With the continual growth of infrastructure and urban development, there is a constant demand for skilled professionals in this field. From carpenters, electricians, and plumbers to architects, engineers, and project managers. We'll tell you about a Hiring Fair for construction and building trades professionals. sponsored by PHDC and JEVS Orleans Technical College. I speak to David Thomas, President & CEO of PHDC and JEVS Waleska Maldonado, Chief of Programs. ·
Websites & Social:
o https://phdcphila.org/developers-and-contractors/
o https://phdcphila.org/
o For Job Seekers to RSVP or for business owners to have a table: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-construction-trades-hiring-fair-tickets-637554471587
o https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FPHLPlanDevelop
o https://www.facebook.com/PHLPlanDevelop/
The 20th annual Pennsylvania Conference for Women will be held in person on October 19th at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. In honor of the conference, we're speaking with trailblazing women have broken through glass ceilings, shattered stereotypes, and paved the way for progress and equality. Today we highlight Celeste Warren, Vice President, Global Diversity and Inclusion Center of Excellence at Merck. Warren has been recognized for her work in diversity, equity, and inclusion including Black Enterprise’s Top Executives in Global Diversity and Inclusion, Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Women in Corporate America, Diversity Global Magazine’s Influential Women in Global Diversity, and Diversity Woman Magazine’s: Elite100 List. https://www.merck.com/company-overview/diversity-and-inclusion/ www.paconferenceforwomen.org
Author and Spoken Word artist Nikki Powerhouse will perform at the Fringe Festival September 19, 20 and 22nd at 7:00 PM and September 24th at 5 PM at CEC Community Education Center 3500 Lancaster Avenue. I speak to Nikki about her poetry and upcoming performance.
www. NikkiPowerhouse.com
Websites & Social:
o https://phdcphila.org/developers-and-contractors/
o https://phdcphila.org/
o For Job Seekers to RSVP or for business owners to have a table: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/building-construction-trades-hiring-fair-tickets-637554471587
o https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2FPHLPlanDevelop
o https://www.facebook.com/PHLPlanDevelop/
The 20th annual Pennsylvania Conference for Women will be held in person on October 19th at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. In honor of the conference, we're speaking with trailblazing women have broken through glass ceilings, shattered stereotypes, and paved the way for progress and equality. Today we highlight Celeste Warren, Vice President, Global Diversity and Inclusion Center of Excellence at Merck. Warren has been recognized for her work in diversity, equity, and inclusion including Black Enterprise’s Top Executives in Global Diversity and Inclusion, Savoy Magazine’s Most Influential Women in Corporate America, Diversity Global Magazine’s Influential Women in Global Diversity, and Diversity Woman Magazine’s: Elite100 List. https://www.merck.com/company-overview/diversity-and-inclusion/ www.paconferenceforwomen.org
Author and Spoken Word artist Nikki Powerhouse will perform at the Fringe Festival September 19, 20 and 22nd at 7:00 PM and September 24th at 5 PM at CEC Community Education Center 3500 Lancaster Avenue. I speak to Nikki about her poetry and upcoming performance.
www. NikkiPowerhouse.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering our community.
I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow. We continueour series Women Who Inspire, brought to
you by the Pennsylvania Conference for Women. Today we speak to Celest Warren from
Mark and be prepared to be inspiredby extraordinary author and spoken word artist Nicky
Powerhouse. First, if you arelooking for life sustaining careers, you don't
(00:25):
have to look very far. Youcan look at construction and building trades.
Jobs are actually abundant and diverse.With a continued growth of infrastructure and urban
development, there is a constant demandfor skilled professionals in the field. We're
going to be talking about some opportunities. We're going to talk about an upcoming
(00:45):
job fair, and we'll also bespeaking with a couple of folks. Will
tell us all about it. DaveThomas, President and CEO of PhDc,
and also well Let's go Maldonado,Chief of Programs for JEVS. Dave Thomas,
tell us about this upcoming event that'shappening on the twentieth at job Fair
that is looking for people to getinto the construction trades. Tell us all
(01:07):
about it. Thank you, Lorraine, so happy to be here again.
As you know, this is ourthird year partnering with JEBS on our hiring
fair. This really came about asa result of us working with a multitude
of small contractors in Philadelphia helping usrepair homes throughout the city, trying to
help them build capacity, and inmany of the conversations that I had,
(01:33):
they struggled to identify folks that fitthe needs. And you know, I
thought it would be a good ideato put those folks together, those contractors,
if you will, with the technicalschools that are training students to fill
the voids. And when I firstapproached Orleans three years ago, we saw
this as a win win opportunity andit's grown ever since. We're looking at
(01:57):
not only folks in the building constructiontrades, but we're actually broadening our reach.
We're looking at all types of opportunitiesthrough our city of Philadelphia. We
have PICO coming out, we havePGW coming out, we have a lot
of contractors coming out looking for tradeskills apprentices. We see this as an
(02:23):
opportunity to help further what we doat PhDc, which is building community.
No other no better way than buildcommunity than finding opportunities for one point.
Absolutely. Now, well let's getlet's talk about jeffs involvement. JEBBS provides
a lot of just a wealth oftraining programs in construction fields and also in
other areas of employment. Tell usmore about that. So I see relays
(02:46):
to Jeffs. Jeffs's actually multi serviceorganization and we have reached not only here
in Philadelphia, but we also haveprograms outside in New Jersey and other colonies
within Pennsylvania. Our goal is tomake sure that we have an array of
services that is able to ensure thatwe're able to meet not only the immediate
(03:07):
social needs that we're seeing with theclients that we serve, but we also
have education and workforce. The ideais that you know, not only within
JEZZS, we also work with partnerslike PhDc to be able to have a
complement of services that you meet theneeds of the clients that come to our
doors. One of the pieces thatI have to say is that I am
(03:30):
so excited about this job here that'scoming on, particularly because there's so much
need as it relates to you know, the workforce and making sure that we
have not only the training that isnecessary but also the individuals that have the
skills to be able to engage alittle bit about Orleans Technical College. So
(03:51):
we are college. We have beenproviding services in Philadelphia for almost fifty years
fifty years next year, so aboutforty nine years, and our goal is
to be able to train and certifyindividuals around air conditioning, refrigeration, heating,
building maintenance, carpentry, probinum heating, and residential and commercial electricity.
