October 24, 2024 • 53 mins
Imagine channeling the fierce determination of an aspiring actress into the plumbing industry. That's the awe-inspiring journey of Allie Perez, the spirited CMO of George Plumbing, who joins us to share her incredible story. Allie's transition from drama at NYU to becoming a powerhouse in trades is not just about career change—it's about reshaping perceptions and proving that women can excel in non-traditional careers. Her experiences, fueled by a mix of resilience and a bit of defiance, offer fresh insights into embracing life's unexpected twists and the profound impact of mentorship and family values.
Allie's story is a testament to the power of a growth mindset and the importance of surrounding oneself with supportive individuals who encourage potential. Her reflections on early career struggles highlight the pivotal influence of family and mentors in recognizing untapped skills, and the rewarding journey of building Texas Women in Trades. The mission? To significantly increase female representation in trades, inspiring confidence and offering new paths to high school seniors and those considering alternative career options. Allie's approach is nothing short of transformative, leveraging outreach and skill-building sessions to empower women and girls.
As we explore the evolving landscape of marketing and workforce development, Allie shares her strategies for connecting marketing with trades professionals, including the rise of digital marketing and AI. Her commitment to nurturing talent through internship programs and events like the Texas Construction Careers Initiative highlights her passion for creating opportunities for young people. By sharing engaging stories and practical advice, Allie encourages a collaborative effort to reshape the narrative around trades, fostering a future where everyone has the opportunity to thrive. Join us for an episode that's both inspiring and empowering, as we celebrate the potential for growth and change in the trades industry.
Connect with Allie:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/allie-perez-3ba25720/
https://www.facebook.com/TexasWomenInTrades
https://texaswomenintrades.org/
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
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
spite is a hell of a motivator for me, and when
people tell me that I can't dosomething or they patronize or
talk down or mansplain, it justmakes me want to shove it in
their face really hard.
So a lot of it was like no, Ijust knew it in my heart that
the numbers weren't changing.
The numbers weren't going tochange.
I knew this is exactly where Imean I lost a little bit there
(00:24):
for a little bit.
There were a couple of yearswhere I pursued what I thought
was my ideal corporate job.
I was a corporate marketer anddidn't do Texas women in trades,
I just did the corporate world.
Then I ran into a friend ofmine at a poker tournament and
he was like do you miss it?
And I'm like every damn day.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
What is going on LNm family?
Welcome back for another superspecial conversation.
I am going to be interviewing,or having a conversation with,
the fellow deuce dimer, miss aliperez from san San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Texas.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
She is the CMO, that's Chief Marketing Officer
of George Plumbing and just alittle heads up y'all.
Plumbing is going to beprobably a big part of this
conversation.
She's the founder of TexasWomen in Trades and Texas Women
Work I'm not sure if that's thesame thing or two separate
amazing things and recentlynominated 40 under 40 by the San
(01:28):
Antonio Business Journal.
I don't know how I got luckyy'all, but I got ballers up here
and Miss Allie's going to bringit today, where you get to see
(01:48):
how real people just like youare sharing their gifts and
talents to leave this worldbetter than they found it.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
And Miss Allie, how are you?
I've never heard Deuce Dimer.
I own a t-shirt that's awesome210 in the house.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I'm super excited.
I did a little research on thesocials to learn more about you.
I want to applaud you and saythank you for being an advocate
for careers in the trades andfor the things that you're doing
to bring women into the tradesand introduce women to tools.
Because you did recentlysomething super cool and I'm
(02:23):
wondering I know there's a lotNYU drama voiceover acting
you're a dynamo.
What are the super specialnuggets that you covet and hide
from everybody that they reallyshould know about you?
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Wow, that's a good question we're starting off.
I'm heavily flawed.
I'm a very flawed person.
I am very human.
I can sometimes be impatientand I work really hard as an
extrovert to make sure I'mmaking space for other people.
I definitely struggled in my20s.
(03:00):
For sure I would not havelooked 20 years ahead and said
here's where you're going to beat all.
I was a completely differentperson.
I missed quite a bitprofessionally, personally and
in my relationships.
There are definitely things Idid that I'm not super proud of
and I had come to Jesus withmyself and realigned and tried
(03:26):
to put better energy into theworld.
I feel like it's my obligationand my penance to give back and
do more good to make up for thenot great times that I had.
So trying to not be toospecific but not too vague.
Hopefully that answers thequestion.
You know I'm flawed, I'm human.
(03:47):
It hasn't always been sunshine,lollipops and rainbows, for
sure.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Well, girl, I'm just going to say thank you for, like
, you ain't playing around, likefor real, you're human, you're
flawed.
I love the way you said it'skind of a penance right.
There's some redemption goingon, some of that.
That's kind of driving you.
Now I said, like currently CMOof George Plummond, which that's
no small thing, that's a hugething for a lot of reasons and
(04:13):
the founder of Texas Women inTrace.
You just gave us a little bitof insight into the fact that
maybe your life's path was awindy road.
Life's path was a windy road.
So I know from again doing thesocial media stalking, you were
at NYU for drama.
Prior to that you were inCarnet Word.
When Miss Allie was in CarnetWord, going back and forth
(04:35):
downtown.
What was your path?
Did you know that you wanted tobe a CMO for a plumbing?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
company?
No way, Definitely not in highschool, probably not even in
college.
I didn't get into drama until,like my sophomore, freshman,
sophomore, junior year of highschool, and it really wasn't
until my junior year that Ithought this would be a career
path for me.
I really thought I'd end up injournalism.
My biological uncle, who I kindof consider my dad he paid for
(05:02):
most of my school, so you knowhe was in the news and he was an
anchor for the news here in SanAntonio and in New York City.
I thought I'd follow along thatpath for sure.
And I discovered acting and Iwas like, oh no, this is the
path For me.
I went to college and it was apricey endeavor and it wasn't
(05:23):
just me.
There was a lot of I don't know, I like in canto surface
pressure.
There's a lot of surfacepressure there and a lot of real
pressure there to perform, notjust for myself, but the people
who had already invested andwere investing lots of dollars
into my education.
I felt like I owed them areturn on that investment in me,
and so I double majored.
(05:44):
I also majored in English,minored in mathematics, because
I did always sense that I'd getinto business somehow.
Some kids play doctor orteacher.
I played business Likemulti-extension phone.
I was, I was she, she was meand it was so I knew that
(06:09):
somehow I'd either run abusiness or be in business for
myself.
So I thought let's get the mostout of our dollar here and
let's learn those things too.
So when I got out of collegewith a lot of talent but not a
whole lot of marketable skill, Ihad to get work and I had
gotten married real young too.
I got married right out ofcollege, at 21.
And so it was like okay, thisis it, this is starting life,
(06:31):
let's get going.
So I got into marketing prettyquickly.
I liked marketing.
It was a good use of left andright brain.
For me it was storytelling, itwas creative and there was brand
and graphics and fun and people.
But then there was also metricsand measurements and I felt
like it really melded the two.
(06:51):
I had a hard time finding anindustry that was right for me.
I tried different ones and thenI landed in construction by
happenstance and I totally fellin love as someone who went to
an all girls high school.
I totally fell in love assomeone who went to an all-girls
high school.
Shout out to my shamrocks.
Shout out in card word IWHSreal life.
(07:14):
I thought I'd end up in apredominantly female field.
I loved my time in high school.
I loved my time being aroundthe woman power but then I ended
up being in a male-dominatedfield.
I really enjoyed that.
I looked around and realizedthere weren't a lot of other
ladies in the field.
There weren't a lot of otheryoung people.
I was young at the time.
I'm not anymore.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
I was young Once upon a time, me too.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I was usually the only you know brown person in
the position of authority andall of that wasn't okay with me.
So you know, I use themarketing skills to just put up
a simple website and create somesocials.
When I went looking forsisterhood and mentorship, I
didn't find a lot.
They had great stuff in otherstates really great programs,
really great opportunities butdidn't find a lot in Texas.
(07:57):
So I thought I don't want anyother chickadee out there to go
look and not find it.
Worst case, she just gets me onthe other end.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
but at least she'll have me Right, but at least she
gets somebody, exactly so thatwas kind of how I got into the
industry.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
I've been in plumbing gosh over 12 years now.
I love it.
I love the science of plumbing.
I had to learn the tradebecause I was doing operations.
I've always also doneoperations too, and they're not
going to listen to you if youdon't know what you're talking
about, so I had to learn it.
While I was studying, I gotpregnant with my first and only
(08:32):
child.
It's been a long time she's 10now, but she's a plumber kid.
I love the science of it.
I'm a nerd, so I like that partof it.
That's how I got in, totally onaccident, and I'm staying
because I'm just addicted to it.
I love bringing opportunitiesto people.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
What's coming through is you have a heart of service.
You want to create a betterexperience for people coming
behind you, so you're clearing apath.
I applaud you for that.
Totally appreciate that.
The other thing that's reallythat's kind of interesting to me
is you said thing that's reallythat's kind of interesting to
me is you said you said rightbrain, left brain, right, like
(09:09):
drama math, which usually theydon't jive you found a way to
make that work with business,specifically marketing.
Right, because there's a lot ofwe'll say that creative kind of
performance type thinking, butit's connected to, to hard
metrics, right, roi, what arethe impressions?
What is the conversion?
(09:29):
Where do you think that camefrom?
That right brain, left brain,reconciling that you have an
appetite for data and gray space, to wonder and be curious in.
When did that become apparentto you?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
I got into marketing kind of on happenstance.
I was really happy when I gotinto it, but it was other people
telling me that I had thoseskills.
I have an aunt who raised meand she's awesome.
She was like you should be inmarketing.
That's a perfect blend of yourskills.
If you watch Mad Men, youshould watch Mad Men.
And I applied very broadlyafter college to a bunch of
different roles andopportunities.
(10:06):
It was really the marketingones that came back Once I
started.
Putting two and two together,I'm sometimes a little behind
the party.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Sure, I'm a little tardy to that party sometimes.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
But once I put it out there I'm like, oh yeah, that
makes sense.
It was really the people aroundme and the opportunities that
helped guide that decision.
And then, once I was there, Iwas like, oh okay, a lot of
accidents in finding thisjourney, but happy little
accident.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Oh girl.
So the people behind you I meanyou've already talked about
your uncle, you talked aboutyour aunt.
I imagine there's other peopleand key takeaway right, you've
got family that had that x-rayvision.
They could see a version of youthat you could not see yet.
So I'm wondering you've hadthat kind of familial kind of
(10:52):
feed to that.
What steps have you taken tocontinue bringing that type of
person into your life?
Is that part of your regularpractice or where are you on
Before that?
Let's give the shout out to theLNM family member.
This one's from Curtis.
Mr Curtis says it was a greatevent today and thank you for
(11:16):
some great insights.
I'll be following along now, asI felt it was massively
beneficial.
Also, thanks for getting intothe coffee with me.
It was a good pickup, mr Curtis.
I appreciate you sending methat thought.
Folks, I got to meet him at theBreakthrough Builders
networking event and DFW Amazingchange makers that are doing
(11:36):
things to leave the industrybetter than they found it.
That also comes a lot from myfamily.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
You also mentioned an attitude of service.
Most of my family worked fornonprofits, you know, so it's
(12:00):
very much.
