The CWB Association brings you a weekly podcast that connects to welding professionals around the world and unrepresented communities as we continue to strive for a more diverse workforce. Join us as we celebrate National Volunteer Month to showcase the incredible contributions of our Chapter Executives from across Canada and globally.
When Allison Zerr swapped her accounting books for a welder's mask, little did she know she'd be igniting a trail for women in the trades. This episode brings you the remarkable journey of Allison, from her small-town roots to leading the Women in Trades program, where she unwraps the challenges she faced, the stereotypes she shattered, and the ceilings she broke – not just glass, but steel too. Her story isn't just about defying odds; it's a beacon for anyone who's ever felt the tug to take the road less traveled in their career.
Follow Allison:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-zerr-a5637b278/?originalSubdomain=ca
WITT Program : https://saskpolytech.ca/programs-and-courses/resources/women-in-trades-and-technology/
https://www.facebook.com/SKPolytechWITT
Find your Local CWBA Chapter Here: https://www.cwbgroup.org/association/chapters
Thank you to our Podcast Advertisers:
Canada Welding Supply: https://canadaweldingsupply.ca/
There is no better time to be a member! The CWB Association membership is new, improved and focused on you. We offer a FREE membership with a full suite of benefits to build your career, stay informed, and support the Canadian welding industry. https://www.cwbgroup.org/association/become-a-member
The CWB Association brings you a weekly podcast that connects to welding professionals around the world and unrepresented communities as we continue to strive for a more diverse workforce. Join us as we celebrate National Volunteer Month to showcase the incredible contributions of our Chapter Executives from across Canada and globally.
When Allison Zerr swapped her accounting books for a welder's mask, little did she know she'd be igniting a trail for women in the trades. This episode brings you the remarkable journey of Allison, from her small-town roots to leading the Women in Trades program, where she unwraps the challenges she faced, the stereotypes she shattered, and the ceilings she broke – not just glass, but steel too. Her story isn't just about defying odds; it's a beacon for anyone who's ever felt the tug to take the road less traveled in their career.
Follow Allison:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allison-zerr-a5637b278/?originalSubdomain=ca
WITT Program : https://saskpolytech.ca/programs-and-courses/resources/women-in-trades-and-technology/
https://www.facebook.com/SKPolytechWITT
Find your Local CWBA Chapter Here: https://www.cwbgroup.org/association/chapters
Thank you to our Podcast Advertisers:
Canada Welding Supply: https://canadaweldingsupply.ca/
There is no better time to be a member! The CWB Association membership is new, improved and focused on you. We offer a FREE membership with a full suite of benefits to build your career, stay informed, and support the Canadian welding industry. https://www.cwbgroup.org/association/become-a-member
All right, I can check. Check, I'm good. So I'm Max Duran. Max Duran, cwb Association Welding Podcast. Pod pod podcast. Today we have a really cool guest welding podcast. The show is about to begin.
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Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to another edition of the CWB Association podcast. My name is Max Ceron and I'm out there digging and grinding trying to find us awesome guests. Today I have an old friend and someone I've known for a while and have been watching her career for a number of years. Now we have Alison Zer coming to us from Saskatoon. She is the program head for the WIT program powered by Orano. Alison, how are you doing today? I'm very well, max. Thank you. How are you? Good? You got me early morning on a Thursday. Usually this is my email time, but I had to get on my happy boots and then get rocking and rolling. How's Saskatoon looking this morning?
Speaker 2:A little frosty, but I was figuring I had the chance to chat with you this morning, so woke up with a positive attitude and I'm looking forward to this.
Speaker 1:Well, I appreciate it. I mean, if you want it to be grumpy, we can be grumpy together. I'm pretty good at being grumpy. I mean we can complain if we want to.
Speaker 2:Nobody wants to hear that from me, Max.
Speaker 1:So, alison, you know I've known you for a while. Your background is in welding, so you know we I want to talk about, just to start. You know kind of where you came from and where your roots were. That, you know, eventually led us to kind of collide paths. You know when were you born, where do you come from?
Speaker 2:uh, so actually I was born in medicine hat. Um, I was born in alberta, but I was raised in a very small town, richmount saskatchewan, so about 10 minutes from the alberta border. Um, I did grow up in town, a community of about 200 people, so very small farming community but, uh, yeah, I had.
Speaker 2:I grew up with the boys. Um, there was majority of children my age were all boys. So I grew up, you know, building forts and playing in the dirt and with trucks and whatnot. We grew up. We had to take shop class, we had to take home ec. Basically, school wanted to prepare us for everything, wanted to prepare us for everything. So grew up doing all that and then decided after I graduated I moved up to Saskatoon. I was going to be an accountant.
Speaker 1:An accountant.
Speaker 2:I was going to be an accountant, Max.
Speaker 1:You loved math.
Speaker 2:I loved math. I did very well in math. The only problem with that was I never learned how to study in math. It came super easy. So by the time university came and I had to take calculus and all that. It was a hard lesson to and my first like real big failure. I did fail out of my university classes, which to me was a real hard shot in the gut, but it allowed me to take the time to really evaluate what I wanted to do. I didn't overly enjoy the classes. I didn't like sitting in big lecture theaters and just having information thrown at me. I very much like to be moving and working with my hands. So it took some time to really think about what I wanted to do and then I flipped open. It used to be the SIAS catalog.
Speaker 2:I'm sure you're familiar.
Speaker 1:The rice paper. Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:So I started flipping through and I just started thinking you know what have I done that I think I might enjoy as a career, what kind of skills do I have? And basically narrowed my options down. I was down to either nursing carpentry and welding, and from there I decided you know what I did welding in high school, and at the time I hated it, honestly.
Speaker 1:Why? What was wrong with it?
Speaker 2:I didn't get along with the teacher. It was dirty. We had very old equipment. I mean, our practice coupons were cultivator shovels, so we literally never welded more than like two inches at a time. So I didn't have a good picture of what welding was. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But I did really well at it. I learned the theory very well and my two inch of weld was always looking good. But I really wanted to get into interior decorating and decor and metal art and so I thought, well, if I want to do that, I better learn how to join some metals. So, uh, I applied for the welding program and I guess the rest of the story, that's a start.
Speaker 1:that was the start, yeah, so let's go back to you know your 200 person, you know town, village, hamlet where you, uh, where you were growing up and the access you had.
Speaker 1:Like it's an interesting dichotomy that that I see in rural towns, because I find that it can be very gendered, like it's very, it can be very like this is for boys and this is for girls, and if the girls are into boy stuff, they're like a tomboy, like they're like that's their shtick and and it's like boys don't have like those two roles of like you're a boy's a boy you're, like you know, whereas girls be tomboys or or I guess, effeminate girls, did you find that, you know, in the I'm, you know the hanging with the boys being kind of into that same stuff early on, that you were kind of getting steered towards that, like away from being a feminine female or a feminine woman, or you know, like I'm just always curious about how those small time, small town dynamics work uh, yeah, for for a number of years definitely, my earlier years was very much whatever the boys did, I wanted to be doing and I mean don't get me wrong I certainly had my time where I was really into doing hair and nails and makeup.
