Sisters in Insulation: Breanne & Kehli Warrington on Competing, Learning, and Working Together

Breanne and Kehli Warrington are sisters in the trade! Together, they’ve built their careers in Mechanical Insulation — studying side by side at NAIT, working on-site together, and most recently, competing together at the 2025 Provincial Skills Canada Competition, where they proudly brought home silver and bronze. 

In this episode, they share what it’s like to navigate the trades as sisters, the challenges and rewards of competing, and how their shared journey has shaped their careers. Tune in to hear their story, and check out their full interview with NAIT at the link below!

Sisters share success as skilled trades classmates - techlifetoday

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:06

Welcome to Skills and Thrills, Alberta's Great Institute podcast by Skills Canada Alberta. Speaking to the stories of skills alumni with sharing their competition experiences and how those moments make their careers. We explore the journey of finding the skills and the path that follows. I'm Danny and I'll be your host. Let's dive in for today's episode. Today's special guests are Brianne and Kaylee Warrington. Brienne and Kaylee competed in the mechanical installation competition this past year of the 2025 Provincial Skills Canada competition. Taking home silver and bronze. Hey Brianne and Kaylee, thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. How are you both doing?

SPEAKER_01 0:50

Good. Thank you so much for having us. We're very excited to have this opportunity. Yeah, very excited to be here. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Of course, I'm so excited to hear about your story as Sisters in the Trade and the competitions. Let's jump right into it. Can you guys start by sharing how you both first got into the trades?

SPEAKER_01 1:09

It was kind of sort of a fluke. We knew that we wanted to do something relatively within the trades coming out of high school. We were raised like on a farm, so working with our hands was something we both really loved to do. Yeah. We left home early and wanted something that was going to make money quick, and trades was the way to go for that, as far as we had been told. I ended up becoming a cook for some camps in Grand Prairie for a while and really enjoyed what I was doing there for a couple months. And I was doing industrial janitorial work at some camps out of town too. We were working insane schedules, like 21 days on, seven days off. That was our introduction to the industry through doing that shift work. We met our foreman and general foreman at our last company, Brock, and I was cleaning their trailer every morning. So I got to chat with them every now and then. I told them that I was looking to get into the trades. And they had told us they were looking for three apprentices. So I called my sister Kaylee up because we were looking for other work still, like we still wanted to get into the trades. And so I'd called her and I was like, Well, are you ready to start a new job? A month after having that conversation, we were working for Brock as insulators and starting our apprenticeship there. We weren't really sure what insulators did at that point, but it was cool. We Brock is a scaffolding and insulating company, so we kind of had the choice between the two. We were told that scaffolding is more physically demanding and insulating is more mentally demanding. It's very mathematical calculations and being able to visualize and stuff like that. So that sounded more up our alley, even though, as far as I was concerned, insulation was just the pink fluffy stuff that went in houses. I had no idea about any of it. But yeah, that was our introduction into working as insulators as far as like from there on to Nate and stuff. We worked for two years at that same place for Brock. Yeah, it was about time that our bosses were like, I think you guys should get a pay raise. They made a deal with us, you know. If if we applied for school, we'd get the bump up, and that was the push that we really needed because we we probably would have never gotten to go to school. We would have never chose to take that route. It was just gonna be a temporary job to make some money fast. And we ended up going to our first year, and that changed how I saw insulating entirely. There was a reason for why we did everything that we did, and we got to learn the theory behind it. Everything just made a lot more sense and gave me a lot of passion for our trade and gave me an actual love for it, turned it from more of a job to something I actually get excited to go and do in a day.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

That's so cool. I love the journey that you guys have gone on, and it's so cool that you guys did it together as well. That's awesome. Was it always gonna be mechanical insulation, or did it kind of just present itself to you?

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Definitely just sort of presented itself to us. Like Brianne said, Brock was scaffolding and insulating companies. At first, we kind of thought that's where we were going to go with scaffolding, but I'm glad it turned out to be insulation that we got into. I really enjoy what we do. I was always more like into maybe trying something like welding or pipe bitting or something like that. So something more well known throughout insulating sounded kind of random and weird and maybe not that enjoyable.

SPEAKER_00 4:39

Didn't really know at that time how broad our trade was.

