Episode 2: The Women Who Forged the Way (Coming mid Dec 2020)

(MANY OTHER VOICES will be heard in this episode, this is only a teaser.)

In WWII the first generation of American women entered the skilled trades workforce. Since, their plight has been one of exclusion;  women represent just slightly under 3% of those employed in the skilled trades and a very small number of that percentage is women of color, all enduring sexism, discrimination and harassment.

In this episode women who entered the trades in the 70s, 80s, 90s, some retired, some still working, talk frankly about enduring culturally accepted sexism, their exclusion from equal opportunities and how they fought back.

This is an inside scoop about those who paved the way in the early days of women working in the trades.

Episode 3: Today’s Essential Workers and Educators

(MANY OTHER VOICES will be heard in this episode, this is only a teaser.)

The equity movement of the previous generations of tradeswomen yielded a burgeoning skilled trades workforce of young women. As they begin work, alongside men, they’re sometimes confronted with age-old behaviors.

This episode reveals the truth about the skilled trades’ culture in 2020 and the passion the women have for their work, how the next generation navigates inequities in the trades, and the life changing experience it’s been for them.

Women share their untold stories with great hope, confidence and humor about being part of the next generation of these essential workers, as women in the trades.

Episode 4: Building a Pipeline to the Future

(MANY OTHER VOICES will be heard in this episode, this is only a teaser.)

The push to attend a four-year college takes a toll on the skilled trades employment pipeline, so American manufacturers lack workers and are relocating off-shore.

In this episode, unions, educators and advocates respond with solutions requiring scaling creatively and inclusively at a national level. They talk openly about recruiting and maintaining work in the trades.

A movement is underway embracing the challenges for women in the skilled trades and advocating that all builders of this country are equal.

WHY am I doing this project?

DONATE Women in the Trades Podcast GOFUNDME page. 

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What began as a casual podcast experiment in January about my welding friends and coworkers quickly revealed a little known critical cause and movement for women in the trades/ essential workers. The timing felt cataclysmic.

I quickly realized this project had a larger purpose. I want to help and offer platform so women can share their stories, celebrate the victories, explore behavior paradigms of those working in, hiring in and designing pipelines, for cis-gender, gender non-conforming, straight, non-binary, LGBTQ women in the skilled trades and industrial arts. I want more women to hear the strength and joy of everyone I spoke with- and to encourage more women into the trades.

Women represent just 3% of those working in the skilled trades- let's change that!

The women I spoke with are fearless, brainy, and are the unsung pioneers in traditionally male dominated fields. They don't take NO for an answer. In fact, it fuels them toward success. Their general badassery is mind-blowing! You'll see and hear, soon! (Go! Listen to those audio clips.)

Their stories and my interest in their plight also has a personal connection for me. I spent my early  childhood years at my grandparents’ general store which also included an auto shop. I have fond and vivid memories of the smell of oil and cement in that auto shop, of the store aisles filled with everything from tires to toys and of the people who carried me on their shoulders to show me the inner workings of a car hoisted in the air for repair.  I was fascinated!  My appreciation for work done by hand continued into my teens with the help of my dad, in learning how to do minor repairs on my car’s engine.  In fact, I usually knew more than most boys my age about replacing a clutch or what a broken steering cable looked like. It’s an empowering feeling understanding machines and power tools! 

Now, midlife, I find myself coming full circle, still amazed and in awe of the hard working women and men who build our bridges, our homes, our offices, our cars and… and, and, and, the list is a long one. To be clear, this project isn't about my past, but I do feel particularly passionate about this work and will honor the women and men who have trusted me to share their stories with respect and dignity. 

You’ll also be supporting my career leap! Like millions of others, I was also laid off in May of 2020 and this project has provided me hope, inspiration and a chance to take a turn I’d been waiting for- to become a radio journalist. I’m determined to make this career shift and am learning from the ladies that when someone tells you “NO” it’s just fuel for the engine! 

This project is only the beginning of the Women in Trades series. Women were so excited to tell their stories and there are thousands more across the nation women waiting to share! I cannot wait to get this out of my cloud drive and into your podcast feed and keep this engine running!

I’ll be so grateful  to you, as will every podcast guest, that you contributed to the Women in the Skilled Trades Podcast Project,. You are supporting their voice, acknowledging their impact and their potential to forever change our country’s industries and the economy of women in the workforce.

DONATE Women in the Trades Podcast GOFUNDME page. 

SHARE SHARE SHARE SHARE on FB! 

Did I mention, there are really amazing donor REWARDS!!!?

We have until December 30th to get this funded and ready for nationwide listening in 2020/21!

With your donation, you are supporting

• all women in the skilled trades in the United States working their badasses off

• their families

• the future of the young women to follow in their forged path!
  

You'll be making an incredible, long-lasting impact on the lives of thousands AND this podcast producer/writer and her team!