Speaker 2:Those started to come like as I got into my teenage years. Yeah. The boys kind of separated away and once the boys started, you know, finding interest in the girls and starting to date the girls, that's really when I found that separation. It was like, well, I don't want to hear what these guys are saying about my friends, or you know, I don't, I don't want to be the middle person either, right because a lot of my girlfriends.
Speaker 2:Oh well, you know the guys and so I found out I was that middle person, so for me it was okay. You know what, I'm just gonna separate and I'll hang out with the girls now, um and where's the guys with the hair and the nails and the makeup?
Speaker 1:like come on. You know they're there. Like come on.
Speaker 2:I my best friend growing up. He was my go-to for that, Absolutely yeah.
Speaker 1:And then you know you took shop class in school and you didn't really dig the teacher, but you kind of dug the stuff, right, yeah, and that stuck with you because it does come back around after accounting. Now, why accounting outside of math? Like you say, you like math, but I mean there's lots of things in the world of math that are not accounting. Did you have an accountant family member? What was it that made you single that specific industry to be like? I want to try that.
Speaker 2:So actually my godfather, my one uncle, I knew he did a lot. I wasn't certain of his role per se, but I knew he did a lot with finances and I don't want to say I was sheltered growing up but at the same time I was kind of sheltered Growing up in that small town. We didn't have as much exposure to different careers?
Speaker 1:No, it's just environment.
Speaker 2:Exactly, it was very stereotypical, you know. The women would become teachers or nurses or secretaries and you know, you know how it is right, the guys will drive trucks and excavators, and it's footloose.
Speaker 1:It's basically footloose yeah, well, exactly right except you guys were allowed to dance, right oh, absolutely yeah so then you graduate high school, you go down this accounting path.
Speaker 1:What were your parents thinking? We're like oh awesome, she's off to be an accountant, this is gonna be great. And then you kind of fail out, which is very disappointing. I know, I know what that feels like. I went into computer science first and it wasn't. It wasn't for me. Um, you feel like you let yourself down, you let people around you down and then you decide that you want to go to sask or sias for a welding program. Now what's mom and dad think about this swap in career?
Speaker 2:uh well, honestly, my, I never told my parents the reason why I stopped going to university.
Speaker 1:I never told them then that are you gonna find out during this podcast?
Speaker 2:no, no, I've told them since. I've told them since, um, but at the time, spoiler alert right, don't listen, mom and dad.
Speaker 2:No, um, I did get a letter from the university asking me to take a year off, and so I mean, I kind of broke it to my mom how I know how, with a bit of humor, I told her you know, I've got good news and bad news. And okay, the bad news is I'm pregnant, mom, and she's what? And I said, oh no, that's the good news, that's just a joke. The bad news is I'm not going back to university because I hate it which which was the truth.
Speaker 1:I I mean, I just weren't vibing it.
Speaker 2:It wasn't my thing. I was, you know, 19 years. At the time I spent more time wanting to socialize and meet people than I did with my studies, and so, rather than continue to spend the money to go to you know, take something I don't love I told my parents you know what, I'm going to work for a few years and I'm going to think about what I want to do. And so it was about two years that I was just working random jobs. I think I was you know, two or three part time jobs at a time. And then, yeah, they were. They were both really shocked when I said I was gonna go into welding.
Speaker 2:Um, dad had questions. I mean, at the time it was I had very short hair and I was playing on women's softball teams and uh, he, he made uh assumptions about my sexuality and kind of joked about it and um, but at the end, like I don't know if he was maybe leery when I first got into it, but by the time I finished my certificate program in welding, my class had voted me as kind of the leader of the group, and so just even telling him about that, that you know what, like I'm really loving this.
Speaker 2:I'm doing well. My class appreciates me, like I'm still kind of taking on these leader roles, and my parents are both teachers, by the way, so they love somebody who steps up. But it was then, and as I started to progress in my career, that dad really started to see that, oh, I actually was good at it, yeah.
Speaker 1:And there's a space for you, was good at it, yeah, and there's a space for you because, like I mean, as a parent and I'm going to go out on a limb because I don't know your parents but as a parent in general, especially from a small rural community, you have your daughter say I want to get into welding. There's a worry about their experience, right, because you, you kind of know how sexist and misogynist small town saskatchewan can be, or the trades or all the. So you start stacking these cards like, uh, rural, uh, welding, male dominated work. And then you look at your daughter and you think, oh, I don't want you to go through all that hardship. You know there's probably an easier way, which is a kind of terrible state of society that we have to let. We shouldn't even have to think about things, right, but, but they, but uh, but you know he's, he probably was waiting to see the proof in the pudding, as you know, as you started coming up and being like no, and then you know I'm sure you started like you're, like allison, you're allison, you're not gonna not do.
Speaker 1:Well, you just have that energy that you want to go out there and do something and just finish it. Get it done, do a thing, right. Yeah, so you're finishing your certificate program and you're you're living in Saskatoon. Still, what, uh? What was the first steps out of school? You know, it sounded like you finished school doing pretty well.
Speaker 2:I did, yeah, and actually I finished our program a little early. Um, I did manage to get my assignments done ahead of a number of classmates and I was. I was so excited. I thought, well, I did amazing at school and I was so excited to start working. And then it took me, so I finished school. I believe it was end of April, beginning of May kind of thing. I didn't start working until about September, october and that was really frustrating. Looking back. It was a slower time in industry, but I was really convinced it was because I was a woman.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I would have had the same thought.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there was a lot of my classmates that the male counterparts, that they got jobs right away and I do remember there was one shop in particular that I went and applied and of course walked in with my resume and kind of got a bit of a sneer from the admin and you know she gave me that we're not looking to hire. And.
Speaker 2:I said well, I saw your ad online. You are looking for welders. That's what I'm here applying as. And at that moment, one of the supervisors came out and he looked at me and said we don't hire women, and I like eyes wide. I mean, I don't. I don't hide my emotions very well, so that's hurtful.
Speaker 2:That's a hurtful thing like it is and, like to this day still, I was so proud of myself. I looked at him and I said you know what? I don't even want to work here. And I turned and walked away and of course I got to my car and I said you know what? I don't even want to work here. And I turned and walked away and of course I got to my car and I was very emotional. But, I thought why would I want to work at a place that is that close minded?
Speaker 1:You know it's going to be an everyday battle there.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And so I kind of did my own little experiment. I, when I started applying at places half the places I would apply as Allison and the other half, I started applying as Al.
Speaker 2:And imagine that I got more phone calls back to the applicants where I applied as Al, um, and there were still a few that, oh, when they found out that I was a woman, oh yeah, um, well, we'll see if we can get you in for a, for an interview or whatever the excuse was, but I did end up. I found a amazing job. My first job was great. We were, I was night shift, which wasn't quite where you start, man.
Speaker 1:That's where you start Exactly.
