- 3 hours ago
Building Back America's Trades Season 1 Episode 2
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:01The moment they said, you're not going to be able to do it, it was like, let me prove you
00:05wrong.
00:06I don't know any women in the trades. It's just like something that I would never have seen before.
00:11She Built the City is a non-profit. We consider ourselves a pipeline into the skilled trades.
00:16What if I just pick up this tool? What if I just get out of my comfort zone?
00:20Not only are they sitting amongst their peers, they're also sitting amongst their cheerleaders, their future co-workers.
00:47I've been practicing law for nearly 20 years now.
00:50My dad was a lawyer, I had a grandfather who was a lawyer, so I just did what was expected
00:56of me without really being very critical about it.
01:00It has provided me with a stable and comfortable life, but I don't really have a passion for it, I
01:08never really have.
01:10People who built things were always something that I was drawn to.
01:15Yeah, that six-inch rule is a good one for these boxes, so I typically go finger to thumb.
01:20It just gives you more to work with.
01:25It's a little nerve-wracking at first, coming back to school in your mid-40s and thinking about making a
01:32career change.
01:34But I'll regret it my whole life if I just keep doing what I'm doing.
01:41Being an electrician is where I wanted to go.
01:44I would be at work right now, but, you know, I'm here learning my trade.
02:09I look at it both ways, crisis and an opportunity.
02:12It's both.
02:13It's a crisis that we're seeing now, but it's an opportunity to grow the next generation.
02:18High five!
02:19I believe that I can actually have a career in this field.
02:22I love, like, people, like, being skeptical of me, and then just me just going in and just crushing it.
02:30It was expected, you know, sort of, okay, you go to high school, you go to college.
02:34It just seemed like a path, in a way, of least resistance.
02:50Making this move to change professions, it's a really big deal for me.
02:55I'm someone who tends to make a decision and just sort of sticks with it.
03:00You know, I live a comfortable life.
03:02I'm, look, I'm in a, I'm sitting at a desk, you know, in my little sweater.
03:07I can leave work at the drop of a hat.
03:10Those things are going to change for me.
03:14I do civil litigation, primarily personal injury.
03:18I don't really enjoy it.
03:22I'm interested in electrical work as a career.
03:26I think it provides some intellectual stimulation, as well as I get to be out working with my hands.
03:32It's the kind of thing I think I could do for, you know, another 10, 15 years.
03:39I have two boys and my wife, and they have all been really supportive of me.
03:46The big thing is just going to be figuring out the money.
03:50There's going to be this three- or four-year period working as an apprentice where we're going to lose
03:55this really significant portion of income.
03:58And then it sort of sky's the limit.
04:02People who are running their own outfits can do quite well for themselves financially.
04:06You've got to give, you've got to give a speech.
04:09You know, I just don't want to end up doing something that I'm not happy doing.
04:18Having my kids see a father who's struggling with us, you know, in middle age, and that that's okay.
04:27That you don't necessarily know what you're going to want to be when you're 18, 20, 25, whatever.
04:35And that you can make changes if you're unhappy.
04:47I think there's a lot of pressure to be successful in families.
04:51Hanging on to all that need to have high status, like being a lawyer, just was just not serving him
04:57anymore.
04:58He just seemed really overwhelmed and just kind of checked out.
05:01I don't know, it sounds so refreshing, honestly.
05:03It sounds fun, like a fun adventure to do with you.
05:06I'm excited.
05:19All my life, I've been working jobs.
05:21Job after job after job.
05:24I don't really want to go to work.
05:27I don't.
05:29It's just the same thing every day.
05:32It's very repetitive.
05:34It's draining.
05:35I mean, there's no room for growth.
05:38And I prefer to have a job where I know that I can grow within the company.
05:44No one likes to be stuck anywhere.
05:48Being in the trades, I believe that I can actually have a career.
05:58When I was younger, I would always be outside with my dad.
06:01He's just taught me how to do a lot of things with my hands.
