Katie Jones - Bringing Pride and Artistry to Welding

Katie Jones brings pride and artistry to her work as a welder. Her story is a great example that where you are now or where you're from does not limit where you can go or what you can do in this industry.

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Transcript

Katie Jones brings pride and artistry to her work as a welder. Her story is a
great example that where you are now or where you're from does not limit where you can go or what you can do in this industry.

There's a big gap between me and you. There's not a lot of people in that gap.
There's a couple generations of people that we're missing. And it's not that we
stopped needing welders, and plumbers, and electricians. We just stopped bringing people into it. And we made do with older people. And now we're at the point where we're leaving. We're getting out of the business.

And there's 30 or 40 years of knowledge that needs to get transferred to people
that are doing this for six months. - Exactly so, exactly so. A thing is about it
though is I feel like a lot of people are intimidated by trades because your
parents are pushing you for college and pushing you for this four year diploma and
pushing you to do this and pushing you to do that, you don't even think of a
trade. - It's more true than you realize. I mean, my parents were both blue collar
people. - Right. - And I didn't really want to go to college, except I wanted to, except I had to go to college to do what I wanted to do.

Originally I wanted to go and enlist and my dad's like, "Hold on, we worked our
lives "as your parents that put money away "so you could go to college and for
what you want to do "you should do that first 'cause if you don't do that "you
may never come back to it." - Exactly. - But that part is so untrue. - It is.
- It's so untrue. - I went to college too because my parents told me I should go
to college and so tell me tell me that how did you where you from where did you
grow up what did you do first and how did you get here that's the story that
people want to hear because there's a bunch of other people out there that are like I don't know but they feel like they need to go to college and people are telling
them you need to do that because they don't know that the opportunities that you're seeing now exist and they just don't know what to tell them but they know well if you go to college then you'll get a good job. Growing up you know I was putting homes and all of that but eventually my grandparents took me for a little while and my uncle was in the pipeline for many many years he actually died on the pipeline so on the on the pipeline like he worked on the pipeline he had a heart attack.

So the pipeline is because people don't know what pipeline you talk about,
like the Keystone Pipeline and the Colonial Pipeline, so moving petroleum products
from place to place. He had his own rig and everything. He was always up and down
the East Coast, welding pipe all the time. He was home like once a week, a month,
if that, and other than that, he was just always on the road welding.
And I don't know, I always wondered like I mean I'm 25 years old now so I've been
thinking for a long time what I want to do what do I want to do I went to
college I actually because of everyone telling me I needed to go to college I
graduated high school early with an advanced diploma which means nothing by the way
some people can be very disappointed to hear that yeah I'm so sorry everybody it
doesn't matter all they care is that you graduated But I worked very hard for it.
And then after that, I graduated semester early from high school, and I went to
TCC. Not the trades. I went as general studies into school, because I didn't know
what I wanted to do. But I was like, well, everyone's pushing me to go to college.
I guess I'll go. So I went, and I passed my first semester, but after that, I was
like, why am I even going here? Like, I'm literally going for general studies. I
don't know what I want to do. I'm wasting my time and money. And so, I stopped
going to college, and then I had been in the restaurant industry since I was 16,
so I just went heavy back on the restaurant industry and just started bartending and
serving and bartending and serving and bartending and serving for years, up until I
was 22, 22, 23. And then I finally was like, all right, we have to figure
something else out. You need You need a 401 (k), you need to make a living,
and there's only so much you can make where you're at. You know, you've gone to
the max amount of growth. Unless you wanna own a business, this is what you get in
the restaurant industry. And I didn't wanna own a business in the restaurant
industry. It just wasn't personally for me. And growing up, my pup always said,
"Well, why don't you do a trade?" 'Cause I always was a tomboy. I'm one of three
brothers, so I was always trying to keep up with the boys. And he was like, Katie,
why don't you do a trade? He was like, just put your boots on and go home after.