SPEAKER_01 4:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

I always thought it was just the pink stuff as well. I had no idea until I saw it in the competition. I was like, oh, that's what it is. I was like, I had no idea.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

I think a lot of people share that, you know, and we did too until we got into it. Had no idea how much stuff actually gets insulated in this world. We had been working like out in camps and stuff, like through the camps and catering company. So I was constantly driving past all these shiny pipes and whatever. And I just I did not realize that that was going to be what we're gonna be working on. Like it's it's everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Yeah, and the precision you need for those pipes, it's crazy to watch at the competition. The preciseness of everything and the mess it all makes.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Well, that material we use at skills is messy because it's always like styrofoam so just like yeah, because it's usually it's a different product, usually, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:33

On the inside?

SPEAKER_01 5:35

We typically use mineral wool in industrial applications. That's that's what we've used most widely throughout our career.

SPEAKER_00 5:42

Okay. So, what has it been like competing alongside one another and working alongside one another?

SPEAKER_01 5:49

I think a lot of people, when they ask us this question, they expect to hear that we've had several riffs or we're always very competitive against each other, but that is not the case. There might be a small, unspoken sort of competition between us, but we would never let it get to the point of you know being jealous of one another. We always are happy for each other's successes, and we've been like each other's support system pretty much our entire life. It's been reassuring to have her there competing with me and working with me all the time. You know, it takes a lot of the stress or anxiety off of whatever we're doing. Just having a like-minded person there to go to. It's nice to have a soundboard to bounce ideas off of somebody. If you're just having a bad day or a brain fart or something, you know, I'll just call her over and ask her about something and I'll be like, oh yeah, that makes sense. It's nice to have somebody who's always there.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Yeah, I feel like there's no better support than someone who's literally going through it with you. They're in the same job as you or they're in the same competition as you. There's nothing better than that because you can totally understand.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Yeah, and we've had the same level of experience the whole way through too. So that's been helpful.

SPEAKER_00 7:00

Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, I feel like that's it, it makes it all like so much better. I feel like just having that kind of support. That's amazing. So, was there a challenge you guys had to overcome during training or during the competitions?

SPEAKER_01 7:14

I would say in training in particular, it was the pace. It's quite a condensed course. You have to take seven weeks off of work and it's school every single day. It's information overload. And as far as shop goes, you're working with all these new materials for the first time. We were so used to working a maintenance position where time was not super important. You have all the time in the world to make it look good. No one was rushing you. Yeah. But at school, you have a project deadline, you need to get this done now. And we're more so focused on making it look good. So when we when we had to do everything quickly, that was kind of a huge curveball. Like, well, I want it to look good, but I also don't want to get a zero because I have nothing on, you know, done on my project. So the time for me was definitely my biggest challenge. Learning how to pick up the pace for sure. You know, our our stuff has always looked fairly decent, I think, but definitely the pace was hard to kind of pick up there. Just not having to do that for three years of that we were introduced into insulating. We didn't have to do any of that on a time limit. It's very different for us. When we were training for skills, we went back to work just for a short brief period after school. And uh, you know, we we were thrown on a night shift crew, and it's just the two of us all night long. So anytime we got slow, we'd go into the shop and sit there and cut elbows and make sure, you know, time ourselves to try start practicing our skills and try and be faster. And took every opportunity of us being slow to practice skills and try and get a bit quicker.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

Yeah. Yeah, that's definitely the big the big thing is the time crunch. I hear a lot of people being like, I've never been under a time crunch before, like, I could just build a bricklang wall within like a few days, I don't have to do it within 12 hours or whatever.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Our motto at our maintenance job was always we get paid by the hour, there's no rush, but they're in in school and skills. That was like the main thing. You're constantly worrying about the time.

SPEAKER_00 9:10

Do you guys feel like you do things faster now because of skills or the same thing? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:14

And I mean, a lot of the opportunities that have come since skills have also given us a lot of moments to, you know, tune in our speed for sure. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Oh, that's amazing. But do you mind talking about the opportunities a little bit?

