The CWB Association Welding Podcast
The CWB Association Welding Podcast
Skills Canada Series -Season 2- Episode 1 with Olivia Sewell
The CWB Association has had the honor of working with Skills/Compétences Canada on a special Podcast Series interviewing Team Canada World Skills competitors and experts from across Canada to share their skills journey. Join us as we learn about their skills, celebrate their success, and cheer for our Team Canada as they compete on the world stage in Lyon, France on September 10-15, 2024.
What skills are needed to craft the perfect dish? Join us as we uncover the secrets behind the art and science of culinary mastery with Olivia Sewell, a remarkable young chef and floor judge from Nova Scotia. Olivia offers a fascinating glimpse into her role as a floor judge and guides us through the diverse career paths available in the culinary arts.
Follow Skills/Compétences Canada:
Website: https://www.skillscompetencescanada.com/en/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/SkillsCanadaOfficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skillscompetencescanada/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/skills_canada
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/skillscanada
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
What did you think about this episode? Send a text message to the show!
All right, I check, check. Good, so I'm Max Ceron. Max Ceron, cwb Association Welding Podcast podcast podcast. Today we have a really cool guest welding podcast. The show is about to begin. Hello and welcome to another special edition of the CWB Association podcast. My name is Max Saron and I'm here in beautiful Quebec City for the Skills Canada competitions. During the week we're doing podcasts with all of Team Canada members and today I have the special privilege of being with Olivia Sewell like Jewel who's here from Nova Scotia, and she's representing the cooking department or the cooking competition.
Speaker 3:Yeah, how are you doing Really good. Yeah, it's day two now, so we're into post-secondary competitions.
Speaker 1:All right, all right. So what is your role here at Skills?
Speaker 3:Here at Skills. Well, we're representing Team Canada first of all but today I am a floor judge, so you have tasting judges you have floor judges for cooking um. Floor judging is amazing because you get to see all the action, everything that's going on so what is the difference between a floor judge and a taste judge? So tasting judges? You're basically judging presentation, the taste of the food. That's all you're seeing you don't see any of the action.
Speaker 3:Um that way it stays anonymous. You don't know who's cooking what. You just come back. You taste the foods blind tasting almost yeah and then floor judging you. There's a lot to do with floor judging you know you're judging sanitation organization, efficiency, uh, their menus. There's a lot, a lot.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of pieces, yeah, lots of pieces so walk us through what this skills, I guess genre of cooking is. You know someone that's going into cooking I'm sure there's like the chef, but then there's also restaurant management.
Speaker 1:There's a whole lot of pieces of this field, right a hundred percent yeah and and the, the, the cuisine arts have been kind of groundbreakers for a lot of the other skills, in terms of the first program to have a blue seal program, one of the first programs to really have a red seal mentorship program, and the history. Obviously, we've been eating since day one, right, so. So how big is it? How much? How many pieces are there to this world?
Speaker 3:there's a lot like, as you said. You know, there's fine dining, there's catering, there's, you could branch off, do your own thing. There's private dining. There's catering you could branch off, do your own thing. There's private chefing, there's recipe development. There's so many places you could be in this industry and it's kind of great because I don't know.
Speaker 1:You can slide in and out of them as you want, yeah that and you can just find where you feel most comfortable working.
Speaker 3:Some people are like oh fine, dining, not for me, working like. Some people are like oh fine, dining, not for me. But some people love banquet service and right it's just great that there's kind of something for everybody's personality so what's your personality?
Speaker 1:what do you like out of all of it?
Speaker 3:well, I'm more of a personal, like dining chef, so yeah more like a la carte service, special menus, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And what's your like. If someone needed to call Olivia right and they're like this is the speciality that they're going to be like, I'm calling her. What would it be?
Speaker 3:Well, because I work in an Italian restaurant.
Speaker 1:I'd have to say Italian. I love making pasta. Yeah, like fresh homemade pasta. Fresh homemade pasta, yeah.
Speaker 3:Amazing sauce, yeah, amazing sauce, yeah, that's got to be my go-to.
Speaker 1:You know, I've been here in Quebec a couple days now and we haven't eaten in an Italian restaurant yet because we're trying to try out like the local French stuff. But there's a lot of like old-school Italian restaurants in this area.
Speaker 3:Is there? I haven't been out yet. Oh, I guess you.