06:04So I think that's where it all started.
06:09I did see the trades as an opportunity in high school.
06:12I definitely wanted to take the class.
06:14But there were not a lot of women in the class.
06:18And it's like when you don't see yourself represented in something, you're not going to want to do it.
06:23I know I love working with my hands.
06:25I was like, I know I can't get into session because I'm a woman.
06:28Like, women can't do this.
06:29No one tells women that going into the trades is an option.
06:34It is an option.
06:35The biggest misconception that people have about women in the construction or DIY space is that we're not strong enough.
06:41Good morning.
06:42My name is Nora, and I'm checking in as a blue-collar bestie.
06:45I'm a commercial industrial electrician.
06:47One day, I just picked up my phone, and I, you know, pulled out TikTok.
06:52I was looking up women electricians, and I've seen so many.
06:57It's more than I even thought.
07:00I've seen women being plumbers.
07:02I've seen women actually being in the construction field.
07:06And then I've seen women electricians.
07:08I just fell in love with the fact that, like, I can really do something like this.
07:12If they can do it, I know I can do it.
07:14Because it just motivates you to do something even more when you see a lot of women in the trades.
07:22So imagine if you have a carpenter and you have an electrician, and then y'all just get it together,
07:27and y'all make the Harris sisters.
07:29Y'all can make a business.
07:30Look at y'all.
07:31I am very family-oriented.
07:34If I can have all of them around, oh, they're going to be around.
07:37Okay.
07:38Do you have, like, a job lined up, or do you have to, like, wait?
07:43I mean, no job's lined up.
07:44But, like, they do host a career fair for everyone in the program at the end of the nine weeks.
07:50I'm just looking forward to seeing everything, experiencing it all.
07:57Can't wait.
07:58I'm just really excited.
07:59I don't know if y'all can tell, but I'm really excited.
08:15The hospital I was born in is the little one over there with the black windows.
08:19I did a lot of the roof structure on the top of the hospital, the copper roofing that's on there,
08:24and then a lot of the stuff on the inside of that building.
08:28This is the first job I did when I was 19 years old.
08:32Because when my kids were born, now, you used to stare at the ceilings and look at the ceilings I
08:36built, and then I noticed when my grandkids were born, the same ceilings and stuff are still there.
08:40So, I guess I did an okay job.
08:42It's still there.
08:45Building the hospital rooms that your kids are born in, that's kind of neat.
08:49One of those monument things that you're thinking about.
08:54What I thought was cool about construction when I started doing it is I can drive by and see that
08:59that building's there and how long it lasted, and I can show my daughters when they were little.
09:04Now I can show my great-grandkids.
09:08That's a prideful thing for folks that are in the industry.
09:12It's been neat to be able to live in my town, work in my town, raise my kids in my
09:17town, and give back to my town.
09:25Folks come to Flagstaff, and they do think Arizona is deserts and things like that, roadrunners all over.
09:30And when they come and see elk and deer and the big mountain and the beautiful trees, they go, wow,
09:35this is a great place, I want to live here.
09:37That drives the cost of housing up.
09:40It's poverty with a view.
09:50Rent went from $1,200, now it's up to $2,200 for a single-bedroom apartment.
09:59That's astronomical.
10:01I have students that are actually driving two and a half hours from Page, Arizona to come and take classes
10:07in our construction program.
10:11I have students sleeping in my parking lot in their car to be able to make sure that they're at
10:16class the next day because the trip is so far.
10:20So we do see a lot of that.
10:24Pretty extraordinary young people.
10:32If it wasn't for the students, I probably still wouldn't be here.
10:35Building the skilled trades is a big motivation, but building character and students that have a value when they come
10:41out of my door, that can get a job, be productive in society, and build homes.
10:47It's a way of building our community.
10:49It's a way of getting somebody that wants to be here to be able to afford to live here.
10:53That's kind of my motivation.
10:59So the first thing you're going to want to do, just give it a little haircut, and then measure your
11:0435 and a quarter, okay?