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yeah, sure. Shortly after we competed in skills, which I mean already was like a huge opportunity for us. You know, at that point, we had no idea how big skills even was. So getting to be a part of that and seeing how many people actually were competing was pretty phenomenal to see. And then after skills was done, we got an email asking if we'd be willing to be part of an article done by Nate, which was also extremely shocking to us who would want to do an article about us. But we thought, well, you know what, we've been told so many times over this that any opportunities that arise from our trade, we need to take them and run. So our our instructors at Nate really drilled that into us. Whatever opportunity presents itself, jump on it and keep the momentum going. So we're like, this is totally out of our comfort zone. But we did it, then shortly after, got an email from you asking if we would do a podcast. And yeah, our momentum has just been rolling ever since, and it's a good feeling. We're accomplishing a lot of things at work, starting new jobs, and you know. I think I do think that overall skills did give me the confidence to be like, okay, well, maybe I actually do know what I'm doing. Yeah. Starting a new job after that did seem less scary because we were so used to working at the exact same place, doing the same thing the whole time for three years, then going to school and changing it up and doing skills and like putting ourselves in positions of being slightly uncomfortable and trying new things actually has really, really helped us in the long run.

SPEAKER_00 11:00

Yeah, that's amazing. That's wow. Yeah, and like getting that. So I saw that Nate article and I was like, oh my god, I need to talk to them like right now. That is so cool. Just like the journey you guys went on and everything with the trade and like going to Nate together and stuff like that, and then doing the competition and getting second and third, like that is amazing.

SPEAKER_01 11:16

Um thank you.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah, like that's so cool. How amazing is it to be on the podium with your sister? Like, that is so cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Yeah, it's a pretty good feeling, that's for sure. It was nice to have somebody beside you who knows what you're going through because I am not the kind of person who likes to beat you up in front of big crowds, but it felt like a pretty special moment, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Nothing beats getting on the podium and like everyone's cheering for you, and it's just such a good time. Going back to Provincials a little bit more, do you guys mind talking about the experience at Provincials and doing your competition?

SPEAKER_01 11:49

Yeah, for sure. Kaylee had already mentioned that we had left our night shift to come into town again to do skills. So we had finished our shift at six in the morning and hopped in the car and we drove our five hours home, and then we tried to get like a two to three hour nap, and then we had to go to the opening ceremony. So we were like so exhausted, and we're like, whatever, like cool opportunity, let's just do it, you know. In a 48-hour period, we had slept like maybe three max four hours, very broken naps and whatever, but yeah, and uh, we knew we had to go right back to work as soon as skills was done, so let's just get it over with. It was being considered our days off, but yeah, we were kind of expecting just a gymnasium full of people. I am not sure what I expected, but it definitely was not that. Then we went to the opening ceremony and there's a concert, and hundreds of people they're like, This is a huge accomplishment. You guys are so proud. And we're like, oh my gosh, maybe this is actually kind of a big deal, like in the best way, like it kind of you know gave me a little bit of confidence, and seeing how many other people were there competing too was really cool. It's not like everyone was there to just watch us, like there was a lot going on. So many different trades, so many different things people can get into and compete for, which is really amazing. So that in and of itself felt also really surreal. And then competition day, mostly a lot of nerves, not sure how to feel. We got there and we actually got to see the pipe rack that we were working on, and I feel like that gave us a bit of confidence as well because it was a lot smaller than I was the whole time before skills. I was looking up pictures of what people were working on, and the pipe rack looked a lot bigger than it actually did in real life. So this I also think was the first year that they did metal, or first year in a long time that they got us to do metal instead of PBC. Thank goodness, like since we had started, we'd been doing metal from the beginning, which a lot of apprentices don't get to even touch that until they're in their third year of apprenticeship. So yeah. So when we got there, we were talking to some of the other competitors, and they were saying that like they've never worked with metal. So to some extent, we knew that we had a lot more experience and maybe a bit of an advantage. I definitely admired them for being willing to go into a competition like that, being so new. As far as the actual competition goes, is it was very interesting. As soon as the time started, we were able to just lock in and do our jobs. At that point, it didn't feel as stressful anymore. I was like, okay, I know how to do this. I've done this every day for the last however many years, this is what we do. I think a lot of it did feel very much like you blank and it's over, like your time's done. So it goes fast. I mean, you're still working steady for five hours, but I don't know where that time goes because it only feels like 10 minutes. And brief moments of looking up and seeing people pointing at yourself and being like, wow, that was super interesting. For me, I had a hard time focusing on my pipe rack. This was the first time you know I've had somebody staring at my work the whole time I'm doing it. Hundreds of different eyes coming to look and point and wow, look at that. That's amazing. It's pretty cool to see that what we're doing was fascinating to people. We can put stuff like that together. So yeah, that's definitely a cool experience. A little nerve-wracking, maybe.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Yeah, but it's definitely nerve-wracking. Normally in the trade, you don't have all these people watching you and little kids checking out what you're doing, and photographers trying to get good shots of you doing the stuff. But yeah, it's I think it's really cool too, though, because like there's like younger kids looking at what you're doing, and they might not have any idea what mechanical insulation is and how amazing it is for a job. And see that in the stages where you're trying to figure out where do I go to school, what do I learn, what do I do, do I go into the trades? It's such a good opportunity for that. And then you're inspiring younger generations to get into that trade because it looks so fun, you know?