Speaker 2:And, but it was such a small crew Like there. There were five of us on the crew. Um, my supervisor was a female. I worked with one of the girls I had taken school with, so there was three females and two guys on our crew.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, that's a comfort level just goes right up there.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was amazing. It was so great. Um it. It was hard because I learned that I was not as strong as welder as what I thought I was. Um, that's just called life right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but again that you know you hear from your co workers, oh, who did this Well? But then look down and know that I was the one who did it. So that was hard too. But then it really opened the door for me because I was one of the less skilled workers on our welders, on our crew. They knew that. Okay, well, we need more fitters. So that's where the supervisor took me right under her wing and she trained me one-on-one on how to be a better fitter, and that's really where I found I excelled well, that brings the math back into the equation, right absolutely right because that's that cycle, because that's what it was for me.
Speaker 1:I went into computer science because I was so strong in the sciences. You know, after my red seal and welding, it's like what's next? It's like well, fabrication, and it was like I fell into my little comfy nest. It's like, ah, math again. So, absolutely, you know you, first of all, having the experience to find a job where your supervisor's female is I would say fortuitous. You know, like in all my years of welding, I never had a female supervisor, not one, not one. And I think I had one person of color ever in 27 years be my boss. It's very much not only a male-dominated sphere, but a white male dominated sphere right at that absolutely, especially at the management level and up right.
Speaker 1:So for you to find that that that's geeks, now you feel like even even seen whether the supporters like I mean you can have good boss, bad boss, that's another conversation, but at least it's a, it's a level of representation that that exists there, absolutely now you find out immediately, like most welders that come out of school do, that you got a lot to learn.
Speaker 1:yep, um, schools just like scratching the surface and you think you might be the best welder in class. Well, welcome to the real world, where it's not six inch coupons, it's dirty, rusty, gapped out pieces and nothing fits right. And you got to make it look pretty and uh, and then you start down that path. So did you go back to school for your level three Cause I believe certificate programs, level one and two Um and did you go back for your level three for welding or did you switch over to fab right away?
Speaker 2:So actually I I did request to go back and retake my second level um, and the reason for that? Because it was about it was about two years after I was in school that I got to go back my first company. They were not eager to indenture me um, and so I. I was only there about eight months, so I I started at the second shop that I worked at and then, after I had spent a bit of time there, I asked them if I would be able to go back to school, and I did want to go back because so much of my work experience was in fabrication. I did want to finish with my welding, because that's what I started with and I didn't want to just leave that.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I requested to retake my second year to give me that additional practice, and for me I'm so glad I did and that I was able to. So I did. I completed my welding. Actually, I got my red seal in that in 2014. And it was like six months later I was signed up as a metal fabricator and got to take my first year of school. So it was like back-to-back traits and you know.
Speaker 1:So I, I'm, I'm dumb, okay, I uh I don't believe that for a minute but I didn't go to school for welding or fab. I challenged both those exams, um, and I wish I would have gone to school, like you said, like I feel like I would have given myself a lot of reinforcement if I would have gone back to school, um, and then when I became a teacher and you become, you're teaching you really realize how much of an impact a teacher can do on educating students in this stuff.
Speaker 5:Right, and I kind of missed that whole boat now for yourself.
Speaker 1:You know, you went to school for welding and you and you went to school for welding and you and you went to school for steel fab, you know. So there's a three-year turnaround and then a four-year turnaround, although I think you get a year off if you already have your welding red seal, um, or 1800 hours or something like that. They knock off Um. How different were the school, how different were the programs? Like you took both, you, you know, would you say one was definitely harder than the other one, or just different skills. You know what, if you had to compare the metal fat program and the welding program, you know what would be the highs and lows of each side well, certainly for the welding um, especially the first two years.
Speaker 2:Learning the processes um I did for me was very challenging because industry all we did was I mean, my first shop, it was gmaw, and my second shop was all metal core, flux core.
Speaker 2:So it was all the wire fed processes were the only practical experience I had, so learning the theory behind every process I did find really challenging in the welding. I didn't find as many challenges in the metal fab but I had already been in industry for a number of years, so much of the fabrication, the drawings like that, was what I did day to day and yeah, it's like second nature at that point exactly the company I was working for.
Speaker 2:They were amazing at moving me around, so I had experience with the structural, the plate work, the piping, even the pressure vessels.
Speaker 2:So I was very rounded in my knowledge just from the company I worked at and I think that was really my saving grace, because I mean, for somebody who would be green, I would say probably the metal fab, I would say as one of the harder courses, just because there's that much more that you need to learn there's more desk work too, which, yeah, you know, you go into the trades thinking I'm going to work with my hands and be moving around.
Speaker 1:And if you go into the trades thinking I'm going to work with my hands and be moving around, and if you go into the metal fab program, there is more school, like there's more theory, there's more desk time, which is to me like going through blueprints is fun, but not necessarily for everybody, like I mean. So, like I mean I have that question come up all the time with young people or people looking to get into trades. They're like well, which one would you recommend? That's a hard question to answer. Like I'm not sure what I would recommend. Like I mean, obviously, yes, do you like math? Okay, there's a start. If you really like math, metal Fab is more of an option, but it's also a longer program. It's less, less jobs. Really like, um, if for, like for, like actual full-time metal fab, um, there's what? But you get paid more. You know, right, like so, like, yeah, there's these pluses and minuses everywhere, right?
Speaker 2:yeah, and I mean, when I work with prospective students, and especially females, which is, as you know, my area, area of expertise or whatever I like to kind of give them the idea that, okay, are you more of a problem solver and you like to like, think things through and come up with solutions and again, like that math, right, if that's kind of more your skill level or your interest, metal fab might be a better suit for you, whereas the welding is more the application. Physically, can you produce a nice weld right? Yeah, you have to know somewhat of what goes into a weld, but a lot of times when you're in industry, especially welding to a procedure, you can go to a book that tells you exactly everything you need to do, how to set your machine, and it's a matter of okay can you work?
Speaker 2:with this Exactly Right. So kind of the different. Are you the doer or the thinker? Yes.
Speaker 1:And I mean, I know that's a very simplified way to explain it, right, but well, and all welders need to know a little bit of fab, and all fabricators need to know how to weld so like it does go back and forth right absolutely now in.
Speaker 1:Now you're let's get in the back on the timeline. You, you welded, you're working a shop, you now have got your red seal and welding. These are 2014 and you're you're transitioning now into schooling for steel fab. You know, are you still working in industry, still working in the shop, and kind of what's your end game? Like what, what are you, what are you trying to do? Right, you already got a Red Seal. Now you're going for your second one. What's the plan? Like, I mean, most people don't bother with one, let alone two. So you got some kind of idea of where you want to go.
Speaker 2:You know, I am such a believer of to keep your options open. Right, I was. I was very happy with what with the shop that I was working at, and throughout my entire schooling I stayed at the same shop like I was there. It was almost a full decade I was at that shop, but I wanted to have in my back pocket A more desirable resume, right? If people could see OK, well, I've completed a red seal and welding and then I've completed a red seal and fabrication, it would allow me it.
Speaker 2:You know, it could open the door to allow more travel, or getting out of opportunities, you know absolutely with the same credentials right right um, the other thing too, like so, right after I got my welding, I got married that year, and then the plan was to get married and have a kid. So I took my first year fab like two weeks after I got back from my honeymoon, I think it was and then found out while I was in school that I was also expecting, so then it was okay. Well, you know, try to balance.