(04:15):
These trades are actually almost important becausewhat we're seeing is is that we have
a workforce that if we're able tomerge the need of that workforce with our
training programs, were then able todeliver a pool of human capital that is
able to continue to build our community. As David mentioned, Yeah, absolutely
(04:39):
well. Having done massive renovations onmy home, I can tell you that
people who are in the construction tradesdo make a very good living. So
let's talk about the people that youwant to be here. You talk about
some of the small and mid sizedcontractors or developers looking to hire a great
(04:59):
variety of different fields like carpentry,masonry. Tell us more about that,
and also tell us about the peoplethat you would like to see come to
this job's fair. We're looking fortrades people who are new to the industry
as well as season professionals. We'relooking for carpenters, hvac mason's, electricians,
(05:19):
roofers, general contractors, plumbers,painters, laborers, fabricators, heavy
equipment operators. I mean, we'repretty much trying to cover the gamut right
now because we see a great dealof need in Philadelphia and we see an
opportunity to put folks in the rightposition to succeed and grow, possibly find
(05:40):
a career opportunity that they hadn't thoughtabout, like a steam fitter union.
So we I think we have upto a hundred employers again this year.
I don't want folks think that thisis just about the building trades. I
think well. Le'ska also pointed out, we're talking about property maintenance, property
management. I mean, so we'relooking at a multitude of things that you
(06:00):
feel fit the need of the populationof Philadelphia to create an opportunity to build
off and build their career off of. So we really want everyone to come
out. Don't don't think that thejobs are not for you because you don't
have the skill wrong. Don't thinkthat the jobs are not for you because
you're two seasons. That's wrong aswell. The companies that we've talked to
(06:20):
are looking for everything, and insome cases, as Willis could point it
out, some companies even talked abouteven if you don't have the trade skill,
but you have the integrity and thewill and determination to just be responsible
and show up on time, they'relooking for you. That's what they want.
Absolutely. And you mentioned Pico beingone of the vendors coming out to
(06:44):
look at the potential employees, andI know that they have numerous programs where
they're willing to train you to doline work or do lots of different other
types of jobs within the company.Now, well let's go. I'm sure
also there are a lot of folkswho say I don't have any skills and
I want to get those skills,and I'm sure that you'll have people on
site that will be able to directfolks into training programs that will help them
(07:09):
achieve those skills as well. Thatis exactly the plan. Anyone that comes
into the spare be able to getall the orientation and skills, but also
the linkages that they might need.The idea is that as we have a
potential job seeker that might be interestedin a job in I will say prominent
hitting or building maintenance if they don'thave that training right. The idea is
(07:33):
that we will have counselors and coacheson staff that will be able to help
them identify what are some of theskills that are needed and then identify ways
to be able to connect them tothe best possible training. Well, let's
once again repeat that this event ishappening on the twentieth at Orleans Tech at
twenty seven seventy Red Lion Road righthere in Philadelphia, PhDc, partnering with
(07:59):
je of Orleans Technical College for ahiring fair for the construction and building trades
professions. And is there anything elsethat you'd like to share with us?
The website and where we can gofor more information. Dave, we'll start
with you. One thing I dowant to make sure that folks are aware
is that registration is not required,So please just come out if you have
(08:20):
the opportunity, you have the time, come see who were who we're bringing
out and see what opportunities there wereproviding you. And we talked about the
national as social of home builders,and you know, when we looked at
that the top twenty five percent ofmost construction trade professions earn at least sixty
thousand annually, and we know thatinflationary costs are changed dramatically to the point
(08:41):
that that sixty thousand dollar number hasprobably increased dramatically as well. This is
something that we see as an opportunityfor people to look at career paths,
career longevity, entrepreneurship, generational wealth. So come on out, well le's
goad. If people want more informationabout Jevs and Orleans, tell us more
about that. Visit our website sblasto Orleans. Our website is Orleans Tech
(09:07):
that IDU so or links Tech oryou others write Orleans Technical College and you
PAPA or visit us at Jeffs dotorg. Well, you will not only
find information around the college or youwill also find information around all the other
multi services that Jeffs provides. Thisfair is actually also being sponsored by the
City of Philadelphia Commerce Department. Well, it's very exciting. Construction and building
(09:31):
trades and their related fields provide apromising career path with stability and opportunities for
growth, and first step for thatmaybe coming to this job fair, which
is again happening on the twentieth ofSeptember. PhDc, partnering with JEVS Orleans
Technical College is holding this hiring farefor construction and building trades professionals again.
(09:56):
It's going to be at Orleans Techtwenty seven seven Red Lion Road. Thank
you both so much for joining ushere today. Dave Thomas, President and
CEO of PhDc, and Leska Maldonado, Chief of Programs for JEVS, thanks
for joining us today. Thank you. The twentieth Annual Pennsylvania Conference for Women
(10:22):
will be held in person on Octobernineteenth at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. It's
part of the nation's largest network ofwomen's conferences in the country, with events
in California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,right here in Philadelphia and Texas, as
well as year round programming. Inhonor of the conference, will be speaking
with trailblazing women who've broken through glassceilings, shattered stereotypes, and paved the
(10:46):
way for progress and equality. Todaywe speak with Celeste Warren, Vice President,
Global Diversity and Inclusion Center of Excellenceat MURK. As a leader for
Merk's Global Diversity and Inclusion set ofExcellence, she's responsible for working with Mark's
global leaders to advance and inbed diversityand inclusion throughout the organization, to enhance
(11:07):
the employee experience and maximize business performance. She's got a wonderful resume, but
very briefly, she has been recognizedfor her work in diversity, equity and
inclusion by Black Enterprises, Top Executivesin Global Diversity and Inclusion, Diversity Global
Magazines, Influential Women in Global Diversity. On conference day, Celest will introduce
(11:31):
Tina Fey on the main stage.Thank you so much for joining us here
today. I'm delighted and excited tospeak with you. Tell us about what
you do. Diversity and inclusion ismore important now than ever before. Oh.