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Yeah, and just being like a lot of our we have one male competitor at skills for insulation, which is pretty cool to show that this is quite a woman-dominated trade, which is unheard of for a lot of, you know, and we we don't necessarily work with a whole lot of women, like normally it's just my sister and I, but going to school and stuff, like we half of our class was women, and yeah, it's skills, you know. We have we had one male competitor and the rest were women. I thought that was pretty awesome to show the world or these younger kids.

SPEAKER_00 16:27

I think that's one of the coolest parts is seeing women in the trades, and then like you just get inspired to want to do that as well, because it seems like if they can do it, I can do it.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Yeah. Going back to training and all that stuff, did you guys have a mentor that really helped you and guided you to do these competitions?

SPEAKER_01 16:44

We've had quite a few over the years. Everywhere we've been, we've had like really influential people on our careers. I think first and foremost, probably the foreman and the general foreman of Brock, they were immediately very excited about our passion and wanting to get into the trace. They were like, Well, of course, you know, of course we'll find somewhere for you. And they always did absolutely anything they could to help us with our success, make our time there better and easier, and gave us so many opportunities. Just having a friendly face there too, because we didn't know anyone when we started, but they were there alongside us, which was nice. And then our very first journeyman, he taught us pretty much everything we know. We were with them for three years, day in and day out. When we first started, we were a crew of eight, and very shortly after we got brought down to a crew of three. That was my sister and I, and our one journeyman, and that's who we had for insulating on an entire site. We got like so many experiences, like it was we were doing all sorts of different things between like equipment and piping and um for first year apprentices. We got to do everything, and which a lot of first year apprentices, you know, they they're just hauling material around site, you know. But we were right in there with our journeyman doing all of the big stuff, you know. So that was amazing that he had the patience to be able to teach us all of that. We were like brand new, we did not know the names to any tools or anything. My very first day working with him, he's like, Can you pass my offsets? And I just I just looked at him. I'm like, I can, I can, but can you tell me what that is? Yeah, there's about seven tools in here that look exactly the same, but I'm not sure which one you're asking for, you know. So yeah, he had to teach us a little square one. His name is Marson, he's a wonderful guy, and we had a lot of really amazing experiences with him, and he taught us so much stuff. He would always say he's running out of English. At the end of the week, he'd run out of English. So then he would show us like hands-on examples of what to do, and then he would just give us a section of pipe, and he's like, Do this. And we're like, Oh, I don't know if I can do that. He's like, You're fine, you can do it. And if we messed up, he was like, Okay, let's go get some new stuff, we'll do it again. Like, you know, it wasn't he wasn't yelling at you or getting super upset. He was so patient with us, which was amazing. Like, we really appreciate him for all of that, so for our initial entrance into the trade and for like several years having that, I'm so grateful. Not everyone has that experience immediately. So, yeah, he was very influential. And then as far as our instructors go at Nate, I think Fred Savoy was definitely he made a huge impact on my life, and I will never forget him. Ever. No matter what other trades, what other jobs I go and do in this world, I will never forget Fred. He's just there to make sure that you achieve the most success that you possibly can. And he will be in your corner every step along the way, even if you haven't talked to him for months. You text him, hey Fred, I can't think of how to do this. Can you tell me? He'll be right there to tell you exactly what you need from him. And when we went to our night shift immediately after school, I was still texting him, and it was like, Oh, it's probably too late to text Fred, he's not gonna be up. But we had to make these patterns called gores, it's for elbows. And I was like, How do I make it for this side? It was just us on night shift. We had nobody else we could talk to, so we called Fred up. Yeah, he helped us out, and he was just always very reassuring and he genuinely cares about the students, and absolutely he really supports people going to get their tickets and actually learn how to do things the right way. But there's an importance in getting the knowledge instead of just going there as a money grab. He definitely gave me a passion for this trade, he showed me how this job could turn into a career very easily. He also like showed, like, I didn't really know that there was many other opportunities in this trade aside from just working on the tools. So I never really saw it long term for me. But through school, we learned that there's so many other things you can do. I mean, there's leadership roles, you can do estimating per jobs, quality control, project management, manufacturing, oh, materials, yeah, fabricating, or you could do what Fred does, like teach and instruct. And there's there's just lots of different routes you can take. So many. That was definitely very cool to hear. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Yeah. Oh, that's so amazing. Shout out to those supporters and mentors. They make our lives so much better. They inspire us and they help us do trades and our jobs so much better. So, shout out to them and thank you for all that you do. So, getting into some other questions. What is a common misconception people might have about mechanical insulation or about working in this field?