Speaker 1:Throw another ball in there to juggle.
Speaker 2:May as well. Yeah, but I wanted that, knowing that, okay, then I was going to become a mom. You know, I wanted to show that, okay, I've taken schooling, this is what I've accomplished. But now, having the second trade, I was hoping that, okay, this would allow me more flexibility to have the time at home to be a mother, but also to make a great wage.
Speaker 1:And you know like I still want to take that snapshot back like to mom and dad. Now you're like 10 years in married, have a kid, working on your second Red Seal, obviously have a great career. At this point, I'm sure mom and dad are like you made the right choice. This is great.
Speaker 2:This is absolutely yeah maybe dad's probably like, maybe I should be a welder well, you know, dad is very much like okay, so if I get all these metal projects, you can just help me out with them. So it's cheap labor for him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah yeah, now you got a kid. You're on your way to get your red seal in in metal fabrication and you know your job, your career. At this point you were in the shop. You're like you're probably just looking at this is this is this is work, this is career right now. At what point in this journey did you start thinking that you might want to work in just a desk job or get into a more managerial position?
Speaker 2:honestly, I never saw that for myself no, no, no I, I had always wanted to be a teacher, though, and that was since I was a kid and seeing my parents as teachers, um, and like, growing up, you know, I taught piano and helped out, and so I had that little bit of teaching experience. And I actually, when I was in my third year welding, um, my instructor at the time was the one female instructor we had on staff, and she started talking to me about this program. That was Tammy, yeah.
Speaker 1:I worked with Tammy like 35 years ago oh we started around the same time.
Speaker 2:I absolutely love Tammy yeah she. She is one of the reasons, honestly, why I got to where I'm at is she started telling me about this WIT program that even as a student, I mean, yeah, I've got emails from wit, but I never paid attention to them. But then she started talking to me and she's like well, why don't you come teach for us? And at the time I was like I'm not even a journeyman, like I can't be a teacher.
Speaker 2:And she's like well, no, you'd just be, you know, you'd be teaching women that are interested in getting into traits like she's like you don't have to share all your theory, you just have to show them how to weld. I was like, okay, well, I'm not even a good welder. And she's like, well, you're better than them.
Speaker 1:So that's interesting Cause I knew that while Tammy was in Saskatoon fair. I think she's retired now officially. Yeah, tammy and her husband. You know Tammy and Larry husband. You know Tammy and Larry.
Speaker 2:Why am I blanking?
Speaker 1:on his name right now I can picture his face in my mind. Anyways, I worked with both of them. We were in the same shop when they met and ended up becoming a thing. Like that's so long ago, Like it's crazy.
Speaker 1:And she was a fantastic person to work with. Like it's crazy, uh, and she was a fantastic person to work with um. It's so validating to see that even just I'm going down memory lane now in my head, but it's like to know that she was able to, you know, mentor somebody else, to sort of start following the same path, which is great, because the wit program is a whole nother. It's a whole nother game, right, like you know, explain to people, I guess listening what is the WIT program at SAS Poly, you know, and what's its purpose and kind of how does it work?
Speaker 2:to help raise awareness and to help with recruitment, to get women into the male-dominated skilled trades and technology programs. So we do. We offer exploration courses where we invite women onto campus and actually we're starting to do outreach too, which is exciting. But basically we bring them in, we get a journeyed woman who is a part of that trade, whether it be welding, carpentry, whatever and give them a day of hands on on the tools, talk to them about the trade you know what's great, what can be challenging and just create a safe space for them to try things out, where they don't feel uncomfortable asking questions. Right, we like to keep our groups small, like a small group of 12 kind of thing, where they have that opportunity almost a one-on-one to ask any questions that are on their mind.
Speaker 2:The other part of what we do is we're a support service for our female students on campus. So if students are, we remind them you know when the different award cycles are open and hey, remember to apply for all these scholarships. We do networking lunch and learns with them. So we'll feed them pizza and bring in an industry speaker and just give them the opportunity to network with different women. We have an open door policy. So if there's a challenge or a struggle that they're going through, they can feel safe to come into our office and chat about it, and we've been there right Like we understand that sometimes you might be the only female in your group of 12.
Speaker 2:Or if you're lucky you might have another female classmate, but sometimes it is uncomfortable to go to your male instructor or male program head to talk about some of these issues, right? So we're just that safe space that they can feel comfortable and just come and chat with us.
Speaker 1:All right. Well, let's let's take a break here for our sponsors. When we get back I want to dive more into into like the wit program and how it services its members, right, and the people that come in and like, if people are interested, I'm sure every city province program has something similar, if not identical, right? So absolutely we'll be right back, after these uh words from our sponsors and our advertisers here with allison zero on the cwb association.
Speaker 4:The CWB Association is new and improved, and focused on you. We offer a free membership with lots of benefits to anyone interested in joining an association that is passionate about welding. We are committed to educating, informing and connecting our workforce. Gain access to your free digital publication of the Weld Magazine, free online training conferences and lots of giveaways. Reach out to your local CWB Association chapter today to connect with other welding professionals and share welding as a trade in your community. Build your career, stay informed and support the Canadian welding industry. Join today and learn more at cwbassociationorg.
Speaker 1:And we are back here on the CWB Association podcast. My name is Max Sturron and I'm here with Alison Zir in Saskatoon who works for the WIT program powered by Orano, which I want to talk about that later. But the little extra tagline that didn't exist when I was at Sask Poly. So before the break we were talking about WIT and you know like working with women to try to get them into these spaces, like on both angles, like a safe space for them to communicate and participate in, but then also the supports they need to get out there and make a go at trade right and having them feel supported and represented. Now, when you look at the witIT spectrum, I see lots of different pieces that all have different challenges right.
Speaker 1:The first piece, which I think is the one that most people think of, is just simply a young female trying to get into a male-dominated space. So you know, like, whether it's in the city or rural town, the challenges will be similar but not identical. But you're just basically a woman coming into a trade and you don't. You may, like you said, you may not, you may be the only one in the class. What? What kind of support? When you look at those that sector, you know what are some of the main things that you got to make sure you support them with.
Speaker 2:I think really like we work to give them a lot of resources and really just education the awareness right we do. Obviously we always like to talk about why the trades are amazing. No-transcript, and we know that right, and it's. It's not always the perfect environment for every personality either.
Speaker 1:Right Right Now. The next demographic I would look at that, you know, and I'm drawing upon mainly my experience as an instructor is the more mature student who is now looking for a life transition. Olds that maybe have worked in other sectors for a long time and are sick of being a server or a secretary in these female gendered roles that always pay way less, with no benefits and no pension. And you know, and it's like I mean, that whole part of the world is unfair on a different level, but they're looking to make the transition into a good, lucrative, safe job. What kind of barriers will that person face and how could we support them?
Speaker 2:One of the biggest barriers we hear time and again is child care Right, and that goes for any industry you're in. I know from my experience in welding child care was a challenge when I became a single mom. When I was in industry it wasn't always easy to get my kid to daycare. For me to start work at six. That's right.