My uncle dad would volunteerand he would go and emcee any
type of event, would never askfor anything, any charity.
Who needed him, he would bethere.
We would go volunteer our timeand our services always.
So that spirit of charity, ofgiving and giving back, is just
always.
It's a cultural thing for me,it's a family tradition for me
and something my daughter and Ido a lot.
I mean she'll come with me tomy rallies and she's on the
(12:23):
megaphone.
Women have rights.
Women have power.
I mean, she's a bigger feminist,and so I think it was just kind
of you know that kind of thing,and we all very much have that
growth mindset which is alwayspushing and growing and
challenging each other.
I spent a lot of time in theself-help section of Barnes
(12:43):
Noble.
I bought a lot of books.
I need to listen to morepodcasts.
I'll be honest, I'm a little outof it that way because I really
you know, I think the way wereceive information is important
and I'm a more visualdefinitely than auditory, but I
need to work that muscle.
I need to be getting thatmuscle.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yes, that that auditory, the audio books and
podcasts, the volume of stuffyou can consume is exponential.
Because you can do it driving,you can do it washing clothes,
washing dishes, like be careful.
I'll just say that because youmay be like me and over consume
and have too many ideas.
(13:25):
You know it's interestingbecause reading a book for me is
like punishment, because Ican't do anything else and I'm
not good at sitting down for along period of time and like
audio books.
Same.
If you look at my list of audiobooks that I listen to or
podcasts I listen to I've hadpeople look at they're like what
(13:45):
the hell's wrong?
Why are you listening to that?
That's heavy stuff and it'swhat I'm interested in.
If I knew that back in the day,back when I was, I know you, I
know you got love for.
Brecker.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Ridge right Brecker.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Ridge Eagles Back in the day when I was there.
If audio instruction was athing, I think I would have done
better.
But you live and you learn.
You've walked a path.
You've had people in your life.
There's a windy road to get youto where you're at now, but
maybe not so windy Depends onhow close you look at it.
What advice or pointers do youhave for young women in high
(14:24):
school or even at universitythat they're going down a path
and they think one thing goeswrong and the world's going to
end.
Everything's over for them.
What do you have to say to them?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
There's always a start over, there's always a do
over button.
You learn something fromeverything, even if it didn't
work out and a lot of my lifedid not work out.
The way.
I expected it had planned itlike the type A personality it
was going to go like that.
No, it did not happen that way,but there was value and
learning in every step of theway.
And I feel like, had I not havemisstepped so much in my youth,
(14:58):
I don't know that I'd have theability to overcome adversity
that I do now.
They almost welcome thosechallenges because they make you
stronger, they force you out ofyour comfort zone.
I don't like being comfortable,I like being a little
uncomfortable, but there'salways something to learn.
Even if it didn't go and itwon't go exactly the way you all
the time, there's always stillvalue in that misstep right,
(15:19):
there's value.
You had to have taken awaysomething to learn and sometimes
it directs you to where you aretruly meant to go, not where
you thought you should go orwere meant to go.
So relax a little bit into theride.
If you're on a roller coasterand you're like this, you're
just not going to have any fun.
But if you kind of just go withit, it's going to be a funky
(15:40):
ride and it's going to be fun.
So relax a little bit.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I love it.
When I graduated high school, Igot a summer job and found out
that construction is what I needto do, like it was home In the
classroom.
I always felt less than becauseI now don't get me wrong.
School was easy but I would getin trouble because I talked too
much, I moved too much, I'mlike things are too slow and I
(16:07):
want to do something else.
So on the job side, nobody evenknows Like it was good that I
had that kind of energy.
It was good that I wanted totry things and do it wrong and
just figure it out.
The point there is putting yourhands on things to figure it out
is awesome.
(16:28):
Right?
It's not the end of the world Istruggled with.
Oh my God, my world's going toend.
The world I struggled with.
Oh my god, my world's gonna endmy future, my potential is
totally wasted because I'm notgoing to be an engineer.
There were all theseexpectations I thought I should
fulfill, but they were theexpectations of other people
that really didn't have anunderstanding of what I had
(16:51):
within me.
For years.
It was difficult going throughapprenticeship and it wasn't
until my third or fourth year ofapprenticeship where I'm like
well, this is exactly where I'mneeding to be, but it's not the
end of the world.
But I'm just trying tosummarize what she's like.
It's not the end of the world.
Enjoy the ride.
You're going to learn from thedamn thing and just keep on
(17:12):
moving.
Now, when you founded TexasWomen in Trades, you kind of
alluded as to why, right, youwere the only almost you
probably still are a rarity inthe circles professional circles
that you're in.
What instigated that and howeasy was it?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
It was easy to start.
It's been harder to maintain.
It's been about 12 years.
I felt like when I started itwas a lot of people patting me
on the head and saying that's agreat idea, good luck.
And believing that it was agood idea, but not really
interested in putting in thework with me or supporting it in
any major ways.
(17:53):
I will say the Department ofLabor Women's Bureau has always
been there for me.
They've always seen the vision,but it wasn't really until
recently, the last few years,when people were talking about
infrastructure bill and federalinfrastructure projects and
dollars that shake, shake, shakeit started being like, oh, wow,
we have a skilled labor gap.
And I'm like, yes, we've hadthis into the void for a decade,
(18:15):
but you know what?
I'm not going to take it.
You're on board, now let's go.
I really felt like over thelast few years it's been
energized to say, okay, weacknowledge that.
Now what do we do?
And because I spent so manyyears in the space, I also
served on the NationalTradeswomen Task Force, which is
an organization of women'sorganizations from all over the
country Oregon, chicago,california, new York, new Jersey
(18:37):
, massachusetts.
They've been doing this for along time.
I didn't create this and Ididn't want to recreate the
wheel either.
If someone's been doing it andsomething worked or didn't, I
want to know about that too.
I took time with them to get toknow the right people and ask
the right questions before Ireally started building out the
organization in a way that Ifelt was going to serve the
(18:58):
community and my goals.
I really did a lot of just likenot a whole lot for a long time
, other than responding toemails and doing things every
now and again, but within thelast few years I've supercharged
my efforts as well.
So now we do monthlyinformation sessions where I go
and do a hoorah and get peoplesuper excited about it and then
pipeline them into essay, readyto work and other career
(19:19):
opportunities unions.
And then we also do tooltrainings.
I came from one today.
We did one a couple of weeksago with women.
I came from one.
Literally I hopped in.
I'm so a little sway, a littleshiny, because I was working
with fourth, fifth, sixth andseventh graders today about 25
of them and we were buildingbirdhouses and talking about
construction and there weregirls in there saying I want to
(19:40):
be a carpenter, I want to be aplumber, and I'm just like, yes,
we need to do the work, we needto get in there, we need to
plant these seeds.
It's a long term and a shortterm, you know.
So that's kind of what I wanted.
I get the feel good vibes, butwe're also really creating
positive change in thecommunities.
We work with girls and womenand an ideal person for us is a
(20:01):
high school senior who it's thesecond semester.
They're about to graduate.
They don't have a collegepicked.
Their parents are on their back, the counselor's on their back.
They don't know what they wantto to do.
That's a perfect person for me,because they've not been shown
this opportunity and even ifthey want to do something else,
like work for nasa or become afashion designer, these skills
(20:24):
will always be with them.
They'll be able to pay fortheir own training in whatever
other field they want to getinto.
More often than not, I have afeeling they're to like the
industry and want to stickaround, but that's kind of I
don't know a very roundabout wayof answering your question.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
No, it's perfect because you kind of served up
all kinds of juicy things for meto pick apart.
I want to come back to theideal person that you want to
play with.
But first, what I want the L&Mfamily member out there to get
from this is you started downthis path 10 or 12 years ago.
You stayed the course.
You weren't getting hoopla.
(21:01):
You knew the data out there.
When I graduated high school in95, that's part of the reason
why I chose plumbing, because atthat time the average age of a
journeyman plumber in Texas waslike 52.
I was in apprenticeship.
I was the only 18-year-old inthe apprenticeship program.
All my peers were 30, mid-30sand on.
(21:23):
I could do math.
I'm like in 15 years I'm goingto be making money.
Money because they're allleaving.
There's only one of me like duhsupply and demand.
So it's not a new thing.
But now there's this focus ofoh my goodness, this is a big
thing.
Through the quiet time whereyou were plugging away, I'm sure
(21:44):
you had people in your circlesaying why are you doing this?
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Three people showed up, all that effort for only
three people.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
How did you keep going, or what's your advice for
people to continue forward?
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I wish I have good advice, I have real advice.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Okay, even better.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Spite is a hell of a motivator for me, and when
people tell me that I can't dosomething, or they patronize or
talk down or mansplain, it justmakes me want to shove it in
their face really hard.
So a lot of it was like no, Ijust knew it in my heart.
The numbers weren't changing,the numbers weren't going to
change.
I knew this is exactly where Imean.
(22:25):
I lost a little bit there for alittle bit.
There were a couple of yearswhere I pursued what I thought
was my ideal corporate job.
I was a corporate marketer anddidn't do Texas women in trades,
I just did the corporate world.
Then I ran into a friend ofmine at a poker tournament and
he was like, do you miss it?
And I'm like, every damn day Imiss it all the time.
And he says, well, come workwith us.
(22:46):
And that's how I ended up goingback into it at George Plumbing
.
But even I lost the light for alittle bit.
Even I was like God, I'm tiredof having to fight my fight for
myself and for others and likejust constantly being talked
down to and minimize and I justeven I lost it.
So I had to almost step awayfor a little bit and take a
(23:08):
reprieve to realize how much.
No, that was my mission, thatis my purpose, that's what I'm
called to do, and that universebrought us back together.
The universe was like you havethis voice and these skills at
this time for this movement andyou've got to be there and
you've got to do it.
So I feel a very higher callingto it.
But even I, mean, jesus, hadthe same thing.
(23:29):
We all have the same thing.
I'm highly religious, butthere's a lot of reality there.
Even he had doubts, and doubtsare totally normal Honestly,
they're rational.
I don't want people to say,okay, this isn't working, what
do we do?
But sometimes it is a step away.
If it's right, you'll know it'sright, you'll be back.
And that's really when I cameback, is when it really started
(23:53):
to.
I was smarter, I was smarterabout it, I was older, wiser and
just really came at it in adifferent approach that was more
successful.
Sometimes we'll still have infosessions where one or two
people show up, and it doesn'tbother me any, because that one
or two people their lives couldbe completely transformed.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
That's it.
One person.
If I can influence impact oneperson's day, one person's life,
that's what the hell I'm herefor.
Sure, a million would be great,but one is pretty damn awesome.
So again, repeat so that peopledon't miss it Despite can be
dual.
(24:32):
If that's's what's gonna giveyou the ganas posale.
I mean, if somebody I've doneso many times people piss me off
I said, okay, I'm gonna get you.
It ain't gonna be today, butI'm gonna get you right, that's
right.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
If you come for me, you better not miss.
Yeah, girl, that's what I'mtalking about.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Okay.
So earlier you mentioned thatsenior that's kind of wondering,
maybe not sure, like indecisivehasn't made a decision, doesn't
know where to go.
What I'm talking about, okay.
So earlier you mentioned thatsenior that's kind of wondering,
maybe not sure, like indecisivehasn't made a decision, doesn't
know where to go.