Absolutely, every issue that you seecoming up, social, political,
it's wrapped around it is something arounddiversity and inclusion. I very simply,
(11:52):
I try to make the workplace anenvironment where everyone feels a sense of belonging,
inclusion, and that our equity isall throughout our policies, our procedures,
in our practices. And it's notan easy task. But I don't
do it by myself. Of course, I have a group of people who
(12:13):
I work with, both within thecenter of excellence and then also a group
of what I call my diversity ambassadorsthat work through tirelessly throughout the organization globally.
Mark is a champion for women's sponsorat this year's conference, you're actually
inviting a whole bunch of your ownemployees to attend, which is a wonderful
(12:35):
gift. Can you tell us alittle bit more about your support for the
Pennsylvania Conference. Yeah, I havebeen in this role since it's been about
nine years. This is my ninthyear and the first year that I was
in this role. It was afterthe conference was over. I started getting
all of these emails, why weren'twe at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women?
(12:58):
Why were we not there? Myinbox was phil and so I had not
heard of the Pennsylvania Conference for Women. I immediately reached out to a couple
of the people who sent me emails, our eternal employees, and said,
tell me about the conference, tellme what it's about. And one of
the persons that I spoke with sheactually had connections with someone at the Pennsylvania
Conference for Women. I said,I absolutely am not going to miss this
(13:24):
next year. We developed a relationshipand we have been one of the sponsors
of the Pennsylvania Conference for Women forthe past eight years, and then we
also sponsor the California Conference for Womenand also the Massachusetts and we added the
Texas Conference for Women about three orfour years ago as well, so we
(13:45):
actually sponsor all four of the conferences. Wow, that's fantastic. I know
that when they go on stage andannounced all the different sponsors that are participating.
Whenever they mentioned Mark, there's likethis huge roar because there's so many
any of you out there. SoI think last year or the year before,
I can't remember which one, wehad close to seven hundred women and
(14:09):
allies that attended. What a wonderfulgift to give to those who are able
to participates. That's a great gift. I know that our folks here when
they attend, they always come awaywith something special, a lesson that they
learned. I know that that's truefor me. Now you get to introduce
one of my personal heroes, TinaFay, at the conference. What are
(14:31):
you going to be talking about asyou introduce Tina Fey. She's not just
a comedian, but she is anactivist. She speaks up on behalf of
women's rights she's actor, producer,just a phenomenal, multi talented person,
so I'm excited about that and beingable to just just highlight some of her
(14:52):
accomplishments and then also starting out talka little bit about some of the things
that we do at MARK when itcomes to the advancement of women, and
then also just basically kind of gettingpeople excited about the conference, excited about
hearing from Tina Fey. I'm reallyreally excited. Well, as I mentioned,
every time I go, I alwayswalk away with at least one important
(15:15):
lesson that's truly life changing. AndI wonder if you can share with us
something that you're looking forward to atthe Pennsylvania conference. I am a track
and field fan, so my daughterand my son competed in track and field.
My daughter competed in college and she'salso competing in during her graduate program.
But I just love track and field. My dad was a track coache
(15:37):
growing up, and so I amlooking forward to hearing from Gail Devers.
I think she's a fabulous athlete,a fabulous activist, a fabulous speaker for
women's rights. So I'm looking forwardto hearing from her, and of course
Tina Fey as I said, I'mjust I'm enthralled with her. One of
the things I think that I learnedevery year that I've been there, I
(15:58):
learned thing different, just similar towhat you were saying, Lorraine. But
I'm looking forward to just continuing myjourney and my cultural awareness and understanding across
the many issues that women are facingand within our gender. You know that
we're very, very diverse within ourgender from the standpoint of the intersectionality across
(16:21):
other different communities of identities, andso every year the Pennsylvania Conference for Women
brings and highlights a new aspect ofthat vast diversity that exists within our gender.
And so I'm looking forward to learningeven more this October. One of
the things I always like to askmy guests, particularly women leaders, is
(16:41):
a little bit about your own personaljourney, because you have accomplished so much.
I mean, I just read avery small snapshot of all the things
that you've accomplished. For those whoare out there listening, women who are
just getting started, I think it'svery important to share what are some of
the qualities that you feel helped youadvance through your journey, and what are
(17:06):
some of the strategies that you utilizedin order to navigate because it's still very
much a male dominated world. Whatare some of the things that were important
for you as you maneuvered through yourcareer. I like to say there are
three things that I think are reallyreally important, especially for women as we
(17:27):
embark on our journey, both professionaland personal. The first is stay relevant,
so making sure that you are stayingrelevant around your skills and your capabilities,
both your functional skills and capabilities.Whether you're a scientist or an engineer
or salesperson, doesn't make a differencewhat you are, but stay relevant.
(17:48):
Staying relevant for not just today andwhat's happening and what's needed today from organizations,
but what are organizations need five tenyears from now. As you know,
many of the roles that exist today, the different jobs and different careers,
they didn't even exist ten years ago, And so staying relevant about your
(18:11):
careers is really really important. Youwant to be that person who when someone
is thinking about a project or aspecial assignment or a promotion, you want
them to be thinking about you,and the way that you do that is
by staying relevant. The second thingis stay supportive. Staying supportive of each
other when you're at a meeting andyou see someone as being marginalized, one
(18:34):
of your sisters, they're being marginalized, speak up and you don't have to
pound your fist on the table.You can still treat people with dignity and
respect, but sometimes you have tocall out bad behaviors or non inclusive behaviors
and do that for the sake ofbeing a strong ally, but also just
being supportive and making sure that you'recreating an environment of psychological safety wherever you
(19:00):
are around you in your ecosystem.So staying supportive is the second thing,
and then the last thing is there'sgoing to be days where you feel discouraged,
you feel tired, you feel like, oh my gosh, you feel
like giving up. So the lastthing I would say is stay in the
fight. Stay in the fight.When you get discouraged, reached out to
(19:21):
those reach out to those colleagues thatyou have created in that support group that
you created for words of encouragement andgive words of encouragement. But stay in
the fight, because if we don'twork together to stay in this fight,
we'll be doing a disservice for allof the young women girls who are coming
(19:45):
after us and They need us tostay in the fight for them, Stay
relevant, stay supportive, and stayin the fight. I love that.