Speaker 1:So when did you get here? Like, how early on did you have to be here as Team Canada to be a part of this?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so we drove up the day before opening ceremony me and a couple of my coaches and yeah, opening ceremony was great. Team Canada came in. Yeah, I did a speech.
Speaker 1:Yeah. At opening ceremony.
Speaker 3:And that was my first time talking in front of that many people.
Speaker 1:You did fantastic. Yeah, representing Team Canada on stage was pretty cool. It was yep. And you know, with the preparations that you're doing, you're kind of here is in kind of like a mentorship, guidance role, but this is the precursor to the big show, yeah exactly like.
Speaker 2:This is huge and then world skills is huger huger is a word?
Speaker 3:I don't think so, but yeah exactly, but every skill that you see here it relates right to world skills. So everything that I'm learning being on the floor judging from a judge's perspective, not a competitor's perspective, it's very helpful.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's going to focus you in on those little details that you can't forget.
Speaker 3:Yes, 100% yeah.
Speaker 1:So, as a world competitor, you have to be under the age of what? 24?
Speaker 3:I believe it's 22 of the qualifying year. Right, okay, and so that's how old you are. Yeah, so I was 21 when I qualified. I'll be 22 this summer.
Speaker 1:So how do you feel about being 22 and already being on this stage Like you've gone far? I'm sure lots of your friends back home in nova scotia are like you're crazy, yeah, I have a huge support system yeah huge support system behind me and, yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3:I think it's great because at the age I am, um younger kids listen like they're, like you're at that age where it's relatable, we can relate to you. Um, not that you know they don't. Wouldn't listen to anybody above like 40.
Speaker 1:I totally get what you mean.
Speaker 3:Yeah and I think it's great to be that kind of source of inspiration for other kids that want to go into trades, women that want to go into trades. I think it's pretty incredible and I'm so happy that I get to be that person.
Speaker 1:Well, you know the kids. You say like there's that relatability of being a young person, you know, to younger people. But I think it's all in the spirit of what really apprenticeships are supposed to be, which is a chain of mentorship. There's people older than you, with more experience, that have helped you and you are helping younger people, and that kind of just shifts down the line forever 100 like today.
Speaker 3:I'm paired up with amazing chefs from all across canada and I'm getting different insights from each one of them and I'm learning different things from each one of them, and, yeah, so it's incredible and those are things that I'll exactly I will pass down to the next generations how was your journey to get to team canada?
Speaker 1:so you started out in nova scotia yeah was it a big fight provincially? Like certain trades are bigger in certain provinces yeah, so was it up, you against 30 or you against two?
Speaker 3:no, so the first year I provincially competed, which was in 2022, it was the first year rerunning it after covid okay so it was a smaller group. I believe there was three of us competing so I beat out two people provincially um who also did amazing by the way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, you don't get to be anywhere near this unless you're pretty dedicated.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah and I'd say I'm pretty dedicated to it, that's for sure. But yeah, so that was uh first provincials and then nationals. I placed bronze that year and then, then, I was like obviously I'm going to do it again.
Speaker 1:Yeah so.
Speaker 3:I did it again and it was a group of four of us, I believe, so still a pretty small group eventually, and then nationally.
Speaker 1:And then, what did it feel like, coming from your first year, of competing against three or two others, then four?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And then you show up, and so 2023. Last year was in winnipeg. Yep, right, and what did it feel like walking into winnipeg, being like, oh man, now this is for.
Speaker 3:This is for the canadian yeah, because I believe there was like 10 or 11 of us competing, and these are all people who are the best of their province that's right there was a lot of pressure because I really wanted that gold medal. I knew this was my last year to do it, my last year to qualify and yeah, when it happened, I just never felt anything like that before.
Speaker 1:So for the competitors in your area, you know, walk us through these two days of competition. So day one they show up, they get their safety talk, they get like this is the layout of what you're going to be using. Then what are they going to do?
Speaker 3:What's day one? Look like yeah, so it's actually just one day. So, day one was secondary and then today is post-secondary.
Speaker 1:I see okay.
Speaker 3:They changed it a little bit from last year. So the morning today it's basically mise en place for their afternoon, which is when they're going to be presenting their appetizers, their mains, desserts, but we also throw in, you know, some curveballs. So this morning they pulled a tired out of the hat, a random pressure test that they're gonna have to stop cooking. Believe 10 am. They just have to make biscuits no, that's what was pulled this morning.
