The CWB Association Welding Podcast

Episode 184 with Rosane Parent, Megan Parent & Elissa Mayhew and Max Ceron

Max Ceron Season 1 Episode 184

The CWB Association brings you a weekly podcast that connects to welding professionals around the world to share their passion and give you the right tips to stay on top of what’s happening in the welding industry.

Today's episode brings you the inspiring stories from Maurice Welding, featuring Elissa Mayhew, Rosane Parent, and Megan Parent. You'll gain insights into the unique challenges and rewards of operating a multifaceted welding shop far from the hustle and bustle of urban centers. Rosane shares her passion for project management, safety, and training and how these elements fuel Maurice Welding's success. Meet Megan and Alyssa, two Welders whose lives were transformed by the mentorship and support they received at Maurice Welding. Their stories illuminate the powerful impact of mentorship and community support in retaining young talent and fostering a thriving local workforce.

Check out:
www.mauricewelding.ca
https://www.facebook.com/people/Maurice-Welding/100063536681385/

Thank you to our Podcast Advertisers:
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Speaker 1:

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.

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 1:

This episode is brought to you by our friends at Miller. We're excited to talk to you about their training solutions, offering MobileArc, an augmented reality welding tool designed to introduce and recruit students to welding. We all know that engaging new welders can be a huge challenge. Mobilearc uses augmented reality to simulate live welding so that recruits can get hands-on experience that introduces them to a career in welding and that only seven pounds, it's easy to transport to remote learning and recruiting events. Introduce, recruit and inspire the next generation of welders with mobile arc. Head to miller weldscom to discover the right training solution for you. Hello and welcome to another edition of the CWB Association Podcast. My name is Max Saron and, as always, I'm looking all over Canada for the coolest stories and the best guests I can find. This week I have a group of people coming in to me from Cappus Casing, ontario, which is Alyssa Mayhew, roseanne Parent and Megan Parent coming to us from Maurice Welding. They are a multifaceted shop up in Northern Ontario that services a lot of different industries. So hi everyone, how's everyone doing?

Speaker 2:

Good, they sound good, good, good, good Awesome.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Looks like you got a nice sunny day out there. I can see in Megan's window that you got some sunshine. I know we've been having crazy rain out here in. Saskatchewan. How's it been in the Ontario region? We've been getting lots of rain up there.

Speaker 5:

We're getting a lot of rain and a lot of sunshine mixed in one in the other, but it's nice. It's different than the snow.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. So Alyssa was telling me that Cabascaising Ontario is pretty far north. So, alyssa, how far north are we talking like uh, in Ontario? So if people are trying to figure out where, where this is on a map especially our listeners in the USA you know where are we going. How are we finding your guys's town?

Speaker 6:

um, it's about 10 hours um north of toronto and uh, in the region you've got about, you've got cochran and timmins, uh, about two hours away okay, so those are the bigger centers people can can figure it out.

Speaker 1:

Now, maurice welding and I think this is a Roseanne question you work for Maurice. You're in the admin office there. What is your role there at Maurice Welding?

Speaker 5:

Jack of all trades. Actually, I do project management. I came on board with our team back in 2020 when we opened the capuscasing division of Maurice Welding. Maurice Welding was established in Hearst since 1959, actually. So I take care of safety, I take care of quality TSSA welding inspections. That's all my game and I put together special projects. So I like to work with our Indigenous partner, I like to work with our women and our youth, and I think that we have undiscovered resources. So, instead of always looking elsewhere, to look within our community to see how we can build our teams, because everybody knows that manpower is at a premium right now and everybody's, you know, screaming for people.

Speaker 1:

Everybody's, you know, screaming for people. So, rosanna, what led you down that path? Because that's a very specific niche of industry, Not only the specialized welding game you know the custom fab shop that services this type of industry but also the passion to support. You know the underrepresented. What led you down that path?

Speaker 5:

support. You know the underrepresented. What led you down that path? I come from a family that had its own like trucking company. I was driving trucks I was 18 years old, so I've always been involved in trade. My mom, however, was a politician. She administered the business that we own, but she did a lot of politics and I learned very young In fact, by the age of eight, we were handling out pamphlets and doing community work, and we understood that to have a good life we needed our community with us, and I think that's always stuck with me. And I know that for Muggis Welding to keep growing, we need to invest into our own people and in those people who have raw talent but might not have the skills that you would put down on a resume. And if we can search for people like that, then we can bring them in and train them in, and I think that's just a lifetime lesson from when I was a kid.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. You know politics. It comes from when I was a kid. That's awesome. And you know politics. It comes up on the show a lot. So I'm a very politically minded person. I feel like to be successful in anything, you do have to understand politics.

Speaker 1:

They kind of are the basis of economy and work and even concepts of justice and right and wrong, um, and I hear people all this show all the time say you know, let's not get political, let's try to separate politics from this or separate politics from that, and I actually think that's the wrong direction. When I was a kid, I would get um coached like from my parents about politics and we'd be involved. I would go to rallies and stuff and I feel like that helped me understand not just people but, like you said, community. You think that's?

Speaker 5:

important it is. I think you need to be open-minded. Sometimes political parties leave with agendas and you know they want you to take one side or the other. I think you need to be open-minded to whatever works for your community at that moment and at that time, and you know you might find yourself on one side of the aisle, one on one issue, and on the other side on another. I think you need to be true to yourself as well, and you need to look at your community and see what impact can this company make? How can we? Because if we are to survive and keep growing, we need to ensure that we have a positive impact in our community as well, and to me, the one equals the other, like it's the recipe for success, which is why we were able to turn our look to our youth and to our Indigenous women and and bring out some of our candidates from those groups to ensure that we give them the chance that they deserve awesome.

Speaker 1:

So like if we follow that train now to the, you know the next level. That leads me to megan. Now you know. So first I need to ask is there a relationship here family-wise, because it's the same last name actually it is, I'm megan.

Speaker 5:

Her father is my second cousin. There we go okay, okay.

Speaker 1:

So so for you, megan, as I know that you're kind of the mentor for alyssa, so as kind of if I follow the chain from you know, rosanna and the company giving the space, now you're coming in to use that space, yeah to to to weld, and. But let's talk a little bit about what you do for Maurice Welding and in sort of your role okay, um, so my role in Maurice Welding actually.