Are there any characteristicswithin the individuals that come
to you that indicate to youlike, oh, yeah, yeah, like
you're going to love thisAnything?
(25:07):
Stand out.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
I do a lot of work with a nonprofit called Girl
With Grit and they really focuson putting tools into younger
girls' hands, like the girls youwere talking to today.
We both work with high schooland then I work more with adults
and pipeline them in.
You really try to look at thedemographic of who are we really
serving here and who benefitsthe most from this and, believe
(25:28):
it or not, it's the art kids.
It's the kids who like to paint.
It's the kids who like to paint.
It's the kids who like to act.
It's the kids who like to do allof that, and I was there today
and we were building theselittle bird houses and one of
the young gals said I want to dothis kind of work, but I want
to do it for theater, for sets,for movies.
I was like, oh my God, that'sawesome.
(25:49):
You could do that in Big Bang.
I mean, really, I was that kid,right, I was that theater kid.
My friend Blythe was that artkid, you know that punk art kid.
I was the preppy theater kid.
We couldn't be more different,but we have so much in common in
how we're motivated to helpothers.
So don't underestimate your artkids out there, because they
(26:10):
got skills.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
I got to agree with that.
When I think about my businessI've been in business for two
and a half years I don't haveany credentials.
I was in plumbing for over 20years.
I've been in construction mywhole life.
But the skills that I learnedas an apprentice, as a plumber,
as an installer was I got a pileof material.
Installer was I got a pile ofmaterial, some tools, some
(26:39):
information and me.
And it's up to me to actualizethat picture into something that
is functional and operational.
I did that iteratively, byresponding to my conditions and
figuring out how to accomplishthe goal given the resources I
had at hand.
But it's exactly the same thingin building my business.
It's like there's no clear path, there's no instruction manual.
(27:03):
Not that I would read it.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
You'd listen to it.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Let me figure it out and then you can figure it out
In terms of the art kids.
Maybe they're more inclined toexcel at a quicker rate because
they have their creative mindand understand the nature of
creativity, which is iteration.
What do you think about that?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
It's 100% right, and I think also they're kind of
used to being on the fringes,you know, not always things were
comfortable or, you know,normal in any sense of the word.
They'd much rather be in theart room or on the stage than in
the classroom.
And doing as opposed tolectured at.
(27:43):
So I think there's a lot of ifit was a Venn diagram of sorts a
lot of overlay there, but againthis is for anybody.
I mean it really like that's whowe see best serve for the most
part.
We don't have any studies onthis, but we had a 40 plus year
old apprentice at GeorgePlumbing who came to us from the
IT world.
(28:04):
It can be for everyone.
It really depends on the person, which I think is also really
cool because it's superuniversal.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, you know.
Again, thank you for the workthat you're doing with the Texas
Women in Trade.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
We work together.
It's a similar conjunctionthere.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Got it Beautiful Because you know this.
I know this.
When I was in school, no onementioned that a career in the
trades was a viable option.
It was go to college or flipburgers, and I'm not against
college at all.
I've got you in.
I think you're a.
What is it?
Blue Tigers, st Phillips.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
I went there too.
That's where I studied plumbing, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yes.
So I went there too, cause myapprenticeship with ABC.
I got like 32 hours ofexperiential credit towards a
degree in construction businessmanagement at St Phillips.
I never finished, of course aswell.
I'm like man, this is not fun.
Anyways, I'm not againstcollege.
It's necessary and helpful in alot of situations, but not
(29:06):
mandatory for every situation.
I'm against forcing people intoconditions that do not help
them thrive and grow.
For kids like me, university isnot the environment for me to
thrive and grow.
The job site was For those kidsout there wondering.
(29:27):
When I was doing recruiting Iused to work for TD Industries.
I would go to the schools.
They would always give me theirhonor roll kids.
We tried.
That didn't work.
Here was my criteria If they'rein any kind of extracurricular
activity, I don't care.
If it's banned, it doesn'tmatter.
They got to.
If they're showing up to schoolbefore everybody else and
staying after school, but aftereverybody else leaves, they got
(29:49):
to work in a team.
That's it.
I don't, and actually I'dprefer if they were like C and D
kids, kind of in trouble a lotor often because they won't
conform to the rules and theyain't scared to figure things
out on their own.
I want to applaud you and alsofolks out there L&M family,
(30:13):
their L&M family.
If you know any youngsters thatare in that situation, that
have that kind of style andpersonality, there is an amazing
place in the industry, in thetrades, from which they can
really experience a high qualityof life.
Am I a liar?
Speaker 1 (30:25):
No, I think our skilled labor gap is a marketing
problem.
I really don't feel like we doa great job sharing the benefits
of our industry, but you knowwho does?
Colleges and universities.
We live in a capitalist nationand when I started doing this
work over 10 years ago, theywere spending a billion dollars
a year to recruit.
Now they're spending over $10billion a year to recruit.
(30:47):
They're putting in the moneyand they're selling these kids a
vision of life on the quadplaying hacky sack.
You know, like, whatever thatmodern equivalent is, you know
they're selling that vision andthen, oh yeah, you've got going
to come out with a quartermillion dollars in student loans
.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Doesn't matter you went to second class you did
this.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
It's a capitalist country and they are doing their
part to get every seat filledand have every class filled, and
they're not afraid to spend thedollars to do it, and they have
a method to their madness.
And the military too.
Military spends about 3 billiona year to recruit and they
recently had to lower theirstandards because they weren't
getting enough people.
(31:26):
So it's like we have somecompetition in this and the
competition is putting in thetime, the money and the energy.
We have to do the same as agroup to really spread our
message, because we're competingwith some really heavy hitters.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
So here's what's interesting is there are
universities billions, themilitary billions but the trades
I don't know.
Maybe I'm ignorant, maybe youcould school me on this, but it
feels like the trades is relyingon nonprofits amazing human
beings like you and all theother people out there to do the
(32:04):
damn marketing for them.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
You got it.
It's two things.
One, it's that Very true.
The other is that it's a veryself-fulfilling industry.
For example, people have had tofigure it out for themselves.
They have their own internalmethods of recruitment, their
own internal methods ofapprenticeship and
pre-apprenticeship programs.
We're a part of a contractinggroup, the PHEC Plumbing,
(32:26):
heating and Cooling Contractorsin San Antonio, and 10 years ago
I was in the inaugural classfor their DOL Registered
Apprenticeship Program.
They created for theircontractors to get their people
educated.
So they've had to fend forthemselves.
They've had to figure it outfor themselves.
All these contractors have.
Because of that they'reproprietary with that.
They're not going to createthis program for just anybody
(32:49):
and everybody.
We fought hard to have this.
I really wish if I had a magicwand that all the contractors
could.
Can't we all just get along?
I think there's still thatcompetitive, capitalist
component to it.
I want my people to be the besteducated, the best on the job.
I want my people to be the mostefficient, the most
credentialed and licensed.
Now, not all contractors arelike that.
(33:10):
I mean, george Plumbing isn'tlike that.
They've been a part of the ofthe organization forever.
But it it is very dependent onnonprofits workforce development
, which you know I serve on thatready to work board and and I
they're probably tired ofhearing me.
Oh well, they still got me foranother year.
That construction isn't likeany other industry.
(33:31):
It's not like getting a medicaltech or an IT coordinator.
It's not like any of that.
We hire and we train them.
They don't get trained and thenget hired, so we break the
systems of workforce developmentand that's really hard to
adjust to.
The good news is Ready toWork's listening.
(33:52):
They're trying to adapt to that, but those kind of cogs don't
move and change overnight.
So I mean it's a lot of work,it's a lot of the right people
in the right rooms, it's a lotof just listening and doing.
But yeah, we need to work morecohesively as an industry
because this isn't just an Allieproblem or a George Plumbing
(34:13):
problem or a you problem or yourcompany problem.
This is an everybody problemand there's plenty of people out
there for all of us.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Oh yeah, a hundred percent.
When I was responsible forrecruiting, I was on advisory
boards.
Have you connected with CCAConstruction Careers Academy?
Yes, at Warren.
Yes, ms Akels, she's amazing,she was one of my early guests
on the podcast.
There's a way, however thesharing of the methodology, of
(34:43):
the pipeline right of theworkforce development.
We had put together aninternship program when I was at
TD and I kind of had to breakthrough all the damn red tape,
all the freaking head garbagethat our decision makers had.
I was responsible for gettinglabor for all our work and I
found me getting the same peoplepaying them more money.
They weren't having more skillsand would leave for another 50
(35:07):
cents or a dollar and then theywould come back and that's just
the way it was.
I'm on the advisory boards forthese schools and they are
graduating students that I wantto put to work.
Some of them are going touniversity.
The rest is like what's goingon?
I'm like, see, you know what?
I need to start bringing thesekids and putting them to work,
and we did, and so we had thatturned into an internship
(35:29):
program, putting kids to workover the summer of their junior
and senior year, and I rememberthe company I was working for,
there was a guy that was goingto be their internship
apprenticeship person.
I'm like, bro, I already didthat.
Like, here's my thing, just domore of it.
The response I got from him wasdude, you can't share this with
anybody.
(35:49):
You got to keep this top secret.
And I'm like bro, too late Idone gave it to everybody that's
on the advisory board.
Like, I did some of the legworkto figure out.
Like they don't have to be 18to be on a job site.
We need to get a waiver fromour insurance carrier so that we
can have 16 to 18 year olds onthe job site.
(36:10):
And there are three things thatthey can't do.
Now two more things that I wantto make sure you're connected
to have you connected withStacey Gunderson yet, gosh,
she's San Antonio MarriottBrothers.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Okay, marriott is awesome.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Marriott is a big sponsor of a lot of different
efforts locally.
They're doing the work.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Oh man, they got it going on.
Stacey's there and then TCCI,Texas Construction Careers
Initiative.
Are you going to be there inNovember?
Speaker 1 (36:34):
At the big yes, november 13th.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
And.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
I encourage Ready to Work to be there in the city of
San Antonio.
I think we're going to have abreakout panel, so I'll probably
be speaking too.
We'll also be with a careerfair for adults afterwards.
I heard We'll be there till 2.
And then from two to five we'llhave a career fair ready to
(36:59):
work, career fair to get otherpeople interested adult people
interested.
Come resumes ready, comeinterview ready, Like there will
be contractors there ready tohave conversations with these
people.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Are you going to be there for the craft competition?
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Oh yeah, that's the best part, that's awesome,
totally, totally.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Those kids got skills .
When I saw those kids compete,I'm like I can put them to work
right now.
They got real game and itstarted.
This whole other thread wasgood work and fulfilling work.
So, folks, if you're listening,this episode is going to be out
before then.
If you're in or anywhere nearcentral Texas, you need to come
down.
I think it's at the FreemanColiseum again.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
They bring equipment.
They bring you know virtual,like simulators.
You can see what it's like tooperate.
It is electric.
It is an awesome event.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Oh, girl, you and I are going to have to connect and
get some selfies.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
I'll be there.
I love that.
That's awesome.
We get to meet in person.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
What are some of the things that you've learned as
the CMO for George Plumbing?
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Really honing growth mindset, really understanding
that, no matter what people youhire on personality and train on
skill, has never been moreapparent.
