Demi Knight Clark on Breaking Stereotypes in Vocational Trades and STEM

Trailblazing Yale alum and Guinness World Record holder Demi Knight Clark joins us as she reveals her path from childhood challenges to becoming a leader in the push for a new generation of welders. Inspired by her grandmother, one of the first female Marines, Demi's story is one of resilience and defiance against societal norms. Her experiences underscore the power of facing fears and advocating for oneself while leaving a positive impact. Demi's journey is a testament to the courage needed to succeed in male-dominated industries, as she balances early motherhood with a demanding career in home building during the tumultuous mid-2000s housing crisis.

Unlock insights into how modern parenting and mentorship shape future generations, as we discuss the delicate balance of helicopter, snowplow, and lighthouse parenting styles. Demi shares her thoughts on the importance of hands-on learning experiences for children in a digital age, urging parents to embrace traditional skills alongside technological advances. We explore how the mantra "cleaner, better, faster, stronger" can guide personal and professional development, helping women navigate STEM fields with confidence and community support.

The episode sheds light on the growing movement to elevate vocational trades like welding as viable career paths, emphasizing their role alongside traditional STEM fields. Demi highlights the role of mentorship and sponsorship in increasing gender diversity, emphasizing how men can support women and underrepresented groups through genuine engagement. By redefining blue-collar careers and advocating for strategic workforce development, we aim to inspire listeners to challenge existing narratives, foster diverse pipelines, and leave a lasting legacy through courage and determination.

Connect with Demi at:
https://www.demiknightclark.com/
https://www.instagram.com/girlfridaysgarage/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/demiknightclark/

Make yourself a priority and get more done: https://www.depthbuilder.com/do-the-damn-thing

Download a PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be
https://www.depthbuilder.com/books

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Whatever the thing is that you're not doing now that
you want to do, you've got tostand up for yourself, advocate
for yourself and ask, and ifthey say no, it's okay.
Dust yourself off.
No hard feelings.
Go to the next person, do thehard things, face the fears that
are innately going to come, andif they don't come, it's
probably not hard enough.
That's what I always tell my 18and 20-year-old daughters.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Like put your big girl pants on shipping girl band
sign.
You're not made of sugar, youwon't melt.
Get out there.
What is going on?
L and m family.
I'm just gonna tell you, likethe big teaser, I got a
superstar today for y'all welderted women session leader, five
summit climber, gu GuinnessWorld Record holder, yale alum.
And I know there's a list ofother stuff that I didn't write
down and probably a bigger, moregigantic list coming in the
future.
But we're going to get to knowMiss Demi Knight Clark and she

(01:00):
ain't messing around.
And she ain't messing around.
She's out there waking up thesuits in their boardrooms with
her plan to recruit the nextgeneration of welders super,
super, super fast.
And she ain't doing it like therest of us have been doing,
running the same play over andover.
She's riding her own place.
So I can't wait to get to knowher a little bit more.

(01:24):
And if you're new here, this isthe Learnings and Missteps
podcast, where you get to seehow real people just like you
are sharing their gifts andtalents to leave this world
better than they found it.
My name is Jesse, your selfishservant, and let's get to meet
Miss Demi Knight-Clark.

(01:46):
Miss Demi, how are you?

Speaker 1 (01:48):
I'm good and it sounds so formal when you say my
whole name, but I go by mywhole name and it's probably for
first off.
I love the.
Do the damn thing.
It's very much my style.
She's kind of like put on thebig girl pants.
That's what I always tell my 18and 20 year old daughters like,
put your big girl pants on,you're not made of sugar, you
won't melt, get out there.
So I live in the South, not DFWSouth, but the other South, in

(02:09):
the Carolina side, some moreEast coast South, cause I know
there's a difference and I don'twant to get everybody mad where
they're like.
We're in the Texas.
South too, but we use middlenames a lot so people are like,
is that a Southern thing?
And my grandmother was actuallythat was her maiden name and
she was the one that was a Rosieand one of the first female
Marines in World War II and shestarted to fight the patriarchy
from the 1940s of before.

(02:30):
It was even really a thing, muchlike her being a welter and a
riveter and all the other things, but she was a knight and she
got married and she was like Iwill always be knight and I want
all the girls in my familyfirst born Just if you were a
junior I want them to have thisname and so myself I've
continued.
I'm a Knight.
My daughter, my firstborndaughter, is.

(02:51):
My cousin is a Knight, Herfirstborn daughter is, so it's
kind of a cool tradition.
My daughters, I hope theycontinue it.
Now, it's way cooler to just belike you can take a name, but
it's more of a.
This is a honor of.
We don't take our other maidennames, we keep Knight, but it
does.
It does sound a little formalthat when people say and I'm
like it's very official, I thinkit's intriguing, it's a school

(03:19):
night, right, every kid getsmade fun of.
We were talking about our agesbefore you hit record.
And I'm 47, almost 48,self-identifying, can't wait for
the Molly Shannon.
I'm 50 years old in a couple ofyears, but I'm dating myself in
terms of when I grew up, offeral Gen Xer, because we
watched Knight Rider and Kit, soall the little kids in school
would be like Knight Rider.
Whenever a teacher would saythat and I hated it growing up I
loved it but I hated it I waslike oh, but they'll make a name

(03:46):
to make fun of out of anything.

Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yes, like my name, my proper name is Jesus and,
similarly to you when Iintroduced myself, when I'm out
public speaking and stuff, I'llintroduce myself as Jesus
Hernandez.
Everybody knows me as Jesse.
Call me Jesse, but I do thatbecause my mom heard me
introduced as Jesse at a thing?

Speaker 1 (03:59):
Oh, that's not good.

Speaker 2 (04:00):
Yeah, oh, exactly, I was a girl.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Yeah, I named you.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
No, part of the reason I transitioned to Jesse
was because when I was a kid man, they tore me up Jesus the
moose, jesus the caboose, likethey gave it to me, yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yeah, I was dummy, demi, that was oh no, that's not
nice yeah.
I mean, how derogatory or likedemi is half in french.
So they'd be like you're half,I'm like oh, that was a good one
.
Like yeah, good job, yeah, butyeah, I don't know where the
dummy, it's just alliterationand I think actually I took that
one to heart though, because Iwas always the smartest kid in
the class, meaning I wanted to,so I always want to be out of

(04:41):
the class.
So to say that was like, reallyderogatory, I took that one to
bed at night, being like I'm notgoing to be Debbie tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Maybe that's part of it now.
I mean, who knows Right, itstuck with you Like you got to
keep slaying and keep makingthings happen.
So I know that the L&M familywants to know, of all the things
that you've conquered, whichones have you learned the most
from?

Speaker 1 (05:07):
Oh yeah, that's I mean.
I think everyone has an answerfor this and I hope everyone
asks that question because it'sa great question to ask yourself
before you're not on the earthanymore.
It's not a lot I mean a lot,but I would say from a personal
level, I remember I had my kidsare 18 and 20 years old now and
so I had them when I was 27 and29.
And I was a young manager inhome building and it was the

(05:30):
housing crisis.
It was 2004 and 2006.
Those of us were ancient enoughto remember that time and be in
management positions and.
I remember for my seconddaughter.
I mean, I just this is kind ofwomen in the industry.
I think, especially at thattime and I know it still
continues today, depending onwhere there's a bigger delta of
women in the space, especiallyin leadership was I used to get
in my truck or my car and belike going to job sites and say

(05:52):
I'm gonna be cleaner, faster,stronger, better.
Cleaner, faster, stronger,better.
And I kept working as much as Icould.
This was really before.
This was by choice.
By the way, it wasn't myemployer saying, hey, you need
to get out there when you'reeight months pregnant and be on
job sites and all the things.
But I was just like, oh, I'mcleaner, faster, stronger,
better.
I'm even going to take onpregnancy and you're not even
going to see me like bat aneyelash.
And I remember not the waitingroom, but it was like after they

(06:14):
give you a room and I was goingto be induced.
But they were like walk thehalls, that's going to help
everything, start the process.
And I remember walking thehalls and I was on a BlackBerry
and people were like are youcrazy?
right now.
We know you were admitted tothe hospital.
What are you doing?
And I almost saw it as thisbadge of well, nobody else can
be me, nobody else can do this.
And that led to a couple oftimes of burnout.