Speaker 2:

Um, so how I got in here was the women in welding course the indigenous women in welding course, I think and I passed I think it was my flat in my horizontal CWB ticket and after that Roseanne took me on with the company and I started working part time, I think for around the first year, and then the second year I started working full-time, which then they made me pass my um, my vertical ticket and then my overhead ticket, and after I passed all of my, my four positions, she asked me if I was interested in TSEC and I said yeah.

Speaker 2:

I would love to try, and so my mentor. He used the web app, what I know most about pipe right now. I passed my 360, my 309 and my 6010 stick and I also have my, my full ting says carbon steel, and now I just passed, I think, my, my tig root and my uh, not sure how to see that yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So you have, because you'll end up with your what's your F3, F4, then it's your F5, f6. Um, so yeah, those are, those are amazing and they're not easy to get. You know they're. They're especially tricky when you get to those stainless roots.

Speaker 2:

Those are tricky and stainless was my biggest challenge especially tricky when you get to those stainless roots. Those are tricky. Stainless was my biggest challenge. We actually, me and Alyssa, actually just went on a job two hours from Cap to a dam. We had to modify a pipe which it had to go against the wall and it had to flow down to attach to a water hose. And that was my first leading job and Alyssa was with me and I was teaching her a little bit and it was my first job actually by myself to do a piping job. And when we first got there we got out of the truck. I think the guy that escorted us was pretty. You know, I I don't want to say uncomfortable, yeah, very shocked at his face.

Speaker 2:

Uh, when we went into the truck I told Alyssa I'm like I don't think he's sure, alyssa, but we did the job right. They were very impressed and that they gave me a knuckle punch and they were very impressed with our work. So that made me feel very great and I'm sure Alyssa learned a lot and she had a really good time and it was very awesome.

Speaker 1:

So, megan, how long have you been welding then?

Speaker 2:

For Maurice Welding. I've been welding for four years and I started in high school, so a little bit just like Alyssa, but my dad was in the trains. So I followed my dad ever since I was a little kid. I've been in the shop ever since I was a little kid and I remember seeing him weld behind one of those shields and I was so intrigued and told him you can't look at the light, don't go on the other side. And when he introduced me to those welding courses in high school, that's when I got really interested. I was the only one out of my friends that went into that course. I did very well, um, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to do welding after high school. I was kind of confused with what I wanted to do and it was that indigenous women in welding course.

Speaker 1:

That really uh, that really uh, made me uh who I am today, career-wise, I would say, with the help of Roseanne, of course, um well, I'm curious, megan, you know, like when you say with the help of Roseanne, you know, having a, an advocate like that at a company. I guess, to frame this from my history, what I know of most communities is that if you're in a smaller community growing up, you know and I'm not sure if you grew up in cap or around cap but yeah, usually for younger generations the idea is to leave right. Most generations, you want to get out of there, you want to go away. Um, so how does someone like rosanne or the in the welding shop keep a young person there?

Speaker 1:

You know, because, because the opportunities for welders are huge right now, we know that there's so much work everywhere in the world, how does Roseanne and Maurice welding keep Megan, you know, with all her CWB tickets and all her pipe tickets? How do they keep you there?

Speaker 2:

Oh my gosh, they've been helping me a lot. So Rosanna was with another company before Maurice Welding and I did a co-op with them and I think that's where she saw my potential. And after graduating high school I kind of fell off the wagon a little bit. I didn't know where to go, I didn't know. I kind of wanted to move away, like you said. Like I have a cousin out in BC and my plan was to just go out to go move with him and maybe work with what he was doing over there. But no, when that course came in she put my name without me knowing and my dad pushed me.

Speaker 2:

He really pushed me because he was like you need to get your stuff together and say here's a great opportunity, please do it. So I did it, mostly for my dad Now I look at it now and it was mostly for myself my dad now I look at it now and it was mostly for myself and I'm very glad that I took on that course because I was struggling a lot after high school and I just the help that this company gave me, the potential that they sought in me, and they never let me down. They never let me down and every time I had a like a little bump in the road they would always pick me back up. And I think it's just the relationship we have like with our co-workers and we're just a really big family here and everyone everyone wow sorry, everyone helps out each other like yeah so I'm very I would say I'm very lucky to have to have Roseanne and to have everybody here at the shop, and especially having Alyssa here and teaching her is just incredible.

Speaker 2:

Like I'm very glad that I I met her. Like it's like she fell and she like she, she to be with us. Let's say no, I find it pretty incredible all right.

Speaker 1:

Well, let's, let's follow that train. Then to alissa. You know, um, and if you guys have noticed, I've muted some mics as we go and there's a bit of echo between the three of you. But uh, you know, alissa. Uh, you're fresh out of high school. Congrats on graduating less than a month ago. Um, you're 17 years old. You already got a number of cwb tickets. You were just telling me about this stuff right before the show started, so let's start with your story. How did you get into welding? You know, and, and you're in the cap area. You know why welding, and how did you get there?

Speaker 6:

so me. Originally I signed up for a welding class at school. Um, I had never seen anybody weld in real life. I'd seen it like in movies and stuff, but it was nothing they do it so badly in movies.

Speaker 1:

They never do it right.

Speaker 6:

It's terrible now that I know what it looks like. But yeah, um, I tried it there for the first time and I discovered I really liked it. And um, it was my teacher, jock la rachel. He started talking to another teacher called, uh, chloe brunel, and they are the ones who reached out to rosanne and showed them like, hey, this is what Elisa has been doing, and Rosanne told me to bring in my resume and that's when I applied and everything. And then I started last summer as like a trial run, I guess, with the company, to for them to see how, what kind of worker I was, kind of thing. And after that it was in January that Roseanne had reached out to me with an opportunity for an apprenticeship and I started that in the beginning of February and now I'm working full time and, yeah, I really like it here.

Speaker 1:

So you know, for a young girl, you know, as you're in high school and they lay out the classes that you can pick, you know, to fill in your time and get your credits. Why welding at all? Why not something else? What attracted you to the field?

Speaker 6:

So I had done woodshop since grade nine. It was a course that I tried to pick whenever I could, kind of thing. I really like the feeling of having a plan and being able to make it come to life. That feeling is just one that is incomparable to another. So I thought maybe there would be that kind of feeling and welding, and just because I had never tried it before, I really wanted to see what it was like, and that's where it all sparked there.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and once that spark started, you know, once you started creating that, those wells and putting steel together, what did you think about it? Were you like? Yes this is it, or were you more like what the heck am I getting myself into?