Three wonderful pieces of advice. Tofind out more about the Pennsylvan in a
conference for women, you can goto PA Conference for Women dot org.
Celeste Warren just a pleasure speaking withyou. Celeste Warren is Vice President,
(20:08):
Global Diversity and Inclusions Center of Excellenceat Murkshi is a leader at Merk's Global
Diversity and Inclusions Center of Excellence.Thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you for having me. Myname is Matthias Tanpolski. I'm President
and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra andKimmel Center. Please join us on September
(20:29):
twenty three for our free full artsfirst to open our season. You can
enjoy performances from the Kimmel Center's manyresident companies and a free performance by the
Philadelphia Orchestra and dozens of other performancesby some of the remarkable local Philadelphia arts
organizations. If you like more informationabout the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center,
(20:53):
visit us online at phil orc dotorg or Kimmel Cultural Campus dot Think It.
Spoken Word artist Nicky Powerhouse. Yes, she is going to be performing
at the Fringe Festival with a performancecalled the Softest Part of Her Nicky Powerhouse.
(21:15):
Great to have you back. Iam so glad to be back.
I'm so happy. I'm so gladto just keep sitting down with you,
and as you just brings out somuch of what my art speaks to.
I like the fact that you,you know, you just continue to supporting
me. So thank you. Well. You are an extraordinary crafter of words.
Tell us about this particular performance.It's part of the Fringe Festival.
(21:38):
It's coming up very soon. We'llget into the details of that in just
a moment. But what a greattitle, The Softest part of Her,
Thank you. So I wrote abook The softest part of her is everything
during COVID and so you know,we all had some time to sit down
all the way down. So Iwrote this book. And one of the
(22:00):
things that I kept to in mymind was, because we weren't able to,
you know, perform and so forth, how to capture what I do
on stage on the page. AndI did it. Now that we're outside
and where be able to do whatwe love, I felt like it was
important for me to take it fromthe page back to the stage and really
(22:26):
truly what it truly means to selfdiscover about forgiveness, love, pleasure,
freedom, and all of those thingsthat I captured in the words. Now,
it's just the idea of understanding oflike what it truly means to have
discover these things and live through themand live through them in your own way
(22:49):
and your own way of giving yourselfthe ultimate permission to be your authentic self,
unapologetic. So I'm really really excitedto be able to put it on
stage, and my hope is togive the people to inspire them to tap
into their own softest part. Ilove that title because when you think about
(23:12):
what so many of us go through, experiencing trauma, experiencing the challenges of
living in this world, that thatpart that's soft sometimes gets surrounded by a
hard shell, right, that hardshell that's sometimes it's protective, but it
(23:32):
also cuts us off from our trueselves. And I wonder if you can
talk more about unleashing that that softestpart in the face of the challenges that
we all live through. I thinkthe most important for me in my own
healing journey, some scars and someexperiences need more sitting with more sitting through.
(23:56):
I believe that the other side ofour break through is us waiting for
us to get through the things thatoftentimes we find ourselves trying to escape,
distract, dishonor not admit. AndI think the most important thing in terms
of healing is being able to tellthe absolute truth to yourself. And it's
(24:21):
as much as it can be uncomfortable. I think that once we get through
the comfortable, uncomfortable feeling, thecomfort will come. I think that this
is the when we talk about thesoftness, it's really like speaking to speaking
to yourself in a way that says, I get to be whole and complete.
(24:45):
I get to be that. Iget to feel that in every turn,
even when uncomfort, it's present,even when things doesn't feel good.
We have to learn how to leak, as as I've learned how to speak,
giving myself permission. One of thethings that one of my pieces I
said that sometimes our tears need ourpermission to fall as we say kind words
(25:11):
to them. And I think thatwhen we're able to hold the space of
the both the uncomfort and the comfort, and knowing that we're getting sitting through
it, getting through it. We'regetting through it by owning it. And
that's one of the things that thethrough line my mother often told me and
(25:32):
showed me, and the blueprint andtaking ownership of your emotions and taking ownership
is is your power. I lovethat. And as we allow our softer
side to be revealed, to crackthrough the defenses, then that let's love
it right, yes, yes,yes, yes, and letting the love
(25:56):
end. But it's the love thatwas always there. Yeah, it was
always there. It was always there. It was always there, always ushering
us forward, always ushering us intothe next level. Because there's levels to
this thing called life. There's you'renever supposed to stay at one. There's
(26:17):
levels like and and embracing each levelis is it's your power source, embracing
it from just being you know,and in this in this journey and especially
since COVID, I mean my myjourney and just healing has been such an
adventure and I'm embracing it. Andeven when because there are times when it's
(26:42):
like, wait, what's up,what's it? But that those times,
I'm I have the I have theinformation now how to speak into that,
how to speak over it, howto speak through it, not trying to
deny it, because I think allof the journey was worth it. For
me, it was worth all ofit, all of it. I don't
(27:06):
take nothing out of it. Idon't try to like hide it or anything.
It's like it is. It's beenmy my most wonderful breakthrough to date.
Well, of course I have toask you to give us a little
sampling of something that is part ofthe sev're doing. Yes, in womanhood,
(27:27):
we learn to love ourselves naked,unapologetic, authentic. We are daughters
of ocean waters. We find strengthin our tears and soft and hard places.
Now all of our mirrors reflect light, so our swag is exemplified.
To see ourselves the way that Godsee us is perfect sight. We have
(27:53):
found our way back to ourselves everytear, every screen, every moment that
doesn't seem We have found ourselves towrite love letters across our skin that reads
I love you. We daughters ofocean waters. We find strength in our
(28:15):
tears and soft and hard places.All of our mirrors reflect light, so
our swag is exemplified. The softestpart of me is everything I feel.