Train on skill has never beenmore apparent.
You can have people who thinkthat they're rock stars and they
just don't listen.
You know they don't takeconstructive anything.
And it works both ways right,I'm all about it.
Tell me I can do somethingbetter.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
I'm a Leo too.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
So sometimes I'm like oh really.
But then I digest it and Ilearn something from it.
But no, just.
You know people are your mostimportant asset in any business.
The way you treat them, the wayyou pay them, the way they feel
heard and appreciated is huge.
And that growth mindset willmake or break you as an
individual and as a business.
(38:47):
And you don't got it, you'llsurvive business.
And you don't got it, you'llsurvive but not going to thrive.
It's a cold, hard fact.
You've just got to embrace thatchange is going to happen.
Just be ready for it.
Some people like it, somepeople don't, but it's a natural
part of life.
Days change, everything changes.
(39:08):
So just start building someresilience to that, because
that's one thing you can do.
You know you can stop change,but you can combat how you
handle it and how you respond toit.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
It's been a trip.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
I love it.
Marketing's changed a lot.
I definitely didn't learn aboutAI in college.
It's been huge.
Digital marketing has becomesuch a dominating force.
Marketing is a fast evolvingindustry and it's also like kind
of like the trades also lookdown on.
I think a lot of people think,oh, anyone can do that.
Oh, that's easy.
(39:41):
I'll just YouTube it and figureit out you know, and it's like
okay, I'm not saying it's rocketscience, because it's not, but,
like you know, when someone'sput 10 plus years into it, you
know, maybe they know a littlebit of something about it you
know, so it's been realinteresting working in marketing
in this industry too, becausesometimes that role can be
really minimized.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
But I'm fortunate.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
George Fleming's a great company, been around since
1947.
I always feel like I've had avoice there, which is important.
I love our brand, really loveour brand, really love our brand
.
No matter what I do or where Igo, I'll always have my toe in
the water with George Plumbingand the brand, because I just
love it.
I'm protective of it.
(40:24):
I want to make sure that it'salways handled with care.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
A lot's changed and you just got to flow with it.
Yeah, so I noticed the virtualor social end of the marketing
for George Plumbing and I wassurprised.
I was like, oh wow, this isn'tlike my dad's plumbing company.
This is how, should I say, atleast up with the times.
I'll say it that way For othermarketing professionals because
I got a lot of friends inmarketing.
You have some insight that Iknow they don't have, because
(40:48):
you went to St Phillips to dothe plumbing apprenticeship, did
you get your license?
Speaker 1 (40:53):
I have all my hours.
I've been an epically longapprentice.
I just have to test.
I'm rare too, in that I went tocollege and have the skills.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
You understand the work and have the mindset and
experience of marketing, buthave friends or just people I
know in general, that are inmarketing but they don't
understand the work.
And so what are some nuggetsyou could give those marketers
that are within the constructionindustry, that are struggling
(41:24):
to connect with their internalclient, right With their
decision maker?
Like what you got for them.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Two tidbits I'm thinking of.
One get to know the people.
Get to know the people who dothe work.
I'm friendly with them.
I like to hear what's going onwith Doug and Sean and how are
your kids and what was todaylike and how was that tankless
and stuff.
You know you've got to have arelationship with the people
because they do a lot of thatmarketing work in conjunction
(41:52):
with you.
If they understand you havegood intention with their brand
and with letting people know howhard it is they work, they'll
go to bat, they'll do the work.
So we have a review programthat's fueled by our guys asking
for reviews.
They'll send me pictures fromtheir job sites that they're
proud of.
Or one time they ran into thishundred-year-old turtle.
They sent me a video.
(42:12):
It was after a rainstorm andthey were at a customer's house.
It was a beautiful rainbow.
I mean they'll send me randomstuff, sometimes, not always,
post-appointment.
Save those for our internalcompany slideshow for the
holidays.
But they're out there and so ifyou help them realize that
they're a part of the team andmake it fun and engaging and
really just like humanize it,that's low-lying fruit.
(42:34):
You should do that anyway.
Like any manager of anythingshould get to know their people,
be with the people.
If you're gonna leave, yougotta get in the mess.
Right, you gotta do it.
That's my next one get in themess.
I'll go out from time to timeand go on jobs.
That was in a bunny suit acouple months ago under a house,
crawling military style.
They got a picture of me in abunny suit, I mean you know, and
(42:56):
with all my gear and stufffilthy, and and then I can say,
you know, even sometimes when Ianswer the phone and help out,
like well, why are you that?
Why is that so much?
Are you gonna crawl under yourhouse in 110 degrees like?
I know exactly what you'relooking at and how to fix it.
There's value there.
It helps them appreciate youtoo.
(43:16):
They'd be like dang, I only gotin there and if you would do it
, it works both ways.
Know your people and let yourpeople know that you see them
and hear them.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Sometimes they have way better ideas than I do?
Speaker 1 (43:28):
we have these business cards and on the back
we put our qr code andeveryone's to leave reviews and
and so everyone's telling me ohthat's such a great idea.
It wasn't mine, it was one ofour plumbers ideas Sean's idea
and he's a boomer, you know.
So it's like don't expedite.
I mean, you know, sometimesyou're all a team, so work as a
team.
Many other people have waybetter ideas than me, but
(43:50):
hopefully I fostered anenvironment where they feel they
can bring those ideas and makemagic out of them.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
Oh, I love it.
Know your people, know the work.
That's what I got, like bombs.
You're dropping bombs, girl.
Oh man, I love it.
That's super, super exciting.
So now, if they know the peopleand know the work, does it help
them to be a Super Mariohistory buff?
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Like on the game Super Mario.
Yeah, I do some Mario Posey too.
I do that.
I use it a lot for the kids too.
Like I'll go into the schoolsand I'll say who's the most
famous plumber in the world?
And the really smart kids sayyou miss.
And I'm like oh, I like you, Ilike you, but no, it's not me
and they're like no, it's Mario.
(44:36):
So I really appreciate theMario movie because that was a
lot of great marketing for usright there.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Albeit not accurate at all.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
It made me nervous when they were destroying that
super high-end bathroom.
I was itchy, but yeah, no, Imean, whatever works, you know
we've got a great brand.
I didn't invent the brand, Ididn't invent the logo, but I
was able to scoop it up, youknow, and internalize it, really
(45:05):
kind of make it our own andmodernize it, putting it on
YouTube videos, havingaccessible things and doing
funny meme worthy posts, havingfun.
Not everything has to be so.
We are professional, but ofcourse you're professional
plumbers.
Right, have a little bit of apersonality, let you every
company has one, whether it issuper professional.
Have just a little bit of funand creativity.
(45:26):
People will respond to that andyou'll have a better day and a
better time at your job.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Seems simple to me yeah, I'm with you a hundred
percent.
I get a lot of.
If you see any of my stuff onthe socials, I don't necessarily
follow the rules and somepeople are like bro, like aren't
you worried about losingcredibility?
Like shit, I didn't have anyone, I got here's fine, we have a
good time.
But no, my kid will be in.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Mario Kart.
I'm not that good.
I'm not very good at videogames.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
No, I saw one of your posts and you taught me
something.
It was the George Plumbing postthat the Mario Brothers didn't
start off as plumbers, theystarted off as carpenters.
All right, and not only was itmarketing for George Plumbing,
it was also educational.
So, folks, if you didn't know,y'all got to go find that post.
(46:19):
Look up George Plumbing, givethem a like and look at the
Super Mario history there.
But Super Mario started as a.
They started as carpenters, butsome decision makers said they
spent so much time undergroundthey need to be plumbers that
the decision was made.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
I've been.
If you haven't gathered this,in the last 55 minutes we've
been talking a big old nerd OGoriginal geek.
I own it, I know the history.
And then let's just make thatfun somehow.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
That's it.
Let's use that in service toothers.
That's the trick.
So are you ready for the homerun question?
You started out hot and heavy,so we can only go over here.
Okay, here it is.
You've done a lot of amazingthings, you've got a whole lot
within you that you've beensharing with the world, and you
(47:10):
got some runway ahead of you.
So what is the promise you areintended to be?
Speaker 1 (47:18):
I'm really called to this work.
I'm called to the work of usinga super unique skill set I've
always felt like I don't quitebelong anywhere and turning that
into a superpower.
I think I'm called to continueto do this work.
I would love to see Texas womenin trades be impactful from a
(47:38):
logistical standpoint.
We're at 3% females on the jobin San Antonio and in Texas.
I'd love to see us I mean I'dlove to see us 20%.
I'd love to see one in fivetrades.
I mean it doesn't even seemlike a lot, but to go from three
to 20 in my lifetime, thatwould be just amazing.
(47:58):
I'm gonna keep doing it.
I read this book recentlycalled Think and Grow Rich.
There were some really goodgems in there.
If you haven't read it, it's areally good book to read and
kind of workbook Like you readit once but you're not done with
it.
It makes you do work.
I read something that said theage 40 to 50, that's your zone,
that's when you're really goingto do it.
(48:21):
I take that as a challenge, notout of spite, but just to really
show up and show out in thesenext 10 years and leave it all
on the dance floor.
We're going hard, we're goingstrong.
We're going to do this.
I'm going to keep at it.
I I'll keep at it.
I think some of the thingswe're doing are working.
Some of them aren't.
We're going to change those.
We're going to come up with newones.
I commit to continuing theefforts and if I had to put a
number on it, I'd love to seeone in five plus, plus, plus.
(48:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (48:45):
So the L&M family.
We got a lot of people in theconstruction industry.
How can they find you and whatcan they do to help support your
vision to getting us to 20%women in the industry?
Awesome?
Speaker 1 (48:55):
Easy to find womenintradesorg.
You can find our website.
You can fill out a formsubmission request to join our
email list.
We do events all the time.
You can share our stuff onsocial media.
Just the way we talk to ouryoung people and people about
our trade is an imperative taskfor all of us.
Get out to your kid's careerday.
Bring some swag and talk tothem about what you do.
(49:16):
You know that's a really bighelp.
You know getting out there anddoing the mission.
We're also always looking formentors.
We like to pair our interestedapprentices or pre-apprentices
with somebody in their field andarea.
If you're interested inmentorship, you can find out
about that on the website.
If you want to follow me, I'mon Facebook and Instagram and
LinkedIn and love sharing yourstuff and I might have things
(49:39):
you want to share too, so findme on there.
I accept pretty much everybodyunless they look like a bot.
That's how you find us.
Get out in the community, sharethis mission.
If you need help, I havePowerPoint presentations and
templates.
We'll train you on how to getout there and what to talk about
.
You're not alone.
There are lots of people whowant to do this work, and you
don't have to recreate the wheel.
(49:59):
We'll help you.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
Oh, so amazing, so amazing.
Did you have fun?
Speaker 1 (50:05):
I had a blast.
That was a lot of fun.
I hope you enjoyed it also.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
Yeah, your energy is like, it's energy for me.
I'm like man, I'm stoked.
I feel like I want to go backand and do recruiting for the
trades again, let's do it.
Oh, man, to be continued, causewe didn't talk about your
voiceover work.
So the and I I'm sure you'regoing to be continuing to impact
(50:32):
the world.
So at some point in the futurewe're going to reconnect.