And you know, be yourself again. And I looked at him, 16, with my fingernails
painted. And I'm like, you're crazy, Poppa. You are crazy. So now I get to tell
him, he tells me, I told you so. And Poppa was the one that worked on the
pipeline. No, Poppa is my grandpa. OK. My uncle was the one that worked on the
pipeline. My uncle was actually an ATF agent, but he was the one who raised me for
a good amount of years in my life when I was going through homes. And it was his
idea that pressured me and pushed me, but at 16, you know, a 16 -year -old girl was
not thinking about that, at least I wasn't. And I was like, "You're crazy, man."
And back then it was like 2015, so it was a different world too. I and I know
that's not that long ago, but it was different. And finally, I was looking up
trades, and I was like, you know what? I'm gonna do it, forget it, I'm gonna try
it. So I came here, and I ran a bead, and I didn't even come here too well,
but I came here to tour. - And here is the-- - Skilled trades. - Tidewater Community
College Skilled Trades Academy. - Yes, the Tidewater College Guild Trades Academy in
Portsmouth. I came here and I came to my foster dad and he knew one of the
workers, instructors here. They're no longer here anymore, but he let me run a bead
and instantly I have stopped sons. I have not stopped sons. And as a little girl I
actually wanted to do cosmetology for a while too because I love art and I love
like the art of makeup and everything. I knew, I - I suspected you were gonna say
that you had an artistic talent. - I didn't know it. I didn't know. Like I just
thought makeup was makeup. And then as I started welding, I noticed that I used the
same techniques with like my hands and my pinky and all that, that I do on my
face, that I do on my welds. - It's just a different medium, right? Whether you're
using a pencil or a paintbrush, you're putting material down in an artistic manner,
and you could do it like me, and you could splatter it all over the page like a
bed, Jackson Pollock, or you can run that row of dimes and make it a pretty
-looking weld. - Yeah, and honestly, it's insane. I mean, you really can. You can
make it beautiful or awful or however you want, but welding is an art, and it's a
passion of mine I never, ever thought I would have. And honestly, I'm so glad I
found it because I was lost. I mean I'm 25 years old. It took me a while to find
my career. I tried nursing. I tried cosmetology. I went to TCC Community College in
Chesapeake for a semester, like I said, none of it worked. And I finally figured it
out. And I never, I never thought I would. And honestly, I've been turned down by
a few jobs because they're like, you're a welder. And I'm like, "Yes, I am. I sure
am. I'm not lying to you." - You say at 25 that you were lost and it took a
while, but I don't think that's at all unreasonable for most people. - I'm so glad
you say that, 'cause I was so pushing myself, like you need to figure out what you
need to do. Like you're getting older, you have to figure this out. - You know, I
think there's a transition, and I've said this to people before. If you look at it
and like growth happens in these like four year blocks. Like who you were at 18 is
not who you are at 22. And who you were at 22 is not who you are at 26.
- Absolutely not. - And there should be a lot of growth that happens in there and
you should be out discovering stuff that you wanted, what you like and what you
don't like, what you're good at, what you're not good at. But not feel like if you
don't have it figured out by the time you graduate high school, by the time you
graduate college, or even by 26, and feel like my life is rudderless if I don't
know what I want to do, if I don't have it all figured out, whatever that is.