(06:35):
And I don't think I thinkthat's gender agnostic Everyone
can get burnout, so it's notjust women, but I think we're
more susceptible to it,especially if we're in
industries where you feel likeyou've got to be cleaner, faster
, stronger, better.
So that was a huge learningexperience.
And then being in the middle ofall of that chaos, of taking on
four people's jobs as layoffswere happening and saying I'm a

(06:56):
little toaster, I'll takeanother one.
It was both the best time of mylife and the worst time of my
life because I learned so muchas a leader.
I was able to get intooperations, I was able to get to
understand the financials waybetter in the P&L and I was in
rooms that you would die to getin those rooms or before the
crisis, but at the same time, Iwas getting carded at my daycare
, like my husband, thankgoodness.

(07:17):
We're definitely a 50-50relationship and always have
been.
I don't think I could havemarried anything else, but he
was picking them up and Iremember going one time and they
were like can we see your ID?
Cause we don't know you.
And that's my joke is I gotcarded at my daycare Like who
gets that?
Especially the mom.
There's all this pressure onmom, so that was a bad day.
That was a really bad day.

(07:39):
I literally was like what am Igoing to do with this?
Is this my benchmark andyardstick of success, as I gave
up my family and I think thatagain, that was mid-2000s and
here we are 2024.
And I'm still hearing moms saythat it's a much more acceptable
environment to be addressed.
And I know a lot of companiesare addressing it, but I wish
100% of them had addressed it bynow.
So I think those just becauseyou kind of led in with the mom

(08:01):
thing and just so we can move onto other questions because I
could give you like 10 examples,but the other one would be more
of my running side.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
But before that I want to give the LNM family
member shout out.
This one is to Mr JimGuntorious.
Super awesome, I'm a fan of Jim.
He's doing big things in theDFW area and Jim sent me this
note.
He said Jess, I don't know howyou do all the things that you

(08:32):
do.
We can't thank you enough forwhat you've done, not only with
the last event, but over thelast couple of years.
Without the do, the damn thingthought in my head breakthrough
builders may have never happened.
Your ripples of impact travel alot further than you may think,
jim.
Thank you so much for that.
My brother, as you grow, wegrow.
As one grows, we all grow, andI appreciate all the

(08:54):
contributions you're making intothe world and folks, the rest
of the family out there.
Drop me a comment, leave areview, whatever, get at me so
that I can celebrate yourcomment on the future podcast.

Speaker 1 (09:08):
So I have the six star medal and again, like all
this stuff, I'm just in theevolution now of being able to
own everything I've done and Iwant everyone that to take that
away from today.
It's not about and this isespecially women and again I
don't want to take the women'sstance on everything that we
talk about today but it's justwe grow up without the
self-confidence They've done allthe research on that to say

(09:30):
that girls don't go into STEM ifthey don't feel confident and
if they're not reinforced orthey're not introduced the same
way as boys.
So we need to pay attention tothat.
It is very real and then we'reharder on ourselves.
So, like it's just compoundedwith that.
So I see that a lot of myspeaking life and my consulting
life now when I'm traveling thecountry, is a lot of women will

(09:50):
they have doctorates.
They have crazy resumes thatmay or may not be on their
LinkedIn bio because they'relike, well, it's a little too
braggy.
There's actually a book likebrag more where women just need
to do that, but I think that'severybody right now is if you've
gotten a degree, if you'vegotten the accreditation, if
you've run the race, if you'vedone the mountain, if you've
sailed the world, whatever thething is that you were like I

(10:11):
was passionate enough to go dothat.
That's all that's you.
It's not bragging.
In my opinion, it's more ofsaying that's going to start
questions like you're asking meof oh, tell me more about that.
It's just sparking curiosityand community with people, which
I think we need community morethan ever.
So yeah, I did my six starmedal, which was my first one,
which is running all the sixworld majors.
Now there's a seventh.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
So I was just going to ask.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
Okay, can't wait for that, but I thought I was done
at six.
It will be nine, by the way, ifanybody's interested in running
, but that'll take a littlelonger.
But yeah, and so Boston was oneof my first in 2013.
And I happened to be one of thelast five timed and scored
finishers as the firstdetonation went off to my left
and my kids and my husband theywere seven and nine.

(10:53):
They were in the public librarystands because I had fundraised
enough for a charity to wherethey got VIP seats.
And yeah, I think that was oneof my darkest moments just being
a human of everything, you see,everything that happened, and
then coming out of there notonly with your own PTSD and the
kids' PTSD, it was really one ofthe first trigger incidents in
the US.
That was really national, I hateto say.

(11:15):
There's been many more sincethen, but marathons are much
safer these days, which ishelpful.
I wish we didn't have to learnwhat we had to learn that day.
But it was not only the PTSDpart of it, but it was also the
survivor's guilt which, for atype A person was even harder to
deal with than anything elseand, honestly, the most amazing
thing that had happened to mewas I'm a military family myself

(11:38):
.
I was born at West Point, mydad was a West Pointer, my
brother was a West Pointer.
Most of the people in my familywere in the military at some
point in their life, if notretired military, because they
were career in it, and I justhappened to be doing a health
coaching set with 101st Airbornewhile they were downrange in
Afghanistan, all at differentforward operating bases, and
they were the first ones tostart communicating.

(12:00):
When they got the news, one wasin typical military fashion,
before they really knew what hadhappened, they saw my time and
they were like you couldn't beatfour hours Cause I was like
right at the front, that is amilitary family right there.
You couldn't get better thanthat.
And then I think, once theyprocess oh wow, something
happened there.
They were like you've beenthrough the first trigger
incident and this is what youneed to do to get through that.

(12:20):
And so I can understand now notanything about what it's like
to be in war or what it's liketo be in those really heavy
areas of places that we aredeployed in, many places that
are places of conflict, butunderstanding how they come back
and how our society has atendency to shrink people.
Let's go through thepsychological breakdown process

(12:42):
when they were the first ones totell me like nope, you have the
fourth box in your head.
It's a box that if it's notgood for your family, it's not
good for you and it's not goodfor humanity.
You keep that nastiness lockedup in that box and you never
have to unpack it.
And once somebody gave me kindof permission to do that, I was
like one.
You're a street cred.
So if you tell me that Iprobably try it and you look

(13:02):
pretty good for all that you'veseen in eight deployments or
this historical level ofdeployments we've had, and then
yeah, it worked where I was like, if it's just horrible memories
or things that you're like, Istill can't fathom a seven year
old child right Next.
That's not something you haveto repurpose and relive
constantly, or like people arejust morbidly curious and it's

(13:24):
just a natural instinct.
So I can't fault them for that.
But I remember being and thisis the last story I tell, I
promise I remember being at myso the therapist that they
assigned to us the BAA, theBoston Athletic Association, was
really nice and associatedtherapists with a lot of the
people that were there, who wasa volunteer thing, and I was
like absolutely I have kids, Idon't know how to walk through
this, and I said get itphysically out of your kids,
just let them run, scream, doall the things and then go to

(13:46):
school with them.
They knew I had elementaryschool age kids and so I went to
the lunches.
So if people have kids, youkind of understand like we go
have lunch with your kids,sometimes they'll put you that
their schools put them on thestage and you're with all the
parents and all the thing.
And I just remember going to myyoungest.
She was seven and so I was alittle more concerned about her
and I went a couple of times,like once a week for a couple of
weeks, and one of the lastweeks I went a mom just felt and