SPEAKER_01 21:45

I think probably the biggest one is that insulation only goes in houses and that it's only that pink fluffy stuff that everybody sees. That's just so not the case. Insulation is everywhere in our daily lives. We've become those people that's like, oh my gosh, look at that, like constantly pointing at that or I could insulate that. It's everywhere. Parking garages, pools, arenas, every office building. It's everywhere. Any big warehouse, like it's all over the ceiling, it's all over the walls. There's acoustic insulation hanging in pools and stuff, you know, to decrease the vibrations and sound in there because it's a big concrete, you know, pad. So yeah, it's it's just everywhere that you look. It's not just in houses, a whole bunch of piping all over like our oil wouldn't get to where it needs to go. It wouldn't get produced the way it needs to be produced if these lines weren't insulated. It would freeze and it would, yeah, just simply not work. We wouldn't have petrol, we wouldn't have jet fuel, we wouldn't have all sorts of stuff without all these little pieces. So just how broad it was.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

I think it's so cool. I love mechanical insulation because I feel like you could literally work anywhere because yeah, it needs like it goes everywhere. I mean, there's always something in a building that needs to be insulated. So I feel like you could seriously work anywhere. You don't have to work in a huge mine situation doing oil stuff. You can work in buildings and in offices doing that kind of insulation. So there's definitely like many areas you can go to work in mechanical insulation, and it's not like you're just stuck in this one room and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

So which is definitely reassuring because I think that's another thing that people think is if oil and gas kind of crashes, then anyone who's in the trades is screwed and is gonna have to completely, you know, start over. But for sure, for mechanical insulation, we will always have other opportunities, especially living somewhere that gets down to like minus 50 every six months.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

Exactly. I mean, you definitely need insulation if it gets to minus 50. And just talking about the stigma around trades and stuff like that, I mean, just the amount of knowledge you need to know for one trade is a lot. Like you like by the time you're a journeyman and like you're teaching other people and all that kind of stuff, you are a master in the trade. I honestly think, like, from my experience, even just working at skills, I'm like, wow, these people are some of the smartest people I've ever met. They know what they're doing and they build our world that we live in.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

It's really incredible.

SPEAKER_00 24:12

Competitions are super nerve-wracking. How did you guys learn to support each other during the competition?

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Well, I think that we went into it like any other thing that we do together. Like any other job. We knew that we had one another there. So anything that we needed, like same kind of thing. I was struggling with one one piece, and I called Kaylee over and like, what do you think I should do? Should I leave it? Should I fix it? Do I have time? Whatever. And she's like, No, it looks fine. Don't worry about it. Like, just you know, just being that kind of it's not that serious, calm down. Like, you're gonna be, you know, like, yeah. No, it's it's it was so nice, uh, just having that reassuring thought. Yeah, and yeah, if if not one of us was forgetting something that day, which happens a lot. There's so many small things you have to remember, and one piece of that missing, your whole patterns off, or whatever you're making just doesn't work. So, you know, it's easy to forget little things here and there. So it's nice just having that second brain to be like, nope, you're super close. You're literally just forgetting this small thing, then oh, right, of course.