Honestly, that's the way the society makes you feel, you know? It's like, well, if
you're 26, you don't have a career, what are you doing? What are you doing with
your life? Yeah, I feel like a better way to put it is - You should have a job
that's paying your bills and you're not living in your parent's basement anymore. But
you don't have to have it all figured out. - No, and trust me, I do not have it
all figured out. I just finally found my passion. Like I'm just getting started. I
mean, I have a long road ahead of me with this career. - So now you know, you're
gonna have a sting in your hand, you got a shield on your head, and you got
something that you wanna do. - For the rest of my life. - So Where do you see that
going? Like what's, could you do that for the, for you're working on some, on a
project from somebody for, for the next 30 years? - Yeah. - You'd be happy doing
that. Shield down, just running a beat on somebody's project. - Every day. What I
don't like is, you know, I like, I like, I take passion in my welds and my,
you know, my art and everything. So I don't want to be pressured onto them, you
know, like production and stuff like that I was mentioning. I like my time in it,
you know, like I want this to look nice, this is important, this is an art. You
know, you can't mess this up. It's very important. You said it twice now, this is
an art and I think, man, if people who feel that way, there's so many ways to do
that, right? So certainly welding, right, we were talking about how that's an art,
but man, - Electrical work is an art too. - Carpentry, all of it. - Have you ever
opened up an electrical panel and just seen it look just perfect and neat? Right,
that's an art, isn't it? - I can't do it. - I can't do it. - I can only talk
about it. I can't do any of this stuff, right? - It is absolutely an art. Doing
all of these things with your hands and then seeing the progress you can make is
amazing and it's an amazing feeling to have. - That's fantastic. And I asked a
minute ago if you'd work on somebody else's project for the next 30 years like
that, and I don't mean that in a disparaging way at all, and what we've been
trying to bring forth as we've been doing these and bringing out these stories,
there's so many different pathways. I feel like some parents are afraid to have
their kids go into the trades to use an example to say, "Well, you're going to be
a welder for the rest of your life," as though that's a bad thing. - It's not.
- And it's not, but there's so many other pathways that I would say you haven't
even thought about yet. When you're sitting here as a new welder saying, "This isn't
art," and you've used that several times,
the opportunities and where that can take you because there's shipbuilding, aircraft,
there's structural stuff, but there's a lot of artistic stuff that could be done as
well. Things that need to be made to look good that require welding. - I know.
- Yeah. - That's what I love, but you asked me earlier, my goal, my goal is I want
to become a traveling structural welder. It's like bridges and tunnels, windmills,
all of that stuff. - Can you see yourself hanging off? - Yes. - A three, I haven't
said it yet. (laughing) Can you see your, give me a chance, would you?
(laughing) - I already knew that. - Can you see yourself hanging off of a 300 foot
windmill tower off Virginia here? - Yep. - And that doesn't intimidate you. - Not at
all. - Have you done anything like that yet? - I have not, but I want to.
- You've been a grounded welder so far. - I have been a grounded welder. - But - I
want to get up. - But I want to, I want to get up there. I'm very, I want to
take, you know, my size and everything I have to my advantage. And I think that
would be definitely to my advantage. - Why do you say that? Why do you say your
size is an advantage? - 'Cause I'm five foot two and I'm a buck 30. (laughing)
- Has anybody told you that's an advantage or disadvantage? - Absolutely, when you're
doing ships and submarines, bridges, tunnels, All of that,
you have all of these crevices and cracks and crannies that a lot of people can't
get into. I mean, you are in tight, tight corners. - So at five,
two, and a buck, 30, as you put it, has that limited you in anything that you've
needed to do yet? - It's limited me in what people can see in me.
I get underestimated a lot, but has it limited me and how I work? Absolutely not.
- The bead kind of doesn't care, right? - No, I do everything normal. I don't have
any heart. I mean, I haul alloy every day, like I said, metal, and I use a hoist,
and those alloy is over 400 pounds. Now it is on a hoist, but I am moving that
with my hand, back and forth, up, down, left, right, all day long. - So If somebody
feels like maybe I don't have the physical strength for this. You do. You just
don't realize it. Because there's tools available, right? Nobody expects you to pay
at 400 pounds on your back. No, no. No, actually the limit is 25 pounds. So
there's a lot of things that people don't realize. Like a lot of, especially women,
they're like, "I can't be a welder, what?" Like it's all heavy lifting and that's
not actually the case. Actually you have better hand eye and then you think.