Speaker 2:Right. The nice thing for women is, because everyone's pushing to get more women involved, we have a lot more options about places we can work, and that was honestly part of what led me to the role that I'm in now is having that flexibility to better balance my career with my family life. But yeah, finding childcare is a big barrier. But also finances, right, if you have no exposure, if you have no idea what a trade really entails other than you know. Hey, I know welders join metals. Well, you know, you might think you're interested in something, but when you actually get to doing it it's, it's not the right fit for you, right? So? And so that's where our programming we have the exploratories to give them that overview, because it is really difficult to make a big financial commitment to commit to going to school for a year. Right, there's. I mean obviously your bills will continue. You're likely not working when you're focused on school. And then if you've got a family or dependents that you're caring for, I mean it just adds and adds and adds, right.
Speaker 1:It stacks on top of each other, yeah.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. That financial barrier is one of the hardest ones, and so that's what the WIT program, the WIT Powered by Arana program, is working to help reduce. So, if there's funded programs that come up, we have a huge list of contacts that are always interested in more information. So let's get the word out, let's share these opportunities with them. Um, we're starting to have, you know, sponsored seats or we have external partners that we work with to reduce this cost for these women to get in and to start trying out and getting a better idea of the opportunities that are out there.
Speaker 1:Okay, awesome. And now the next demographic I think of is newcomer, and this is a very challenging one, because, for, as non female represented, the trades are in North America. It's even less so in other countries. You know, if you look at the West Indies, east Indies, african countries, in these places trades are not even on the table at all. For women.
Speaker 1:And a lot of the women that come from overseas through immigration processes are the most vulnerable. They're women, they don't speak a language, they're immigrants. So you have all these layers of discrimination that can occur, right, and you want, you also want them to have great careers and make money and be successful. And how do you one even approach, you know, that demographic to say look at the trade, just take a look. These are options that you maybe have never even thought about. And number two, you know is there, what kind of supports would would that type of person need?
Speaker 2:well, throwing all the hard ones out yeah, you totally are um, I know a lot of those supports like and I'm just thinking in regards to newcomers. So we have started reaching out to some of our larger newcomer um organizations in the various cities here in the province and so we know that, yes, like the, the language barrier, the cultural differences, right, those are, those are huge. The nice I mean saskali is amazing. There are supports throughout campus, right. So if you need support with language or with your studies, like we've got tutors, we've got supports for that. Um, and like wit doesn't work directly one-on-one with those students, that's more our job to just again bring that information, connect them right.
Speaker 2:Hey, come to our office, let us know how we can help and we're going to find you the answers that you're looking for right because that's that's one of the most intimidating parts is you know where you're struggling, but you don't know where to start to find the information right or who to reach out to. Well, we've got those resources to help put you in the right paths to get you settled.
Speaker 1:And what about the? And this is kind of the last group that I always look at. When I like, when I do a lot of programming, when I'm looking at developing programming, I'm always trying to hit like these four groups right, always trying to hit like these four groups right the young, the, the transitioning, the newcomers and then the disabled or differently able, because these are all like I mean, we have such a shortage in industry that it's basically all hands on deck. I want, like everyone, to become a welder tomorrow. I don't care who you are, you'll be purple with one leg get in here right like we can do this for the differently abled.
Speaker 1:And now, like I said, intersectionality is always a thing for me. So, like you're a woman, you have maybe like neural divergence, or maybe you are on the spectrum, or maybe you have, uh, hearing loss or something you know how important is it to have an organization like with be on your side, in your kind of in your back pocket well, I think it's great, especially getting out to industry right, because that's where I mean in school.
Speaker 2:We can support you, we can make accommodations. We have that capacity.
Speaker 2:Not every industry is willing or able to make those modifications right, and so like, obviously, with our WIT program, we've got a very extensive list of employers that have gotten great reviews from our female students, right. We also have lists where we've had students that have really struggled with employers, and so when we're working with these students that may have a different ability, we want to make sure that both we're working with industry and also with the program to make sure that we're helping set this student up for success, right. We want to make sure that we are getting them sent out to an employer that has these accommodations in place or is willing to make changes. We don't want to just okay, well, you're done school here, you go head out to industry, right, and so we do. We do work closely with the office to advance women apprentices, um, and we're starting to do more work.
Speaker 1:They got renewed funding they did.
Speaker 2:I'm so excited that made me happy she emailed me.
Speaker 2:I was like hell, yeah, yes, also love her, known her since we were teenagers yeah, so we do work really close with vanessa, yeah, um, because basically she's kind of that, she's that industry support, we're that school support, right. So we like the students to be aware. We've also started working, too, with women building futures, um, because they have a lot of those industry supports as well and they know a lot of the industry supports as well and they know a lot of the employers right. So that's where those resources and just keeping the students informed and telling them how it is right, being real with them, being truthful with them, so that they know what they're fully getting into. Right right.
Speaker 1:Now, what about the other part too, right right now, what about the the other part? Like, because I know that you were, for a hot minute, the association chair in saskatoon for the cwb association and you know there's still that that connection with associations and this, this episode is going to be released during national volunteer month. So you know there's there's a side of it also that you know what groups exist out there that perhaps people don't even know, that are free, and how do you get them connected to to the wonderful people that are in your programs? You know, like you talk about the office of advancement of women, the, the association chapters, there's organizations for newcomers. You know, do you try to bring in all these groups and put them in front of of the people that are going through your programs?
Speaker 2:throughout the year. Yeah, yeah so we I'm trying to get my ladies all on board uh, we've had huge shifts within wit too. So we're. I mean. Two years ago I stepped the Rulist program head and my entire team was new. That was the year Tammy retired.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you got Lorene. I think up north yeah.
Speaker 2:So now? So I went from having four halftime coordinators to right now I have two full time and four halftime coordinators, so now there's six women that are working on my team. So we are thankfully able to expand. But so each of the different cities where we do have a campus works within their city to find resources that are available to stay up to date. Each month we do like to have a networking, a pizza lunch for our students, and so during the year we'll, you know, ask the students who do you want to hear from? You know, is there a specific industry? Are you looking to hear about supports? We'll bring in our internal student services that help with. I know we call it like soft skill or essential skill, training, resume writing, like those things that as a student getting into the workforce, you're going to have to know these things right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and they're not necessarily offered through the programming, the generic programming right.
Speaker 2:Right, right, these are additional supports that I mean as a certificate student. You hear about these on your first day or second day of school, but it's such an information overload, right, they go through. Okay, these are your. You know 25 supports that are available to you and then they're not really talked about throughout the year. So you know day one when you're hearing all this information, you don't remember most of it. So throughout the year, maybe three or four months later, we'll bring in one of those supports and help them out, or we regularly bring in in Vanessa from the Office to.
Speaker 2:Advance Women, especially near the end of the year when students are almost getting out.
Speaker 1:They're looking for work, yeah.
Speaker 2:Exactly. Hey, reach out to Vanessa. She's going to be supporting you in industry, right yeah? And those lunch and learns we do. We invite all of the females that are in. Well, now we're faculty, we've transitioned schools to faculty now.