We're going to have selfiesbecause we're both going to be
at the TCCI event.
Thank you for your time, sister.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
It's mine.
Thanks for being interested inthe mission and sharing all
these great stories andinformation for people.
Love seeing this Love, watchingyou thrive.
Keep at it.
Thank you so much.
spite is a hell of a motivator for me, and when
people tell me that I can't dosomething or they patronize or
talk down or mansplain, it justmakes me want to shove it in
their face really hard.
So a lot of it was like no, Ijust knew it in my heart that
the numbers weren't changing.
The numbers weren't going tochange.
I knew this is exactly where Imean I lost a little bit there
(00:24):
for a little bit.
There were a couple of yearswhere I pursued what I thought
was my ideal corporate job.
I was a corporate marketer anddidn't do Texas women in trades,
I just did the corporate world.
Then I ran into a friend ofmine at a poker tournament and
he was like do you miss it?
And I'm like every damn day.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
What is going on LNm family?
Welcome back for another superspecial conversation.
I am going to be interviewing,or having a conversation with,
the fellow deuce dimer, miss aliperez from san San Antonio.
Speaker 1 (01:01):
Texas.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
She is the CMO, that's Chief Marketing Officer
of George Plumbing and just alittle heads up y'all.
Plumbing is going to beprobably a big part of this
conversation.
She's the founder of TexasWomen in Trades and Texas Women
Work I'm not sure if that's thesame thing or two separate
amazing things and recentlynominated 40 under 40 by the San
(01:28):
Antonio Business Journal.
I don't know how I got luckyy'all, but I got ballers up here
and Miss Allie's going to bringit today, where you get to see
(01:48):
how real people just like youare sharing their gifts and
talents to leave this worldbetter than they found it.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
And Miss Allie, how are you?
I've never heard Deuce Dimer.
I own a t-shirt that's awesome210 in the house.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I'm super excited.
I did a little research on thesocials to learn more about you.
I want to applaud you and saythank you for being an advocate
for careers in the trades andfor the things that you're doing
to bring women into the tradesand introduce women to tools.
Because you did recentlysomething super cool and I'm
(02:23):
wondering I know there's a lotNYU drama voiceover acting
you're a dynamo.
What are the super specialnuggets that you covet and hide
from everybody that they reallyshould know about you?
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Wow, that's a good question we're starting off.
I'm heavily flawed.
I'm a very flawed person.
I am very human.
I can sometimes be impatientand I work really hard as an
extrovert to make sure I'mmaking space for other people.
I definitely struggled in my20s.
(03:00):
For sure I would not havelooked 20 years ahead and said
here's where you're going to beat all.
I was a completely differentperson.
I missed quite a bitprofessionally, personally and
in my relationships.
There are definitely things Idid that I'm not super proud of
and I had come to Jesus withmyself and realigned and tried
(03:26):
to put better energy into theworld.
I feel like it's my obligationand my penance to give back and
do more good to make up for thenot great times that I had.
So trying to not be toospecific but not too vague.
Hopefully that answers thequestion.
You know I'm flawed, I'm human.
(03:47):
It hasn't always been sunshine,lollipops and rainbows, for
sure.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Well, girl, I'm just going to say thank you for, like
, you ain't playing around, likefor real, you're human, you're
flawed.
I love the way you said it'skind of a penance right.
There's some redemption goingon, some of that.
That's kind of driving you.
Now I said, like currently CMOof George Plummond, which that's
no small thing, that's a hugething for a lot of reasons and
(04:13):
the founder of Texas Women inTrace.
You just gave us a little bitof insight into the fact that
maybe your life's path was awindy road.
Life's path was a windy road.
So I know from again doing thesocial media stalking, you were
at NYU for drama.
Prior to that you were inCarnet Word.
When Miss Allie was in CarnetWord, going back and forth
(04:35):
downtown.
What was your path?
Did you know that you wanted tobe a CMO for a plumbing?
Speaker 1 (04:40):
company?
No way, Definitely not in highschool, probably not even in
college.
I didn't get into drama until,like my sophomore, freshman,
sophomore, junior year of highschool, and it really wasn't
until my junior year that Ithought this would be a career
path for me.
I really thought I'd end up injournalism.
My biological uncle, who I kindof consider my dad he paid for
(05:02):
most of my school, so you knowhe was in the news and he was an
anchor for the news here in SanAntonio and in New York City.
I thought I'd follow along thatpath for sure.
And I discovered acting and Iwas like, oh no, this is the
path For me.
I went to college and it was apricey endeavor and it wasn't
(05:23):
just me.
There was a lot of I don't know, I like in canto surface
pressure.
There's a lot of surfacepressure there and a lot of real
pressure there to perform, notjust for myself, but the people
who had already invested andwere investing lots of dollars
into my education.
I felt like I owed them areturn on that investment in me,
and so I double majored.
(05:44):
I also majored in English,minored in mathematics, because
I did always sense that I'd getinto business somehow.
Some kids play doctor orteacher.
I played business Likemulti-extension phone.
I was, I was she, she was meand it was so I knew that
(06:09):
somehow I'd either run abusiness or be in business for
myself.
So I thought let's get the mostout of our dollar here and
let's learn those things too.
So when I got out of collegewith a lot of talent but not a
whole lot of marketable skill, Ihad to get work and I had
gotten married real young too.
I got married right out ofcollege, at 21.
And so it was like okay, thisis it, this is starting life,
(06:31):
let's get going.
So I got into marketing prettyquickly.
I liked marketing.
It was a good use of left andright brain.
For me it was storytelling, itwas creative and there was brand
and graphics and fun and people.
But then there was also metricsand measurements and I felt
like it really melded the two.
(06:51):
I had a hard time finding anindustry that was right for me.
I tried different ones and thenI landed in construction by
happenstance and I totally fellin love as someone who went to
an all girls high school.
I totally fell in love assomeone who went to an all-girls
high school.
Shout out to my shamrocks.
Shout out in card word IWHSreal life.
(07:14):
I thought I'd end up in apredominantly female field.
I loved my time in high school.
I loved my time being aroundthe woman power but then I ended
up being in a male-dominatedfield.
I really enjoyed that.
I looked around and realizedthere weren't a lot of other
ladies in the field.
There weren't a lot of otheryoung people.
I was young at the time.
I'm not anymore.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
I was young Once upon a time, me too.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I was usually the only you know brown person in
the position of authority andall of that wasn't okay with me.
So you know, I use themarketing skills to just put up
a simple website and create somesocials.
When I went looking forsisterhood and mentorship, I
didn't find a lot.
They had great stuff in otherstates really great programs,
really great opportunities butdidn't find a lot in Texas.
(07:57):
So I thought I don't want anyother chickadee out there to go
look and not find it.
Worst case, she just gets me onthe other end.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
but at least she'll have me Right, but at least she
gets somebody, exactly so thatwas kind of how I got into the
industry.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
I've been in plumbing gosh over 12 years now.
I love it.
I love the science of plumbing.
I had to learn the tradebecause I was doing operations.
I've always also doneoperations too, and they're not
going to listen to you if youdon't know what you're talking
about, so I had to learn it.
While I was studying, I gotpregnant with my first and only
(08:32):
child.
It's been a long time she's 10now, but she's a plumber kid.
I love the science of it.
I'm a nerd, so I like that partof it.
That's how I got in, totally onaccident, and I'm staying
because I'm just addicted to it.
I love bringing opportunitiesto people.
Speaker 2 (08:47):
What's coming through is you have a heart of service.
You want to create a betterexperience for people coming
behind you, so you're clearing apath.
I applaud you for that.
Totally appreciate that.
The other thing that's reallythat's kind of interesting to me
is you said thing that's reallythat's kind of interesting to
me is you said you said rightbrain, left brain, right, like
(09:09):
drama math, which usually theydon't jive you found a way to
make that work with business,specifically marketing.
Right, because there's a lot ofwe'll say that creative kind of
performance type thinking, butit's connected to, to hard
metrics, right, roi, what arethe impressions?
What is the conversion?
(09:29):
Where do you think that camefrom?
That right brain, left brain,reconciling that you have an
appetite for data and gray space, to wonder and be curious in.
When did that become apparentto you?
Speaker 1 (09:46):
I got into marketing kind of on happenstance.
I was really happy when I gotinto it, but it was other people
telling me that I had thoseskills.
I have an aunt who raised meand she's awesome.
She was like you should be inmarketing.
That's a perfect blend of yourskills.
If you watch Mad Men, youshould watch Mad Men.
And I applied very broadlyafter college to a bunch of
different roles andopportunities.
(10:06):
It was really the marketingones that came back Once I
started.
Putting two and two together,I'm sometimes a little behind
the party.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Sure, I'm a little tardy to that party sometimes.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
But once I put it out there I'm like, oh yeah, that
makes sense.
It was really the people aroundme and the opportunities that
helped guide that decision.
And then, once I was there, Iwas like, oh okay, a lot of
accidents in finding thisjourney, but happy little
accident.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Oh girl.
So the people behind you I meanyou've already talked about
your uncle, you talked aboutyour aunt.
I imagine there's other peopleand key takeaway right, you've
got family that had that x-rayvision.
They could see a version of youthat you could not see yet.
So I'm wondering you've hadthat kind of familial kind of
(10:52):
feed to that.
What steps have you taken tocontinue bringing that type of
person into your life?
Is that part of your regularpractice or where are you on
Before that?
Let's give the shout out to theLNM family member.
This one's from Curtis.
Mr Curtis says it was a greatevent today and thank you for
(11:16):
some great insights.
I'll be following along now, asI felt it was massively
beneficial.
Also, thanks for getting intothe coffee with me.
It was a good pickup, mr Curtis.
I appreciate you sending methat thought.
Folks, I got to meet him at theBreakthrough Builders
networking event and DFW Amazingchange makers that are doing
(11:36):
things to leave the industrybetter than they found it.
That also comes a lot from myfamily.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
You also mentioned an attitude of service.
Most of my family worked fornonprofits, you know, so it's
(12:00):
very much.
My uncle dad would volunteerand he would go and emcee any
type of event, would never askfor anything, any charity.
Who needed him, he would bethere.
We would go volunteer our timeand our services always.
So that spirit of charity, ofgiving and giving back, is just
always.
It's a cultural thing for me,it's a family tradition for me
and something my daughter and Ido a lot.
I mean she'll come with me tomy rallies and she's on the
(12:23):
megaphone.
Women have rights.
Women have power.
I mean, she's a bigger feminist,and so I think it was just kind
of you know that kind of thing,and we all very much have that
growth mindset which is alwayspushing and growing and
challenging each other.
I spent a lot of time in theself-help section of Barnes
(12:43):
Noble.
I bought a lot of books.
I need to listen to morepodcasts.
I'll be honest, I'm a little outof it that way because I really
you know, I think the way wereceive information is important
and I'm a more visualdefinitely than auditory, but I
need to work that muscle.
I need to be getting thatmuscle.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
Yes, that that auditory, the audio books and
podcasts, the volume of stuffyou can consume is exponential.
Because you can do it driving,you can do it washing clothes,
washing dishes, like be careful.
I'll just say that because youmay be like me and over consume
and have too many ideas.
(13:25):
You know it's interestingbecause reading a book for me is
like punishment, because Ican't do anything else and I'm
not good at sitting down for along period of time and like
audio books.