- Especially if you've got an artistic talent to begin with. - Exactly. - Yeah, it's
just working with a different medium. - It is, it is, it is. It's all just
different things. It took me a while to figure it out. It really did. And like I
said before, I never thought I'd be here. - I gotta tell you, these conversations
that we've had, I've had to stop and ask somebody, "Hey, what's fun about what
you're doing?" And I feel like it's a pointless question now. Is there anything
that's not fun that you don't like? Let me flip it around. What's not fun? What do
you not like about what you do?
- I was gonna say, I don't like being underestimated, but I like proving people
wrong. So like, there's not, I love it. I love my career is my passion.
And that's something that is very, very, very hard to find in today's world is a
job you love, you know, a passion that is career. Why do you think that is?
Because people get stuck in a bubble and they don't want to venture out and find
what they actually love. I think people get into a job and they get stuck in the
job, they move up the ranks, even if they're happy or not happy and they just stay
there and they don't venture out to find what they love. - Yeah, this is an old
story about a drunk who loses his keys at night, and he's looking around under the
street light. And somebody says, "Where are your keys at?" I lost them over there.
Why are you looking under the light? 'Cause that's what the light is. They're
looking in the wrongs place. (laughing) - Exactly. - Right, they're trying to find
happiness - It's not there. - It's not gonna make them happy. So they pursue
something else in there, whether it's money or power or something, but it's not the
thing that actually makes them happy. But it's scary sometimes that peering to the
darkness and go, I gotta go find happiness in something I don't really know. - I
think most people settle because they're scared of change.
- So at 25, and you mentioned you had a challenging, a upbringing which could either
scare the daylights out of you or give you confidence saying I've been through
something already, but what would you say to somebody else that's sitting here
watching this right now and thinking I don't know if I could have that conversation
with my papa and say I don't want to go to college or I don't think college is
right right now or I want to try something different. What would you say to
somebody like that? They're not gonna hate you. That's one of the kids worst feeling
is like, they're gonna hate me, they're gonna resent me, you know, because I don't
wanna do this. They're not gonna hate you, you know. When I told my papa about
that, he was actually proud of me. To this day, he says, I told you so every time
I call him. So that's one thing, you know. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid,
you know. At that point, you're a growing adult and you need to tell them what is
right and what is wrong and it's okay to have an opinion and it's okay for your
parents not agree on that opinion.
Have you ever thought since you've been on this path maybe I want to go back to
an industry I'm comfortable in maybe I should go back to college. Nope so the only
time I've thought about it because my job I have right now you know with all the
work I I do a lot of work and it's a lot of stress. I have thought about like
maybe I'll leave this job and go bar to and get another welding job, but I stay
there because it's important to me. - Tell me about that stress. Is it,
are you stressed about it right now? - No. - No, it's at the job. - It's a work
environment and it's production. So everything-- - Shield up, walk out the door. How
do you feel? Good, you know, I get the work done, we get out,
but it's like it's a lot of pressure because it's like I said production So I have
to go has to go now has to go fast, but I want Someone to appreciate my welds,
you know, like these welds I do they're just going to casting it melting down into
an airplane part Like I want I want to make that airplane part Any concerns about
getting a different job if you wanted a shorter commute, a different environment,
want to work on a different project. How confident are you to say, "If I change my
mind right now, I could find another job pretty easily." So, if I switch to job,
I would go back to the restaurant industry.
Finding a trade, it's not that it's hard, but as a welder,
you're looking around that Everyone always wants three to five years experience, three
to five years experience, which actually is the same thing as a bartender. They
always want a bartender with experience. So it's very hard at this age,
that's the main problem with honestly every company you have here. It's like, oh
well, I'm a new welder. I'm a new engineer. I do HVAC. It's like,
okay, well how many years do you have? None, I just got certified. And then that's
when the problem comes in is like, nobody wants a new welder, they want an
experienced welder. - That can't be true, 'cause you got hired on as a new welder.
- It took four companies, but I did it. - So you think four companies is a lot?