Speaker 6:

Um, it was, I think, more of like a yes. From the beginning I really wanted, like seeing my first bead that I had ever laid down, I knew I wanted to improve myself, I wanted to make it better and I wanted to have a good final product. So I think, just from there and going on, just wanting to have a good final product, that has been motivating me.

Speaker 1:

And what about your skill level? You know, like you're so young, but I feel like you're moving up the train pretty quick here. You know you got into a course, you took it in high school and you took a course and, like you're not even out of high school, you're already working full time with apprenticeship. That's fast track, like I mean. Mean, I taught for eight years at a college.

Speaker 1:

I've seen a lot of kids come and go and I've I have met other kids like you and I gotta tell you the kids like you that came out like this, they're all doing extremely well like in life, like they're crushing it right now. Do you have that type of ambition in you, like, do you like I, I feel like they're crushing it right Now. Do you have that type of ambition in you, like, do you like I feel like I already feel it coming out of you? But you're kind of a quiet girl, you probably don't like to brag too much, but do you feel like you're a good welder, like you got places to go? You got things to prove?

Speaker 6:

I feel like I want to be there one day where people can look at my stuff and say that that's a good job. I I have that ambition to to be good one day. I I feel like right now I'm still working on it, but we're we're making our way up there well, it's a long road and you're never done yeah, right you're never done it.

Speaker 1:

There's welding is so huge like I started off as a welder at 17 myself. I was in high school when I started? Yeah, I started. I started welding in high school when I was 17, and now I'm, you know, sitting at the director's office for the national welding company. There's no limit, right? You can do whatever you want no it's, it's really wild.

Speaker 1:

So let's now loop back up to rosanna, okay, so you know, and you gave an opportunity, or the company gives opportunities to people like megan to come in and establish themselves not only as a good worker and as an employee that's valuable to the company, but also set them up into a mentorship position where someone like Alyssa can come in and feel comfortable on a few levels. Number one they're local, right, they're from the local community. So, you know, alyssa's family may have known Megan's family or there might be some connections I don't know if there is or not, I'm just completely throwing it out there but smaller communities, right. Number two they're both women. So this is now a woman being able to mentor another woman, which is very valuable and not as common as we'd like to have in the industry.

Speaker 1:

So for you, roseanne, you know, representing the company, there's some risk involved there. You know there's some risk in terms of trying to find enough people. You have the same challenges every other company has. But when you say, you know, I want to empower women and I want to empower the indigenous, you shorten your pool, you zone in. So there's a commitment financially, there's a commitment time-wise. So there's a commitment financially. There's a commitment time wise. There's a commitment space wise. And how does your company look at that and yourself within that?

Speaker 5:

and I'll remind you that you're muted right now, so unmute yourself before you answer so I think the first time I scared the, my boss, I extremely I think that's an understatement I think I frightened him when, uh, when we started the first course, the indigenous women in welding. But, um, I think I'd proven my worth to him.

Speaker 5:

I think he like, and again, he he's from an hour away but, uh, my family knew his family in the trucking industry so, like you're're saying, small communities do help, right. So I think he took a chance, definitely in what we were trying to do with the Indigenous Women in Welding Program, and in that program we certified seven out of the eight women. And then we had Collège Barrière and we had all of our Indigenous partners online with that as well. I think what I realized at the time was I was happy that this was happening, but at the same time I was sad because there's that gap in between what we were training these women to do and the experience that people wanted.

Speaker 5:

And that made me sad because we couldn't really fulfill that gap and I couldn't take on seven women at Mother's Welding, but I could take on three, and so we extended the program with three just to keep giving them all of the tools that we could, and we knew that we could only keep one at that time. So the success story is really about one-on-one training and that's when we chose to keep Megan. We saw her raw talent, we saw her dedication. We knew that she had come with some issues, but we were willing to invest in that and I think that's really the success.

Speaker 5:

You invest in your people, not only in training, but you invest in their lives. You give them the mental health support they need. You teach them about economics, you teach them about balancing a budget. You talk to them day in, day out, right At different levels my level, um, the mentor, like denise level. So everybody took an interest in this and in fact, her mentor was the guy that I would not have chosen had I known from the beginning, but he has become a shining star right, some people really shine in that situation.

Speaker 5:

Yeah he was one of my rough guys, but he's taking these, uh, these girl under his wing and nobody can touch him. So that's fun, uh, but he, he's sharing his knowledge and it his knowledge. It's extreme after 35 years in the business, so it's so fun to see that happening. And when he jumped on board, I knew that we now had that recipe for success, because we could hold them by the hand and we could show them where we wanted them to go, because we saw the potential in them, the raw talent, and there's there's something in their soul the need to prove to themselves that they can be better than who they think they are, better than who they think they are. And when you achieve that, it's amazing. We look at Megan now and even the boss you know would come in and tell me oh my God, megan is growing by leaps and bounds.

Speaker 1:

Do it again.

Speaker 5:

Do it again, right. So we took on Alyssa and in Hearst this year we took on two apprentices, two young men and hearse, with the same attitude, the same drive, the same um, the want and the need to prove who they are and the capacity to learn. And I think a lot of that is we need people who want to learn, the capacity to learn.

Speaker 1:

Well, and the wanting to learn. But also I'll tell you that a big piece for successful welders that I've seen in my life is having a bit of a chip on your shoulder, a little bit of something to prove, which many of us carry. Because if you want to get into something competitive, there's nothing more competitive than welding. There's no trade that has as many certifications, there's no trade that requires as much testing. We get tested more than doctors, more than pilots, more than lawyers. We are the ones that are under the microscope all the time and if you're not in a competitive mind frame, you're not going to do very well in this industry. You got to kind of be like bring it, bring it, I'm ready for this, I can do it, and if you fail, so what? I'm going to try again in two weeks and I'm going to get it right the next time, right like it's. It's just that attitude now, rosanna, from a business point of view you know we talked about, there's a cost there, an investment that's beyond the welding, and this is I'm going to bring this up and I'm going to go around the table with everyone for your thoughts on this, but from where I sit on this side of the fence now for welding, which is like the white collar side, and I came out from the blue collar side.

Speaker 1:

One of the biggest complaints I hear from industry about training centers is that the welders don't come out with the necessary skills like they go to school for welding. They come out of school with certificates or, you know, qualifications and whatever, um, but they are lacking so many of the other skills required to be a good worker. You know not just the raw welding talent, there's a lot of other pieces of the puzzle that make you a good employee, not just your hand skills on the, on the arc machine right, it's, it's a lot of pieces. And they say, why don't the kids have these things? And it's like, well, the school's not going to teach them, they don't have the time, they don't got the money, they don't got the funding, it's just not there, it's not going to happen. So then they want the students or the kids to go out and get experience somewhere, but not there, not at their shop, somewhere else's shop, and then come back when you're ready.