(14:10):
again, I can't falter for it.
It's just like this naturalthing that people do when
there's these tragedies.
She was like what was it like?
Did you see a lot of blood?
And I mean there were like fivekids around us and I was like,
lady, and this was 2013.
So I mean, I feel like we haveso much more social media that
has completely, like we're sodesensitized at this point.
It was kind of the early stagesof that where I'm like I'm not

(14:33):
telling you any of this in frontof any of these children, and
so I just made that consciouschoice then of being like this
fourth box is real and it's okayto like before there was really
boundaries to really say you'vegot to just for your own mental
health, like, have boundarieswith people and say yeah you
can't fault them because it'sjust this natural instinct to

(14:54):
ask or to look or to go to thewebsite when somebody's look
somebody died and you're likewhy am I wanting to do this?
or like me with true crime.
I still watch true crime aftercovid and my kids are like what
is with the serial killers?
And I'm like I think it's thiscuriosity of being like did it
get solved?
There's something in humanityof being like I just want to
know they solved this case andlike those people get justice.

(15:15):
So anyway, but I know it's morefrom a place like that, but it
was still like I have to createboundaries.
So those are probably the twobiggest that stand out to me.
But I mean, it's a life oflessons, right, or a week every
week.

Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yes, for sure.
So thank you for that, becausethose are huge.
Let the kids get it out of themphysically.
I think that's absolutelysomething.
I don't think we train thatenough.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Yeah, I was lucky for them to get, because I've used
that multiple times with themwhen there's been just stuff
they don't understand or thingsthey couldn't control.
I know we were talking aboutcontrol before this and I think
all of us have control issues toa certain extent.
Right, because when you losecontrol, you lose any kind of
like foundational.
I got my stuff together, and sokids.

(16:00):
I think we forget that with themand we're in this new
generation I talk about this alot too is there's three terms
for it now?
There's helicopter parenting,there's snowplow parenting and
then there's lighthouseparenting, and I wish I'm sorry,
whatever scientist, book writer, author came up with this.
I could credit you.
I don't.
We could Google it right now.

Speaker 2 (16:19):
It's fairly recent, but we know helicopter, I mean
that's the.

Speaker 1 (16:22):
you're just hovering and like absolutely hovering
Snowplow is.
I've actually done this.
I've always been like I'm not ahelicopter parent which I'm not
but I definitely have falleninto the snowplow category
before, which is busting thebarriers out of the way for your
kids, because who doesn't wantthat right Like, at the end of
the day, why should they not gothrough the same stupid lessons

(16:42):
we did, or bullying we did, orthe thing?
So I think that one's a fineline.
I think all of us have been whoour parents have been some type
of snowplow at some point oranother.
Or a kid pushes them down onthe soccer field and you're like
, oh, no like we're having thiswith that.
I'm just not going to be like oh, that's snowplow parenting.
But really I guess the pinnacleof this is what everyone should
shoot for is this lighthousewhere literally you just have

(17:04):
the light on for them and youare kind of this calming
influence.

Speaker 2 (17:09):
Find your way back when they need it Light the path
.

Speaker 1 (17:11):
But yeah, I think that's a work in progress for
all of us.
But yeah, I mean, I don't thinkkids are allowed to just run it
out and play it out, and we seeit in the trades where they just
don't know how to use theirhands.
I'm continually I don't sayshocked anymore because I'm not
shocked, I'm not surprised weare a self-fulfilling prophecy
of there's a lot of benefits forthem to have these and to be

(17:32):
using them.
And they can I watch it with myown kids.
They can assimilate things soquickly.
I mean, they're on my versionof Google Docs and they're like
what is this when it's done?
Or they've come up with somegraphic in Canva that it took me
a million years.

(17:52):
There's like such positiveadvancements we've made and we
will continue to make withtechnology, but we really did
just throw out all the bathwater of saying hands-on
activities and now the pendulumswings.
So now the pendulum is swingingback and hopefully we just
don't have enough calls toaction.
I don't think and we're notconnecting the dots to what you
were talking about in my introof saying like solving it
differently.
The funny thing is I don'tthink I'm solved, I'm just
rehashing things that we saw inthe 80s and maybe into the 90s

(18:14):
and generations previous, andsaying, ok, it can't be the
exact same way as that becausewe are more technologically
advanced, but do that thing orthat practice, just turn it on
its ear a bit and get kids withpower tools in their hands, and
so that's.
I think that's the curiositywith parents right now that
there's just not enough outlets.
When we do say that to them,you have to give them resources
to be able to do that.

(18:35):
Yeah that's kind of a biggerpiece that I'm on in terms of
fight the good fight.

Speaker 2 (18:40):
Yeah, and I'm with you there.
The helicopter parenting thing,I think is also because that
became kind of the norm, rightand so construction.
There's a lot of risk.
You can bust your hand, burnyour hand, burn your, and if
you're a helicopter parent, noway I'm going to let you get
close to getting a smudge onyour shirt.
Much less cutting your bodyopen.

(19:01):
Much less cutting your bodyopen.
There's a lot of opportunitythere.
But you use the word that I'venever heard added to the
combination.
So we're going to come back tothis.
But you said cleaner, better,faster, stronger.
Why cleaner?
Because that's the first timeI've ever heard that in the
combination of better, faster,stronger.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
Yeah, I want to say it was in a movie, I don't know
what eighties movie.
It would have been in somethinglike a vision quest, because I
was always an athlete.

Speaker 2 (19:27):
And so.

Speaker 1 (19:27):
I think cleaner to me .
So when I say cleaner, faster,I still say it.
By the way, even when I'mrunning, if I'm like doing a
marathon or something, I'm likecleaner, faster, stronger,
better you got this.
It's just this mantra at thispoint.
But the cleaner it's been ajourney with this saying because
when it started it was really.
I was title nine in sports.
I had really great guy friends.
I actually joke about it allthe time that I kind of had to

(19:50):
buy my, my girlfriends incollege by joining a sorority
more naturally inclined.
And I mean, ask any women intrades or really male industries
.
They chose these industries fora reason, because they just
felt a little more penchant togoing that direction.
And even with the things whereyou feel on your own, you still
feel more comfortable in thosesocieties.
So for me it was more aboutbeing able to say it not to

(20:11):
their face, but I have to dothings clean execution.
So it's not like having a cleanhouse, it's more of saying okay
, you're an athlete.
It's a clean play.
It's a clean throw execution.
If it's in the workplace, itwas the same thing.
I'm not going to be theemotional one, I don't want to
be pegged as all the things.
That's not logical.
It's cleaner, Like it's just,it's clean.
It's a one minute understanding.

(20:32):
And I mean once you get higherand higher in the business world
, you realize the more succinctyou are, the better, and so it
was more evolved into that forme of being like get your point
across very quickly and what'syour solution or what's your
call to action.
So it's like cleaner.
I have a tendency to talkbecause we can tell.
I had some really great mentorswho were like bottom liners.
Get me to the bottom linebecause I would love to hear
your 10 minutes but I need tohear the one.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
So here's what I heard Clean is not a reference
to the need, it's aboutexecution.

Speaker 1 (21:01):
Yeah, if you're a football fan yeah, it's a clean
throw.
And Patrick Mahomes I don'tcare if you like the Chiefs or
hate them, but that man is thecleanest in execution I've ever
seen.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yes, oh, man, I love it.
Okay, so here's a.
You've touched on this.
You mentioned that naturallyform relationships and build
friendships with men.
Even before we startedrecording you're talking about,
you've got mentors and folks outthere, executives that are men.
How does one go about doingthat?