- No. - I would tell you, I don't think four interviews is a lot for anybody. - No,
four was the four I got. I applied way more than four companies. I probably applied
to like 20. - And then you got - Four interviews. - Four interviews. I got one of
them.
I did it, but it wasn't easy. - I don't... - But honestly,
if it's something you wanna do, all you have to do is put your foot in the door
and keep trying, 'cause I was turned down a few times. I just kept trying. I
didn't give up. - Yeah, I think that resistance is coming down.
The more people are retiring out, the more companies are coming to realization that
we're going to have to hire new people and we're going to have to teach them.
You're right, everybody wants that experienced tradesperson. And that's what I'm
saying, is these people that are aging out should be training the new people coming
in. But that's not your problem anymore. You've got experience. No, it's not. But
what? Doesn't that make sense? And the best time to go looking for a job is when
you've got a job. So you've got experience now, you've worked someplace, you can run
a, I assume you can run a good bead.
Getting better all the time, right? Which is why we're here. I'm high, I run good
beads. I mean, 'cause you're actually here, you graduated from here, but you're back
learning a new skill now. Yes, so I'm certified in three different types of welds,
stick, mig, and flux, and I'm here for my last certification, which is take. - And
how long have you been doing this? - A year. - A year? - Like all of my classes,
this class, I've only been it for a week, but I've been a certified welder for a
year now. - And working for how long? - Over six months at this company. So I
started last August with my stick class, ended in late November, early December,
and then I ended with my flux, And then I got this job like early April,
March, March, April. And I've been there since.
That's pretty good. Who's paying for this training? This one right here. Yeah, the
one class you're taking now. Like who's paying? Are you paying for it? Is your
company paying for it? So the schooling is free. I don't know-- Free schooling?
I don't know all the details for everybody, but the school is the whole reason I
got this opportunity. The skilled trades academy is the reason I am where I'm at
now, and that's why I promote this so much is because of the reason I was in the
system, because I was in the foster care system and aged out, that's why I got
free schooling. I got granted to come here because of of what happened,
foster kids get free schooling. Now there is other grants and other amazing things.
I know they do, y 'all do a lot of stuff honestly for schooling,
they do a lot of grants. I know the city of mayor was offering kids in the city
of Portsmouth grants if they wanted to come to school here, But my schooling is
absolutely free if I work hard and I succeed What could be better than that?
Exactly, you just have to want it, you know, yeah, and then you got to show up
and do the work exactly And after that, it's all easy. Yep No Not at all,
but the schooling here honestly, I - I wouldn't have been able to afford it.
I mean, I live on my own. I've been independent since I was 18. I aged out the
system and I've been living on my own ever since. So I came across this and when
I found out that I had financial aid for it, I was like, I'm going.
- It's a deeply personal story that maybe not everybody would tell. And I'm so glad
that you are telling it because What I would hope people would take out of that
is, no matter their circumstance, if they want out, if they want up and better,
there's opportunity to do that. If you seize that opportunity. And there's help
available to get there. - And that's the thing is like, a lot of, especially kids
in my circumstances, they don't see that. They don't know that, you know? I did a
speech recently here and it's actually all true statistically less than 10 % graduate
high school, less than 1 % go to college and even fewer get a degree. Nowhere in
there did anybody track how many of them go into a trade, learn to be a craftsman.
Degree or certification but it's definitely something that I have taken full advantage
of and I'm so thankful for this Academy because because of the opportunities it has
given me. And that is the Tidewater Community College, Skilled Trades Academy. Let's
say that again so everybody gets that, right? The TCC, Skilled Trades Academy.
That's fantastic. Yeah, because of these people here, my instructors,
and the instructors here are all very experienced. And if they can see that you
have a heart for this and you care about it, they will not let you down. They
will help you until the end.
- You just said you're one of six. - Yes. - Are they all in the system? - Yes.