Speaker 1:

I've've been arguing for a long time that that model's got to go out the window and businesses need to be more responsible and be more, I guess, take ownership of that growth. All the schools can do is give them these skills. It's up to the employee now, or the employer, to take the ones they think will fit and mold them into what they need. You got to invest into them what you want them to be, because each industry is different Oil and gas, mining, you know electrical, there's millwrights, there's pipe fitters, there's all these different paths for welding. They're not going to learn all that in school. So you know what you're doing, I think, is a good template that I think companies should take note of. And it may be slower in development, it may be a little bit more expensive in development and those are arguable and I'd love to hear your view on that but there is definitely a level of commitment that's required that I think is missing from other places. So, roseanne, first what?

Speaker 1:

do you think about that?

Speaker 5:

That's it. You need that level of commitment, you need to know what you're getting into but you're fostering an environment of loyalty and in the competitive world that we are now and definitely in the North, where everybody wants to go to the mines because you make a lot of money in the mines um, you know, we know the pitfalls of camp life and all that, but you, you need to. You know that's. That's really what I think the breaking point was for muggers welding is we need people and we want good people and we want loyal people.

Speaker 5:

How do we achieve all of that? And by starting at the bottom, starting fresh, we've been able to do exactly that. You've asked Megan what makes her stay. It's the friendships that she develops. It's the fact that she knows we have her back. She has a question whether it's a personal one or a working one, she'll come in my office, close the door and we'll talk. Whether it's a personal one or a working one. She'll come in my office, close the door and we'll talk. It's that investment that you make into their growth that brings you back the loyalty. And then you're cementing that and we've seen like Megan is our template. She's the first one we really took on that way and her growth is phenomenal to where she is right now to be able to lead her own jobs TSSA jobs right, like she said, the guys looked at us. They really did, because she's a young girl, she's just going to turn 25.

Speaker 5:

And to be able to coach, to be able to coach Alyssa now it's because we've invested everything into her. Does it cost us more money? Not really. If you look at the turnaround right, we, when COVID hit, we had a lot of people from Toronto area coming down, coming up North and um, people who were certified, who were good, you know, had years of experience and yet, for reasons, that happened they yeah, it didn't quite fit and they didn't stay.

Speaker 5:

I think we've kept one out of five, but we're seeing the success that we're doing with Megan. So is it costing us more? Not really. It's costing us personal involvement. And I think in business we've always been told keep business as business and home as home. But in our small northern communities if we want to survive at minus 40, we know community has to happen. And when you take that model and you apply it in your business, then we know that's how we're growing and this model for us is working, which is why we took two more in Hearst. So we now have under 25, four kids who I think will be with us for a very long time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, because we're investing into them you know, and it's so interesting, I I worked in the mines in saskatchewan, so I did a lot of mine work, both shop and under and at mine sites and the mine life is a different world, right, and people always think, oh yeah, I want to go work at the mines and make lots of money. But every year come turnaround time you see the same faces because not everyone lasts, people don't make it. In my life it's a different type of industry and it's tough Minus 40, wet and under, you know, or up high in the wind and the crazy, whatever weather. It's always an adventure on my insights and every day there's something exploding or breaking or whatever happening. And every day something, there's something exploding or breaking or or whatever happening.

Speaker 1:

Now for you, megan, coming in, you know what were some of the obstacles that you had in your life before you came into Morris Welding that were really, you know, making it rough for you to break out of your bubble Cause, like now, you're, you're're, you're breaking out of your cocoon like a beautiful butterfly with a welding hood right and uh, but what, what was stopping you from getting there before?

Speaker 2:

um, I would think it was. I think it was mostly my insecurities in the, in a male-dominated industry. It also I well, my mental health after high school actually went down and.

Speaker 2:

I didn't really know what to do with that. See, I didn't really I didn't really realize I needed I needed help, say so, um, it was. It took me a while to actually figure out what I wanted to do or whatever. So it's just the help that I got at Maurice Welding, with Danny and with Roseanne. It was just like she said. She saw the potential in my work and I have a hard time explaining it, but I don't know.

Speaker 1:

Was it just a lack of confidence in yourself, like had you struggled with other things before, like not succeeding and given up, or or was or was it just you needed a cheerleader in your corner just pumping you up?

Speaker 2:

I think that's what I needed. I I think that's. I think that's what it was. I think that's it was needing it. I needed somebody to tell me, say, like, like, you can do this, you are good at this. Let's say you are in the right place, like, just give yourself time, be patient, and everything will fall into place like it's supposed to. And it did I. Just I had zero patience, I thought everything had to happen right now and, like saying that, I was getting very frustrated in the beginning, like I wanted to do jobs, I wanted to do this and I wanted to do that, but it's like I didn't have the right skills and mindset to do all of those things.

Speaker 2:

So, it was a lot again with Denny and my other coworkers that I'm very close with. They kind of taught me to keep my frustration elsewhere. Go for a walk, go for that five minute walk, see and clear your mind, come back and try it again and if see if it doesn't work, then ask for help. I was so scared to ask for help in the beginning because in the male dominated industry, saying you have to be like rough and tough and I can do this on my own, like I don't need.

Speaker 2:

I don't need anybody's help, but it's just it was to learn to ask for help. There's nothing wrong with asking for help and they, they, want you to ask for help.

Speaker 1:

See, that's right, that's right when industry is running well. Yeah, when industry is running well, and everyone's happy is when everyone's communicating right, that's that's. That's really a huge piece of industry. People always forget, um, everyone thinks about the rough and tumble, you know, the uh, the rah, rah, rah. Those people generally aren't that successful.

Speaker 2:

It's usually the people that share and are nice and work together that make it successful, you know yeah and um, I don't know how to say this, but I kind of, I kind of want to say I brought out the, the vulnerability, vulnerability of Denny, like he's a lot softer, he's more, he's very, he's like a little teddy bear now.

Speaker 3:

Like he's just so wet.