Speaker 2:So any female student that's in construction, transportation, mining, manufacturing, engineering, come on in, you're more than welcome. We've even had a number of male students start to attend our pizza lunches and I the first uh pizza lunch I went to. There was a gentleman there and he looked at me he said, oh, I'm a guy and I said well, you know, like you know, it's 2023 I make no assumptions and I just hey, welcome to our pizza lunch and yeah then he said well, is it okay if I stay here?
Speaker 2:I know it's's for women. And I was like well, I have one question for you Do you support women in trades? And he absolutely yeah, my sisters actually his sisters in welding. That's why I like him so much.
Speaker 1:Well, I just was at a lunch and learn two weeks ago here with Michelle and the WIT program and it was a WIT program for girls, it was like an exploratory weekend, and then also there was a newcomer program that same weekend with NextGen. So they kind of combined both and I got to speak to both the newcomer program and the ladies there. Awesome, I love it.
Speaker 1:I always like I love those calls Me and Michelle have a great working relationship from SAS Poly and literally she just texts me and is like when can you come in to talk to this group? And I was like I'm there, I'm there, I'm down, plus I like pizza.
Speaker 2:So Right who doesn't.
Speaker 1:Now, in your two years in this role, you know what kind of changes have you seen with your programming. You know what are the new things that perhaps Sass Pauly is doing in the WIT program that weren't around before.
Speaker 2:You know where perhaps that's all he's doing in the WIT program that weren't around before. You know where's Alison's vision as the program head for this taking it. So so far these last two years we have, with having more staff available, we have been able to offer more exploratory courses. So I know the year I stepped in. I think we had, you know, one program in the fall, one in the spring that was running in Saskatoon and Regina, and now we have each semester, so kind of fall and winter semesters.
Speaker 2:We have all four campuses offering at least one program that's going on, with Lorraine being our Indigenous coordinator. She is getting out to the smaller communities that are a bit more remote, so she's going out there to do presentations and take a bunch of swag and share what WIT offers With these students, and I mean majority of communities she goes into. They've never even heard of us and it's crazy to me because I know the WIT program has been around for over 30 years and we still have. There's so many people in the province that have no idea we exist and no idea that we're there to support our students. So my vision is really just making us a known name. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So that everyone knows who we are unknown name and like, so that everyone knows who we are. Um, we actually have, uh, we have, a young women's conference that it's actually tomorrow, um, down in regina, but we do host that regularly and now this year we're doing a jill of all trades event oh, the ones that I've been a part.
Speaker 1:I actually got an email for jill of all trades this morning okay, yeah yeah for ours here, no, not for the I don't know. I just I got the one for ontario. They asked if I was gonna be back because I was at their huge launch last year, like the big launch of jill of all trades at cambridge. I was there, we sponsored it and uh, and they did say they were coming out west and I did not know there was one happening in regina yet.
Speaker 2:Or, sorry s, saskatchewan yep, so it'll be Saskatoon actually May 8th. Um, it is the first time that they're coming out to Saskatchewan, um so.
Speaker 1:I'm writing this down perfect, invite me, invite me okay, I'm write that down, I am writing it down right now because, uh, we could even maybe sponsor.
Speaker 2:So okay, I'll add you to our email distribution list, but, yeah, so my goal is that every year, we're going to be able to offer Jill of All Trades, and so, yeah, we're starting to do more conferences, just basically provide more information to these younger ladies. So our Young Women's conference being for grade 8 girls, and then that Jill of All Trades for grade 9 to 12 young ladies. So, while they're still in elementary, getting into high school, or while they're still in high school, they still have the opportunity to try out and explore these different career options available to them so that, when they graduate, they're not overwhelmed with well now, what do I do? Right, they started building those ideas.
Speaker 1:That branding aspect is so tough to overcome and, honestly, if you can find the magic bill, I can't figure it out Like I'm working on that as a not-for-profit. You know the, the CWB association. I'll go out and talk to groups and be like hey, and this will be like groups of trades people and I'll be like hey, you know, there's these opportunities and networking and conferences. You know there's uh, bursaries and scholarships and funding and blah blah. And people who are like sometimes they have been in the welding industry their whole lives, or companies that have been around 50 years, will be like since when? Since when did the cwb start off with? Since when has the association been doing this? It's like over a hundred years, yeah, like it's been around forever and for some reason, that information doesn't get out, even though it's like.
Speaker 1:I mean and that's a big part of what I'm trying to do too is just like, just get it in front of people, being like did you know that this stuff is available to you, every single person, and it's free? You know it's a. It's a tricky thing because, well, number one budgets you don't have endless budget to promote and to market, uh. And number two is trying to get the, the message amplified the best way in the right group, where it'll stay, you know, yeah, how does it work for your group? Like, how do you that retention part, making sure that you know the company that you talked to this year that signs on to help is going to come back next year, and next year and maybe 30 years from now when Allison's ready to retire, you'll be be like I brought that company on and they're still a part of it. You know.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I don't know, that's that's a secret pill, right like that right.
Speaker 2:Well, and that's really part of what I'm still learning, right, um, because I am so new to the role it's, I'm at the point where I'm, for myself, getting out there and making connections and reaching out to people and starting that communication right, I mean, we have our files of people we've reached out to. The trouble is well, I guess one of the challenges, certainly when working with women exclusively, is all of the documentation, all of the data we have can get altered Right, like you think about, when we used to keep track of people for contact information, it was a first name, last name basis. Well, as a woman, especially for myself, I know that when I got married, I changed my last name, so I'm no longer allison coral. Right, where, if the only way to get a hold of me you have is through allison coral.
Speaker 2:Well, now you can't contact me anymore, right? Or for myself again, like when I had my son. Well, I took a major step back from my involvement in my volunteer for that first year, year and a half, two years, whatever it was. Well then, I'm off the radar, right, they've already found somebody to replace me. Well, and that's right.
Speaker 1:When I kind of connected with you, I remember, because you were so gung-ho about getting involved with the association and I knew right away that you had a ton of great energy. But then you sent in that email that I a hundred percent understood. You're like it's just too much. I got a kid, I'm trying to figure things out. It's just too much and I know, I know exactly what that's like. So to your point, you know these changes make it hard, right?
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and these I mean these are still the barriers that a lot of women face, right, and it's still a lot of our society too, Like it's, I don't know. I mean, for a lot of the women that I work with, they still feel expected that as the mom they're, the caregivers or you know, they kind of fall into that role and I know that's certainly they're the one that has to take the day off if the kid's sick. Never the other one which is you know.
Speaker 1:Well, which is you know.
Speaker 2:Well, and that's certainly not the case for everyone, right? No, but a very high number of people that I talk to, that is the case and that's their reality, right? How do you find out?
Speaker 1:how do you get reviews? Like you said, you keep a review system, like of companies that were great with your students, companies that were less than optimal, you know, do you do a survey with the student after they do a job placement or we?
Speaker 2:we don't um a lot of it is I mean because we keep that open lines of communication. Yeah, like I. For example, I have one lady and right now she's in her second year welding. She was in my. I taught an applied certificate and she was in my course.