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Yeah, yeah, that's so helpful. I feel like it makes dealing with the nerves so much easier. Are there other ways you guys deal with nerves during competitions just individually?

SPEAKER_01 25:28

I feel like probably it's self-reassurance, specifically in this competition. Once I got going, I realized, yeah, this is what I have been doing, it's not that hard, and people are coming to learn about this. There's nothing actually riding on this, it's supposed to be a fun, positive experience and just showcasing our skills. So and what yeah, like like Free said, once we started, I was able to just lock in and just tune into what I was doing instead of being so worried about everything else. So I was just like being on the job, you know. Yeah, like I focused was laser vision at that point. At the end of the day, we got asked to compete for Nate, so I had to keep reminding myself that that has to mean something.

SPEAKER_00 26:07

Yeah, I feel like you really just gotta focus and not look around because otherwise you're just yeah, gonna get stuck in that for sure.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Um, do you guys have any advice for future competitors looking to compete in mechanical insulation?

SPEAKER_01 26:22

Bring your own tools. There were some pretty important ones that I definitely wish that I had that probably would have changed a lot of how my stuff looked. There's little tricks that you pick up on in the trade that it's not like a tool that's essential to your trade, but it it helps, like little metal clips that you're not trying to like, it's like an extra set of hands kind of thing. Um and you get used to your own tools too, the way they work. Maybe kind of go with the idea that you're going to be on a time limit. So if these people haven't gone to school, practice a little bit, not care so much about what it looks like, but more so like how how quickly you can put it on, and then once you've got the speed down, work on your technique quality a bit. Yeah, um it's not, I guess it's not that serious. That would probably be my biggest thing. It doesn't need to be something so stressful. This is going to be something that may or may not kick off your momentum in life and just take every opportunity. Like our instructors drilled into us. Take every opportunity, and guess what? It'll be over before you even know it. You'll be talking about it for weeks leading up to it, and then all of a sudden it's over and you're on to the next thing. So try to enjoy it. Yeah, enjoy it. Yeah, don't let it get too big in your head.

SPEAKER_00 27:42

I feel like at the end of the day, it's just a really good opportunity to practice your skills in a different setting. And I feel like the time crunch helps a little bit and learning the skills in a different way, which is always a good opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Yeah, definitely. For sure. The job we went to following pretty much immediately after school skills. We're working on a mod yard now, and there's fast paced. Everything is fast. You jump on a mod, start insulating it, and it's gone to site by the end of the week. So it has to be done before it leaves. So yeah. So I think that going to school and going to skills definitely help really that to see the importance of working fast and being good.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

That really happened at like the most opportune time for that change. Yes, for sure. That's awesome. What would you guys say to younger women and girls who might not know this trade exists and maybe think it's not for them, but they think it's interesting and looks fun?