Speaker 2:

I think we soften him up a little bit. Let's see Like he's very he's very true to his emotions and no, it's very he's a very great mentor to have. I'm very happy to his emotions and no, it's very he's a very great mentor to have. I'm very happy to. He taught me a lot about about patience. Like really that's the biggest thing that I needed to, to learn to just be patient well, that's an interesting thing.

Speaker 1:

You bring that up because you know, when I was talking to Roseanne a second ago about those skills you need to succeed, that you don't learn in school or you or there just isn't time, and patience is one of those things that you gotta learn pretty quick on to not beat yourself up and like, trust me, megan, what you said. You're 25 years old, look at where you are and you're in a rush. What the heck are you in a?

Speaker 1:

rush for you're doing fine, girl, like you're, you're on track, you're ahead of the game, you know it's and you want to do more, maybe in your head, but there's only so much you can do at any given time, so you just got to let things kind of fall into place, right?

Speaker 2:

yeah, I think that's something I really needed to hear, because I don't get told that often.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Like you know how many 25 year olds are just picking up their first welding electrode?

Speaker 2:

today.

Speaker 1:

Oh sorry Like some people are just learning how to weld at 30, right so, or 40. So you know, you, you could be a mentor to many at different levels and you know, and, and it's like as if you're indigenous as an indigenous, indigenous woman. That's also a whole nother level of inspiration that can be created for a group of people you know. For yourself, is that important being a successful not just a successful woman, but a successful indigenous woman?

Speaker 2:

yeah, because, well, I wait, t and uh, it's just because I know there's a big gap with the indigenous women and stuff like that. So, no, it was, and working with with the course it was working with all those other seven uh women that are indigenous women, it was, I don't know. It was very you will learn a lot about a different culture and it was very beautiful. And no, it's just, I don't know. I'd love to to pave a path a little bit more for indigenous women to say like you can.

Speaker 2:

You can do anything if you put your mind to it. Because that's basically what I did without knowing. Um, yeah, and now?

Speaker 1:

and now for you, alissa, you're, you're the third gen, let's say within this, within this podcast, you know, you, you have, uh, have a woman like Megan, who's still very young and has a lot to prove and definitely has made it clear that she wants to prove it. You don't strike me as someone, alyssa, who has a lot that lacks much confidence. You seem like a confident young girl, and you may be coming at this from another angle, being like hey, I want to crush this. What's the fastest way to crush this? Which also says something about patience. You know what? What are the biggest things you've had to learn early on in your young welding career?

Speaker 6:

um, along to go with the, the patience thing a little bit, not getting so negative.

Speaker 6:

Um, I'm somebody who I keep it to myself a lot, but I I do tend to when, when things aren't going exactly the way you see them in your head, or when you think you should be somewhere else, and things get negative mentally that's something I struggled with for a long time, but I've been learning a lot with my coworkers and you know to not beat yourself up and to be happy and appreciate what's going on now and what you've got now, and it'll keep falling into place, as Megan said Well it's very true, and I remember when I was young and being mentored, I had a mentor, a fabricator mentor, because I have two red seals, one in welding and one in fab.

Speaker 1:

My fab mentor told me once either you're a problem solver or a problem maker. You got to choose which side of that line you're on, because if you have a problem in front of you and you're getting grumpy about it, you're not solving nothing, you're just making things worse or more complicated. So shake your head. Positive thoughts, find a solution. And I always think about that, because sometimes you'll want to be like ah, I don't want to, or this is dumb. Well, is that helping at all to think like that In any way? All I'm doing is just making my life my own life force, which is kind of silly, but it's tough habits to build. I'm very inspired how mature these conversations are for such young women in the industry. I think it says a lot for your community, first of all, and a lot for the work that you have and the program that's being run there at Maurice. I know we just did an article with you guys for Weld Magazine that looks fantastic, you know.

Speaker 1:

We'll go now back up to Roseanne. Actually, you know what? I'm way past commercial time. Let's take a break for commercials right now, for our advertisers and when we get back. I got questions for Roseanne about the template of this and it's possibly the future of how this would work, so don't go anywhere here on the CWB Association podcast, we'll be right back with Alyssa, rosanna and Megan from Boreas Welding.

Speaker 3:

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 Theron and I'm here with Megan Parent, rosanne Parent, related through cousins or uncles or something, and then Alyssa Mayhew from Maurice Welding, all up in the cap Ontario, because I'm cool and I call it the cap now I got told that that's the cool way to say it. I can say it's from the cap, no cap, and that's even cooler. So um.

Speaker 1:

Roseanne, we were talking about this ability to foster not just skill because it's more than just skill that makes a good employee but this whole attitude that I'm seeing with these two young women of wanting to contribute, wanting to problem solve, wanting to already give back in their young, you know, careers, to the co-workers around them and to the jobs they're on that number one.

Speaker 1:

There's got to be some luck involved, right, there's got to be some luck involved to just have these people come into your, your world and your, your spectrum. Or is this just really the proof that companies around the world that are struggling with hiring got out, you know, maybe pull their heads out of the workopolis butt and stop trying to just find these magical unicorns from around the world and maybe just start seeing what they can do better internally to invest into success.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, it has nothing to do with luck. It has to do with being able to look at your community, look at your youth, look at your women, to look at those who you usually would not take a look at, and to really empower them into looking at themselves in the way that they can move forward. We also have a young man who's just he must be 25 now on a mill writing apprentice and again, it's about seeing what you have out there and talking to them the life skills, right, that are not taught, the life skills that maybe aren't even learned at home, the traumas that we live, the. You know, everybody has a story. Nobody has a perfect fairy tale. Rose-colored glasses, life, um, and and the environment, maybe, in which we live in, because we are more northern. We are more northern, we are more small rural community and we do need to depend on each other.

Speaker 5:

Maybe that brings out some of the characters traits that you're seeing in Elisa and Megan, but I think it's about not being ashamed of talking about spirituality, of talking about God, of talking about something bigger, of talking about how do we navigate the issues in life. How do we navigate mental health? We're not afraid of mental health. What's out there. And why does it hurt? We're not afraid of taking off the band-aids that society have always put on. Shut up and work and going. No, you're bleeding from the inside out. We need to know so that we can help you move forward.