Speaker 2:So she's back and first thing she came back to campus and she had to stop up and say hi and kind of catch up with me. So it's, it's that relationship we built that now she feels, you know, we keep in contact and she likes to keep me in the loop, and that's. That's not the case for everyone, right, like some people, when they're done school they're out of here and they don't really care. But it's certainly when there are either those really good experiences or the very negative ones, those are the ones that seem to be shared. We don't have a lot of the neutral like oh, yeah, it was okay.
Speaker 2:Right, it's either this was great, and this is why, or I had an awful time because of this, yeah, and I as a teacher I used to like I remember one time I actually lost my mind, I'm like.
Speaker 1:I was like if I get fired over this, I'm okay with it, because I sent, we were doing our co-op, our job placements for an applied certificate group, and these two girls in the course who were like probably I would say top five both of them for in the course for skill, got accepted at the same company, right, and I'm, and I'm like cool, you guys can. It's nice then you have each other, you know, to support each other during your co-op. It was a two-week placement. I do a one-week check-in with all the students. You know how is it going, what's.
Speaker 1:And you know I reached out to these girls and they're like well, we haven't even welded yet. Like well, that's weird, yeah, not unheard of on a co-op. For you know you're you're helping with a saw work or moving materials or what. I think I mean sure. And they're like, no, we've actually been sweeping and doing the bathrooms and picking up coffees for staff and and I was like oh, no, right, no. And I went down there, like I drove down there and I talked to the employer and I was like what do you think you're doing. Like, well, they're girl, you expect me to put them on the tools. And I was like well, I'm taking them out of here, like this is their last minute, they're not coming back, you're done, we're done, don't talk to the school, I'm not sending any more students here ever again. Blacklist done, right. And he got mad and tried to complain to the college. I was like go ahead, complain, tell them what you did, tell them what you told me. Let's see how far this goes. You know like no kidding.
Speaker 1:And what made me sad, to be honest, was not him, not the company even because they're gross, fine. But I was so sad that those two girls had taken it for a week because they thought they couldn't speak up. That's the part that actually hurt me the most because I was like damn, they like could you imagine me like a allison, come work for me, go clean the bathroom? You've. Immediately you'd be like whoa, why, what's going on? Right, because you have a confidence, you've built your career.
Speaker 1:You know these people are young, they don't know and they're scared and it's male dominated and you know they don't want to blow the school. They were great school straight a's and they're scared and it's male-dominated and they don't want to blow the school. They were grade school straight A's and they don't want to blow their co-op because you need your co-op to graduate. I was like oh man. So actually I pulled them back to the school and just kept them in the school for the last week and made them work around the shop Like let's build racks, let's clean up, let's organize electrodes. How susceptible they were to that abuse and how easily it fell into that. You know what I mean and I think about that all the time, like how, in a split second, you can fall into an abusive relationship in the workplace. And it happens quick and you may not know how to get out of it Right.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, and there is such a huge range of confidence levels and, like I mean, I just I was putting together a PowerPoint so I very briefly touched on the tip of the iceberg on those confidence levels and, like I mean, I just I was putting together a PowerPoint so I very briefly touched on the tip of the iceberg on those confidence levels. But I know Cornell and like a bunch of universities of the states, have extensive studies about the different levels of confidence in women versus men as young as in for every decade basically 20s, 30s, 50s, 60s and their study that they took, women's confidence levels didn't start exceeding men until most women were in their 50s or 60s. Wow, so you think of these young women getting into the trades that are in their 20s or 30s or heaven forbid if they're still in their teens how low their confidence level is in comparison to their male counterparts, and so much of it.
Speaker 2:That's why we, as women, put up with so much of this. We don't have the confidence to be bold and to speak up right, and so that's where our networking events and when we do our like, our summer camps for young girls, we're constantly reminding them like be confident. You might not be the best in this trade, but you are the best you and you have these skills, and if you're not appreciated, then you need to choose a place that does appreciate you Right, and we really reiterate that like know your worth and find the best fit for you.
Speaker 1:It it is hard to leave a company that's treating you awful right, but it's harder to stay there and be treated like trash well, it affects you, it affects your home, life affects everything, yeah absolutely right and so, yeah, definitely the confidence is well and mentorship right.
Speaker 1:I think that's a big part of the wit program is bringing in the successful women in the industry to show and to communicate and be a part of programming and lectures.
Speaker 1:Because even as a privileged, healthy male in the world of welding um, and all the privileges that I've been afforded because I am, you know, fit and strong and fit the cast, I guess, the mold for welding I still had mentors that I leaned on for bad days and hard times and I still had those few trusted people in industry that I could reach out to and be like man.
Speaker 1:You know, maybe I screwed up at work, I don't know what to do. Or or I got this job coming up I'm super nervous for, and they and you know I could up at work, I don't know what to do. Or or I got this job coming up I'm super nervous for, and they and you know I could spitball off of them. And yeah, my dad, luckily, was a welder, so he got me into the association early on. So I always had the association. Like I knew there was other welders I could meet up with once a month or so and just vent honestly and and they would get it, they'd be down right, they would be able to talk to me about it For women, although I think it's gotten, especially in the nonprofit world.
Speaker 1:like you know, in the association world with the CWB, we're almost 50-50 for women joining with men at this point for our membership, which means that we're going to have a huge crop of mentors over the next 10, 20 years of women, which is great, because we need that. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Crop of mentors over the next 10, 20 years of women, which is great because we need that yeah.
Speaker 1:How important is finding those mentors for you. You know, because this is like this is your gig. How, how do you find those mentors? How do you bring them in?
Speaker 2:So actually on our website we do have we have a little mentorship section on there where women can sign up so if they're looking to become a mentor or if they're looking to find a mentor so that mentor-mentee relationship, they can sign up. So we do have extensive documents about people we've matched together. Or if a student even like if they email or whatever from a program that I'm not familiar with and hey, I have some questions about this, we do kind of have our list of go-to ladies that will tap on the shoulder and hey, this so-and-so has questions about this. I know you have a similar experience. Would you mind having a conversation? And I mean, I haven't reached out to anyone that's been like no thanks, take me off your list. Right, like these women are they're wanting to volunteer.
Speaker 2:Right, don't contact me, but they're wanting to volunteer their time, to share their experiences, share their advice and to help this next generation.
Speaker 1:So what's coming up next for what's next on the agenda? What do you got coming up between? You know, this is where this will be released next month, or you know we're at the semester here for 2024. You know what? What are the big plans? Perhaps early for next year, conferences that might be coming up if you want to get people on the board. You know what? What's?