11:08I've been teaching for 14 years here at Coconino Community College.
11:14About 12 and a half years, I was the only faculty member at this campus.
11:20Okay, and so you've got this class you can do in fall, so it looks like you've got just about
11:26all your construction stuff done.
11:29A lot of the curriculum is designed and developed by myself.
11:32I taught every single class, and sometimes I was teaching 11 classes a semester.
11:38Pretty exciting, but it was a lot of work.
11:42That puts you at a grand total of 16 credits, and every one of these credits transfers to your degree.
11:4814 years ago, I had 45 students in my program.
11:52Helpful?
11:52I appreciate that.
11:53You're right.
11:54Now, my student count is up to 80.
11:57I just want to look at it.
11:58Right.
12:02It got to the point where I just couldn't do it by myself no more, but to find a shop
12:08class teacher in my neck of the woods has been tough.
12:13Find somebody that's working in the industry that could be making $120,000 a year being a construction worker has
12:22been difficult.
12:24My last hire, Tiffany, was almost a year and a half to find the right person to fit the job.
12:33Hey, do you need help?
12:34I could.
12:35Okay, let's do it.
12:37I got a wonderful team hired on now, and now I kind of just step back and let them take
12:42the ball, and I just help get them in the right directions.
12:49You're all in the back row, my goodness.
12:51I've got about 33, 34 years in the construction field.
12:56You're going to learn about safety.
12:57You're going to learn about tools.
12:58So what we're going to do is lots of hands-on.
13:02The last year and a half has gotten so big so quickly that we now have a full-time person
13:08dedicated to mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems.
13:11That's all Steve does is those three things.
13:13Sweet.
13:15There you go.
13:18Vance is now just doing carpentry.
13:21He has five classes a semester just on carpentry alone.
13:25Just like that.
13:26We are always going to need construction workers.
13:29There's over 50,000 jobs in Arizona alone unfilled.
13:33There's probably room for 150,000 trades workers in Arizona right now.
13:39And then we brought in Tiffany.
13:41She's our code specialist.
13:42She does everything with building code, blueprint reading.
13:46So who's excited about taking this class?
13:50She's lying and you're lying.
13:53I wanted to join the trades just because I like working with my ends and I like helping people.
13:58Maybe like one of these days be like you and like teach like the younger, younger generation, whatever, because I
14:02know like being-
14:03Are you saying I'm old?
14:04Is that what you're saying?
14:06That's what he just said to me.
14:10I was designated with developing two drafting classes and I have to have them submitted by
14:16the end of the day, which generally takes six months and I have six hours.
14:24This is my first year of being a director.
14:27I can impact the city.
14:28I can impact our community.
14:30I can impact Northern Arizona.
14:32Far more reaching than I could before.
14:37This is lunch and hopefully not dinner.
14:42If I can take that same student that's in my doors, in my classrooms with Vance, Tiffany and Steve and
14:48get
14:48every one of my students a job, then it's all worth it.
14:52And I will be better at delegating.
14:54It's time for me to give the kids the car a lot.
14:57So just kind of what I've been hoping for all these years is that I could pass it down.
15:02Just don't crash my car.
15:08I think we have an opportunity to do something this town has needed for 20 to 25 years.
15:16This is hopefully just a start of something bigger.
15:30This program has a lot to teach the community as a whole about collaboration.
15:36We all know that we need more houses.
15:38And I think this is the place where we can bring all those pieces together.
15:41That's how we're trying to bridge the gap.
15:43We're going to work a little bit more on tools.
15:45So we're going to learn how to use nail guns.
15:47Okay.
15:47If you don't know him, that's Ken, man.
15:50He runs this place.
15:51So you guys, most of you know me.
15:52You guys are going to be building Habitat for Humanity to start our homes.
15:56So I'm pretty excited to have you guys participate in that.
15:59And we have brought Eric Worthington here from Habitat for Humanity.