Speaker 5:

No, you're bleeding from the inside out. We need to know so that we can help you move forward, so that we can carry you through these issues, because, because we've been through them Right and when we talk to each other, we have similar places that we connect. And that's where, for me, it's important, because then I can tell Megan, you're okay and you are going to make it, because I'm proof that we make it. And we can turn around and tell Lisa look, you're doing awesome, you're going to learn these skills, you're going to learn more about you, you're going to learn to be able to look in the mirror and tell you what are we supposed to say when we look in the mirror? Girls, I'm courageous, I'm beautiful, I'm intelligent, right, those are the words that I've taught my children. But I teach Megan and Elisa to be able to give yourself that empowerment, to not wait for everybody else to give it to you, but to understand that it's also a gift, because there's something bigger in life, there's a bigger universe out there, right?

Speaker 5:

So to be able to situate yourself that way to understand that we're just humans trying to make it through, you know, from step A to step B. And in the meantime, let's be kind and gentle to ourselves and to others. And when you do that, when you invest that way into people, when you see them for the spiritual beings that they, that when you invest that way into people, when you see them for the spiritual beings that they are, and you invest into their hearts and into their mind, look at our results how can we say it's not worth it, right?

Speaker 1:

Well, it's wonderful. My mom used to buy herself flowers and I never got it as a little kid. And one day, when I was a teenager, I asked my mom why do you buy yourself flowers? And she says everyone's entitled to their own parades. And I love that. You know it's true. Like you, don't wait for no one to come to your door and say, wow, great job. I mean, don't get me wrong, it feels great to hear it, it feels great to have someone say it to you.

Speaker 1:

But you got to take those moments to look at yourself and be like'm killing it. This is great.

Speaker 1:

This is good you know, and I should be proud of myself and maybe I'll take myself out for supper tonight or maybe I'll go buy myself that, those shoes, this weekend, because I deserve it. I there's that. I don't need to feel guilty about it. I don't need to do nothing. It's just an a to b. I worked hard because I got skills. Those skills paid me a paycheck and I'm allowed to treat myself how I want to because I earned it and that's a very simple little piece of financial stability that makes people feel very empowered.

Speaker 1:

You know what I mean now very much so.

Speaker 5:

And the other thing is fear, fear is often the thing that will stop people from knocking on our door are from us seeing their true talent, because they're scared. And I keep telling um the students that I see there, there is no mistake. There's no mistakes whether or not you achieve what we want you to achieve. There's no mistake because I'm learning how, where I need to train you. So it's not mistake. It's just things that you don't know and you don't know what you don't know, simple as that.

Speaker 5:

So when, when you can eliminate the fear barrier, the fear of trying, the fear of trying again and again, and again, and I've actually, like, I challenged them and we've set up a whole training program for anybody that comes in to see what their skill levels are, and I've trained them to understand safety. I've trained them to understand quality. They had to take scrap steel, they had to do drawings. I told them to go back to the drawing board with their drawings because their symbols were not put on right, their bill of material might have not been what I wanted. And you just keep going, do it again, do it again. And that kind of investment that you're putting into somebody like Alyssa at the beginning, the first six months right of her apprenticeship, is really about honing in where you notice that she needs training.

Speaker 5:

And so far I mean so far we're doing exceptionally well with this, to the point where the boss is actually not afraid like he was in 2020 anymore. He's like on board and cheering this up and going get me more, because we've seen how it works. Right We've seen the success.

Speaker 1:

Now, megan, the next question is for you. You know you're in this environment now where it feels like it's pretty empowering for you to kind of reach for the stars. What's next on your list? You know, what is it that you see for your future? Uh, what would you like to get to? And and I don't want to make you feel like you're I want you to think big. You know, even bigger than maurice welding like, don't be afraid, I don't want you, I don't. Hopefully this doesn't offend anybody there if you say you want to work for Tesla or something, but you know what I mean. Like, what would your end game be? Or where do you see yourself growing into?

Speaker 2:

I have a few ideas, but really this past year I've been growing a lot with my piping. So, and I've been growing a lot with my piping and I've been having a lot of amazing opportunities with that work, with my TSSA work. So I guess in the next years I am anxious to see where that will take me, and last year I had a really good feeling of 2024, how I will have more open opportunities. And so far far I did, and these experiences have been amazing and I had no idea I would have ever been able to do those things. And I also do a little bit of metal art at home.

Speaker 2:

So I've been doing, I've been experiencing with roses. I know it's very common to do like metal roses but they're so unique and different and everybody that makes them they're they're not the same and everybody does them in a very different way. So I don't know, I'm kind of exploring my, my, uh, my skills, um, out of the shop. So I've been kind of messing around with a little bit of that. I've been doing roses. I did like, uh, I've been using like scrap metals to make like old chipping hammers and I made like a little manu and I made yeah, I've made pine cones and they turned out very nice.

Speaker 2:

So it's just awesome yeah, I guess it's all these skills I've been learning. There's like so there's endless opportunities and um, so do you have a?

Speaker 1:

little shop. Do you have a little shop at home to practice in? I?

Speaker 2:

actually have. My grandfather has a trucking business so they don't haul wood anymore. So basically my dad's the trucking coach mechanic in that shop. Don't ask me how long it's been running, I know it's been running for many, many years.

Speaker 2:

My dad started at 13, and he's 53 now, so he's been running for many, many years. Uh, my dad started at 13, so, um, and he's 53 now, so he's been there for years. But, um, no, I have my little space at that shop and I can use it whenever I want. So I'm very lucky yeah, very lucky to have that space there. I have a lot of people nice people around me awesome. Awesome.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. Next, same question for you, alyssa. You know what? What is it you see as your next steps in your career? Like you're very early on, um, you know you just started your apprenticeship. Are you thinking your red seal, your journey persons, are you just concentrating on work or are you just thinking about next week and what's going to happen?

Speaker 6:

You know what's your frame of mind Lately. I've been taking it really day by day. I'm somebody like I said I get negative and overwhelmed. So I take it really day by day because sometimes it all racks up there, but eventually I think I'd like to get my red seal. Uh, eventually I think I I'd like to get my red seal, but I'd like to focus a bit more on pipe for now, to work on there and learn more about the pipe fitting too. I think that really interests me. So don't know until you try it.

Speaker 1:

And uh, there is a red seal in pipe fitting as well. You know there is always opportunities to to apprentice in different streams.

Speaker 2:

And maybe this is going back to Megan. Now you know, with your interest in piping, are you looking at going into the pipe fitting trades or you just want to be like a pipe ticketed welder? I'm not sure. I think I've been actually asking myself this question because I do want more experience in the pipe fitting trade, because there is two workers in Memories Welding in Hearst actually and they are pipe welders and both pipe fitters. So to be able to weld and fit your own pieces would be amazing.