Speaker 1:So, like, change gears, whatever you're doing, break out the flour and they can make any type of biscuit or a specific type of biscuit uh.
Speaker 3:No, it's's up to them. Like we give them recipes as guidelines, but it's really, wherever they want to go, there's certain outcomes they have to meet, like a diameter, how many there has to be? There's a rubric for judging? There's a rubric, yeah.
Speaker 1:So you know, cooking can be creative. It can be very wide, but then there's also some very dialed in type of cooking, right? So when they're coming here to compete, how much space is there for them to be creative in designing what they want to make? And then how much of it is like okay, no, this has to be this, like a creme brulee, and it's going to be the creme brulee. There's very specific things. Everyone knows what it's supposed to be creme brulee. There's very specific things. Everyone knows what it's supposed to be. And you know, like stuff like that totally um.
Speaker 3:There's lots of room for creativity yeah I'll take their main course, today's example. Uh, it has to feature duck and it has to feature two separate cooking methods of the duck. So lots of opportunities there for creativity. And then you know there has to be a sauce on the plate, there has to be your starch on the plate. The utilization of three vegetables, all different cooking techniques for each oh, wow then you get your common table of all these ingredients that you could use.
Speaker 1:So wow that, that, that would be scary, yeah, yeah because like where do you start? I'm like I'm sure there's months, years of prep going to walking in and being like this is what my plan, this is what I'm going to do, and how much taste testing do you have to do leading in to know what the flavor you're chasing is?
Speaker 3:Yeah, a lot. There's a lot of development that happens before the competition and a lot of like back and forth, and then you can get here and they might not even have that ingredient. They're subject to a percentage of change. So it's really just about adaptability and how well you can see which competitors know how to cook.
Speaker 1:And is there, like ever, the day where it's like let's make a take on a hot dog.
Speaker 1:A deconstructed hot dog Because, I mean, I've traveled around the world and every country has their own version of the, the hot dog and I I'm a foodie, well, mainly because I just like to eat. But, um, you know when, when you experience all these different foods and you think of what a chef needs to do, someone that works in the kitchen, there's so much more than just the finished product. There's all the steps that lead up to that. You know, through the apprenticeship system, as in this world, you know, how does that work? Is it a four-year apprenticeship? How do you work through that, those steps to get to, like that top level?
Speaker 3:yeah, so for cooking you have to go through your three blocks okay, the shifts. Um, if you go through culinary school, at least for nova scotia, that counts your first two blocks okay, and it also counts a good chunk of hours towards your total hours, I believe like 2100 hours okay, yeah, so you're halfway there, almost. Yeah, yeah, um 5400, I believe in nova scotia's qualification of hours needed and then if you want to challenge your red seal, of course it's more right um, yeah and you?
Speaker 1:you don't have your red seal yet, because it's one of the conditions of competing right.
Speaker 3:Yep.
Speaker 1:Are you ready for it? Like, as soon as this is done, you're going to go hammer that out and get on it.
Speaker 3:I'd really like to. Yeah, I think as soon as I come back from WorldSkills I'd like to register In Lyon, France.
Speaker 1:Yes, Wow, so the Red Seal's on the plate.
Speaker 3:Yep, and then what do you want to do? You're working in an italian restaurant right now. You know where. Where do you see yourself after this red seal and and the rest, I think, after my red seal, like, there's so many different types of cuisine all over the world and there's only things you can learn in different areas, different restaurants so I think you know, gaining my knowledge and like building up my skills is really the goal that I want to do afterwards, but eventually down the line it would be really cool to run my own thing.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's kind of the game that most people that enter this field is, and it is in a lot of the apprenticeship fields, right, because the apprenticeship program, the Red Seal program, the skilled trades they always have that availability, that window where you can be an entrepreneur, right, and I feel like cooking is one of the ones that really kind of aims you towards it. We talked about the Blue Seal earlier. You know, the cooking chef's world was one of the first trades to develop the Blue Seal, which is basically business management of your trade, right. Right, when you look at developing a restaurant, is this something you've been dreaming about since you were a kid?
Speaker 3:No, not at all. I didn't get into cooking until I decided university was not my path. And I was like I want to do a trade I don't know what trade, but now cooking interests me. So we went with that and kind of just went from there.