(21:29):
Because when I say one, I'mtalking about women.
It's abnormal for a woman tocelebrate all of their successes
and all of their triumphsbecause of whatever, like
because of all the things I knowfor me.
I've struggled with it becauseof my upbringing.
There's no me who.
You need to be humble and youneed to don't brag and don't
bring attention to yourself, andclearly I've gotten over that.

(21:49):
But there's a lot of thingsthat contribute to us to like
playing small, like in terms ofnot just building the
friendships, but likecultivating the mentorship
relationship.
How do you do that?

Speaker 1 (22:01):
Yeah, no, I'm so glad you asked this.

Speaker 2 (22:03):
You'll get that.

Speaker 1 (22:04):
Yeah, this is a really big part of my life right
now in the advocacy andconsulting space and really
there's some things coming inthe first of the year which will
be resources for men.
By the way, I will say that Ihave more men coming to me and
I'm so happy about this, so ifyou're out there, feel free Find
me on LinkedIn.
We'll do all that later on howto connect, but I want them to
be curious to say there's somany men that say I'm not trying

(22:27):
to not hire women, demi,they're the ones getting on the
panels during women inconstruction month or ally month
or whatever the month is, causewe always have to have a month
for everything when it needs tobe 365, right.
This is it?
Don't get on and wear the pin.
I mean, I think all that'slovely and that's nice
supplemental stuff to do, butand that's nice supplemental
stuff to do, but that doesn'tneed to be like we check the box
.
And so these are the samepeople saying I'm an ally, I'm

(22:48):
an ally, I'm an ally and it's amI like, screaming that you're
not, like I get it, but it's adefensive piece of no, no, I'm
on your side, but I don't know,like what is happening.
And so it's about.
If men are listening who arecurious about this is like one.
Just nobody thinks that youdon't want to hire women, it's

(23:09):
okay.
So we're giving you a badge ofhonor on that one.
If they do call you out on that, then that's their problem.
Most of us, if we're women andidentify as women, are not
coming at you being like youreally are just this patriarchal
crazy person who wants alldudes the end.
This patriarchal crazy personwho wants all dudes, the end.
What an awful company.
It's more of saying I don't knowhow we keep staying here and

(23:29):
that's why, in welding, Iusually go to the place where
it's the most Delta and rightnow, like construction is at
least at like 10% women, likeit's barely a needle move since
I started in the industry in theearly 2000s, but at least it's
starting to crack and not justin like more traditionally known
positions like PR, sales, hr,it's really an operational roles
and we're out into the job sitefunctions, which is different,

(23:51):
and then CEO, like getting it tobe the operator of the company.
But welding is really stillthere.
It's 3% in the field.
That's a huge Delta.
I mean it's a massive.
When you're talking about mygrandmother was one of 15
million.
So realize we don't need tohave a war to make it where 15
million trades.
But it's happened before.
It's kind of my point Like we,we've gotten them in the past.

(24:11):
So it's more about how are wedoing that?
It's really starting to sayname the problem or the
challenge, like this is achallenge I'm looking to solve
for and if you're truly wantingto diversify your pipeline,
which has a lot of benefits,there are P&L benefits to this
that are well proven.
It's not just doing the rightmoral and ethical thing
necessarily.
That's not the argument anymore.
It's just saying literally yourpipeline is secure.

(24:34):
When you have a diversepipeline, your culture is
naturally better because there'smore that's being communicated,
there's more representation ina room.
So, without going down thatroad, it's name it, because we
all know it that if you onlyhave three women out of a
hundred at your company, we'reall wondering and being like God
, I'm scratching because I loveyour company.
I think it's cool, name itfirst and then also say like
okay, I need to mentor.

(24:55):
Mentor is literal, like jobskills.
So this is what I tell men allthe time and women seeking it If
you're looking for like on thejob, ojt, on the job training,
or you're looking to get intolike switch roles to an operator
role, you got to go find theoperators and go find those
mentors who are going to teachyou those tactical, cleaner,
faster, stronger, better skills.
To say, like you want to makethis move here, here's your

(25:15):
cheat sheet so that you don'thave to take four years going
back to college or do the thing.
And if you're in a good culture, you should be able to raise
your hand and say I would liketo champion that thing.
I see that in welding all thetime, which is the coolest thing
ever of Finook robots.
Or now we're getting intohandheld laser welding and some
23-year-old many times femaleare raising their hand and
saying I'll try it out, let's go.
They're doing things that manypeople went to four-year, if not

(25:39):
six-year, graduate school forengineering to do and I'm like
look at the opportunity in thisbusiness.
So that's mentorship is likereal world on the job training.
What we're talking about, whatyou were saying like how does
this happen is sponsorship, andthat is an active thing for both
the sponsor the person thatwould be doing the sponsoring

(26:00):
and the sponsee if that's a wordthe person looking for it.
So if it was me, if you were mypotential sponsor, so you're
the sponsor I'm seekingsponsorship person looking for.
So if it was me, if you were mypotential sponsor, so you're
the sponsor, I'm the one seekingsponsorship One.
What is sponsorship?
Sponsorship is not only gettingthem in the room.
So whatever that underservedpopulation is women, minorities,
however you identify, whateverthat population that you're like
, I don't have these peoplearound me and I don't know what
I'm doing wrong.
That has to be okay.
What do I actively want toachieve here?

(26:26):
And finding those populationsand saying, hey, okay, now what
are we going to strategicallylook at to say, not only getting
them in the room, but alsomaking that a good, hospitable
environment in the room whereeverybody can feel like they can
speak about it, meaning likenot reference that person and
say, hey, woman in the room,it's more of saying, hey, what
is the language we use?
Like just saying guys, I saythat all the time where I'm like
, do you realize?
The narratives in the lexiconthat you use means a lot to

(26:49):
whatever that population is.
I still it.
Just it makes my shoulders goaround the ears.
I know it's not being doneintentionally by 90% of the
population, but sometimes it iswhere I've been in an early
career and out on a job site andit's right after asking like,
well, we'd like to talk to yourboss, where is he?
And then it's well, hey, guys,what do we want to do here?

(27:09):
It's making people smaller,right so, but now it's
unintentional and it's well,anybody could be a guy right In
this generation, but it's stillbe intentional about the words,
because this stuff does matter,it does give you strides in
culture, but it's really morefor the sponsee, not the sponsor
.
The sponsor just needs to knowtheir role.
I have two amazing sponsors andwouldn't be where I am without

(27:29):
them.
One is Nate Bowman, who was myteacher, weld scientist, been in
the industry for 20 years.
He just did 3M's Clash of theGrinders.
He was the only person toanswer my email when I got into
this four years ago and I saidI've got to do this, I've got to
make the deltas go away.
My grandmother was this wasalways a legacy piece to her to
learn welding.
I, I did my research and I Iput a list together of all the

(27:51):
people that I thought were thebig wigs of welding I would be
able to learn from.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
Not one of them emailed me back, and it's fine,
I just keep receipts I'll neversay your names, but you know who
you are, so good you probablywouldn't want to be friends with
me anyway.

Speaker 1 (28:07):
But Nate was the only one that emailed me back.
He was doing the weld labsseries for Lincoln Electric back
at the time and he was likethat's really interesting.
He told me to read the CWS bookI wish I had it which is the
Certified Welding Supervisor.
It's called the Big Orange Bookto a lot of us and it is not
exactly a Game of Thrones barnburner I mean, but it's also all

(28:28):
the tactical stuff of weldingtravel speed, travel angle, work
angle.
And he was like read that coverto cover.
Come back and talk to me andwe'll teach you to weld three to
five days.
I read it cover to cover.
I think I caught it it was maybea month later and he was like
do you know?
Nobody's ever.
I keep telling people to do it,nobody's ever done it Two hours
.
I flew out to Hemet with JoshO'Neill at his school.