16:03So, Eric, go ahead.
16:06Hey, guys.
16:07How's it going?
16:08This is a full room.
16:09I kind of like this.
16:10So my name's Eric.
16:12I'm the executive director.
16:12Eric brought me the idea a while back.
16:14How can we partner together and have you guys build our homes?
16:18He sees the need as well for housing,
16:20but he also sees that need for the workforce part of it.
16:23Without the workforce, houses aren't going anywhere.
16:26He brought me this idea of Habitat for Humanity starter homes.
16:30We could panelize them.
16:31You could build them in your shop.
16:33We could build our community this way.
16:35It's really exciting to me.
16:36And I hope it's exciting for the students.
16:38But that's what they've been tasked this year to do is build two Habitat houses.
16:43And when I found myself working for Habitat, and my city told me that we had a housing emergency
16:50that we had to address, and we only were building one, maybe two homes a year,
16:56because you guys are helping me, this year we're building 20 homes.
17:00Next year we're building 20 more homes.
17:02And hopefully after that we're building 20 homes every year or more for Clyde staff.
17:07Thank you, I appreciate you coming in there.
17:11Well, now we've got you guys all fired up.
17:14Yeah, you guys are building monuments, and we want to be able to train you in the right way.
17:17You guys have a good night.
17:20All right, any questions on anything we've heard so far that will take a break?
17:24I'm just very, very nervously excited.
17:27We are too.
17:28We had the Blitz build leaders come today,
17:30and it was my white boy, they put a big 75, you know, like they've got 75 days left.
17:40It's a great partnership with Habitat for Humanity.
17:43He pays for all the materials, I provide the work.
17:46We're building sustainable houses, our students are learning,
17:50somebody in our community is benefiting, they're able to stay here, work here,
17:53afford to live here, kind of a everything in one.
17:56You couldn't ask for anything better.
18:00Okay, so, there's something to learn about everything, right?
18:04Once you cut this, the ends of that are going to be razor sharp.
18:08So, when you cut it, get your face out of the way.
18:14I came out of high school not really knowing what I wanted to do,
18:17but I was always good at working with my hands, always good at working with wood.
18:23I love it, real world Flagstaff framing condition, icy wood.
18:30I went to college basically because that was what was expected of me.
18:34So, I became a pre-med major.
18:39But yeah, in the end, I kind of came back to this first love into construction.
18:45I really like to solve problems and I really like making people happy.
18:49And there's a really profound sense of satisfaction there.
19:00When I came to work here, I really was excited to pass on my knowledge.
19:04I felt like that was where I was at in my career.
19:06I felt that was my value.
19:08The mentorship aspect of it has really grown with me.
19:15When I got into construction, I didn't know anything.
19:18But I got paired up with various employees.
19:20So, I could push up a room and I could carry boards.
19:22And I was mentored until I knew how to build a house.
19:27Now, we're in a position where no one has time to mentor.
19:30That to me defines the trade gap is an increase in demand and a decrease in supply.
19:37You're booked out two years.
19:39Where do you find the time to take on someone with no experience
19:42and get them where you need to be when they're actually going to slow you down in the beginning?
19:46Don't let your hand be any closer to the snout of this thing than the length of that nail.
19:53We're trying to be the ones to provide the mentorship.
19:56But in technical schools, you can only take a student so far.
20:01The industry does need to step up and provide some of this mentorship.
20:05The gap that we're trying to fill and the reason why we are so hands-on is that that little
20:10difference
20:10right there makes all the difference in the world in hiring sometimes.
20:14We're going to turn you loose with a saw and a nail gun.
20:18And you're going to actually start building things.
20:20One, two, three.
20:22Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
20:23In CTM 124, you're going to build a house.
20:29My carpenters actually get to build a real-world structure.
20:33They get to pound the nails.
20:34They get to make the mistakes in this safe environment.
20:37See that lip right there?
20:38This right there.
20:40These all got to flush out.