Speaker 1:So let's go back to the beginning. Then You're in high school, you're in Nova Scotia and everyone every high school kid gets that question. They dread what are you going to do when you're out of school and no one knows and everyone's kind of trying to give you a million opinions right, yeah. And what did you end up? Going into school for university?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so I was taking psychology.
Speaker 1:I think I lasted.
Speaker 3:I was the COVID year, so everything was online and I cannot learn behind a screen. I'm a very much visual action learner for sure, but I quickly realized, not my route Trade school next year. Mom's always been a huge puff, so I've always been around the food and the development of food.
Speaker 1:And how is that with the family? So you're, you know you, you are going off to university. Everyone's like great olivia's going to university because, it's like a hooray thing?
Speaker 3:yes, of course.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a normal and uh, and then you're like mom, dad, I don't think so. I don't think this is my path yes was there a bit of a shell shock there when you said I'm going to go into the trades and and pick this?
Speaker 3:thankfully not at. My parents were super supportive. Dad is 100% trades all the way, so yeah mom as well as a huge trade person.
Speaker 1:So and what about the industry in Nova Scotia? Like for the people that don't know the East Coast I've been there beautiful area, there's a lot of restaurants there. It's kind of yeah and good ones. Like it's kind of known for the quality of food. Do you feel that that gives you kind of an edge here in the competitions, to be like I'm from a kind of a foodie place?
Speaker 3:yeah, no, I think it's great because nova scotia, we're like one of the smaller cities, obviously, but um, we're growing right now and the industry is quickly expanding and you see more and more wicked restaurants just opening up, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And what about the Halifax Donair? Oh, don't get me started on Halifax Donair. Do you know how to make one Like legit?
Speaker 3:I have never made Donair before, oh snap.
Speaker 1:Believe it or not, I know.
Speaker 3:And I'm from Halifax.
Speaker 1:But it's delicious and that sauce, like every time I'm there.
Speaker 3:I buy like a liter of it to bring back home. So good because it's so good. Maybe it's something.
Speaker 1:I should just never make like it's just better, just don't touch it. Just don't touch it, just eat it. Yeah, exactly now you, you get into the cooking program, year one, you go to do your, you're in culinary school you said where you take your level one and two. Ish. What was that like? Walking in you know your day one, you're like, wow, I made a big switch here yeah, I'm studying psychology, which is very theoretical to now. Hey, there's tools there's things what was that learning curve like for you?
Speaker 3:um, it was different, for sure. You know, like I get in there, I'm I don't know how to hold a knife yeah, it's like it's all new to me. It's a very different type of learning from what you're doing your whole life, right? Um, you're quickly going from like sitting down writing papers to on your a little bit of that, but you're just on your feet all day and you're learning stuff visually and, I don't know, taking it in like on your own time, like that makes sense, yeah no, yeah, it's, it's you.
Speaker 1:You can't force yourself to learn at a different speed right you take it in as you can and you're a woman in the trades coming into the cooking program. Are you well represented? Is there lots of women in your class? Is there lots of men in your class? What's the diversity look like in the cooking program?
Speaker 3:My class, I'd say, is a pretty good 50-50 of women and men. Overall the industry is pretty male dominated.
Speaker 2:You see a lot of male chefs.
Speaker 3:It's definitely growing, though, like I feel like more and more women are joining the trade.
Speaker 1:And you know, when people think about restaurants, it kind of comes up that there's this like it's very female centric in terms of the restaurant world, but in reality I think it's the roles that are different, right, I think people look at servers and stuff like that, which is still part of the hospitality industry, right yeah but that's not what you're interested in, right?
Speaker 1:you're interested in more of being the leader, being the you know the, the leader behind the kitchen that's getting everything out. Is there a trend for you know more women in leadership roles in the in the culinary industry?
Speaker 3:I think so, and especially like the restaurant that I'm at right now. Uh, bar kisnich, the small restaurant in halifax. Uh, the owner and the executive chef, annie, she's amazing. Um, I see chef lauren amazing. I have lots of women in my kitchen supportive, not to say I don't love the men in my kitchen as well.
Speaker 1:They're also great but you don't feel like it's an isolation thing, like I mean, when I look at the welding industry, you know we represent welding. Yeah, we're sitting at four to five percent women yeah, which is a abysmal percentage right yeah, and, and we have almost doubled the growth for women in the industry. But doubling a 1% two times one is one right or two. Wow, that was bad math. But you know what I mean. It's a slow slog of getting the industry better represented In your industry. It's a better representation.