(28:48):
Lincoln Electric was there.
Nate was also filming and hewas teaching me to weld.
I've since taken a lot ofclasses and done a lot more than
that, but he was the firstsponsor of me saying I don't
know her from left field and Iwill take a chance on her.
She's curious about this andshe's ready to do the work.
So I'm going to invest my timewith her and I always say that
about Nate is you are an organicsponsor without even trying,

(29:11):
and so now I think he's anintentional about it, but I
think he just was that type of ahuman before.
The other is Mark Fisher atLincoln Electric who, in a more
corporate capacity, we justtalked yesterday and I was
connecting him with someone thatreally needs a handheld laser
and had a fairly disastrousexperience with another
manufacturer and he's in Europeright now and he was like
dropping everything.
He was like okay, let meconnect you to the regional guy.

(29:33):
He's over here and I have neverhad him not drop things of.
If I'm coming through Cleveland,we're having lunch or let's sit
down and have a meeting andthen the meeting is.
I mean, I'm just so lucky, butI'm realizing it is sponsorship.
So I do it with other peopletoo, of asking me how my life is
.
What's on your agenda, what'scoming up for you?
Is there anything I can do tohelp you?
That's a sponsor, is reallyit's time you are investing in

(29:56):
someone and really I say for thesponsor, you could see the
playing field and see if there'ssomeone you want to sponsor.
But this is more onus in youraudience of the sponsee.
I just don't know what else tocall it.
I need you to be the one thatsays I have handpicked my
sponsors and I'm going to go askand the worst you're going to
get is no, but first ask and belike listen, I highly respect

(30:20):
you.
You're a subject matter expertin X, whatever field.
Whatever the thing is that youwant to do the damn thing,
whatever the thing is thatyou're not doing now that you
want to do, you've got to standup for yourself, advocate for
yourself and ask and if they sayno, it's okay, dust yourself
off.
No hard feelings, go to thenext person, but have a list of
a few.
You never know.
Maybe all three say yes.

(30:40):
I have yet to have somebody sayno.
I pick them intentionally,though.
I don't just go ask the worldbecause they're cool, and then I
also say do you understand whatthis is?
I didn't ask it of Nate.
It was kind of like mid rangewhen we were through it.
I was like you realize whatsponsorship is right, Because
this is you.
And now he's like intentionallydoing it.
Mark, it was an intentional askwhere I said listen, you believe
in me, Like my streetcredibility is there and I had

(31:02):
some proven things to do that.
And he was like I'm 100% onyour deal, so I am happy to be
your sponsor.
This is helping me understandwhat this role is and he's, and
when you get that and when yousee the light bulbs go on.
That's my mission in life rightnow is for all these men across
the country, and that if yourindustry is 97% or 80% male or

(31:24):
60% male, when the light bulbgoes on and you're sponsoring
someone who is a woman or whodoes not look like your lived
experience, that's all you needto do for progress to happen, In
my opinion.
That is, you don't have to waitfor a corporate to create a
department or for HR to changetheir recruiting practices.
You have personal effect inthis future.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Two big things I love .
Well, maybe three, three bigthings.
One is put the damn listtogether.
Yeah, put your ideal list.
Be aspirational about it.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
I don't care if it's like Bill Gates, and I love that
story.
Does anybody remember thatstory?
Maybe it's like super ancientstory now, but Bill Gates, when
he was like 12 years old, calledBill Hewlett, dave Hewlett from
Hewlett.
Packard and said he needed partsfor his little garage business
that he started and Hewlett waslike I thought the kid was so
nuts, I had to do it.
And welcome to Bill Gates.
He became a very early sponsorof Bill Gates because Bill Gates

(32:18):
was a 12 year old who wasfearless enough to say I'm just
going to call him up.
I think he tells the story of Iwas just an ADD kid who
literally was like I didn't knowthe boundaries, and that's what
I love, because they don't knowpolitics or bureaucracy or
boundaries.
And so I say, just throw off.
Linkedin has thrown off allthose bow lines for us.
You are two to three separatedfrom just about anyone on earth

(32:39):
right now.

Speaker 2 (32:40):
So like, why would?

Speaker 1 (32:41):
you talk yourself out of it.

Speaker 2 (32:43):
Yeah, you and I having this conversation right
now is proof of that.
I don't know if it was yourpost or somebody posted about
you.
I got in the comments.
I'm like this human being.
I got to talk to this person,yeah.

Speaker 1 (32:56):
She was amazing.
Yeah, it was varsity welding,which, like, I don't know why
that took off.
It's the weirdest thing.
Like these algorithms are sointeresting because you'll think
, oh, this is such a goodmessage, I can see this one
resonating and it'd be like,like it goes nowhere.
And then that one just I stillget responses on that one where
it's recycled itself somewhere,and so I think it just touched a

(33:18):
chord with people.
Because varsity welding is thekind of another.
I have hashtags in my head.
Welding a stem is a big one andI don't know why I get both
sides very passionate peopleabout it either being stem or
not being stem, which I didn'tknow was a dispute, but it was a
very logical thing to say.
And then also varsity welding,which is, I remember, being
early.
I was a graduate high school in1995.

(33:40):
I took shop class.
I had to take industrialtechnology, absolutely despised
home economics and home ec.
So we took six months ofindustrial tech, or vo tech in
some people's areas, and it wassix months of home ec and I was
like I wish I could stay withindustrial this whole time.
This is my thing.
I love the drill press.
I love like shellacking.
My my mom still has that shelfin her house.

(34:01):
It's got like 800 coats ofshellac and lacquer that I'm
sure I lost five years off mylife.
We never wore back bling.
Osha existed, but I don't thinkin high schools.
But yeah.
So I wanted to continue thatand was talked out of it by a
guidance counselor, as manyguidance counselors do, who like
oh you're such a good speaker,you're such a good writer, you
should be a journalist.
You really need to go tocollege because you're not.
You know it's either on for the,for the guys that ended up and

(34:25):
it was primarily guys, so I'mgoing to say guys who ended up
as instructors in the early twothousands.
They were never given the likevarsity treatment.
I mean, the stories I hear arevery usual stories of like it's
auto shop, it's welding or it'sjail.
Well, that's a good threechoices for me.
Thanks so much.
I feel like conquering theworld now, and so that ended up

(34:45):
being instructors for this nextset of generations.
And so it's twofold for me.
One, it's empowering those guyswho never got any kind of
you're on the varsity squad.
What is it at your high schoolnow?
And that's what I asked mydaughters what is it?
If it's not the football team,it's another team.
That's the like cool kids.
Whatever that varsity squad isthe welders and the kids that
are choosing seat they need tobe told they're a varsity squad.

(35:07):
You are choosing a career paththat is just as good, just as
financially responsible foryourself, as any college career,
and we're not saying no tocollege forever.
Your company might put you inleadership and you go get an
associate's or a bachelor'sdegree.
So this is not a like XO off ofcollege forever.
But career readiness is avarsity squad, and so that's

(35:28):
where varsity welding startedwas like I want them all to feel
like they're the top squad pick, first draft pick, like they're
about to go home.

Speaker 2 (35:35):
It wasn't until it was weird.
It resonates with me.
It was so one.
It caught my attention and I'mlike I'm just gonna dm her and
see if I can get her and you'relike, yeah, I'm like, oh, yes,
oh, my God, so I'm excited.
Two it wasn't until my thirdyear of apprenticeship, at the
plumbing apprenticeship, that Iwas like had pride, real,

(36:00):
genuine pride about my careerchoice.
I was in a craft competition,national craft competition in
Maui, of all places, at a biggiant conference.
We had fancy people up theretalking and motivating and I
finally felt, man, I've neverfelt this good about my choice,

(36:21):
because it was always oh, you'rein plumbing, I mean best choice
I ever made, because it is whatled straight to where I am
today, which is an amazing,fulfilling life.
I don't work like I used to,but I get to do some super,
super amazing thing andobviously talk to super awesome
people.
Now the second point puttingthe list together of sponsors.