(28:36):
I feel like my heart just openeda little bit more hearing those amazing words,
Nicky Powerhouse. You are performing throughthe Fringe Festival on Let's See,
Let's See September nineteenth and twentieth,twenty first and twenty second at seven o'clock
at the CEC Community Education Center,the twenty fourth at five pm. That's
(28:57):
thirty five hundred Lancaster. Ave you. If people want more information not only
about this performance, but about thework that you've already published, and if
they'd like to have you come toone of their events, how do they
find out more? So? I'min all social platform, Nicky Powerhouse.
You can go to my website NickyPowerhouse dot com and Ikki Powerhouse dot com.
(29:21):
The Philly Fringe Festival is such abeautiful opportunity, especially for artists to
create and produce their own work andwe become our own producers at directors and
all the things to put on theshow. I'm really really excited to be
on part of it, and Ihope that you all can make it out
to tap into your yoursolved this partfantastic Nicky Powerhouse, wordsmith, spoken word
(29:45):
artist, author, healer, somany things, Nicky Powerhouse, Thank you
so much, Thank you you canlisten to all of today's interviews by going
to our station website and typing inkeyword Community. You can also listen on
the I Heart Radio app Keyword Lorrainewith one R. Follow me on Twitter
and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'mLorraine Ballard Morrow and I stand for service
(30:07):
to our community and media that empowers. What will you stand for? You've
been listening to Insight and thank you
Good morning. You're listening to Insight, a show about empowering our community.
I'm Lorraine Ballard Morrow. We continueour series Women Who Inspire, brought to
you by the Pennsylvania Conference for Women. Today we speak to Celest Warren from
Mark and be prepared to be inspiredby extraordinary author and spoken word artist Nicky
Powerhouse. First, if you arelooking for life sustaining careers, you don't
(00:25):
have to look very far. Youcan look at construction and building trades.
Jobs are actually abundant and diverse.With a continued growth of infrastructure and urban
development, there is a constant demandfor skilled professionals in the field. We're
going to be talking about some opportunities. We're going to talk about an upcoming
(00:45):
job fair, and we'll also bespeaking with a couple of folks. Will
tell us all about it. DaveThomas, President and CEO of PhDc,
and also well Let's go Maldonado,Chief of Programs for JEVS. Dave Thomas,
tell us about this upcoming event that'shappening on the twentieth at job Fair
that is looking for people to getinto the construction trades. Tell us all
(01:07):
about it. Thank you, Lorraine, so happy to be here again.
As you know, this is ourthird year partnering with JEBS on our hiring
fair. This really came about asa result of us working with a multitude
of small contractors in Philadelphia helping usrepair homes throughout the city, trying to
help them build capacity, and inmany of the conversations that I had,
(01:33):
they struggled to identify folks that fitthe needs. And you know, I
thought it would be a good ideato put those folks together, those contractors,
if you will, with the technicalschools that are training students to fill
the voids. And when I firstapproached Orleans three years ago, we saw
this as a win win opportunity andit's grown ever since. We're looking at
(01:57):
not only folks in the building constructiontrades, but we're actually broadening our reach.
We're looking at all types of opportunitiesthrough our city of Philadelphia. We
have PICO coming out, we havePGW coming out, we have a lot
of contractors coming out looking for tradeskills apprentices. We see this as an
(02:23):
opportunity to help further what we doat PhDc, which is building community.
No other no better way than buildcommunity than finding opportunities for one point.
Absolutely. Now, well let's getlet's talk about jeffs involvement. JEBBS provides
a lot of just a wealth oftraining programs in construction fields and also in
other areas of employment. Tell usmore about that. So I see relays
(02:46):
to Jeffs. Jeffs's actually multi serviceorganization and we have reached not only here
in Philadelphia, but we also haveprograms outside in New Jersey and other colonies
within Pennsylvania. Our goal is tomake sure that we have an array of
services that is able to ensure thatwe're able to meet not only the immediate
(03:07):
social needs that we're seeing with theclients that we serve, but we also
have education and workforce. The ideais that you know, not only within
JEZZS, we also work with partnerslike PhDc to be able to have a
complement of services that you meet theneeds of the clients that come to our
doors. One of the pieces thatI have to say is that I am
(03:30):
so excited about this job here that'scoming on, particularly because there's so much
need as it relates to you know, the workforce and making sure that we
have not only the training that isnecessary but also the individuals that have the
skills to be able to engage alittle bit about Orleans Technical College. So
(03:51):
we are college. We have beenproviding services in Philadelphia for almost fifty years
fifty years next year, so aboutforty nine years, and our goal is
to be able to train and certifyindividuals around air conditioning, refrigeration, heating,
building maintenance, carpentry, probinum heating, and residential and commercial electricity.
(04:15):
These trades are actually almost important becausewhat we're seeing is is that we have
a workforce that if we're able tomerge the need of that workforce with our
training programs, were then able todeliver a pool of human capital that is
able to continue to build our community. As David mentioned, Yeah, absolutely
(04:39):
well. Having done massive renovations onmy home, I can tell you that
people who are in the construction tradesdo make a very good living. So
let's talk about the people that youwant to be here. You talk about
some of the small and mid sizedcontractors or developers looking to hire a great
(04:59):
variety of different fields like carpentry,masonry. Tell us more about that,
and also tell us about the peoplethat you would like to see come to
this job's fair. We're looking fortrades people who are new to the industry
as well as season professionals. We'relooking for carpenters, hvac mason's, electricians,
(05:19):
roofers, general contractors, plumbers,painters, laborers, fabricators, heavy
equipment operators. I mean, we'repretty much trying to cover the gamut right
now because we see a great dealof need in Philadelphia and we see an
opportunity to put folks in the rightposition to succeed and grow, possibly find
(05:40):
a career opportunity that they hadn't thoughtabout, like a steam fitter union.
So we I think we have upto a hundred employers again this year.