Same.
If you look at my list of audiobooks that I listen to or
podcasts I listen to I've hadpeople look at they're like what
(13:45):
the hell's wrong?
Why are you listening to that?
That's heavy stuff and it'swhat I'm interested in.
If I knew that back in the day,back when I was, I know you, I
know you got love for.
Brecker.
Speaker 1 (13:58):
Ridge right Brecker.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Ridge Eagles Back in the day when I was there.
If audio instruction was athing, I think I would have done
better.
But you live and you learn.
You've walked a path.
You've had people in your life.
There's a windy road to get youto where you're at now, but
maybe not so windy Depends onhow close you look at it.
What advice or pointers do youhave for young women in high
(14:24):
school or even at universitythat they're going down a path
and they think one thing goeswrong and the world's going to
end.
Everything's over for them.
What do you have to say to them?
Speaker 1 (14:34):
There's always a start over, there's always a do
over button.
You learn something fromeverything, even if it didn't
work out and a lot of my lifedid not work out.
The way.
I expected it had planned itlike the type A personality it
was going to go like that.
No, it did not happen that way,but there was value and
learning in every step of theway.
And I feel like, had I not havemisstepped so much in my youth,
(14:58):
I don't know that I'd have theability to overcome adversity
that I do now.
They almost welcome thosechallenges because they make you
stronger, they force you out ofyour comfort zone.
I don't like being comfortable,I like being a little
uncomfortable, but there'salways something to learn.
Even if it didn't go and itwon't go exactly the way you all
the time, there's always stillvalue in that misstep right,
(15:19):
there's value.
You had to have taken awaysomething to learn and sometimes
it directs you to where you aretruly meant to go, not where
you thought you should go orwere meant to go.
So relax a little bit into theride.
If you're on a roller coasterand you're like this, you're
just not going to have any fun.
But if you kind of just go withit, it's going to be a funky
(15:40):
ride and it's going to be fun.
So relax a little bit.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
I love it.
When I graduated high school, Igot a summer job and found out
that construction is what I needto do, like it was home In the
classroom.
I always felt less than becauseI now don't get me wrong.
School was easy but I would getin trouble because I talked too
much, I moved too much, I'mlike things are too slow and I
(16:07):
want to do something else.
So on the job side, nobody evenknows Like it was good that I
had that kind of energy.
It was good that I wanted totry things and do it wrong and
just figure it out.
The point there is putting yourhands on things to figure it out
is awesome.
(16:28):
Right?
It's not the end of the world Istruggled with.
Oh my God, my world's going toend.
The world I struggled with.
Oh my god, my world's gonna endmy future, my potential is
totally wasted because I'm notgoing to be an engineer.
There were all theseexpectations I thought I should
fulfill, but they were theexpectations of other people
that really didn't have anunderstanding of what I had
(16:51):
within me.
For years.
It was difficult going throughapprenticeship and it wasn't
until my third or fourth year ofapprenticeship where I'm like
well, this is exactly where I'mneeding to be, but it's not the
end of the world.
But I'm just trying tosummarize what she's like.
It's not the end of the world.
Enjoy the ride.
You're going to learn from thedamn thing and just keep on
(17:12):
moving.
Now, when you founded TexasWomen in Trades, you kind of
alluded as to why, right, youwere the only almost you
probably still are a rarity inthe circles professional circles
that you're in.
What instigated that and howeasy was it?
Speaker 1 (17:32):
It was easy to start.
It's been harder to maintain.
It's been about 12 years.
I felt like when I started itwas a lot of people patting me
on the head and saying that's agreat idea, good luck.
And believing that it was agood idea, but not really
interested in putting in thework with me or supporting it in
any major ways.
(17:53):
I will say the Department ofLabor Women's Bureau has always
been there for me.
They've always seen the vision,but it wasn't really until
recently, the last few years,when people were talking about
infrastructure bill and federalinfrastructure projects and
dollars that shake, shake, shakeit started being like, oh, wow,
we have a skilled labor gap.
And I'm like, yes, we've hadthis into the void for a decade,
(18:15):
but you know what?
I'm not going to take it.
You're on board, now let's go.
I really felt like over thelast few years it's been
energized to say, okay, weacknowledge that.
Now what do we do?
And because I spent so manyyears in the space, I also
served on the NationalTradeswomen Task Force, which is
an organization of women'sorganizations from all over the
country Oregon, chicago,california, new York, new Jersey
(18:37):
, massachusetts.
They've been doing this for along time.
I didn't create this and Ididn't want to recreate the
wheel either.
If someone's been doing it andsomething worked or didn't, I
want to know about that too.
I took time with them to get toknow the right people and ask
the right questions before Ireally started building out the
organization in a way that Ifelt was going to serve the
(18:58):
community and my goals.
I really did a lot of just likenot a whole lot for a long time
, other than responding toemails and doing things every
now and again, but within thelast few years I've supercharged
my efforts as well.
So now we do monthlyinformation sessions where I go
and do a hoorah and get peoplesuper excited about it and then
pipeline them into essay, readyto work and other career
(19:19):
opportunities unions.
And then we also do tooltrainings.
I came from one today.
We did one a couple of weeksago with women.
I came from one.
Literally I hopped in.
I'm so a little sway, a littleshiny, because I was working
with fourth, fifth, sixth andseventh graders today about 25
of them and we were buildingbirdhouses and talking about
construction and there weregirls in there saying I want to
(19:40):
be a carpenter, I want to be aplumber, and I'm just like, yes,
we need to do the work, we needto get in there, we need to
plant these seeds.
It's a long term and a shortterm, you know.
So that's kind of what I wanted.
I get the feel good vibes, butwe're also really creating
positive change in thecommunities.
We work with girls and womenand an ideal person for us is a
(20:01):
high school senior who it's thesecond semester.
They're about to graduate.
They don't have a collegepicked.
Their parents are on their back, the counselor's on their back.
They don't know what they wantto to do.
That's a perfect person for me,because they've not been shown
this opportunity and even ifthey want to do something else,
like work for nasa or become afashion designer, these skills
(20:24):
will always be with them.
They'll be able to pay fortheir own training in whatever
other field they want to getinto.
More often than not, I have afeeling they're to like the
industry and want to stickaround, but that's kind of I
don't know a very roundabout wayof answering your question.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
No, it's perfect because you kind of served up
all kinds of juicy things for meto pick apart.
I want to come back to theideal person that you want to
play with.
But first, what I want the L&Mfamily member out there to get
from this is you started downthis path 10 or 12 years ago.
You stayed the course.
You weren't getting hoopla.
(21:01):
You knew the data out there.
When I graduated high school in95, that's part of the reason
why I chose plumbing, because atthat time the average age of a
journeyman plumber in Texas waslike 52.
I was in apprenticeship.
I was the only 18-year-old inthe apprenticeship program.
All my peers were 30, mid-30sand on.
(21:23):
I could do math.
I'm like in 15 years I'm goingto be making money.
Money because they're allleaving.
There's only one of me like duhsupply and demand.
So it's not a new thing.
But now there's this focus ofoh my goodness, this is a big
thing.
Through the quiet time whereyou were plugging away, I'm sure
(21:44):
you had people in your circlesaying why are you doing this?
Speaker 1 (21:47):
Three people showed up, all that effort for only
three people.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
How did you keep going, or what's your advice for
people to continue forward?
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I wish I have good advice, I have real advice.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
Okay, even better.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Spite is a hell of a motivator for me, and when
people tell me that I can't dosomething, or they patronize or
talk down or mansplain, it justmakes me want to shove it in
their face really hard.
So a lot of it was like no, Ijust knew it in my heart.
The numbers weren't changing,the numbers weren't going to
change.
I knew this is exactly where Imean.
(22:25):
I lost a little bit there for alittle bit.
There were a couple of yearswhere I pursued what I thought
was my ideal corporate job.
I was a corporate marketer anddidn't do Texas women in trades,
I just did the corporate world.
Then I ran into a friend ofmine at a poker tournament and
he was like, do you miss it?
And I'm like, every damn day Imiss it all the time.
And he says, well, come workwith us.
(22:46):
And that's how I ended up goingback into it at George Plumbing
.
But even I lost the light for alittle bit.
Even I was like God, I'm tiredof having to fight my fight for
myself and for others and likejust constantly being talked
down to and minimize and I justeven I lost it.
So I had to almost step awayfor a little bit and take a
(23:08):
reprieve to realize how much.
No, that was my mission, thatis my purpose, that's what I'm
called to do, and that universebrought us back together.
The universe was like you havethis voice and these skills at
this time for this movement andyou've got to be there and
you've got to do it.
So I feel a very higher callingto it.
But even I, mean, jesus, hadthe same thing.
(23:29):
We all have the same thing.
I'm highly religious, butthere's a lot of reality there.
Even he had doubts, and doubtsare totally normal Honestly,
they're rational.
I don't want people to say,okay, this isn't working, what
do we do?
But sometimes it is a step away.
If it's right, you'll know it'sright, you'll be back.
And that's really when I cameback, is when it really started
(23:53):
to.
I was smarter, I was smarterabout it, I was older, wiser and
just really came at it in adifferent approach that was more
successful.
Sometimes we'll still have infosessions where one or two
people show up, and it doesn'tbother me any, because that one
or two people their lives couldbe completely transformed.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
That's it.
One person.
If I can influence impact oneperson's day, one person's life,
that's what the hell I'm herefor.
Sure, a million would be great,but one is pretty damn awesome.
So again, repeat so that peopledon't miss it Despite can be
dual.
(24:32):
If that's's what's gonna giveyou the ganas posale.
I mean, if somebody I've doneso many times people piss me off
I said, okay, I'm gonna get you.
It ain't gonna be today, butI'm gonna get you right, that's
right.
Speaker 1 (24:44):
If you come for me, you better not miss.
Yeah, girl, that's what I'mtalking about.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Okay.
So earlier you mentioned thatsenior that's kind of wondering,
maybe not sure, like indecisivehasn't made a decision, doesn't
know where to go.
What I'm talking about, okay.
So earlier you mentioned thatsenior that's kind of wondering,
maybe not sure, like indecisivehasn't made a decision, doesn't
know where to go.
Are there any characteristicswithin the individuals that come
to you that indicate to youlike, oh, yeah, yeah, like
you're going to love thisAnything?
(25:07):
Stand out.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
I do a lot of work with a nonprofit called Girl
With Grit and they really focuson putting tools into younger
girls' hands, like the girls youwere talking to today.
We both work with high schooland then I work more with adults
and pipeline them in.
You really try to look at thedemographic of who are we really
serving here and who benefitsthe most from this and, believe
(25:28):
it or not, it's the art kids.
It's the kids who like to paint.
It's the kids who like to paint.
It's the kids who like to act.
It's the kids who like to do allof that, and I was there today
and we were building theselittle bird houses and one of
the young gals said I want to dothis kind of work, but I want
to do it for theater, for sets,for movies.
I was like, oh my God, that'sawesome.
(25:49):
You could do that in Big Bang.
I mean, really, I was that kid,right, I was that theater kid.
My friend Blythe was that artkid, you know that punk art kid.
I was the preppy theater kid.
We couldn't be more different,but we have so much in common in
how we're motivated to helpothers.