20:42That means over the course of a 30-year career, you're going to make a lot less mistakes.
20:51We're building like some type of rafter or something.
20:54I'm not 100% sure, but I'm building it right, so that's all that really matters to me.
20:59I got a big family, and when I was like 10, my dad would bring us to a job site.
21:03And I just grew up in it, so it's really fun, and I like the work.
21:05And yeah, telling guys what to do, it's a blast, so yeah.
21:10They good?
21:11All right.
21:12Double checking.
21:13Double checking everything.
21:17This is my first year working on this habitat project, and I think it's really helped me out.
21:21It's not just the students.
21:23All right, how are we going to do this?
21:24We're accomplishing something here.
21:27We are really trying to change the construction industry.
21:30That's kind of what motivates me.
21:32I'm not really motivated to teach people how to put walls together.
21:35I'm motivated to teach people to go out and change the world.
21:39I mean, that's literally what we're trying to do here.
21:53I am working on a demand package.
21:55It's sort of summarizing my client's claim, and I'm going through the medical records,
22:01and synthesizing it into a package for the insurance company.
22:09Sort of the dread involved, like, coming here and sitting down at this laptop and, like,
22:15you know, summarizing medical records and over and over and over again.
22:18And it's given me more confidence to continue to proceed down this path.
22:26Walking away from something that's a safe career into something that's quite a bit
22:31more unknown makes me very anxious.
22:35But when I'm actually in there doing the work, the best part of my day is actually when I get
22:41to go to class. I go and I work with my hands and I see the work I did and
22:47I have some sense of
22:48pride in that. The change is going to be good for me. A lawyerly answer for you.
23:02Learn the trade. Become a good electrician. That's what I want to do in the short term.
23:09That's my focus. I think in the long term, I think I don't know. I'm trying to be okay with
23:17that.
23:20But I think in the short term, learn the trade as best I can. You know, explore the world a
23:25little more.
23:36So when you think about a person who's making a change, there's a lot that goes into making that
23:41decision. Give me two claps. All right, everybody's good. This is our last session.
23:48Raise your hand if you have a dream. Oh, I didn't see every hand go up. I guess one of
23:55my dreams,
23:56I guess, would be to have my own business. Okay, so you also use the word, I guess, or the
24:01term,
24:01I guess. So you're not sure. I'm sure, but I'm not sure. I do want my own business.
24:10But do I want? I don't know. I don't know. Tell me. I want to be an electrician. That is
24:18my goal.
24:19You want to be an electrician. That is solid.
24:21Yes, that's what I want to do. Okay. Okay. Dreams are kind of not always feasible.
24:28Yes, that's really what it is. Like, yes, I want this. I have a dream. This is what I want
24:32to do.
24:33But it's like, sometimes you just have those, like, you know, barriers, like, you know, blockages,
24:39like... So what do we do with barriers? I mean, you gotta knock them down. You gotta,
24:42like, you know what I'm saying? You can't just, like, let it, like, define you. You can't let it
24:45control your life. You gotta overcome it. Right. But it's just, I don't know. I think it's just,
24:50like, sometimes, like, a mental thing. So we got to get that out of here.
24:53Yeah. At some point in her life or someone's life, you had a really cool idea to you. Like,
25:00it was a great idea. And someone blew that candle out. Right? And so that's an emotion that you have
25:06to
25:06learn to get over. Everyone should have a dream. Because on the other side of every goal,
25:12it's something, it should be something bigger. That bigger thing is a dream. That's all it is.