I don't want folks think that thisis just about the building trades. I
think well. Le'ska also pointed out, we're talking about property maintenance, property
management. I mean, so we'relooking at a multitude of things that you
(06:00):
feel fit the need of the populationof Philadelphia to create an opportunity to build
off and build their career off of. So we really want everyone to come
out. Don't don't think that thejobs are not for you because you don't
have the skill wrong. Don't thinkthat the jobs are not for you because
you're two seasons. That's wrong aswell. The companies that we've talked to
(06:20):
are looking for everything, and insome cases, as Willis could point it
out, some companies even talked abouteven if you don't have the trade skill,
but you have the integrity and thewill and determination to just be responsible
and show up on time, they'relooking for you. That's what they want.
Absolutely. And you mentioned Pico beingone of the vendors coming out to
(06:44):
look at the potential employees, andI know that they have numerous programs where
they're willing to train you to doline work or do lots of different other
types of jobs within the company.Now, well let's go. I'm sure
also there are a lot of folkswho say I don't have any skills and
I want to get those skills,and I'm sure that you'll have people on
site that will be able to directfolks into training programs that will help them
(07:09):
achieve those skills as well. Thatis exactly the plan. Anyone that comes
into the spare be able to getall the orientation and skills, but also
the linkages that they might need.The idea is that as we have a
potential job seeker that might be interestedin a job in I will say prominent
hitting or building maintenance if they don'thave that training right. The idea is
(07:33):
that we will have counselors and coacheson staff that will be able to help
them identify what are some of theskills that are needed and then identify ways
to be able to connect them tothe best possible training. Well, let's
once again repeat that this event ishappening on the twentieth at Orleans Tech at
twenty seven seventy Red Lion Road righthere in Philadelphia, PhDc, partnering with
(07:59):
je of Orleans Technical College for ahiring fair for the construction and building trades
professions. And is there anything elsethat you'd like to share with us?
The website and where we can gofor more information. Dave, we'll start
with you. One thing I dowant to make sure that folks are aware
is that registration is not required,So please just come out if you have
(08:20):
the opportunity, you have the time, come see who were who we're bringing
out and see what opportunities there wereproviding you. And we talked about the
national as social of home builders,and you know, when we looked at
that the top twenty five percent ofmost construction trade professions earn at least sixty
thousand annually, and we know thatinflationary costs are changed dramatically to the point
(08:41):
that that sixty thousand dollar number hasprobably increased dramatically as well. This is
something that we see as an opportunityfor people to look at career paths,
career longevity, entrepreneurship, generational wealth. So come on out, well le's
goad. If people want more informationabout Jevs and Orleans, tell us more
about that. Visit our website sblasto Orleans. Our website is Orleans Tech
(09:07):
that IDU so or links Tech oryou others write Orleans Technical College and you
PAPA or visit us at Jeffs dotorg. Well, you will not only
find information around the college or youwill also find information around all the other
multi services that Jeffs provides. Thisfair is actually also being sponsored by the
City of Philadelphia Commerce Department. Well, it's very exciting. Construction and building
(09:31):
trades and their related fields provide apromising career path with stability and opportunities for
growth, and first step for thatmaybe coming to this job fair, which
is again happening on the twentieth ofSeptember. PhDc, partnering with JEVS Orleans
Technical College is holding this hiring farefor construction and building trades professionals again.
(09:56):
It's going to be at Orleans Techtwenty seven seven Red Lion Road. Thank
you both so much for joining ushere today. Dave Thomas, President and
CEO of PhDc, and Leska Maldonado, Chief of Programs for JEVS, thanks
for joining us today. Thank you. The twentieth Annual Pennsylvania Conference for Women
(10:22):
will be held in person on Octobernineteenth at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. It's
part of the nation's largest network ofwomen's conferences in the country, with events
in California, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania,right here in Philadelphia and Texas, as
well as year round programming. Inhonor of the conference, will be speaking
with trailblazing women who've broken through glassceilings, shattered stereotypes, and paved the
(10:46):
way for progress and equality. Todaywe speak with Celeste Warren, Vice President,
Global Diversity and Inclusion Center of Excellenceat MURK. As a leader for
Merk's Global Diversity and Inclusion set ofExcellence, she's responsible for working with Mark's
global leaders to advance and inbed diversityand inclusion throughout the organization, to enhance
(11:07):
the employee experience and maximize business performance. She's got a wonderful resume, but
very briefly, she has been recognizedfor her work in diversity, equity and
inclusion by Black Enterprises, Top Executivesin Global Diversity and Inclusion, Diversity Global
Magazines, Influential Women in Global Diversity. On conference day, Celest will introduce
(11:31):
Tina Fey on the main stage.Thank you so much for joining us here
today. I'm delighted and excited tospeak with you. Tell us about what
you do. Diversity and inclusion ismore important now than ever before. Oh.
Absolutely, every issue that you seecoming up, social, political,
it's wrapped around it is something arounddiversity and inclusion. I very simply,
(11:52):
I try to make the workplace anenvironment where everyone feels a sense of belonging,
inclusion, and that our equity isall throughout our policies, our procedures,
in our practices. And it's notan easy task. But I don't
do it by myself. Of course, I have a group of people who
(12:13):
I work with, both within thecenter of excellence and then also a group
of what I call my diversity ambassadorsthat work through tirelessly throughout the organization globally.
Mark is a champion for women's sponsorat this year's conference, you're actually
inviting a whole bunch of your ownemployees to attend, which is a wonderful
(12:35):
gift. Can you tell us alittle bit more about your support for the
Pennsylvania Conference. Yeah, I havebeen in this role since it's been about
nine years. This is my ninthyear and the first year that I was
in this role. It was afterthe conference was over. I started getting
all of these emails, why weren'twe at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women?
(12:58):
Why were we not there? Myinbox was phil and so I had not
heard of the Pennsylvania Conference for Women. I immediately reached out to a couple
of the people who sent me emails, our eternal employees, and said,
tell me about the conference, tellme what it's about. And one of
the persons that I spoke with sheactually had connections with someone at the Pennsylvania
Conference for Women. I said,I absolutely am not going to miss this
(13:24):
next year. We developed a relationshipand we have been one of the sponsors
of the Pennsylvania Conference for Women forthe past eight years, and then we
also sponsor the California Conference for Womenand also the Massachusetts and we added the
Texas Conference for Women about three orfour years ago as well, so we
(13:45):
actually sponsor all four of the conferences. Wow, that's fantastic. I know
that when they go on stage andannounced all the different sponsors that are participating.