SPEAKER_01 28:42

Well, I would definitely say give it a shot. If you're thinking about it, try it. Because at the end of the day, if you hate it, go home. Do something else. You have your whole life to figure out what you want to do. So if a two-week delay just trying something is all that's gonna like just do it because who knows, you might end up finding a career in it, you might end up finding a huge passion in it. If you're somebody who's artistic and likes to pay attention to detail, you will like this trade. It's very satisfying to see your finished product because it looks beautiful and shiny and clean and professional. Just don't let your fears control your life. Just try it. And if you hate it, it's not gonna be the end of the world. No harm done, but at least you tried. I definitely recommend if you are a woman who's looking for a trade to get into, this would be the one for sure. There's a lot of us within this trade. So maybe also try roping in a friend with your friend. Yeah, yeah. I think that would be to have another woman for sure. When I first started working even as a janitor owning camps, everyone's like, Are you sure you want to do that? You know, as a young woman alone. They are definitely instilling fear in me. Very daunting. This is a horrible idea. And then I went there and is actually just like any other job. You do have to have a bit of tough skin because there are going to be some people who can't mind their own business, but that's everywhere. It's just that it's more condensed in a small camp or whatever, you know. So you experience it a lot more. And you can't let that stuff affect you. You're there for work. You are there to prove yourself. So whatever they have to say, whatever little looks they have to give, let it roll off your back. Don't let it bother you. You're doing the same job that they're doing. And getting paid the same that they are. It's not always gonna be like that, too. No, no, yeah. No, definitely not. There are some really wonderful, amazing people we have met throughout working in this trade, people that I will never forget and will want in my circle for the rest of my life. But like nine times out of ten, we have had extremely supportive and fun encounters with the people we work with. So those few not so great ones really, they're not even on my mind. The good definitely outweighs the bad in that sense. Being a woman in the trades. Yeah. And also that the trades can be pretty fun too. Like for sure. You don't have to dress up for work. I mean, you can you can if you want to, but nine times out of ten, you're wearing coveralls. So if you want to just wear sweatpants to work that day, like pajamas problem. It's like hanging out with friends while you're doing your job. Like get really close with the people you're working with, especially if you're working out of town. It's like your second family. They always say every morning, every safety toolbox and whatever. This is your second home. And I mean a lot of the time when you're doing shift work, you are spending more time with those people than you are with your family. So you're living in camp with them, you are working with them from start to finish of the day, 12 hours every single day, plus dinner. You are spending a lot of time with these people, and they do just become your family. So it's not like you're gonna go out to camp and have the worst experience for the two weeks that you're out there. You're gonna find your place one way or another. Because we both went out to different camps alone, like without each other, prior to starting insulating, and we both made friends very instantaneously.

SPEAKER_00 32:08

I feel like it's a really amazing opportunity to try out a trade, and I mean it looks super fun, and I love watching it at the competitions. So if you're thinking of starting a trade and you're a woman, maybe mechanical insulation is for you.

SPEAKER_01 32:22

I highly recommend just giving it a shot. What's it gonna what harm is it gonna do to just try something for a short period?

SPEAKER_00 32:30

Yeah, I could not agree more. So do you both plan to stay in the trade long term, or are you looking at expanding your knowledge of trades down the road? I think a little bit of both.

SPEAKER_01 32:41

Long term, we have had a goal for quite a few years with some of our childhood friends. We have this dream, we call it the village. So we kind of want to have properties in kind of a closer range to each other and just homestead and be able to utilize the land and stuff like that. And I want to be able to build my own home. I have a whole plan for it. I know exactly what I want my vision to be, which is a big reason why I got into the trades in the first place. I'll probably stick with insulation for a bit, but I would like to broaden my horizons with other trades. I'm not really wanting to become a plumber, but I think having that knowledge would be extremely beneficial to building my house in the future or electrical or pipe fitting. So we didn't want to become insulators and then actually ended up really loving it. Not only is it super practical to have that knowledge, we enjoy doing the work. So yeah. I think for me, I also want to stick with it long term. I don't know that I really want to explore other trades, possibly for the same reasons of having that bank of knowledge. With this new job that we both got at the Maud Yard, I have had the opportunity to start reading some blueprints and kind of seeing more of an office side of things and a quality control side of things. For me, I don't enjoy looking at blueprints, they scatter my brain way too much. I like putting the insulation on and cutting it out and stuff. That just doesn't make sense to me. I just don't like blueprints. This is a great opportunity. Obviously, I enjoy the hands-on deal, but I don't plan to be on the tools till I'm 65. That's not necessarily feasible. Just being able to learn and have a new experience at this job has been really eye-opening for the routes I can take in this field for sure. So many different opportunities. It's not just on the tools, you know.

SPEAKER_00 34:37

I feel like one of the coolest things about the trades is that you end up becoming a jack of all trades and you're learning all these different things that are a part of other trades. So that's so cool.

SPEAKER_01 34:46

Definitely. Yeah, the uh my boss now who's training me on the quality control side of things, he was an insulator by trade too. As he's been learning and taking on new opportunities, he has had options to do quality control for iron workers and pipe bidders, even though he knew nothing about it. He just got offered the position and he's like, Oh, I'll try it. And yeah, you just you just learn all types of things that aren't actually in your scope of work just by being around it.