25:19But I can't help you with what your dream, what your dreams are, if you can't identify them. So with
25:26your dream, you don't need everyone to believe in your dream. It's yours. And so that's the only
25:32person you really need to consult. The reason we're here and the reason she built this city exists
25:37is to knock down the barriers society already places there. So now we can't ourselves add additional
25:45barriers. Right? Dreams are big. Go for it. Because if you just strive to get to that, you'll get to
25:51some amazing places. All right. Give it up. All right. I was just wondering if, you know,
25:57you, I do want you, you know, you had the, you understand about mentoring. Yes. But, um, I do,
26:03I would like, you know, if you did actually mentor me. Okay. Or like, you know, have connections,
26:08you know. Okay. And see if you can potentially get me in contact with someone that, you know,
26:12would help me get into the electrical field. Okay. So when she came up later and asked for me to
26:18mentor
26:19her, that showed me that she, there's a dream there. She's afraid to expose it because she's just not
26:26sure just yet or she had the ability to dream. She just needs guidance,
26:31right? And so that's all I need. You take the first step. I'll help you take the rest.
26:35And so I'll get you in so that we can get you get you with someone that it's going to
26:40be
26:40cool to see what she ends up doing. But it just showed me that she's determined and yeah,
26:46she's she's great at picking mentors. That's what she's great at.
27:00This is the Northern Arizona Habitat for Humanity Starter Homes project. The schedule is getting
27:07tight. Like we had about a month buffer and I'd say by now we've lost three weeks of that.
27:15We had two big snowstorms come in over the last two weeks and it shuts everything down.
27:21The main deadline we're hitting is that blitz build group who comes June 1st. We'll have about 170
27:29volunteers. They're going to be doing a lot. And if we can't get the houses to where they need them,
27:37then we'll miss that opportunity. Just the overall success is dependent on that. This is the foundation.
27:46So it's 24 feet by 16 feet. And it's lofted. So there's stairs that go up and then you got
27:54a bedroom,
27:55sleeping area on top. Small space, but good for someone starting out.
28:01The Habitat for Humanity Starter Home concept is a very small design. It's meant for a starting family,
28:08a single parent. They've deposited $1,000 down payment. Every one of their mortgage payments
28:15from there on out goes into a savings account. They can earn up to $10,000 a year in equity.
28:22It's hard to save that kind of money. That's what makes this program awesome. They can save it.
28:29They can turn it back into a down payment for another home. We built the very first one in the
28:36nation
28:36here in Flagstaff. If we could start it here, how will the domino effect work across the nation?
28:44Ten units by June 1st. That's looking out here. It seems like an impossible endeavor.
29:02So we've got these RF4 panels. We have all of those for two houses.
29:08It's a lot like being a contractor, right? So what's my work plan?
29:13We're building these Habitat houses, right? We're going to be doing panels.
29:16And it's kind of time is of the essence because we need to do two by June.
29:20So we're kind of on a clock. It's like tick, tick, tick, right?
29:24It's been a journey from construction to teaching.
29:31These aren't my employees. These aren't people that I'm paying.
29:34But the fact is we do have a project to complete. It's got a due date. There are people that
29:41are
29:41already assigned to these houses. They are expecting to have something to live in.
29:47There is a conflict there taking people to know nothing and saying, hey, I have to teach you.
29:52But at the same time, you have to deliver a product.
29:55Be careful when you look at these.
29:56I think it was hard for them to understand in the beginning because there was nothing to look at.
29:59It was just a set of plans. Now we have all these panels all over the place.
30:03They're like, oh, hey, this is the floor for a house.
30:07Then I'm going to drive by this thing sometimes and look and say, I did that.
30:12And I think it really motivates them.
30:19I think it's kind of going as expected more or less, but it doesn't mean we don't feel pressure.
30:23Absolutely feeling pressure.
30:25But I think that's probably because we're that invested in it, you know?
30:28I think they're doing pretty good for a bunch of fresh people and just learning.
30:33It is sometimes it's you want to jump in. But that probably comes from working in industry,
30:37you know, is like you're used to that. It's like, man, we just got to get this done.
30:39And that's not my life anymore. Now I'm watching. It's a tough transition.
30:46That's the only way to learn. They got to make the mistakes to be able to be better.
30:49Bend a few nails, bend a few more, make 17 cuts wrong.
30:54Vance and I were having this conversation about the Habitat to Start Home project.