- Any of them following you? Something like this? - So, My brother and actually yeah,
we're all in trades
My brother's an electrician my other brother's a carpenter My other brother is a
supervisor at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard
So Actually, we're all in trades. I didn't even think about that until you said it
out loud And then my cousin is The welder, my uncle, he welds,
the one who passed, like I said, and now his son, which is my cousin, he's a
welder now. And he did weld at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and now he welds
someplace else. I don't know where it's at, but he does helicopters.
So we're all in trades. And all succeeding at it. Yep. We're all killing it.
Where are you in Is she the oldest, youngest? - So I am the oldest girl and the
third child. - So you've got some who are younger than you. - I have two older
brothers and the two older brothers are the ones that work at Norfolk Naval, the
supervisor, and then I have the electrician. And then there's me, the welder, and
then there's my little brother who is, what does he do? - Carpentry? - Yeah,
carpentry. He does like, He does fixing up houses and stuff like that too. So all
of that stuff. He loves housework, remodeling homes and all of that. He loves it.
And then my little sister, she's still figuring it out. So is the other one. - So
there's an opportunity to get two more welders in. - Yeah, so I'm trying to convince
my youngest sister to do a trade because she doesn't know what she wants to do.
And I'm like, she's like, "Well, I don't want to go to college, Katie. I don't
want to go to school." And I'm like, "Well, come join me. You can do a trade." I
was like, I would show you how to weld. And actually, my father called me the
other night and was talking about her to me and was like, you really need to talk
to your little sister, Katie. Like, we got to figure something out. - We, you know,
we have talked to people that started out saying that I don't want to go to
college. They get into the trades and they start learning what that trade is all
about and then start figuring out what What they would go back to school.
That's what happened and now let me remind you the sister that he's telling us to
It's the same age that he was telling me this to at that age. So she's thinking
heck though. I'm not gonna do that I guarantee you in a few years. She'll be
calling me. I I'd be a huge hypocrite if I said to somebody you don't need or you
don't want to go to college But when I went to college is different than the
environment now now. My parents, I guess, could afford to send me to college because
I kind of knew what I wanted to do and I had to go to college for that. But if
I didn't know that I wanted to go into the Navy, I don't know what I was going
to college for because I was not passionate about being an engineer. When we told
that story to somebody else recently that they didn't feel like they were ready for,
didn't really want to go to college, they get into this field and now they're
working on an associate's from mechanical engineering and they've already got plans to
go back and get a bachelor's degree. Now to me that makes perfect sense if you
don't know what you want to do but then to see it practically and be engaged in
fixing a problem working on a project and understanding what that what that person
does or maybe it's QA or maybe it's writing business proposals and being on the you
know the management of the financial side but being, it's just too darn expensive to
go to college to figure something out and you might figure out that's not what you
wanna do. So coming into the trades and getting some business experience 'cause you
can go back. - That's another reason I went to a community college is because when
I first, you know, when I was younger in high school, I wanted to do the four
year, but I have no money, like I couldn't afford it. So I went online and just
kept applying grants for grants and loans and loans and all this and I was like
you know what this is ridiculous this is too much and then still I was in debt
like after all the grants and loans I still had a student loan like I did all the
math and I was like forget it it's not worth it so then I went to community
college and then found out that I don't even want to go to college so. Do you
think about it now? Can you see that somewhere in your future To go to college for
something based on what you've learned. No. No, I love what I do. How about being
a weld engineer?
Mm -hmm. I want to be a welder. I Hope we keep this thing going for five or ten
years because I want to come back and I want to see if that changes It's not
gonna I'm not gonna predict it and it's not a bad thing if it does or it doesn't
that's I hope you see my progress in the five to ten years. I hope I come back.
What I want to see, Katie, is a row of dimes. Around this country, I voted on
that bridge, that tunnel, that windmill. I did it. That's what I hope.