Whenever they mentioned Mark, there's likethis huge roar because there's so many
any of you out there. SoI think last year or the year before,
I can't remember which one, wehad close to seven hundred women and
(14:09):
allies that attended. What a wonderfulgift to give to those who are able
to participates. That's a great gift. I know that our folks here when
they attend, they always come awaywith something special, a lesson that they
learned. I know that that's truefor me. Now you get to introduce
one of my personal heroes, TinaFay, at the conference. What are
(14:31):
you going to be talking about asyou introduce Tina Fey. She's not just
a comedian, but she is anactivist. She speaks up on behalf of
women's rights she's actor, producer,just a phenomenal, multi talented person,
so I'm excited about that and beingable to just just highlight some of her
(14:52):
accomplishments and then also starting out talka little bit about some of the things
that we do at MARK when itcomes to the advancement of women, and
then also just basically kind of gettingpeople excited about the conference, excited about
hearing from Tina Fey. I'm reallyreally excited. Well, as I mentioned,
every time I go, I alwayswalk away with at least one important
(15:15):
lesson that's truly life changing. AndI wonder if you can share with us
something that you're looking forward to atthe Pennsylvania conference. I am a track
and field fan, so my daughterand my son competed in track and field.
My daughter competed in college and she'salso competing in during her graduate program.
But I just love track and field. My dad was a track coache
(15:37):
growing up, and so I amlooking forward to hearing from Gail Devers.
I think she's a fabulous athlete,a fabulous activist, a fabulous speaker for
women's rights. So I'm looking forwardto hearing from her, and of course
Tina Fey as I said, I'mjust I'm enthralled with her. One of
the things I think that I learnedevery year that I've been there, I
(15:58):
learned thing different, just similar towhat you were saying, Lorraine. But
I'm looking forward to just continuing myjourney and my cultural awareness and understanding across
the many issues that women are facingand within our gender. You know that
we're very, very diverse within ourgender from the standpoint of the intersectionality across
(16:21):
other different communities of identities, andso every year the Pennsylvania Conference for Women
brings and highlights a new aspect ofthat vast diversity that exists within our gender.
And so I'm looking forward to learningeven more this October. One of
the things I always like to askmy guests, particularly women leaders, is
(16:41):
a little bit about your own personaljourney, because you have accomplished so much.
I mean, I just read avery small snapshot of all the things
that you've accomplished. For those whoare out there listening, women who are
just getting started, I think it'svery important to share what are some of
the qualities that you feel helped youadvance through your journey, and what are
(17:06):
some of the strategies that you utilizedin order to navigate because it's still very
much a male dominated world. Whatare some of the things that were important
for you as you maneuvered through yourcareer. I like to say there are
three things that I think are reallyreally important, especially for women as we
(17:27):
embark on our journey, both professionaland personal. The first is stay relevant,
so making sure that you are stayingrelevant around your skills and your capabilities,
both your functional skills and capabilities.Whether you're a scientist or an engineer
or salesperson, doesn't make a differencewhat you are, but stay relevant.
(17:48):
Staying relevant for not just today andwhat's happening and what's needed today from organizations,
but what are organizations need five tenyears from now. As you know,
many of the roles that exist today, the different jobs and different careers,
they didn't even exist ten years ago, And so staying relevant about your
(18:11):
careers is really really important. Youwant to be that person who when someone
is thinking about a project or aspecial assignment or a promotion, you want
them to be thinking about you,and the way that you do that is
by staying relevant. The second thingis stay supportive. Staying supportive of each
other when you're at a meeting andyou see someone as being marginalized, one
(18:34):
of your sisters, they're being marginalized, speak up and you don't have to
pound your fist on the table.You can still treat people with dignity and
respect, but sometimes you have tocall out bad behaviors or non inclusive behaviors
and do that for the sake ofbeing a strong ally, but also just
being supportive and making sure that you'recreating an environment of psychological safety wherever you
(19:00):
are around you in your ecosystem.So staying supportive is the second thing,
and then the last thing is there'sgoing to be days where you feel discouraged,
you feel tired, you feel like, oh my gosh, you feel
like giving up. So the lastthing I would say is stay in the
fight. Stay in the fight.When you get discouraged, reached out to
(19:21):
those reach out to those colleagues thatyou have created in that support group that
you created for words of encouragement andgive words of encouragement. But stay in
the fight, because if we don'twork together to stay in this fight,
we'll be doing a disservice for allof the young women girls who are coming
(19:45):
after us and They need us tostay in the fight for them, Stay
relevant, stay supportive, and stayin the fight. I love that.
Three wonderful pieces of advice. Tofind out more about the Pennsylvan in a
conference for women, you can goto PA Conference for Women dot org.
Celeste Warren just a pleasure speaking withyou. Celeste Warren is Vice President,
(20:08):
Global Diversity and Inclusions Center of Excellenceat Murkshi is a leader at Merk's Global
Diversity and Inclusions Center of Excellence.Thank you so much for joining us today.
Thank you for having me. Myname is Matthias Tanpolski. I'm President
and CEO of the Philadelphia Orchestra andKimmel Center. Please join us on September
(20:29):
twenty three for our free full artsfirst to open our season. You can
enjoy performances from the Kimmel Center's manyresident companies and a free performance by the
Philadelphia Orchestra and dozens of other performancesby some of the remarkable local Philadelphia arts
organizations. If you like more informationabout the Philadelphia Orchestra and Kimmel Center,
(20:53):
visit us online at phil orc dotorg or Kimmel Cultural Campus dot Think It.
Spoken Word artist Nicky Powerhouse. Yes, she is going to be performing
at the Fringe Festival with a performancecalled the Softest Part of Her Nicky Powerhouse.