30:58We're taking these fresh students that's never done anything. We get them for 48 hours a semester.
31:05Deadline's coming. And we were getting a little nervous about,
31:07are we going to make our deadline with these new students?
31:12We're feeling the pressure a little bit. But one of the plans to take that pressure off is to have
31:18a volunteer day where I open up our shop and we have our students teach community members on how to
31:26build their house.
31:37Well, in theory, I've got all these stud and plate links all measured out.
31:41Nobody will have to do a whole lot of thinking. All I got to do is read the paper and
31:45cut.
31:49We've got to move the tables and we've got to break apart our lumber. And by the way, this is
31:53my first
31:53time doing one of these events, so bear with me. I'm nervous.
32:00If we've done a good enough job here at CCC, that student can teach somebody else how to frame
32:04something, then we've done our job. I seriously was sick to my stomach this morning just because
32:18I don't want, you know, Habitat or the college to, you know, basically get a black eye off having a
32:24poorly runaway.
32:28We have the classic situation. We've double checked all our measurements and we either have a long
32:34board or a short board or boards out of border or something like that.
32:38We're going to use this one, cut this down.
32:40Yeah, 14 one and a half.
32:4214 one and a half?
32:43Yeah.
32:45Unless that thing's wrong.
32:47So you got an extra inch and a half somewhere.
32:51A little under five eighths?
32:52Five eighths.
32:54168 and five eighths, square to short.
32:59Well, that's a problem because like I say, our overall measurement is
33:03way off.
33:05So which stub is wrong? The overall or the stud?
33:11The stud is correct according to this template.
33:17That's it right there.
33:19That is the problem.
33:22It's the temp, the template is incorrect.
33:25It's my fault.
33:26So the template's wrong.
33:28And I'll apologize profusely to everybody and I'll figure out what we're going to do about it.
33:36So my apologies, I screwed up the template and so it's making all these stud legs wrong and we've
33:42been fighting that all day without knowing the cause.
33:44Now we know the cause and it's because I transposed a couple numbers when I was laying out the template.
33:50My feeling is let's eat and then actually let's clean up.
33:54We'll just get the walls into the buildings.
33:56And at least seeing what it's like to be in the real world of construction, some of my students.
34:01Because it does happen in the field.
34:02We get one wrong measurement and it messes up the whole thing.
34:06So it's how we react to that that makes a difference when we're out there in the real world.
34:13I tell my students all the time, you know, be a lifelong learner and you're always going to have a
34:17job.
34:18If we look at it, the purpose of the day was for the students to kind of spread their wings
34:23and fly a little bit.
34:24I'm happy.
34:25Felt like everybody demonstrated that they learned something, you know, which is all I can ask.
34:30We're not making journeyman carpenters here.
34:31We're just trying to get them a leg up in the employment, you know.
34:35You have to be able to pass your skills on.
34:37It's not enough to be good.
34:38You have to be able to mentor.
34:41That's just all there is to it.
34:44At the end of the day, I mean, my allegiance is to these students.
34:48Making habitat houses just happens to be a happy byproduct of it.
34:54You make a mistake, you got to own up to it and it's not comfortable, but
34:59I think it was a very valuable lesson.
35:03These guys are teaching me just as much as I'm teaching them.
35:14My time at She Built The City has been life changing.
35:17The doors they opened for us in just nine weeks.
35:20I mean, they're priceless.
35:22What I love about She Built The City is that we started them in a pre-apprenticeship program,
35:26but we don't let them go.
35:27And let's continue to not only build structures, but the world around us.
35:32This community is something you can lean on long term.
35:43From a very young age, my dad would take me out to the job sites.
35:47I would be sitting on top of these speaking records and with my little notebook.
35:52And just kind of like in my telling people what to do, even if it was very wrong.
35:58My mother used to sell food in those neighborhoods where my dad was working.
36:04She would be like, Diana, like you should be in here, like this is easier for you.
36:07But I would rather be out with my dad grabbing the hammers.
