jason, jason runs my old, my old pages and channels and stuff, and, um, yeah, it's been awesome Cause now I have like a private account and uh, I can post what I want, cause I mean you'd post something, and all you hear is just you hear the negative, you don't hear the positive and then the positive it's so fake. It's like, you know, this posed picture of what I want everybody to see and content I want people to see, and it wasn't real. Life wasn't reality, you know so I'm I'm.
Speaker 2:I'm not as popular as I wish I was, but I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to get some of the negative reviews. So I'm like, okay, I'm doing something right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm getting noticed yeah, so you know, the the netflix show even was we're 100 and 190something countries it was in, and you're like, oh, you're going to, yeah, 190-something countries, and like translate into like 20-plus languages, like 25, 27 languages or something like that, that's wild.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you're like, oh wow, this is going to be so great. You know this is going to be awesome. You know, the first woman to be on a platform as, like, a welding content expert, you know, on a platform, a global platform, I'm thinking everybody and their mother is going to love to see this. And no, a lot of other countries do not appreciate a woman in industry, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:And Instagram and all that stuff.
Speaker 1:They do this great thing where they translate things. So when you open it up, it you know it says all these horribly mean things. And then you know these articles are getting written and my daughter sees it, her friends see it, my mom sees it, you know. And then like there was a time, like on the show, you know when the show came out and you know Ray, ivan, all them, they're all my friends and you know they're like making posts defending me because people are like going on their stuff commenting nasty things about how I'm. You know she's such a bitch and she's this or she doesn't know what she's talking about.
Speaker 1:And I did feel like a fish out of water on that show.
Speaker 1:So I'll give people that you know like I'm not a metal artist really by any means, I'm a pipe welder by trade, you know, and I felt super intimidated standing next to David and then you know the power of editing but people don't want to see that, you know, and they don't want to hear it and it was just really crappy.
Speaker 1:I always laugh because you know you watch the show or you watch some of my older stuff I did for AWS and I always joke and I'll be like, oh, that was two faces ago or that was three faces ago because it ruined my self-esteem. And next thing, you know, I'm, like you know, putting ago because it ruined my self-esteem. And next thing, you know, I'm, like you know, putting this crap in my face, doing this to my face, you know, it just everything and anything, just because it just crushes you like, and it's, it's all crap, it's just stuff that, like you know, you take it home with you, you know, and then my husband's dealing with that, because clearly you just don't deal with that by yourself, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't become a welder, thinking that that was going to be my life, you know I don't think I'm sure like the national spokesperson of the world's largest welding organization on a netflix show, like I was just happy just welding some pipe here and there, and so I definitely wasn't anticipating that and I don't think like some people, like I don't't want to.
Speaker 1:I guess I'm not going to say people's names, but there are some people in my industry who all they want to be is famous and all they want to do is create content and create an illusion of what they want people to think their life is, and that's something that I never wanted to do and that's why I took the role with Miller, because now I don't have to create content for anybody, like a lot of other companies that were reaching out to me. That's what they wanted me to do and I'm so happy that I can just be utilized for my actual skill set and what I bring to the table. On a on a more business, you know side of the fence, so happy about that. A lot less pressure, good for you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, build up a lot less pressure for you. Yeah, you know it's, it's really refreshing hearing that. I mean, obviously I enjoyed the show and for people that don't know, it's metal shop masters, I enjoyed it. Um, I was hooked on it, I really loved it and, like I, I shared with you before the show, like I started watching it and it got me back on my welder, um, I thought it was really good and I'm sure you know, like you said, the magic of editing.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of stuff that people don't see. But it's refreshing to hear somebody that's walked in your shoes to to say that kind of stuff and kind of bring it to light. And I try to do my best on this show. Like I, I told people, you know I, I I'm sober now but I was an alcoholic or I guess technically I'm supposed to say I still am, but I am sober. You know, I dealt with mental health issues and went through a lot of junk and my family life's not a hundred percent perfect. I mean, I have an amazing wife and kids, but like we're not perfect, we don't have it all put together and so I'm never going to pretend like I do now.
Speaker 2:Do I take 20 photos to try to get the best shot of the job site. Yes, I'll admit that, because I want it to look cool. I want people to like the job site, but, um, but no, I appreciate you sharing all that, but um, maybe people that support just aren't as vocal as the negative Cause I I've I've seen I don't remember where it was, at it was I think I Googled the show and I was reading through these reviews. I'm like these people are just jerks, man. I mean I don't know, they have nothing better to do with their lives.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's hard. It's hard to read that kind of stuff, especially when you went into it with this like really positive, oh, this is going to be so great, I can't wait. Yeah, you know, and then, and then you're filming it and it's such a great experience during the filming of it, and then it comes out and you're like, uh, this isn and I'm sure there's a lot of folks similar to me either got back into it or you obviously spurred somebody's interest in getting into welding or any kind of trade.
Speaker 2:So I'm sure it did some definitely some good out there yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean I hear I've heard lots of positive stuff. But you know like I, you know they, they say right, it's like you hear one one negative comment takes a hundred positives for it to like for it to balance out, but I am very happy to not be a fixture on people's social media anymore.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I bet Well good. So I'm going to kind of take I don't want to say a dark turn, but I want to talk about mental health real quick in the industry and we chatted a little bit about it, so the industry will burn you out real quick, especially in the trades.