So don't underestimate your artkids out there, because they
(26:10):
got skills.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
I got to agree with that.
When I think about my businessI've been in business for two
and a half years I don't haveany credentials.
I was in plumbing for over 20years.
I've been in construction mywhole life.
But the skills that I learnedas an apprentice, as a plumber,
as an installer was I got a pileof material.
Installer was I got a pile ofmaterial, some tools, some
(26:39):
information and me.
And it's up to me to actualizethat picture into something that
is functional and operational.
I did that iteratively, byresponding to my conditions and
figuring out how to accomplishthe goal given the resources I
had at hand.
But it's exactly the same thingin building my business.
It's like there's no clear path, there's no instruction manual.
(27:03):
Not that I would read it.
Speaker 1 (27:04):
You'd listen to it.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Let me figure it out and then you can figure it out
In terms of the art kids.
Maybe they're more inclined toexcel at a quicker rate because
they have their creative mindand understand the nature of
creativity, which is iteration.
What do you think about that?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
It's 100% right, and I think also they're kind of
used to being on the fringes,you know, not always things were
comfortable or, you know,normal in any sense of the word.
They'd much rather be in theart room or on the stage than in
the classroom.
And doing as opposed tolectured at.
(27:43):
So I think there's a lot of ifit was a Venn diagram of sorts a
lot of overlay there, but againthis is for anybody.
I mean it really like that's whowe see best serve for the most
part.
We don't have any studies onthis, but we had a 40 plus year
old apprentice at GeorgePlumbing who came to us from the
IT world.
(28:04):
It can be for everyone.
It really depends on the person, which I think is also really
cool because it's superuniversal.
Speaker 2 (28:13):
Yeah, you know.
Again, thank you for the workthat you're doing with the Texas
Women in Trade.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
We work together.
It's a similar conjunctionthere.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Got it Beautiful Because you know this.
I know this.
When I was in school, no onementioned that a career in the
trades was a viable option.
It was go to college or flipburgers, and I'm not against
college at all.
I've got you in.
I think you're a.
What is it?
Blue Tigers, st Phillips.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
I went there too.
That's where I studied plumbing, yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yes.
So I went there too, cause myapprenticeship with ABC.
I got like 32 hours ofexperiential credit towards a
degree in construction businessmanagement at St Phillips.
I never finished, of course aswell.
I'm like man, this is not fun.
Anyways, I'm not againstcollege.
It's necessary and helpful in alot of situations, but not
(29:06):
mandatory for every situation.
I'm against forcing people intoconditions that do not help
them thrive and grow.
For kids like me, university isnot the environment for me to
thrive and grow.
The job site was For those kidsout there wondering.
(29:27):
When I was doing recruiting Iused to work for TD Industries.
I would go to the schools.
They would always give me theirhonor roll kids.
We tried.
That didn't work.
Here was my criteria If they'rein any kind of extracurricular
activity, I don't care.
If it's banned, it doesn'tmatter.
They got to.
If they're showing up to schoolbefore everybody else and
staying after school, but aftereverybody else leaves, they got
(29:49):
to work in a team.
That's it.
I don't, and actually I'dprefer if they were like C and D
kids, kind of in trouble a lotor often because they won't
conform to the rules and theyain't scared to figure things
out on their own.
I want to applaud you and alsofolks out there L&M family,
(30:13):
their L&M family.
If you know any youngsters thatare in that situation, that
have that kind of style andpersonality, there is an amazing
place in the industry, in thetrades, from which they can
really experience a high qualityof life.
Am I a liar?
Speaker 1 (30:25):
No, I think our skilled labor gap is a marketing
problem.
I really don't feel like we doa great job sharing the benefits
of our industry, but you knowwho does?
Colleges and universities.
We live in a capitalist nationand when I started doing this
work over 10 years ago, theywere spending a billion dollars
a year to recruit.
Now they're spending over $10billion a year to recruit.
(30:47):
They're putting in the moneyand they're selling these kids a
vision of life on the quadplaying hacky sack.
You know, like, whatever thatmodern equivalent is, you know
they're selling that vision andthen, oh yeah, you've got going
to come out with a quartermillion dollars in student loans
.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
Doesn't matter you went to second class you did
this.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
It's a capitalist country and they are doing their
part to get every seat filledand have every class filled, and
they're not afraid to spend thedollars to do it, and they have
a method to their madness.
And the military too.
Military spends about 3 billiona year to recruit and they
recently had to lower theirstandards because they weren't
getting enough people.
(31:26):
So it's like we have somecompetition in this and the
competition is putting in thetime, the money and the energy.
We have to do the same as agroup to really spread our
message, because we're competingwith some really heavy hitters.
Speaker 2 (31:40):
So here's what's interesting is there are
universities billions, themilitary billions but the trades
I don't know.
Maybe I'm ignorant, maybe youcould school me on this, but it
feels like the trades is relyingon nonprofits amazing human
beings like you and all theother people out there to do the
(32:04):
damn marketing for them.
Speaker 1 (32:05):
You got it.
It's two things.
One, it's that Very true.
The other is that it's a veryself-fulfilling industry.
For example, people have had tofigure it out for themselves.
They have their own internalmethods of recruitment, their
own internal methods ofapprenticeship and
pre-apprenticeship programs.
We're a part of a contractinggroup, the PHEC Plumbing,
(32:26):
heating and Cooling Contractorsin San Antonio, and 10 years ago
I was in the inaugural classfor their DOL Registered
Apprenticeship Program.
They created for theircontractors to get their people
educated.
So they've had to fend forthemselves.
They've had to figure it outfor themselves.
All these contractors have.
Because of that they'reproprietary with that.
They're not going to createthis program for just anybody
(32:49):
and everybody.
We fought hard to have this.
I really wish if I had a magicwand that all the contractors
could.
Can't we all just get along?
I think there's still thatcompetitive, capitalist
component to it.
I want my people to be the besteducated, the best on the job.
I want my people to be the mostefficient, the most
credentialed and licensed.
Now, not all contractors arelike that.
(33:10):
I mean, george Plumbing isn'tlike that.
They've been a part of the ofthe organization forever.
But it it is very dependent onnonprofits workforce development
, which you know I serve on thatready to work board and and I
they're probably tired ofhearing me.
Oh well, they still got me foranother year.
That construction isn't likeany other industry.
(33:31):
It's not like getting a medicaltech or an IT coordinator.
It's not like any of that.
We hire and we train them.
They don't get trained and thenget hired, so we break the
systems of workforce developmentand that's really hard to
adjust to.
The good news is Ready toWork's listening.
(33:52):
They're trying to adapt to that, but those kind of cogs don't
move and change overnight.
So I mean it's a lot of work,it's a lot of the right people
in the right rooms, it's a lotof just listening and doing.
But yeah, we need to work morecohesively as an industry
because this isn't just an Allieproblem or a George Plumbing
(34:13):
problem or a you problem or yourcompany problem.
This is an everybody problemand there's plenty of people out
there for all of us.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Oh yeah, a hundred percent.
When I was responsible forrecruiting, I was on advisory
boards.
Have you connected with CCAConstruction Careers Academy?
Yes, at Warren.
Yes, ms Akels, she's amazing,she was one of my early guests
on the podcast.
There's a way, however thesharing of the methodology, of
(34:43):
the pipeline right of theworkforce development.
We had put together aninternship program when I was at
TD and I kind of had to breakthrough all the damn red tape,
all the freaking head garbagethat our decision makers had.
I was responsible for gettinglabor for all our work and I
found me getting the same peoplepaying them more money.
They weren't having more skillsand would leave for another 50
(35:07):
cents or a dollar and then theywould come back and that's just
the way it was.
I'm on the advisory boards forthese schools and they are
graduating students that I wantto put to work.
Some of them are going touniversity.
The rest is like what's goingon?
I'm like, see, you know what?
I need to start bringing thesekids and putting them to work,
and we did, and so we had thatturned into an internship
(35:29):
program, putting kids to workover the summer of their junior
and senior year, and I rememberthe company I was working for,
there was a guy that was goingto be their internship
apprenticeship person.
I'm like, bro, I already didthat.
Like, here's my thing, just domore of it.
The response I got from him wasdude, you can't share this with
anybody.
(35:49):
You got to keep this top secret.
And I'm like bro, too late Idone gave it to everybody that's
on the advisory board.
Like, I did some of the legworkto figure out.
Like they don't have to be 18to be on a job site.
We need to get a waiver fromour insurance carrier so that we
can have 16 to 18 year olds onthe job site.
(36:10):
And there are three things thatthey can't do.
Now two more things that I wantto make sure you're connected
to have you connected withStacey Gunderson yet, gosh,
she's San Antonio MarriottBrothers.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Okay, marriott is awesome.
Speaker 1 (36:22):
Marriott is a big sponsor of a lot of different
efforts locally.
They're doing the work.
Speaker 2 (36:26):
Oh man, they got it going on.
Stacey's there and then TCCI,Texas Construction Careers
Initiative.
Are you going to be there inNovember?
Speaker 1 (36:34):
At the big yes, november 13th.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
And.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
I encourage Ready to Work to be there in the city of
San Antonio.
I think we're going to have abreakout panel, so I'll probably
be speaking too.
We'll also be with a careerfair for adults afterwards.
I heard We'll be there till 2.
And then from two to five we'llhave a career fair ready to
(36:59):
work, career fair to get otherpeople interested adult people
interested.
Come resumes ready, comeinterview ready, Like there will
be contractors there ready tohave conversations with these
people.
Speaker 2 (37:08):
Are you going to be there for the craft competition?
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Oh yeah, that's the best part, that's awesome,
totally, totally.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Those kids got skills .
When I saw those kids compete,I'm like I can put them to work
right now.
They got real game and itstarted.
This whole other thread wasgood work and fulfilling work.
So, folks, if you're listening,this episode is going to be out
before then.
If you're in or anywhere nearcentral Texas, you need to come
down.
I think it's at the FreemanColiseum again.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
They bring equipment.
They bring you know virtual,like simulators.
You can see what it's like tooperate.
It is electric.
It is an awesome event.
Speaker 2 (37:46):
Oh, girl, you and I are going to have to connect and
get some selfies.
Speaker 1 (37:49):
I'll be there.
I love that.
That's awesome.
We get to meet in person.
I love that.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
What are some of the things that you've learned as
the CMO for George Plumbing?
Speaker 1 (38:05):
Really honing growth mindset, really understanding
that, no matter what people youhire on personality and train on
skill, has never been moreapparent.
Train on skill has never beenmore apparent.
You can have people who thinkthat they're rock stars and they
just don't listen.
You know they don't takeconstructive anything.
And it works both ways right,I'm all about it.
Tell me I can do somethingbetter.
Speaker 2 (38:26):
I'm a Leo too.
Speaker 1 (38:27):
So sometimes I'm like oh really.
But then I digest it and Ilearn something from it.
But no, just.
You know people are your mostimportant asset in any business.
The way you treat them, the wayyou pay them, the way they feel
heard and appreciated is huge.
And that growth mindset willmake or break you as an
individual and as a business.
(38:47):
And you don't got it, you'llsurvive business.
And you don't got it, you'llsurvive but not going to thrive.
It's a cold, hard fact.
You've just got to embrace thatchange is going to happen.