Speaker 1 (36:44):
Oh yeah, we did kind of get off that Sorry.

Speaker 2 (36:48):
Is freaking.
Reach out to them, yeah, text,email, dm.
The worst thing that can happenis they say no.
And then the last thing this isthe third add-on is keep
receipts.

Speaker 1 (37:01):
Yeah, and hopefully that didn't sound really snarky.
I mean, I'm one of those peoplecause I get it a lot from women
many times of like how do youconvince people and maybe it's
me at almost 48 years old is Ijust don't give two foxes.
If I have given a case islogical, has merit, isn't like

(37:22):
very divisive.
It's really just saying likethis is a path forward.
You can choose it or lose it.
And they choose lose it, orthey choose to go even farther
with that, into just silly stuffthat I'll see on Instagram.
I'm like those just aren't mypeople.
I am not going to put any kindof energy into that.
You're not my people.
I focus on when I can kick adoor open or I can crack it open
.
Okay, I'm a strategist and I'ma scaler, so I'm just naturally

(37:45):
thinking okay, how can I furtherget that door open?
It's almost like a chess puzzlefor me that I'm solving, and so
I'm just not going to put anyemotional weight to people that
aren't on your team.
I mean it's like a team You'reeither supporting the Chiefs or
the Eagles and okay, eagles fans, you stay over there.
If I'm a Chief, I'm workingwith the chiefs, but it just
doesn't have to getdisrespectful and I think it's
really interesting.

(38:06):
That's why the welding is STEMpart.
I had posted something fromFabtech where I did a handheld
laser with IPG and I'm just Imean SpaceX and putting things
in space.
Really, I'm like that is howyou are going to connect with
this next generation of whatthey know and have grown up with
, of saying you can weld andthen also going to automation of
welding by the time your career, age or hand welding or stick

(38:26):
with any of these trades, butthey have a future tense of what
those trades look like.
That is an evolution.
I want to think it's becausemore of the fear of saying, like
automation and it's ai andother industries like that's
going to take a job.
There must be a history to that, because those seem to be what
it ends up being.
The fight is this isn't welding.
This is ridiculous.
There's no fusion there.
There's no that.

(38:46):
Meanwhile, that same bead thatI just ran with a handheld laser
welder just went on a piece oftitanium that held one of the
ships together.
So you can dispute me all youwant and get emotional about it
being like welding has neverbeen stemmed.
Somebody even posted like thewelding machine is stem, but
welding itself is not not.
So it's just.
I actually just laugh at themnow.

(39:07):
I'm just curious, is like, whyis this threatening to you to
say that it's them and I thinkthe other thing is too.
I say a lot of the time it'snot the color of the collar for
this next generation.
They did not grow up unlessthey grew up in really heavy ag
cultures and farming cultures.
My husband grew up with FFAsuper, super proud of that.
And again, I don't want anyoneto take this as I'm like

(39:29):
defaming that culture.
I think it's awesome thatthere's still a lot of pride
there, but that's less and lessplaces, as opposed to kids who
have just grown up in more urbanareas who have been surrounded
by gray hoodies.
So I always say it's like it'snot a white collar.
I mean, and I've never alsoheard anyone say I am so proud
white collar.
It's really a blue pride, thesource of pride of saying like

(39:49):
it's blue.
So I don't want to take awayfrom people who have that pride
piece to saying blue collar.
That's absolutely a thing andI'm glad if that kind of propels
you forward.
But what I don't want it to beis a divisive piece that it last
20 years of.
I think that's where the STEMthing happened.
Basically, y2k happened when Igot out of college and it was
more of a let's go to the Google, apple route of Python coding

(40:12):
and getting everybody into thesedesk jobs that are
computer-based, and there was aneed for it, but again the
pendulum just swung so hugelythat it really took.
I mean, I said it earlier,technology has been a word in
this side of mechanical,electrical plumbing, even
carpentry, but definitelywelding since the day it was
born.

(40:32):
I'm just putting it back intothe conversation.

Speaker 2 (40:36):
And so that's why I think it's kind of funny is
again, this is not a new idea.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
I'm not like trademarking.
The term welding is STEM.
It has always been STEM.
It's just because it was anon-stigma kind of thing to talk
about by putting your kids tobe engineers or get into tech
whatever they think tech is into, those cool careers yeah,
that's robotics and whateverside of STEM that they wanted to
go into.
Meanwhile, cte has been STEMthe whole time.

(41:02):
So I'm trying to kind of breakthat barrier back down and be
like I'm not taking away fromthe blue collar message.
If that's important to you, I'mjust trying to tell you.
I know most of these kids aregrowing up saying I don't even
understand what white collarversus blue collar means.
I see CEOs in gray hoodies.
What does that mean to me?
And so we have this opera.
I look at it as everything'sopportunity.
We have an opportunity todefine that for them by just

(41:25):
putting trades back togetherwith STEM.
It's a low lift to me.
So I'm also a scaler.
So literally I'm like when Istarted this research two years
ago, I looked at it like oh wow,look at the challenge and the
problem to solve for,hypothetically, with all these
numbers of shortages and skilledtrades gaps and a lot of
LinkedIn likes around that,which I don't want to be a part
of.
I just want to solve for things.

(41:46):
So I'm like, okay, what's?
the easiest thing in here tosolve for and welding.
I was like God, massiveopportunity of when you have
these terrestrial spaces andthere's always, this has been
since the beginning of time andtrades of bring back any type of
trade.
What do we have to do?
We have to build a big schooland I was like that's the Yale
in me is thinking, wow, that'svery high lift.
What if you could do somethingmobile, that's transportable,

(42:07):
and then you can collapsesomething, or you can bring it
up when you need it, or it'ssomething like an onboard ramp
that me and Nate created.
We're not the first ones to do afive-day welding school or a
four-night or a one-dayexperience.
We're just the ones saying, hey, if you already have the
employers attached and you cangive them basic skills, we're
putting out a better hireablehuman, not just a great welder.

(42:27):
And so it's like turning it onits ear a bit.
So I say the same thing aboutthe CTE stuff.
I think it's wonderful theseschools that are, these mega
CTEs that are coming back.
They're also adding inveterinary tech, the EMT stuff
and then also adding in all ofthe trades.
If you have the funding forthat and you have the space for
that, I think that's in concertwith this.
But I think the fastest way todo it is to say we don't have to

(42:49):
rebuild what was broken down inthe early 2000s.
You can do it in a pop-up shopkind of way for now, until we
look at what are the truenumbers.
Because that's the thing that Iget disputed all the time is
when somebody says we need400,000 welders by 2030.
But do we?
And I walked around Fabtech andactually got that and I liked
getting that question because Iwas like you know what You're so
right Like where did the400,000 come from?

(43:10):
And is it like 400,000 becausepeople aren't retiring, or is it
butts in seats are just missing, or is it a combination thereof
?

Speaker 2 (43:18):
Or is it the?

Speaker 1 (43:18):
pipeline, which I'm starting to see.
It's more of the long-termpipeline than anything else.
It's not.
It's more of the long-termpipeline than anything else.
It's not.
Oh, my goodness, we are in sucha deficit today, 2024, 2025.
It is we don't have thesetransferable skills from our
more seasoned folks beingtransferred into this next
generation of the next 10 years.
So I think that can be solvedby a combination of automation.