(21:15):
Great to have you back. Iam so glad to be back.
I'm so happy. I'm so gladto just keep sitting down with you,
and as you just brings out somuch of what my art speaks to.
I like the fact that you,you know, you just continue to supporting
me. So thank you. Well. You are an extraordinary crafter of words.
Tell us about this particular performance.It's part of the Fringe Festival.
(21:38):
It's coming up very soon. We'llget into the details of that in just
a moment. But what a greattitle, The Softest part of Her,
Thank you. So I wrote abook The softest part of her is everything
during COVID and so you know,we all had some time to sit down
all the way down. So Iwrote this book. And one of the
(22:00):
things that I kept to in mymind was, because we weren't able to,
you know, perform and so forth, how to capture what I do
on stage on the page. AndI did it. Now that we're outside
and where be able to do whatwe love, I felt like it was
important for me to take it fromthe page back to the stage and really
(22:26):
truly what it truly means to selfdiscover about forgiveness, love, pleasure,
freedom, and all of those thingsthat I captured in the words. Now,
it's just the idea of understanding oflike what it truly means to have
discover these things and live through themand live through them in your own way
(22:49):
and your own way of giving yourselfthe ultimate permission to be your authentic self,
unapologetic. So I'm really really excitedto be able to put it on
stage, and my hope is togive the people to inspire them to tap
into their own softest part. Ilove that title because when you think about
(23:12):
what so many of us go through, experiencing trauma, experiencing the challenges of
living in this world, that thatpart that's soft sometimes gets surrounded by a
hard shell, right, that hardshell that's sometimes it's protective, but it
(23:32):
also cuts us off from our trueselves. And I wonder if you can
talk more about unleashing that that softestpart in the face of the challenges that
we all live through. I thinkthe most important for me in my own
healing journey, some scars and someexperiences need more sitting with more sitting through.
(23:56):
I believe that the other side ofour break through is us waiting for
us to get through the things thatoftentimes we find ourselves trying to escape,
distract, dishonor not admit. AndI think the most important thing in terms
of healing is being able to tellthe absolute truth to yourself. And it's
(24:21):
as much as it can be uncomfortable. I think that once we get through
the comfortable, uncomfortable feeling, thecomfort will come. I think that this
is the when we talk about thesoftness, it's really like speaking to speaking
to yourself in a way that says, I get to be whole and complete.
(24:45):
I get to be that. Iget to feel that in every turn,
even when uncomfort, it's present,even when things doesn't feel good.
We have to learn how to leak, as as I've learned how to speak,
giving myself permission. One of thethings that one of my pieces I
said that sometimes our tears need ourpermission to fall as we say kind words
(25:11):
to them. And I think thatwhen we're able to hold the space of
the both the uncomfort and the comfort, and knowing that we're getting sitting through
it, getting through it. We'regetting through it by owning it. And
that's one of the things that thethrough line my mother often told me and
(25:32):
showed me, and the blueprint andtaking ownership of your emotions and taking ownership
is is your power. I lovethat. And as we allow our softer
side to be revealed, to crackthrough the defenses, then that let's love
it right, yes, yes,yes, yes, and letting the love
(25:56):
end. But it's the love thatwas always there. Yeah, it was
always there. It was always there. It was always there, always ushering
us forward, always ushering us intothe next level. Because there's levels to
this thing called life. There's you'renever supposed to stay at one. There's
(26:17):
levels like and and embracing each levelis is it's your power source, embracing
it from just being you know,and in this in this journey and especially
since COVID, I mean my myjourney and just healing has been such an
adventure and I'm embracing it. Andeven when because there are times when it's
(26:42):
like, wait, what's up,what's it? But that those times,
I'm I have the I have theinformation now how to speak into that,
how to speak over it, howto speak through it, not trying to
deny it, because I think allof the journey was worth it. For
me, it was worth all ofit, all of it. I don't
(27:06):
take nothing out of it. Idon't try to like hide it or anything.
It's like it is. It's beenmy my most wonderful breakthrough to date.
Well, of course I have toask you to give us a little
sampling of something that is part ofthe sev're doing. Yes, in womanhood,
(27:27):
we learn to love ourselves naked,unapologetic, authentic. We are daughters
of ocean waters. We find strengthin our tears and soft and hard places.
Now all of our mirrors reflect light, so our swag is exemplified.
To see ourselves the way that Godsee us is perfect sight. We have
(27:53):
found our way back to ourselves everytear, every screen, every moment that
doesn't seem We have found ourselves towrite love letters across our skin that reads
I love you. We daughters ofocean waters. We find strength in our
(28:15):
tears and soft and hard places.All of our mirrors reflect light, so
our swag is exemplified. The softestpart of me is everything I feel.
(28:36):
I feel like my heart just openeda little bit more hearing those amazing words,
Nicky Powerhouse. You are performing throughthe Fringe Festival on Let's See,
Let's See September nineteenth and twentieth,twenty first and twenty second at seven o'clock
at the CEC Community Education Center,the twenty fourth at five pm. That's
(28:57):
thirty five hundred Lancaster. Ave you. If people want more information not only
about this performance, but about thework that you've already published, and if
they'd like to have you come toone of their events, how do they
find out more? So? I'min all social platform, Nicky Powerhouse.
You can go to my website NickyPowerhouse dot com and Ikki Powerhouse dot com.
(29:21):
The Philly Fringe Festival is such abeautiful opportunity, especially for artists to
create and produce their own work andwe become our own producers at directors and
all the things to put on theshow. I'm really really excited to be
on part of it, and Ihope that you all can make it out
to tap into your yoursolved this partfantastic Nicky Powerhouse, wordsmith, spoken word
(29:45):
artist, author, healer, somany things, Nicky Powerhouse, Thank you
so much, Thank you you canlisten to all of today's interviews by going
to our station website and typing inkeyword Community. You can also listen on
the I Heart Radio app Keyword Lorrainewith one R. Follow me on Twitter
and Instagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'mLorraine Ballard Morrow and I stand for service
(30:07):
to our community and media that empowers. What will you stand for? You've
been listening to Insight and thank you
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