Speaker 2:uh, the save the dates um, our big save the date right now is definitely our jable Trades event for May 8th. That's quickly approaching. The majority of our programming will be wrapping up at the end of April for this academic year. So definitely I would say, if you've got younger kids that you're looking to get into some summer camps. We have our Girls Exploring Trades and Technology, our GET camps that we're hoping to host on each campus. So we'll be posting some ads for that right away and then getting back into the fall programming. So again, we'll be doing at least one program, if not more, on each of our four campuses and those are for ladies 15 plus, so there is no maximum age. We've had women in their 50s and 60s come take our programming. It's super beneficial if you're looking for a change of career, but also if you just want to add some extra skills to your toolkit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now what about and this is something that we alluded to right at the beginning, but you know now when we're talking about your title WIT powered by Orano. So what is Orano? What does that mean? It almost sounds like WIT, a proud supporter of Nike or something you know like really fancy. But who's Orano and what's their involvement with the WIT program?
Speaker 2:So, orano Canada. They are a uranium mining company. Their head office is in France, but they do have a headquarters here in Saskatoon. They very generously gifted our program a million dollars over the next decade, decade. So, um, they're making a financial contribution to us to help us to get more women into the trades, to raise the awareness and to reduce the barriers that are involved with getting into the trades. So, um, through their gift, through their giving, um, last year we certainly spent a lot of time on, or a lot of money on, advertising to really get the name out there and rebranding.
Speaker 2:We do want people to know that majority of what we do now is thanks to Urano and the gift that they've given us, but now it's allowing us to expand our staff, which will expand our programming, and to offer at a more reasonable price to the students looking to participate.
Speaker 1:And since they're a uranium mine, I can like. I mean, connecting those dots to Saskatchewan is pretty simple. We have, like we're the number, I think, one or two producer of uranium in the world in Saskatchewan and we have uranium mines in Saskatchewan. So you know, from their point of view, are they're like? Are they like Alison? We need more welders for the mine which I'm down with.
Speaker 2:I'm down absolutely.
Speaker 2:I would send them up in a heartbeat.
Speaker 2:A huge amount of the work that we are doing because of their funding is getting out into the communities, so reaching out to a lot smaller Indigenous and First Nation communities, but also expanding into the North, because I mean, historically, the WIT programs have operated on Prince Albert, moose, jaw, saskatoon and Regina campus and on campus alone.
Speaker 2:So now we've got our little mini training trailer that we're able to take out into communities. So, if you know, these communities get a group of women together rather than them having to drive four or five hours to come to our campus to take programming. Hey, you know what we're hours to come to our campus to take programming. Hey, you know what. We're going to come to you. We're going to come to you in your community, where you're right at home, give you a bit of additional knowledge. Um, obviously, yes, we're trying to get some of these, um, these students and and especially young ladies up north working in the mines, right, um, but definitely, yeah, just reaching out and just spreading the wit word, just sharing the information that we're around and how can we support our female students?
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, we're wrapping up the interview here. We're getting close to the end, so just a couple more questions for you. What's in Alison's future? What does Alison see herself in 10 years? You know you got your two red seals. You got your blue seal, which we didn't even talk about, which is a fantastic program. You know what. What do you? Do you see yourself as a program head for a long time. You got lots of vision with where you are. Would you like to get back into industry someday and tools? Or you know what do you? What are you thinking?
Speaker 2:I do think about heading back into industry someday and tools or you know what do you? What are you thinking? I do think about heading back to industry every once in a while. Um, I do also have my level one weld inspection, which is coming up for renewal this year. So I've been looking at cwb courses that I can take to keep that relevant. Um, but with my role here, having having the summers off, I have often thought about, well, maybe I could head out into industry and maybe do some weld inspection. Right.
Speaker 1:Pick up a couple of set downs.
Speaker 2:Right Um.
Speaker 1:And a lot of welding instructors do that. Like a lot of the welding instructors do that, they do the inspection work over the summer, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's for me just a matter of finding that balance, um, between the child care and being out in industry. Um, I do like to tinker, that's still my thing. I have no drive to get back to industry.
Speaker 2:On the tools, yeah, um, I I don't think my poor body could handle it these days to be honest, I've been in the office for too long but I do like to tinker and do a lot of decorative um and like decor work and some of it's personal, some of it is, you know, if friends are getting married or whatever kind of more of a gift, um. But yeah, I do see myself hopefully continuing in this program head role for a while and, who knows, maybe one day I'll be moving up to academic chair or dean or whatever. I mean the that'd be, awesome.
Speaker 2:I'd love to see you there yeah, gotta keep my options open right I'm sure brenda could use the help you know they need. There's a lot of work to be done up top and sasspoly is growing right, so absolutely well, and that's the other thing too, like a lot of the senior management is looking closer at that retirement right um, and I know I've still got a number of years left on them, so why not?
Speaker 1:yeah, why not? All right, so how do to end the interview here? What's the best way to get a hold of wit program? How do people find out about your stuff?
Speaker 2:um. So if they want to check out, uh, we are on facebook um sask polytech I believe it's the sketch room, polytechnic, women in trades and technology, or if you usually, if you just shorten it to wit, w-i-t-t. Um. And then we do also have our Women in Trades homepage, which is at saskpolytechca slash W-I-T-T. Our homepage is going to tell you about all of our courses and events that are coming up, and it also supplies people with lists of external resources. You can join our mailing list, our mentorship, and then it has all of our contact information there as well to reach out to any campus coordinator.
Speaker 1:Awesome. Well, thank you so much, alison. It's been a wonderful interview and I'm so happy that you're doing so well. You know like it's fun watching people's careers and I know that you're ambitious, so you know I like to see that happen. Good job. Thank you so much, max. Awesome.
Speaker 1:And for everyone that's been following along yet, check out SAS Polytech stuff. Wit program there is fantastic. There's great ladies that are running the program there. I've had a lot of fun working with the WIT program since I started at SAS Poly 10 years ago when I was there or for that's when I started there and it was really fun being a part of those groups and teaching those courses and the weekends and just supporting it. And you know it's being done across Canada now, like you're looking at the Jill of All Trades, you're looking at Women Empowering Futures. Is that what it's called Women Building Futures, building Building Futures? There's amazing programming happening across Canada and there's WIT programs at pretty much every campus in Canada. So you know, for the women that are listening, join, but also for the women that are in, you know the careers established, the mentorship piece is huge. You know, look into these WIT programs. They're always looking for more mentors and that's a very key component so thank you For the people that have been downloading and sharing the podcast.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for making the program be as successful as it has been. We are working hard and planning right now for fabtech canada in june and then we're going to be down in fabtech orlando in october. So if you want to see us and be a part of perhaps some live on the floor presentations, we're going to be doing live podcasts at both those locations also. We're going to be doing live podcasts at both those locations Also. We're going to be at Skills Canada in Quebec City at the end of May, early June, for Skills Canada competitions. We're also going to be running live podcasts there and doing some stage work. So we're going to be all over. We're going to be doing lots of fun stuff getting the word out there that, yes, there's wonderful organizations such as the CWB Association that is there to support your careers.
Speaker 5:So stay tuned for the next episode and we'll see you there. We hope you enjoyed the show. You've been listening to the CWB Association Welding Podcast with Max Serrano. If you enjoyed what you heard today, rate our podcast and visit us at cwbassociationorg to learn more. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions on what you'd like to learn about in the future. Produced by the CWB Group and presented by Max Serrano, this podcast serves to educate and connect the welding community. Please subscribe and thank you for listening.