(43:42):
Because I say this when peopleare like, oh, robots are going
to take everybody's jobs and I'mlike valid statement.
I want to be communicating whatyou're saying and where you're
coming from with it.
But I will also say, just assomeone who's been an
operational efficiency person inmany companies is saying they
want to produce 500 of thewidget, you don't want to sit
there and do 500 of the Model Twidgets of something you will go

(44:05):
brainless so fast.
So if that was your job, let'supskill you into something that
you could be more creative in.
So I try to say it in a moreopportunistic way of it's not
losing the thing.
It's an opportunity fortransitioning into something
that's even better, and thenputting that mindless stuff just
like AI.
Now you have an AI assistant.
Did we really want to be anassistant?

(44:26):
I think it was just a part-timething.
So it's the same thing.

Speaker 2 (44:29):
Totally.
When I first heard somebody Iknow personally I can't remember
who it was it was like I'm like, okay, like I don't care.
But the feeling I got was itwas invasive, that I needed to
change my messaging to talkabout careers in the trade from
a perspective, yeah.
And then I got pissed and I'mlike, wait a minute, because

(44:52):
when I got introduced to thisidea of STEM, it was through
academia, through 12, higher ed.
And then I'm like, oh, that'swhy this is rubbing me wrong.
That person is an academic andshoving this down my throat,
maybe had an internship andclaims to be a craft worker or
tradesman, and I got to say STEM, because you're saying it, and

(45:14):
so maybe.
Anyways, my point in that?

Speaker 1 (45:16):
No, that's a really good point of view.
It's coming from the sameinstitutionalized folks that
were saying like it's eitherauto shop welding or jail.
We're now telling you likeweren't you talking about it
with STEM?

Speaker 2 (45:27):
Yeah, no, I get it.

Speaker 1 (45:28):
That's a really good point.

Speaker 2 (45:30):
Now, what I think is super valuable that the L&M
family can take away from yourresponse to the people that are
getting emotional about weldingbeing stemmed Because I agree
100 percent it is Don't let themsteal your energy, right,
they're not your people.
Let them go do what they needto do.
Focus on your message and likewhen you're clear and this is

(45:51):
something I just recentlystarted practicing, and this is
something I just recentlystarted practicing there's no
need for me to soften any of mymessage, because when I'm clear
about what I'm saying, I'm goingto attract the people that like
my flavor of crazy and I'mgoing to repel the ones that
don't, and that's all I need.

Speaker 1 (46:10):
So my reason in saying it is again I'm not an
influencer and I'm certainly not, I'm certainly not an
influencer or content creator ofgoing for the like fest on
whatever social media.
And, trust me, I see them outthere and it drives me
absolutely bonkers because I'mlike all you're doing is
repurposing the stats and thengetting this emotional response
and you're doing nothing aboutthe solution, so nothing will
drive you crazier than when youdo that.

(46:32):
And so if anybody puts me in,that category I will double down
cleaner, faster, stronger,better and be like out in the
field doing a deal or liketeaching somebody, or you know
what I mean.
You just got to be in thetrenches.
But why I say welding is STEMis because there's just such
this huge opportunity ofrecruiting the next generation
for that pipeline we talkedabout.
When we're looking at that longrange pipeline of saying why

(46:52):
have you been separated out ofthis?
Because you are the varsitysquad.
You are a scientist, atechnologist, an engineer.
You're an engineer more thananything in welding.
I mean really we have a weldingengineering degree and, yes, I
know you go to new levels to getthat, but I'm telling you, go
to any welder in the field.
They love to have that argumenttoo Are you a welder?
What about the welders whenthey get with the engineers?
And there is definitely thatthe farmers and the cowmen must

(47:14):
be friends, like Oklahoma have amusical, but they really are,
and they use an engineer's brainto do everything they have to
do.
So I get into some interestingconversations there, but so
they're doing all the things,especially in welding.
It's more of saying, it'sde-stigmatizing it to parents
that would have been or guidancecounselors that would have been
, and trying to talk them intothe college prep thing when they

(47:35):
clearly are kids who arelooking for hands-on, want to
explore, do the things.
If that STEM narrative helpsthem, so that we get more of
these diverse populations intoit, I'm all here for it, but I
also know that's one way to doit out of many ways recruiting
this next generation.
So I think you bring up a greatpoint.
It is not the only hashtag.

(47:56):
We need a lot of hashtags to beable to just give them exposure
at this pipeline age, which I'madvocating for that too is I
saw that the funding was goneEven for nonprofits.
Right now the funding is gonefor that early eight to 14 and
15 year olds.
They want the butts in seatsstatistics and I think that's
what's being disputed is okay,great.

(48:18):
We love these workforcedevelopment like real solve the
Delta right now for butts inseats programs.
But we've left this hugepipeline which anybody who's
ever worked in a company knows.
Your pipeline is your mostprecious resource.
Like how are we doing?
the recruiting right now forthree years from now.
So, unless we start, puttingour Pell grants and the funding

(48:39):
and it shouldn't all benonprofits, by the way all of us
are putting that effort andenergy into that.
I look at it like 12 to 16,because the guidance counselors
get to them at 17 and 18.
And again, if there's guidancecounselors on here like you do
amazing work, but I just knowthere's many more rewards in the
college prep arena from statesthan there are with career
readiness.
So, unfortunately, that's thehands they're tied, are bound to

(49:00):
, but knowing that they are moreinfluenceable at 12 to 16.
And then, if we add on to that,they've never been exposed to a
power tool, they've neverexposed to a welding torch, for
whatever reason.
It's dangerous or no danger.
All the things we talked aboutearlier.
Those two things need to happenexposure to all of these cool
things and then hands-onactivities to where they can
start saying, oh, as they do,get into those conversations

(49:23):
about what are we thinking hereand take those little assessment
things of what's your careergoing to be?
That's going to pop up and theycan defend it.
Unfortunately, with me it wasn'tdefensible.
It was like, oh, I guess Icould be Katie Couric, which
she's done amazing things, butultimately that was not my path.
But I got talked into likejournalism school and maybe you

(49:45):
could be a broadcast majorbecause you speak.
Well, If I had just had enoughto stand my ground and say, no,
I really want to do this tradething.
Yeah, more kids can do that.
And then again you're justnaturally organically solving
this pipeline issue and that'swhat other industries have done.
So that's why I say I am notdoing anything new.
I am not groundbreaking.
I'm just saying look at whatsome of these other industries
that have had success.
Look at tech they have 30% to40% women.
Now I know they still strugglewith certain things like

(50:07):
leadership positions etc.
But they're still miles aheadfrom a diversified perspective
than manufacturing and trade.
So you could look at multipleindustries that way and just say
we're just taking a page toyour point on playbooks and
making plays.
It's just the playbooks here.
We just need to agree thatthere is a playbook and we need
to start following one.
We can't just be likescratching our heads and talking

(50:28):
about statistics for infinity.

Speaker 2 (50:31):
This will resonate with you when I'm helping
clients and folks twistingbrains and they're discontent,
dissatisfied, irritated or justplain pissed off at their
outcomes.
Here's the deal is the systemin which you are operating
maintaining, reinforcing isperfectly designed to continue

(50:54):
producing the outcomes that youhave right now.
Are you saying it's my fault?
Nope, I'm not saying it's yourfault.
I'm saying that you areoperating within the system,
that you're not changing andthere are buttons and levers
that you can push and pull inyour system, that you have
control over as the decisionmaker, et cetera, to change the

(51:18):
system, to produce differentoutcomes.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
Yeah.
And change agency is scary andhard to a lot of people.
It's so funny you say thatbecause it was a very real world
conversation with a couple ofdifferent parties.
In the last couple of weeks,since Nate and my world science
lab, the five day has been outand about and we have been very
much about.
Hey, listen, we are notcompeting with 900 hour, 400
hour, two to four year programsin CTE.