Speaker 2:I think more than anybody trades and trade management like it's really difficult, very long hours. Then you get in a salary and you're not getting paid for all that OT and it's tough. So mental health is a huge thing in the service. It's also a huge thing in our industry. So if you've got, you've got a unique perspective. If you have somebody in the trade that is just trudging along like I don't want to go to work, this sucks, I'm done with all this and feels like they don't have a way out, Cause I've been there too, what would you try to say to that individual to encourage them to just keep going or find something else?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's just it. It's, you know, what are you going to do to get yourself out of this situation? You know, looking at it from again kind of a strategy perspective, you know, hey, what can I? Can I make it six more weeks here, if I can? What can I learn in that six week period? That's going to set me up for a better position, a better role, is it? I got to take a six-week night class. I got to take online LinkedIn courses. I got to get a resume builder person. You know, on my side, what do I got to do? What do I got to do in that time period to better myself? And just kind of thinking at it like that, like taking a little bit more of a like segment your problem out a little bit, um, and kind of trying to strategize, um, how to get yourself out of there.
Speaker 2:You know, yeah, yeah, that's tough, especially when, like I'll give you my example, cause I got, I got the kids and my wife she doesn't work, so everybody's depending on me and I've I've had those spots even recently, where I'm just like I don't know what to do anymore. You know, I'm kind of hit a wall, but I think what I found and what I love about the industry is that, very similar to the service, I have all these people around me that are kind of dealing with the same crap. So it's like, hey, this sucks together.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so I can kind of lean on them a little bit and it's, it's become a lot more acceptable, because it used to be this you know, shut up, keep your head down and just keep going. And I've seen a change in the service and it's definitely starting to change in the industry within the last few years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got people, though, who you say you know I'll just using welding, right. So every time I pick up my phone, I have somebody pretending, or somebody you know, telling me how great the welding industry is, yet my job sucks, you know. It's like well, that stuff getting constantly jammed down your throat of everything's so great and so perfect over there, why isn't it perfect for me, you know?
Speaker 1:so, again, I think it kind of takes a look at that problem and kind of think, well, how can I make it better? Here's a timeline in the next six weeks, what can I do to make it better? You know, how can I get myself going in a direction that's more positive, Is it? I got to put my phone down. I got to get off the internet. Do I got to take a, like you know, go a little ghost for a little bit more of a positive mindset to kind of move yourself forward?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'll tell you, I got off Facebook a few years back and that certainly helped. I mean it sucks because I can't, um like stay in touch. We've lived all over the world.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And so it it kind of stinks sometimes. My wife's still on there so she can stay in touch with our friends but, it was. It was so toxic. And I'm not saying nobody should be on it. I think it's got its positives too. But when I put the phone down for a while and I'm not on Instagram, I'm not doing stuff for the even, for the podcast and like we get into this comparison wheel and, oh, this person's doing so great mentally I'm just, I feel so much better. Like I'm doing me, I'm happy.
Speaker 1:I don't like, I mean for a while there. I just took it off my phone so like if I was on a computer or something for a few minutes then I could go on Facebook and you know. But I mean, now I have it all back on my phone and I probably stare at it a little bit too much. But yeah, I'd say I, you know, I'd say definitely, try and limit your time staring at other people's fake success or fake illusion of what they want you to see it's. You know, grass isn't always greener on the other side, I can assure you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, I think one thing that was sort of freeing, even though it was terrifying getting out of the service. What was a little freeing for me is I kept telling myself, if this doesn't work out, you know I can leave, like I'm not tied to a four or five year contract, like I can find something better.
Speaker 2:It might just not be a fit for me at the time and I bounced around a little bit and I'm really happy where I'm at now. Um, and I've helped. You know, maybe it's I've never left for money, but that's. Some people take that opportunity. They want more money. Or I want a better position, longer, you know, runway for my career, so that's one thing I try to free people up with is dude, what you're dealing with right now is going to suck today. Yeah, maybe for the next few weeks, but I like your idea about the six week kind of roadmap. Build your goal sheet, if you will, of okay to get where I want to go. I got to go through these steps.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure. I think I don't know where I learned that from. I think it was actually one of my MBA classes. It was just like you know how to manage people and how to get people who might not be say for, like you know, this is like a change initiative. You can kind of look at it as right and you know you're looking at a bunch of people who are not happy not getting buy in for whatever it is that you're trying to do differently and it's like, okay, how do we break this down to get people there? You know, and that's you can take that kind of same approach with with your own challenges. Right, how? How can I break this down to get to where I want to be?
Speaker 2:I'm going to wrap up our time here with one last question. I've I've taken up quite a bit of your time already and I really appreciate it. Stephanie, like I said, I'm very humbled that you responded back. I appreciate it. You are like the queen of this Cause. You did it for a long time trying to get people in the industry.
Speaker 1:So if we have people that are transitioning out of the service or anybody out there, really what would you say to them to try to get them into the industry, maybe not welding specific, but anything within construction fabrication, anything like that? Um, oh wait, I don't even know.
Speaker 2:I guess it's we just we need bodies um, yeah, that's true you got a lot of skills to offer.
Speaker 1:Like I said, you know there's, there's a specific level of confidence team building, leadership. Um, that comes with coming out of the service, that is very valuable to companies. Um, a lot of people might not see the direct correlation and value that they, that they can bring to some of these, these work environments, but, um, trust me, it's there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, love it Awesome. Well, I appreciate, stephanie. Thank you again.
Speaker 1:This has been awesome.
Speaker 2:I've really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1:Thank you. I'm happy you asked me to be on and haven't done a podcast in a while.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm glad I got to shed a little light too on your, on your service too. Like you said, you don't really get to talk about it too much, so I'm glad we can do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you're the first.
Speaker 2:Cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Awesome, all right, well, you have a great rest of your day. I appreciate it, stephanie.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:Thanks.