SPEAKER_00 35:13

I really love that dream of having a homestead and land close to another node. You guys can just walk over and be like, hey, let's hang out, have some coffee, like whatever it is. That's so fun.

SPEAKER_01 35:23

That's the goal. Oh, hey, you're sticking some extra eggs here. Take the milk from my cow this week.

SPEAKER_00 35:28

I love that for you guys. That sounds so fun. Our last question is what is your favorite thing about mechanical insulation? The people.

SPEAKER_01 35:39

Honestly, the people that you meet throughout this trade. I mean, like, there's so many things I can say. I I love being hands-on, I draw, I am very crafty, I love painting, I like all sorts of stuff like that. So this is basically just like a bigger version of Arts of Crafts. So I love that portion of it. It really is. Like when you finish your job, you can take a step back and think that looks so nice. Wow, how did that turn into that? That's just so cool. So I really love the satisfaction of completing our job and stuff. But it just scratches an itch on my little artistic brain. You know, it's really perfect. Just in the trade in general, the people that we work with are phenomenal. They are amazing. Obviously, you're always gonna have a few bad apples, but 95% of the people I've met throughout this are like-minded, smartest people you will ever meet, and just some of the craziest experiences you'll ever hear. You know, some of these people have been working in the trade for 40 plus years and have seen everything. So learning or getting experiences from their experiences is really cool to hear firsthand. And being able to be surrounded by people who know the trade and are also excited to come to work, it's so refreshing. Every other job I've worked, everyone is so, oh, I don't want to work today. Obviously, there's some of that too, but every Friday everyone's so hyped because it's the weekend. We'll go into the change room and the guys are playing Eye of the Tiger and jumping around and dancing. There isn't a single day that I haven't been at least killing myself laughing at least once. Everybody just keeps each other's morale up, and it's amazing to find a little group of people like that. It's hard to say if it's like that in every other trade, too. I mean, our only experience is in mechanical insulation, and yeah, the people have just made it so worth it. Oh, that's so amazing. And I just love that it's the experience for you guys. If it's something you're thinking about for skills, maybe stop by the next skills competition. Even being able to walk around after we were done competing and see everything that everyone else was doing. I just know if that was me right out of high school wanting to apply like to the trades, that is a great place to learn about it and make some connections because it was really hard to get into the trades. Or you have no idea of what you want to do. Like, I mean, again, we didn't know that really insulating even existed, but there's baking, sewing, construction, welding, brickling, like you know, there's everything. Might not know that those exist unless you go and take a look at that. So definitely go take a walk around your next skills competition. Yeah, just take it as an opportunity to get some ideas of what maybe you'd want to do in the future. With trades, if you go to school for that trade, you're gonna be able to get a job, you know. And that's not the case with all other avenues of school when people get a diploma and then they can't get a job after. And trades, you are always gonna find more guaranteed. Like even with insulation, we do part of sheet metal too, which is a totally different trade, and that's another avenue you could take with ours as well. So there's just so many different opportunities, and it's worth going to take a look to see what's out there for you.

SPEAKER_00 38:59

Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I mean, we have like 45 competitions throughout trades and tech, and then in public speaking for students to better those skills, it's the coolest thing to see and then be a part of.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

Just so much knowledge being shared in one space is just crazy to you can't even comprehend how much how much education and knowledge is in that building when you go there.

SPEAKER_00 39:21

I think it's honestly one of the most incredible things I've seen. It's just so cool to see it all in one space and like how knowledgeable and passionate people are about their trader tech. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 39:30

And just that it's normal people with just regular people like us who are building our world, creating our entire existence out here, which is just normal people like you and I. So yeah, it's really cool to see it kind of brought down to that level, but it's not all that serious, you know. It's just your average joke.

SPEAKER_00 39:50

Yeah, honestly, yeah, it's amazing. But thank you so much to both of you for joining me today on the podcast. It was so amazing hearing about your stories and how you guys competed together and went through the trade together. It's so cool and inspiring to hear from both of you. And thank you to everyone for tuning in. We will see you in the next one.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

Thank you so much. It's been a great chat with you. Great opportunity for us, and really appreciate it. So thank you.

SPEAKER_00 40:16

Yeah, of course, thank you guys. Thanks again for tuning in. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. If you'd like to learn more, but still, website, website, combined skills, right?