But, honestly, welding is something that takes time. I mean, I would be lying if
I've told you I went in there when I was a rock star on day one. No. I almost
walked out. It took so much dedication from my instructors who helped me so much,
you know, and they saw the passion I had that I just didn't give up Would you
start out welding stick welding stick? So when I worked at Fairlead and I've told
this story these guys have heard it already I Said I was gonna learn how to put
metal down not that I was gonna be a welder But I was gonna learn how to put
metal down. I just wanted to tack it and sure enough this guy who's you know 15
years older than me, still working in the industry, and he's trying to teach me to
weld, so I'm gonna work in after hours one day. Puts me on stick first, I'm like,
really stick first?
My plate looked like Custer did after Little Big Horn.
I just stuck in there, couldn't get it to start once it started, I couldn't keep
it going.
- So you just kept going like? I couldn't drag and I just I don't have I don't
have the touch right but that that's what's so beautiful about about welding in
particular like if you're if you have that skill it's it is a work of art I
always said this right but it's a true work of art it's a thing of beauty because
I didn't know that not everybody can do that yeah see I didn't know that and when
I went in here and ran my first beat ever I ran the whole thing,
I didn't get stuck once. Like I literally, I didn't like a match and just ran and
it was stick. - You've got a fantastic back story and a present story and you got
a really good way of telling that to people and we need more of that. That's what
we're trying to do here, but and I would encourage you that when you are offered
the opportunity and I hope there are many to get out there in front of people and
tell as much of that story as you're comfortable telling because we need good people
to come in because two million of us are leaving the industry now and like I
started out saying, there's a gap and we need to fill that gap because everything
that the nation needs right now comes down to people with a tool in their hand
going to do that work, whether it's your plumbing, your electrical work,
whether it's a bridge that needs to be built or replaced or repaired, or whether
we're gonna build this wind farm offshore. Ultimately, no amount of just planning and
talking about it's gonna get it done. It's gonna be people like you with a tool in
their hand ready to go to work and do good work on important stuff. - Exactly.
And a lot of people, like you said, don't know that this is an option and it's an
amazing option to have. Some people just don't know it's out there. But if you do
and you take it, I promise you won't, you won't, you won't regret it. - Well,
you're, you're helping to get people to know about it. - Because, and along with me
telling my story, that's actually another reason I did this podcast is because I did
the speech. And I honestly, I'm not a big social speaker. I actually have a lot of
social anxiety. - I think you were honest that everything you said until you said
that nonsense. - No one believes it, but I do. I swear, I'm over here shaking like
a leaf, but you don't know. But after I did it, and so many people came over to
me and were so motivated and, I mean, tearing up. And, you know,
I could tell I moved people. And I was like I want to do this. I want to put my
story out there and show people that you can come from ground zero and make
something of yourself. Because I did all of this on my own and I can only,
you know, believe myself for it because I did this. With some help.
Yes, but with the help of the skill trades academy, I have honestly on so far in
my life from where I was to who I am now. I mean, I was living the nightlife. I
was a bartender. I would close the bar and go to a bar. Now I wake up at 5 .30
in the morning and weld all day long. My life has literally took a 180. - How long
did it take you to make that transition? - Ah, like I said, probably about six
months, you know? I've been a water for a year, been there for a year, or working
at this company for a little over six months but in between those six months I was
still bartending and trying to find a welding job. Now the adjustment with this job,
it took a good one to two months for me to start waking up because I was so used
to going to bed at like two, three, four in the morning because I was closing
bars. So I had to completely change my whole sleep routine and everything. Happy
about it? I am. No regrets? No, no actually not at all. I'm very happy about it
and now I wake up in the morning bright and early I see people I talk to people
I'm happy I'm not sleeping in all day working a bar going to another bar at night
sleeping in all day going back to work at the bar you know I definitely I think
it's a healthier option for me and a lifestyle that's better for me. That's great
Thank you so much for your time today, of course. Thank you for having me. I
really appreciate it So this has been a really fun interview and thank you for your
time today Of course and thank you to TCC skilled trades Academy for doing this
late on a Friday afternoon on a day Where they might not otherwise be here. Thank
you. So thank you