Speaker 3:I'd say so, yeah, there's definitely more women in cooking. Like, if you like, take a look around this whole auditorium, you'd say that there's more women competing in cooking than probably anywhere else today yeah, and what about the rest of the like, the mentors, the mentors, the judges? It's still good, split diverse uh, they're, they're all male, yeah, but like again, like that's the industry that's changing right right these are generations of chefs who are amazing but mainly male dominated. But more and more we're seeing more women going a lot of the half.
Speaker 1:The competitors are women what are some of the I guess um, you know things that can be said about the culinary industry is that would be an obstacle. Like every trade has an obstacle. Like you know, this is the hard thing. This is a good thing. What are the things that are the hard parts in this industry?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean long hours, for sure. You're on your feet all day, late nights.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I'd say those are top three.
Speaker 1:Unless you're bakers.
Speaker 3:Unless you're bakers, and then it's early mornings, dang early mornings, exactly exactly.
Speaker 1:So I have a friend who's a Red Seal chef in Regina.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 1:And he went to Iran about a decade ago to learn a style of bread making right and he actually took a one-year course on how to grind flours and mix flowers and make bread from like scratch and I thought that was so interesting and for him he was like, oh no, there's like a bazillion different branches in this industry. You can follow if you want to go down it.
Speaker 3:There's so many.
Speaker 1:So, like when you're talking about, you know that you love working in Italian restaurants and making fresh pasta. I'm sure there's like a school for that if you wanted to go, or like an extra skill, a hundred percent.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there's literally schools for anything, any skill. Like you know, there's schools for chocolate, if you want to just specialize in chocolate. Oh yeah, like the bread making, like you said Exactly. Like there's so many. Facets yeah, yeah, Exactly For any skill.
Speaker 1:Yeah and yeah, yeah, exactly for any skill. Yeah, and when you started going through your program in the, in the culinary school, what was it that you liked at the best, right off the top, you're like I'm in the right place that's a great question.
Speaker 3:I honestly think it was just the environment like it was. It was just how you know. All the teachers cared about you like they wanted to see you do good, and it was constantly like uh, oh, like this is wrong. This is how see you do good. And it was constantly like uh, oh, like this is wrong, this is how you can make it better. It was like a constant improvement of your skills, like every day every day also every day.
Speaker 3:It was something new, like you were learning something new every day, and it was just, it was just right on back for me. I loved it yeah, and then that's when I was approached to do these competitions that I've never heard of before and I was like sure I've never competed in anything before well, how did you feel being singled out like that?
Speaker 1:like I mean, you said it was a smaller group of competition, but there's still that moment where your instructor or an instructor comes up to you and says olivia, you gotta, you're pretty good at this yeah, you know have you thought about skills and you're like what?
Speaker 3:yeah, what's that right?
Speaker 1:and you must have felt at that moment like a that's pretty awesome that you're getting chosen right and b what the heck am I gonna get myself into?
Speaker 3:yeah, I didn't think it was gonna be this I didn't think it was going to be world skills leone 2024 yeah but I just am so proud of myself from where I started looking back. I was 18 at the time and I just never would have imagined that this is where it would have taken me me saying yes that day to sure I'll do a little competition flying across canada and doing all these amazing things, right, yeah? It's incredible.
Speaker 1:It's been a great journey how has this competition been in comparison to Winnipeg? You have a different role from Winnipeg to here, totally. Does it feel different? Do you look at it differently?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so when you're competing it's just head down and you're just focused and welding right next to you. You don't hear any of it.
Speaker 2:Or automobiles right next to you you don't hear any of it. Or like automobiles like right next to you you don't hear any of it.
Speaker 3:You're just so focused yeah, um, so being on the other side of that floor and just like seeing everything that's going on and seeing all the students that are coming through, and like watching all of these trades happening it's it's been a way different experience, but also an equally great one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. How distracting is the audience. I know that's part of the skills competition. Yeah, yeah, Like you have a bazillion distractions. Mm-hmm, you know how was that. Like Winnipeg was nuts.
Speaker 3:Yeah Right, there's a lot of kids.
Speaker 1:Did you even notice?
Speaker 3:No, like you're just is cooking and that's, that's it like just talk and what happens if you like, get a cut or a burn or you know the there is risks in cooking right I'm a pro at cutting myself and burning myself um it sucks, because then you have to stop, and there's the whole safety aspect and you have to go report it, you have to get properly bandaged and then you just lost five minutes. Then now you're behind five minutes.