Speaker 2:

Pretty cool, yeah, so to be able to weld and fit your own pieces would be amazing. Yeah, For women to be able to do that. That's just another, that's like another thing. So no, I don't know. I'm very go with the flow and everything has been falling into place for me. So I believe that if I take every opportunity that I can, everything will fall into place for me. But I do want to move more towards the pipe welding and pipe fitting. I'm very curious to where that will take me in the future.

Speaker 1:

Well, there's a lot of amazing Canadian women in the pipe fitting industry. You see them on Instagram. I don't know if you follow iron mills or any of them um, kayla. Kayla is amazing. She's a good friend of ours and she's out in alberta kicking butt in the pipe fitting in the pipe fitting and welding industry uh.

Speaker 1:

So it's, it's very much doable. But on the other hand, I hope you guys stay with rosanna and her team forever, because I know that would make them very, very, very happy and and I'm sure that hope you guys stay with Roseanne and her team forever, because I know that would make them very, very, very happy. And I'm sure that what you guys are doing there is really kind of laying down the seeds for future successes for the generations after you, because I mean 25 and 17,. You got to be kidding me. You guys got the whole lifetimes of Heddy.

Speaker 1:

I've changed careers within welding probably six or seven times and every time it worked out like I mean, it's just one of those industries ride what you do until you don't feel like you're enjoying it or learning much anymore, then try something else, because there's just so much and you know, even within a company you can always move around and do different things within a company to expand those skill sets. Um, for, for the future, I guess you know we're getting close to the end of the interview, but I'm curious to see what the personal goals are and let's go around the table. I'll start with you, alissa. You know, outside of welding, you know, or maybe related to what welding can do for you, because there's that whole aspect of having a good job and making good money and being secure that welding brings, which is lovely, it's a wonderful part of the trade. You know what are some of the personal goals you have for yourself that you would like to to grow on um, a really big personal goal of mine.

Speaker 6:

Uh, even though, with how like the economy is looking right now, it's not the best, but I'd really like to have my own house one day. I really like to have my own bit of property and, you know, have something that's my own space. Uh, it's. It's something I've always saved some money to try and work up to there, but I'm hoping in the next 10, 15 years it would be something I'd really like to do.

Speaker 1:

Oh, you'll be there way before then. Don't worry girl. You making money the way you're going to be making money, I'd say by 20 you're going to have a house. No problem, trust me. And interest rates just went down, so it's not all doom and gloom you know, just, uh, just save your money and you'll get there, don't worry. Don't worry, megan what's your? What's your personal outside of welding? You know, dream that you would like to, to achieve or get to I'm a very big animal lover.

Speaker 2:

It was I knew I always wanted to do something with animals, but career wise that did not happen. But I'm, I consider myself an equestrian, so I ride horses. I've been riding them since I was like around maybe nine to 10 years old, and so, yeah, I'd love to have my own place with a little bit of land, but also I'd love to travel. So there's a little like between the two.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it's hard to have animals if you're on the road.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, but I've been there. If you're on the road, yeah, but I've been. Uh, I've been. I've been taking care of a ranch for a couple for around 10 years. So if I would be able to find somebody to take care of my place like I do for them, that would be great, that would just be great. I would be able to travel a little bit, a couple days, like a couple times a year. But that's just for the future.

Speaker 1:

I don't know if that'll actually happen I'm sure it will if you wanted to like, I mean it's yes, it's not, it's not about if it's just when right. It's up to you to figure out when that when you decide to focus on that. I love traveling myself, so I've had to give up pets most of my life. I have a turtle because I can leave my turtle at home alone for like a month and she's fine, but not that she likes that.

Speaker 1:

She's grumpy when I leave her home alone for that long. But I can. But they're just choices you make, right. Plus, I had kids really young. I don't know if either of you two got kids yet, but I had kids young. So then, now that I'm, you know, late 40s, I'm freewheeling. Now I can do whatever I want. But you guys don't have kids. You can do that now, right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's what I think.

Speaker 1:

And for you, Roseanne, what's a personal goal for you? You know you came from a couple different industries. Now you're working at this company, trying to make some waves and have some ideas, and you know they're giving you the space to do that. What, what do you see for yourself in terms of personal growth or side projects, or hustles, what.

Speaker 5:

what do you got going on? I think it's twofold. I think the first part that I like is leaving a legacy and, um, you know, I was driving big trucks, can words. I was 18 years old at a time where you didn't see women on on wood, Right.

Speaker 5:

So, and it felt powerful, it felt good. So I liked, I like to share that and to make way for women and you so that that they can, they can have that space, traditional space. We're not traditional, I guess, and I keep reinventing myself. My daughter, one of my daughters, just graduated from grade 12, and she wants to start a homestead. She didn't want a career, she didn't want you know she had to fight with her teachers going no, that's not what I want.

Speaker 1:

I want to learn how to cook. I want to learn how to sew, I want to, which she's been doing, and and that's a career, I don't know how. That's not a career, that's a full-time job you know she makes.

Speaker 5:

Uh, she makes a lot of her stuff. She makes my. My children are meaty um, she makes her own um mitten. She makes her own muck luck she's. She's growing in her skills and again, she's the same age as alissa she graduated in the same class.

Speaker 5:

So I think that, um, my goal there is to apply everything that I've learned and I've shared with everybody else now with my daughter, and to have this new invention into homesteading, which I'm not sure what we'll do there with her, and see where that goes and hopefully, along the line, have a few grandchildren that I can spoil that's next on my list too my daughter's 26 and my son's 22.

Speaker 1:

I just hung out with him this weekend camping and I was like, okay, I'm ready guys I'm ready I don't know what you guys are doing. I already had two kids by 24, not that I want a new one, that's not necessarily the best path but, um, no, it's.

Speaker 1:

It's wonderful hearing this and seeing the cycle, you know, between between the the work. I made a note here as we were all talking, and I wrote down partnerships and collaborations, because a lot of times when people think about partnerships and collaborations, they think purely financial. They think of purely financial or monetary or economic goals, like we'll partner with you on this to save money on x, or we'll partner with you on this to make that job easier. What? What I think is a kind of an interesting subtext to that is personal partnerships. Like I'm partnering with you not just for the skills that you need for the specific job, but I'm going to partner with you in terms of, just, maybe, making your life a little easier. Maybe one thing if I can make one little thing in your life easier, then that gives you space and agency to be better at something else Right. One less worry on your plate gives you time to do something else Right.