Just be ready for it.
Some people like it, somepeople don't, but it's a natural
part of life.
Days change, everything changes.
(39:08):
So just start building someresilience to that, because
that's one thing you can do.
You know you can stop change,but you can combat how you
handle it and how you respond toit.
Speaker 2 (39:20):
It's been a trip.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
I love it.
Marketing's changed a lot.
I definitely didn't learn aboutAI in college.
It's been huge.
Digital marketing has becomesuch a dominating force.
Marketing is a fast evolvingindustry and it's also like kind
of like the trades also lookdown on.
I think a lot of people think,oh, anyone can do that.
Oh, that's easy.
(39:41):
I'll just YouTube it and figureit out you know, and it's like
okay, I'm not saying it's rocketscience, because it's not, but,
like you know, when someone'sput 10 plus years into it, you
know, maybe they know a littlebit of something about it you
know, so it's been realinteresting working in marketing
in this industry too, becausesometimes that role can be
really minimized.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
But I'm fortunate.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
George Fleming's a great company, been around since
1947.
I always feel like I've had avoice there, which is important.
I love our brand, really loveour brand, really love our brand
.
No matter what I do or where Igo, I'll always have my toe in
the water with George Plumbingand the brand, because I just
love it.
I'm protective of it.
(40:24):
I want to make sure that it'salways handled with care.
Speaker 2 (40:26):
A lot's changed and you just got to flow with it.
Yeah, so I noticed the virtualor social end of the marketing
for George Plumbing and I wassurprised.
I was like, oh wow, this isn'tlike my dad's plumbing company.
This is how, should I say, atleast up with the times.
I'll say it that way For othermarketing professionals because
I got a lot of friends inmarketing.
You have some insight that Iknow they don't have, because
(40:48):
you went to St Phillips to dothe plumbing apprenticeship, did
you get your license?
Speaker 1 (40:53):
I have all my hours.
I've been an epically longapprentice.
I just have to test.
I'm rare too, in that I went tocollege and have the skills.
Speaker 2 (41:04):
You understand the work and have the mindset and
experience of marketing, buthave friends or just people I
know in general, that are inmarketing but they don't
understand the work.
And so what are some nuggetsyou could give those marketers
that are within the constructionindustry, that are struggling
(41:24):
to connect with their internalclient, right With their
decision maker?
Like what you got for them.
Speaker 1 (41:32):
Two tidbits I'm thinking of.
One get to know the people.
Get to know the people who dothe work.
I'm friendly with them.
I like to hear what's going onwith Doug and Sean and how are
your kids and what was todaylike and how was that tankless
and stuff.
You know you've got to have arelationship with the people
because they do a lot of thatmarketing work in conjunction
(41:52):
with you.
If they understand you havegood intention with their brand
and with letting people know howhard it is they work, they'll
go to bat, they'll do the work.
So we have a review programthat's fueled by our guys asking
for reviews.
They'll send me pictures fromtheir job sites that they're
proud of.
Or one time they ran into thishundred-year-old turtle.
They sent me a video.
(42:12):
It was after a rainstorm andthey were at a customer's house.
It was a beautiful rainbow.
I mean they'll send me randomstuff, sometimes, not always,
post-appointment.
Save those for our internalcompany slideshow for the
holidays.
But they're out there and so ifyou help them realize that
they're a part of the team andmake it fun and engaging and
really just like humanize it,that's low-lying fruit.
(42:34):
You should do that anyway.
Like any manager of anythingshould get to know their people,
be with the people.
If you're gonna leave, yougotta get in the mess.
Right, you gotta do it.
That's my next one get in themess.
I'll go out from time to timeand go on jobs.
That was in a bunny suit acouple months ago under a house,
crawling military style.
They got a picture of me in abunny suit, I mean you know, and
(42:56):
with all my gear and stufffilthy, and and then I can say,
you know, even sometimes when Ianswer the phone and help out,
like well, why are you that?
Why is that so much?
Are you gonna crawl under yourhouse in 110 degrees like?
I know exactly what you'relooking at and how to fix it.
There's value there.
It helps them appreciate youtoo.
(43:16):
They'd be like dang, I only gotin there and if you would do it
, it works both ways.
Know your people and let yourpeople know that you see them
and hear them.
Speaker 2 (43:26):
Sometimes they have way better ideas than I do?
Speaker 1 (43:28):
we have these business cards and on the back
we put our qr code andeveryone's to leave reviews and
and so everyone's telling me ohthat's such a great idea.
It wasn't mine, it was one ofour plumbers ideas Sean's idea
and he's a boomer, you know.
So it's like don't expedite.
I mean, you know, sometimesyou're all a team, so work as a
team.
Many other people have waybetter ideas than me, but
(43:50):
hopefully I fostered anenvironment where they feel they
can bring those ideas and makemagic out of them.
Speaker 2 (43:56):
Oh, I love it.
Know your people, know the work.
That's what I got, like bombs.
You're dropping bombs, girl.
Oh man, I love it.
That's super, super exciting.
So now, if they know the peopleand know the work, does it help
them to be a Super Mariohistory buff?
Speaker 1 (44:16):
Like on the game Super Mario.
Yeah, I do some Mario Posey too.
I do that.
I use it a lot for the kids too.
Like I'll go into the schoolsand I'll say who's the most
famous plumber in the world?
And the really smart kids sayyou miss.
And I'm like oh, I like you, Ilike you, but no, it's not me
and they're like no, it's Mario.
(44:36):
So I really appreciate theMario movie because that was a
lot of great marketing for usright there.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Albeit not accurate at all.
Speaker 1 (44:44):
It made me nervous when they were destroying that
super high-end bathroom.
I was itchy, but yeah, no, Imean, whatever works, you know
we've got a great brand.
I didn't invent the brand, Ididn't invent the logo, but I
was able to scoop it up, youknow, and internalize it, really
(45:05):
kind of make it our own andmodernize it, putting it on
YouTube videos, havingaccessible things and doing
funny meme worthy posts, havingfun.
Not everything has to be so.
We are professional, but ofcourse you're professional
plumbers.
Right, have a little bit of apersonality, let you every
company has one, whether it issuper professional.
Have just a little bit of funand creativity.
(45:26):
People will respond to that andyou'll have a better day and a
better time at your job.
Speaker 2 (45:32):
Seems simple to me yeah, I'm with you a hundred
percent.
I get a lot of.
If you see any of my stuff onthe socials, I don't necessarily
follow the rules and somepeople are like bro, like aren't
you worried about losingcredibility?
Like shit, I didn't have anyone, I got here's fine, we have a
good time.
But no, my kid will be in.
Speaker 1 (45:53):
Mario Kart.
I'm not that good.
I'm not very good at videogames.
Speaker 2 (45:59):
No, I saw one of your posts and you taught me
something.
It was the George Plumbing postthat the Mario Brothers didn't
start off as plumbers, theystarted off as carpenters.
All right, and not only was itmarketing for George Plumbing,
it was also educational.
So, folks, if you didn't know,y'all got to go find that post.
(46:19):
Look up George Plumbing, givethem a like and look at the
Super Mario history there.
But Super Mario started as a.
They started as carpenters, butsome decision makers said they
spent so much time undergroundthey need to be plumbers that
the decision was made.
Speaker 1 (46:36):
I've been.
If you haven't gathered this,in the last 55 minutes we've
been talking a big old nerd OGoriginal geek.
I own it, I know the history.
And then let's just make thatfun somehow.
Speaker 2 (46:48):
That's it.
Let's use that in service toothers.
That's the trick.
So are you ready for the homerun question?
You started out hot and heavy,so we can only go over here.
Okay, here it is.
You've done a lot of amazingthings, you've got a whole lot
within you that you've beensharing with the world, and you
(47:10):
got some runway ahead of you.
So what is the promise you areintended to be?
Speaker 1 (47:18):
I'm really called to this work.
I'm called to the work of usinga super unique skill set I've
always felt like I don't quitebelong anywhere and turning that
into a superpower.
I think I'm called to continueto do this work.
I would love to see Texas womenin trades be impactful from a
(47:38):
logistical standpoint.
We're at 3% females on the jobin San Antonio and in Texas.
I'd love to see us I mean I'dlove to see us 20%.
I'd love to see one in fivetrades.
I mean it doesn't even seemlike a lot, but to go from three
to 20 in my lifetime, thatwould be just amazing.
(47:58):
I'm gonna keep doing it.
I read this book recentlycalled Think and Grow Rich.
There were some really goodgems in there.
If you haven't read it, it's areally good book to read and
kind of workbook Like you readit once but you're not done with
it.
It makes you do work.
I read something that said theage 40 to 50, that's your zone,
that's when you're really goingto do it.
(48:21):
I take that as a challenge, notout of spite, but just to really
show up and show out in thesenext 10 years and leave it all
on the dance floor.
We're going hard, we're goingstrong.
We're going to do this.
I'm going to keep at it.
I I'll keep at it.
I think some of the thingswe're doing are working.
Some of them aren't.
We're going to change those.
We're going to come up with newones.
I commit to continuing theefforts and if I had to put a
number on it, I'd love to seeone in five plus, plus, plus.
(48:41):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (48:45):
So the L&M family.
We got a lot of people in theconstruction industry.
How can they find you and whatcan they do to help support your
vision to getting us to 20%women in the industry?
Awesome?
Speaker 1 (48:55):
Easy to find womenintradesorg.
You can find our website.
You can fill out a formsubmission request to join our
email list.
We do events all the time.
You can share our stuff onsocial media.
Just the way we talk to ouryoung people and people about
our trade is an imperative taskfor all of us.
Get out to your kid's careerday.
Bring some swag and talk tothem about what you do.
(49:16):
You know that's a really bighelp.
You know getting out there anddoing the mission.
We're also always looking formentors.
We like to pair our interestedapprentices or pre-apprentices
with somebody in their field andarea.
If you're interested inmentorship, you can find out
about that on the website.
If you want to follow me, I'mon Facebook and Instagram and
LinkedIn and love sharing yourstuff and I might have things
(49:39):
you want to share too, so findme on there.
I accept pretty much everybodyunless they look like a bot.
That's how you find us.
Get out in the community, sharethis mission.
If you need help, I havePowerPoint presentations and
templates.
We'll train you on how to getout there and what to talk about
.
You're not alone.
There are lots of people whowant to do this work, and you
don't have to recreate the wheel.
(49:59):
We'll help you.
Speaker 2 (50:00):
Oh, so amazing, so amazing.
Did you have fun?
Speaker 1 (50:05):
I had a blast.
That was a lot of fun.
I hope you enjoyed it also.
Speaker 2 (50:11):
Yeah, your energy is like, it's energy for me.
I'm like man, I'm stoked.
I feel like I want to go backand and do recruiting for the
trades again, let's do it.
Oh, man, to be continued, causewe didn't talk about your
voiceover work.
So the and I I'm sure you'regoing to be continuing to impact
(50:32):
the world.
So at some point in the futurewe're going to reconnect.
We're going to have selfiesbecause we're both going to be
at the TCCI event.
Thank you for your time, sister.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
It's mine.
Thanks for being interested inthe mission and sharing all
these great stories andinformation for people.
Love seeing this Love, watchingyou thrive.
Keep at it.
Thank you so much.
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