(51:43):
This is a supplement to thatright.
This isn't a we are trying tokill the institution.
You know there is a lot offunding, there are unions, there
are things that are doing greatwork to actually put out great
students into the world comingout of these programs.
We're trying to say, if there'sreally adults to be solved for,
like real butts in seats rightnow, we want to put out good
humans that have grit,determination and also show up

(52:03):
to the job every day and they'vegot the basic skills that
they're willing.
These employers are willing totake on the rest of the last
mile and say, okay, now you'vegot a MIG welder on our hands,
we're going to get them into ourthree-month program to be in
shipbuilding, but they need thehumans.
That's what we're hearing isthey need the humans.
So if that's the case, that'swhat I'm solving for.
Now the challenge becomes withthose folks is if they want to

(52:26):
because I have had theseconversations too and there's a
lot of dialogue around thisright now and many of the
manufacturers it's saying is theemployer willing to pay for it?
And if they're not willing topay for it, then they don't want
change.
And that's in any industry.
You have to be willing to putyour money on the line and
invest in it.
Investment has dividends.
So you need to invest in yourfuture pipeline, whether that's
the advocacy piece of the 12 to16 year olds right now, or

(52:48):
that's also the butts in seatstraining that your company
requires, or both.
But you need to invest.
And if you're telling me noafter complaining about the
problem, then I just found yourproblem right there.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
Yep, there's some people that want to solve a
problem and there's some peoplethat want attention about their
problem forever.
I mean maybe they just need tovent.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
I don't know, but I can't imagine being in the
business owner seat, which allof the pressure that entails,
your financial wherewithal onthe line as a human and your
family and whatever else, andthen your employees why you
wouldn't be open to change andthere's gotta be some way to
unpack that for them.
But again, like that's more ofthe, if those are the people
right now, those aren't mypeople.

(53:30):
I'm more of the.
I don't wanna call thembleeding edge.
I'm more of the.
I don't want to call thembleeding edge, but they are the
first responders to the problemof saying, yeah, you know what
the pain is real for me, that Ineed to invest in something, so
we are willing to be the firstones on this boat and then the
other people are like, whoa, weneed to jump off the Titanic too
, Like we got to get on the boat.
but they need to see an actualproof of concept from somebody
else to say, okay, if so-and-sodid it, and that's just society,

(53:53):
right?
I mean, we do that in movies orwhatever thing we're wearing
and handbag.
Early adopters are who we lookfor these things, and then the
others will come, and there willalways be that percentage that
chooses not to, andunfortunately, I think.
I would love to look at yourbooks for profitability, et
cetera, or just growth.
You might be able to stay thesame in the same city and be a
small shop and do the thing, andif that's your prerogative,

(54:21):
then awesome, good for you.
I don't have any reason to sayno to that.
But if you are in saying thiscompany or this part of the
industry is going to last beyondme, you need to be investing in
the future technology, and thenyou also need to be investing
in your people.

Speaker 2 (54:30):
Yeah, 10, 4.
Okay, I know that you've got ahard stop, so I got two things
so I can let you go.
Otherwise I'm going to keeppulling all the value out of
your head.
So one where can people findyou?
Because I know you got a bookcoming.
It's in the process.
You got a lot of amazing things.
You're a valuable asset to theindustry and just to the world,

(54:53):
and so where can people find you?
And then I want to ask you thesuper secret closing question.
Oh, it sounds like pressure.

Speaker 1 (54:59):
Tell my kids that, by the way, that, like you're an
amazing human, all the things.
Like everybody should hear thatevery day and also read your
own bio.
We talked about that earlier.
Like everyone should go andread their bio in the morning.
It's just a puff up yourshoulders a little.
You earned it, you own it,right.
But you can find me onDemiKnightClarkcom that is my
new website.
Also, find me on LinkedIn.
I love connecting with peoplebecause this is a very real

(55:20):
conversation and I love gettingdifferent lenses.
I mean, there's so many ways tounpack these things that
there's no right or wrong andjust opening the dialogue, right
, because that's how communityis.
When you have community, Ithink you really can have
tougher conversations andcrucial conversations.
So find me on my website.
Find me, especially right now,after an election.
We all lean into each other andbe like okay, especially in

(55:41):
manufacturing.
Let's just what's the pathforward?
Like how do we go?
No matter what side of theaisle you sat on.
So anyway, I think it's allinterconnected that way.
So please connect me I'm Demiand I Clark on LinkedIn, yeah,
and we go from there.
So I'm ready.
I feel like I've got to answerthis question.

Speaker 2 (55:57):
I think you're more than ready.
We said it in the intro You'veaccomplished, conquered, many
amazing things.
You continue to be atrailblazer, be on the bleeding
edge, like throughout yourcareer.
I got some of those detailsbefore we hit record, and so I'm
like man.
This response is going to blowsome people's socks off.
So here's the question what isthe promise that you are

(56:20):
intended to be?

Speaker 1 (56:21):
Promise Like, I promise this or.

Speaker 2 (56:25):
Not your promise.
I'll give you an example.
The promise I am intended to beis to share my gifts and
talents and service to othersand help them, escort them, walk
with them down the path ofself-discovery.
That's the promise I amsupposed to be.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
Got it.
Okay, you have do the damnthing, which is awesome, and I
think, rather than it being likethis awesome list of
accomplishments, I just alwaysmade the choice to do the
hardest thing.
And so if I have any legacy atall, whether that's, it's always
my daughter's first.
I think anybody as parentsyou're like if my kids learned
this, then I can be dust somedayand you don't have to be a

(57:06):
parent to feel that way.
There is legacy in it, inanyone.
But I think my legacy isdefinitely carrying on the same
kind of just.
It's not fearlessness and that'smy book is from fearless to
unethical is everyone needs tobe able to figure out that you
face your fears, do the hardthings, face the fears that are
innately going to come, and ifthey don't come, it's probably

(57:26):
not hard enough.
You should be scared every daythat you're making big business
decisions or family decisions,or move across the country or
run a marathon or whatever thething is.
Do the damn thing.
But then also, if the gut checkis there, I say the gut check
and the heart check, you know,if the gut check is there, to
where?
Like it's the like that is thefork in the road.

(57:47):
If it's the fork, go with thefork and then the heart check is
like it sits, with all themorals and values and ethics
that I believe in, that I wantto stand on this wall and do
this thing, whether that'sspeaking to people about the
thing or that's advocating, orthat's starting a class or
that's whatever it is for thenext generation.
I think that's my legacy is thatpeople not only do the damn
thing, but they do the hardthing, because the hard thing is

(58:09):
what people are going toremember and see that and be
like well, I can do the hardthing and everything that's a
hard thing is just broken downinto little bites of the
elephant, so you end up doingthis really hard thing.
I love Trailblazer andGroundbreaker.
It's just choosing to saynobody's stepping into this blue
ocean, so just step into theocean.
I don't want to be in the redocean where everybody's like

(58:31):
bloody sharks fighting over thesame old thing.
Go, define the thing.
That's the blue ocean.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
Oh, I love it.
Damn it.
Amazing.
Of course Do hard things and Iknow you're inspiring me to
continue and we'll make surethat our listeners get the same
inspiration.
Did you have fun?

Speaker 1 (58:49):
I did, and I will add one thing to that.
Somebody gave me this nuggettoday that I talked to, who is a
former gold medalist soccerplayer, who, she, she's
incredibly inspirational againin and of herself.
But she said to me it's up tous to stand on the wall.
So we were talking in contextof women and fight the good
fight, you know, and show girlsthat they can be doing these
things in sports or in trades,or doing all the things.

(59:10):
But we need to know when weneed to step back.
And this is her stepping backand me stepping forward, or Demi
stepping back and Recharge andsomebody else stepping forward.
So I think that would probablybe my next piece of the do the
hard thing.
You need to know where yourcommunity is and when you need
to step back for a minute andthen jump right back into the
arena.
So, yeah, I did have fun and Ihope everybody remembers that in

(59:31):
the next evolution of yearscoming forward.
But do the hard thing.