Speaker 1:And then you may have to toss whatever you were doing at that moment, exactly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, whatever you're cutting.
Speaker 1:And do you get those fancy kitchen bandages that I see people get, like those really good Kitchens always seem to have way better band-aids than other jobs, like I don't know if there's like a special band-aid supplier for kitchens, but well, I'm not sure I know, I know some kitchens that just don't have band-aids, just super glue.
Speaker 1:Oh yes, yes and that does not feel good it works, but it feels terrible. Yeah, totally what about the distractions of the other trades? You know, even just coming in you, you compete for cooking in the, in the provincial level, and you see the other trades going on. Then you you get to Nationals and it's 800 competitors in 57 trades.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Before you dial in, and you're just taking in the venue.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What are you thinking?
Speaker 3:I'm just like this is incredible right. That's the only thing that's running through my mind. I didn't know there was this many trades.
Speaker 2:And there's even more than what's here.
Speaker 1:Right, it's crazy and I think it's just amazing to see how many um young people are just wanting to excel in their skill, like wanting to push themselves and do stuff like this well, you know, and I hear that as a old guy right all the time, like these new generations, the new parts of you know, the new kids coming up, blah, blah, blah, which I think is very cyclical in nature conversation but, there's this idea that they don't work as hard, they don't care as much, they're not, as you know, focused or ambitious.
Speaker 1:I don't buy it I don't buy it because I'm a part of these worlds yeah right and I say to anybody who, if you talk like that, if you think kids are lazy, come to a skills competition and you'll see the elite and you'll see like 18 year olds that are years ahead yeah, of someone that might be out in the industry 20 years, because they're just so dialed in and I think that comes a lot with your passion like if you're passionate about what you do and you care about your work.
Speaker 3:You're just going to want to keep doing it. You're going to want to do better yeah you're going to want to work.
Speaker 1:You're going to want to keep pushing yourself yeah, and there is a very competitive nature to the trades. I think sometimes that might scare people off a little bit, because there is a sense in the trades that you never want to have a bad day right or a bad moment, and if you do, you want to fix it asap oh yeah, right like no one needs to see what just went down or whatever. Yeah, and it's a competition with yourself.
Speaker 1:Every dish needs to be good 100 everything needs to be good and there's a competition with the other people in the kitchen. You know like, uh, oh, you know, bobby's got the knife skills and so, and so's got the whatever they make the soups better than everybody. There's always that world of competition.
Speaker 3:There is. My coaches always say like it's not. If something goes wrong, it's when it goes wrong and it's just all about how you adapt to that. Every night, obviously at work, you know something's going to go wrong.
Speaker 2:Your sauce is going to split.
Speaker 3:Your meat's not cooked properly and it's just like competition. Meat's not cooked properly and it's just like competition. It's just like move on.
Speaker 1:How do I fix this? Yeah, what can I do? Yeah, yeah, how do you hype the kids now and I say kids, you're basically the same age as them but you're right, but you are, you're a, you're a mentor now you're team canada you're. You're kind of leading the this next gen. How do you hype them up when you see them come in? You know young and fresh and baby faced. How do you get them going?
Speaker 3:when you see them come in, you know young and fresh and baby faced. How do you get them going?
Speaker 3:I think it's just all about you know showing how much you care like just being able, being approachable, showing that you're happy with what you're doing and showing them all the great things about what you do. I went to a high school recently and back in Nova Scotia and I was talking to the kids about my journey and it was just great to see how many of them were actually paying attention taking it in, taking it in, and I was just like this is awesome and you know they all had questions for me and I'm more than happy to just go in depth about anything that they have to ask because I know I want to inspire people and you had the same questions too, once upon a time right that was me exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah now in terms of skills, like we're here at skills canada and we use the word skills all the time from you, you know quitting university. I shouldn't say that doesn't sound nice but, deciding not to go yes uh, with the university route deciding to go into the trades, what are some of the skills like? If you had to give advice to someone that's looking to get into the culinary arts? What are the one or two skills that you would really recommend that he they think about or hone in on going into this game?