Speaker 1:

And and I think that that's that's a big picture of what's happening here it's a partnership with the community, the partnership with the staff, with the people themselves and it's a partnership with the, with the industry as well, to say, hey look, this is a thing and and thing, and there is other companies doing what you guys are doing, but it's a vast minority, right? So what do we do to pitch this idea up the pole? You know, as they say and I think that's the next piece For Maurice Welding, now, as a company which you know, I'm not sure how brave of you are to the top management level, which I'm not sure how brave of you are to the top management level, but is there a desire to, like you said, there's more than one company, you know, under this banner. Do they follow this template at all of them, or only where Roseanne is right?

Speaker 5:

Roseanne was the beginning, and this year we're following in in Hearst as well was the beginning, and this year we're following in in Hearst as well. So we are doing it within the overall umbrella of the organization to move people forward that way. I think people need to learn from what we've put together. I think and you know everybody's always scared of company secrets, right, but it's not a secret and we don't want it to remain a secret. In fact, we talk about it with some of the other companies that we partner up with. We talk about it with our clients. When we have questions that come in, you know I will take the time to explain to our clients why I'm sending them to women if they ask a question. And a lot of those companies are surprised by the level of quality that they're seeing in the people that we mentor personally. And they don't understand. And that's where I need I jump in and say because you're not involved personally. You know you're doing the organizational chart thing and you're moving down the line, but you're not putting anything of yourself into their accomplishment. And the only way they'll accomplish and move forward is if you invest personally at the top level, and it has to come from the top level right the boss, let me run this. And it has to come from the top level right the boss, let me run this. I'm lucky enough to be part of that management team that I could have the impact that I needed to have, and I think that's the secret. At the top levels, you need to involve yourself.

Speaker 5:

You know, my dad taught me I was eight years old. He came and got me. I was playing with my friends, it was a weekend and he said these trucks need to be clean and you're going to clean them because the people who drive them put the food on your table. And that's how it worked. I wasn't daddy's little princess. I was to be part of this cycle and that is the best lesson that I've ever learned, and it's the lesson that I keep trying to teach to everybody, including my children. It is a cycle. People help each other out, those who put the food on the table. You need to help them out, and I remember some of my children's friends going. You know your mom's so mean she's making you do the dishes. But it was about accountability. But it was about accountability, responsibility, but more than that, it was about community. Family is the micro of community right. So if they can learn how to interact in the family properly, then they'll interact in the community, and my children have hundreds of hours of volunteer in the community because it's needed.

Speaker 5:

And the more they give out, the more they grow and the more they become solid in who they are, and that's what industry needs to learn. It comes from the top and you involve yourself personally, because you think about this not just as a business Uh, you think about it as your community. This is my community right now.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, all right, I love that. That's wonderful. Well, we've come to the end of the interview. We've ran out of time. I feel like we could talk for another hour. This has been fantastic, but I want to go around the table now just for some last uh, just some last questions. The last question, the last question, but, um, elista, for you, as the, as the junior executive, on this call, you know, uh, what advice would you give uh another young woman, you know, in your same situation, just coming out of high school? What would advice would you give them if they're thinking about getting into trades? You know, what would you say would make it easier or what they should look out for?

Speaker 6:

Never be afraid to ask questions. Always ask. There is no mistakes to be made. There's only things to learn from, and to take any opportunity that becomes available, because you never know what it might teach you and where it might bring you.

Speaker 1:

it might teach you and where it might bring you Awesome Good advice. Good advice, megan. What advice would you give for a 25 year old woman that's perhaps uh, you know just low on confidence, has had a bit of a rough go at a few gnarly things happen in their life. You know, what advice would you give for them saying, you know, maybe look at the trades advice would you give for?

Speaker 2:

them saying you know, maybe look at the trades, maybe this is where you need to be. Um, I guess, basically, don't, just to never give up. That's the biggest thing. It's uh, never give up on your biggest dreams, because they can happen, and they did for me and it seems almost unbelievable, but it is like it's just so simple never give up on what you truly want. And then I can't. I have so many things that I could say, but the biggest one that one follow your dreams and to never, ever give up on what you truly want awesome.

Speaker 1:

Thank you, andanne. What would you say to the other employers out there that are unsure or struggling about getting hiring practices or changing the way they hire and train? What piece of advice would you give other corporate you know, hr teams or trainers or recruiters?

Speaker 5:

Don't be afraid to look outside the box and don't look for a specific set of skills all the time. Look for the person within, look at the eagerness to work, the eagerness to learn. I have reinvented myself time and time again and will do so again, and I'm 54. So there is always a way to move forward for your company. You just need to have the imagination that comes with it. I guess Just you know. Think outside the box, because what you've been doing isn't working if you're still struggling. So don't keep hitting your head against that wall. Think of something different, right, and most of the time you will find that eagerness, that willingness that we see in Megan and Lisa and people who have struggled. So the people that we usually marginalize in society have become our greatest successes because they had to develop skills to go through the issues that they went through, and they bring that to the table. So no, they might not have the education, they might not have college. They might even have struggled for their grade 12.

Speaker 5:

They might be in grade 10 and should have graduated years ago. But look at how much they want to get out of the issue that they're in or the low income that they're in. You know the family dynamics that they're in. Look at how much they want to get out and then invest in them, because the moment you do that, you create that loyalty and you give them the space to succeed.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. I love it and this has been a great interview. I think it's been very educational for anyone who's listening to the podcast. I hope they really get a lot out of it. I know I've learned a number of things and I hope I get up into your neck of the woods someday. I'd love to come for a tour and for you guys to show me the shop and see what's going on there. I would love to do that.

Speaker 5:

You're always welcome to come up north. Try not to make it January it's minus 40.

Speaker 1:

Well, it's minus 40 in Saskatchewan too, so I might be just trading one for the other Awesome. Well, thank you so much and, and you know on behalf of the cwb group, we really love what you guys are doing and congratulations. Even with the magazine, we're trying to invest our space to support your cause because I know you guys have a wonderful thing going. So, thank you so much. And for all the people and for all the people that have been following and downloading and watching the episodes, thank you so much for being a part of the CWB Association podcast community. We're growing faster than ever. We're coming up, I think, on 175 episodes or more. We're really getting up there and it's going great. So if you always, if you have anyone to suggest, send them our way, and any comments or suggestions, please put them on our posts and we're more than happy to look at them. But until then, stay tuned for the next episode.

Speaker 4:

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.