36:12Once I hit my teenage years, I kind of became his secretary due to the English.
36:18So I had to learn how to do invoices and I had to learn how to bid on projects.
36:22And I had to learn how to answer calls for him and he's not tech savvy.
36:27So I was doing all his emails for him.
36:29I think I've always been my father's son, but I was never my mother's daughter.
36:39This is my mom.
36:41She has butterflies because that's the only thing she asked me to have on her tombstone, butterflies.
36:47My mother passed away from metastasized breast cancer in 2013.
36:53It was, I think, very rough on me at that age.
36:57I was taking care of my siblings and at the age of 16, I met Hector.
37:02At 17, I became pregnant and they were okay with it and she was happy.
37:09She passed away two weeks before I turned 18.
37:16Love you.
37:20It molded me in a very different way.
37:25All my friends were going to college, doing their thing.
37:29And I was home taking care of a 15, 11-year-old and an infant while also navigating through my
37:36father's feelings and dealing with their businesses at the same time.
37:41I was only 18.
37:44Becoming this cultural housewife that I never envisioned myself doing.
37:51I tell Kevin and Brian all the time, like, my mom had y'all, but you're mine.
38:00So in July of 2022, I was diagnosed with granulitis mastitis.
38:08Basically, you'll develop all these wounds around your breast.
38:13This entire situation is triggering because of my mother.
38:17It was hard because all my symptoms pointed to cancer.
38:25I really needed it.
38:27She built the city in that moment in life.
38:29I had hit that big rock bottom where I just didn't know what I was doing with my life anymore.
38:33You know, I was doing things for everybody else for so many years.
38:37I had never done anything for me.
38:40Now I'm doing things for me, and now I have boundaries, and now I get to get paid for my
38:47work.
38:50My five-year goal is I want to become a general contractor.
38:54I want to get as many licenses as I can out there.
38:57I'm missing the door handle here, and that's part of the checklist.
39:01Just in my community, we're not seeing past administrative rules.
39:08As a GC, you're not just on the admin side of things.
39:11You're also out there making sure that everything is done correctly.
39:21I want to start a business that will be left on for my children, but I can't do that, you
39:27know,
39:28continuing to do everything for everybody around me.
39:37Can I highlight?
39:39Not today.
39:41So I am studying for my GC exam.
39:47The GC exam is the general contractor's exam.
39:52So this is just the residential aspect of everything.
39:55I haven't even started to study for a commercial.
39:58As women, it's very hard to take care of ourselves,
40:00because we're expected to take care of everybody else around us.
40:09Go clean your room.
40:27I see the difference, you know?
40:30Because never thinking and ladies can do the same job for men, you know?
40:48So now that I went through the program, it made him change his mind.
40:52Yeah, right now I'm working together and I'm learning something different between me and her, you know?
40:59So, yeah.
41:01My dad's sense of change is exciting because it just means a new direction for us, for the company.
41:08It means that, you know, eventually we can have more women on our cruise.
41:12The change came from us being close the way we are.
41:15And I think that when someone cares and loves you, you evolve and, you know, you're open and more
41:22susceptible for changes.
41:25So, yeah, it's been nice.
41:38I'm very good at making invoices and things like that, but that's not where my passion really lies.
41:45My passion is more going out bidding and doing the work.
41:49I think before it was more of a, it's our business and this is why you should be doing it.
41:55But now I'm doing it because I want to, not because I'm expected to.
42:00And I think that's the huge difference.
42:14Some of these units, upstairs units, are ready to go, too.
42:26I think you have to be competitive to be successful.
42:28There's always somebody better.
42:30So, if you're better, then get out the way because I'm coming.
42:34That's the way you got to look at it.
42:35We have employers out there.
42:37They are prepared to hire.
42:39They're not promising us a job, but it's an opportunity.
42:44You can't keep doing it the same way that we've always done it.
42:48We've got to think outside the box and make it better.
42:57You
Comments