Speaker 3:I think time management is a huge one. Time management, adaptability, creativity is pretty important in my industry as well. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And then, what about personally you? What was the skill that you really had to be? Like I got to get better at this, like I might be good at these things, but this is the one that I'm holding me back and I gotta figure this out I think it was more just like staying organized, yeah just all the pieces and remembering where they go exactly, yeah yeah, and what?
Speaker 1:what's the future plan? Like you know for, for in a skills world, you're gonna go to leon. Yes, you're gonna get first place okay, right, yes, you're gonna try. I mean, the metal excellence is still fantastic, but that first place would be nice it would be and you come back, you're kind of set, like. I mean, I've been in the skills world for a number of years now and people come back from world skills to amazing jobs yes amazing careers, a level of respect that they would have otherwise had, to have been in the industry 20 years yes
Speaker 3:but you kind of just hammer it out in a couple 100 and it's it's amazing to look at my resume right now and I'm like whoa, like whoa whoa this is it?
Speaker 1:this is amazing what about your crew back home? What do they think about what you're doing?
Speaker 3:your friends like they're so supportive they um about what you're doing. Your friends like they're so supportive they all watched my speech last night live streamed it and immediately, just like we're so proud of you, like you inspire us Like I couldn't be more thankful for my friends and my family.
Speaker 1:That's wonderful, yeah, so for the rest of today. Now you got post-secondary, they got to. They gotta make some biscuits. Yeah, what about for the people walking by? You know what? What do we get out of it? When's the right time to show up to?
Speaker 3:maybe get a sample. Unfortunately, you just get smell it all. Oh yeah, I know you're killing us is is there?
Speaker 1:is there days that the the teams get together and cook for public, like just curious? You know, like I know the welding camps, they'll get together on the pre-things and then donate the things they make or whatever. Do you guys get to feed others in this training process?
Speaker 3:all the time and it's actually been I've been having a wonderful training process, we've been fundraising money and we've been putting on dinners for the public oh fun for the public, so it's also great to have all these local people just come and support me, and they're getting good food out of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's great, all right. Last couple of questions. You know what's the rest of team Canada, like you know, as a group, as a, as the unit going over to France? How do you guys feel together that that click you have?
Speaker 3:I think overall we're all super proud of where we are. I think, we're all super grateful to be on the team. We're all so passionate about what we do.
Speaker 1:Yeah we're a great team. I can't wait to travel with them. And have you ever been to a Worlds before?
Speaker 3:No, like, even as a spectator. No.
Speaker 1:It's wild.
Speaker 3:I've heard.
Speaker 1:It's this times 10.
Speaker 3:I know Like it's unreal. I can't even picture how big that space is going to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a. It takes more than a day to see it all Like. I mean even just a walk it's more than a day. Yep you know what I mean, Because at the big world skills they do have way more of the trades Like almost all of them there, I think. That's insane, are you nervous about that? Are you nervous about? Or you think you'll just dial in like before?
Speaker 3:Oh, I'm definitely nervous. I know I'll definitely hit my zone and I'll just like dial right in, but I'm very nervous. I mean, there's going to be 50 competitors in cooking, so 50 different countries, the best from each country.
Speaker 1:And that's 50 kitchens.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 50 little kitchen setups.
Speaker 1:Right Like just that space alone is probably just all I know, I know.
Speaker 3:It's insane. I'm just. I'm very nervous, but also very excited.
Speaker 1:All right, well, thank you so much, olivia. What would you?
Speaker 3:like to say to you know, just any competitors or anybody thinking about getting into the skills game you know.
Speaker 1:To wrap up, the interview, I think if you're thinking of it, do it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, like uh, that's totally how you learn. If you like doing hands-on work and you like learning new skills every day, just do it like don't be scared yeah, yeah and the I. I would just add to that that if you are scared, yeah there's a lot of support there's a lot of support, so much support. There's a lot of support. Yeah, so many outlets.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's something that I don't regret doing at all.
Speaker 1:Awesome, any shout-outs to anybody.
Speaker 3:No shout-outs. No shout-outs.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you very much, Olivia, for being on the show today. Good luck in Lyon, france. If I'm not there, I'll be there in spirit, thinking of you. And good luck to all the competitors in the culinary arts this week, and it's going to be super fun to see closing ceremonies.
Speaker 3:Great Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely have a great day.
Speaker 2:We hope you enjoy the show. You've been listening to the CWB association welding podcast with max. 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, this podcast serves to educate and connect the welding community. Please subscribe and thank you for listening.