The CWB Association Welding Podcast
The CWB Association Welding Podcast
Episode 201 with Tamela Olt and Max Ceron
The CWB Association had the privilege to attend the Association of Women in the Metal Industries Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee. Join us as we bring you special episodes recorded in person to advocate for a more equitable future in metal industries, where everyone can thrive.
In this episode we unpack the stories of resilience and empowerment of women in the steel industry with Tamela Olt. Tamela shares her experiences and challenges over 40 years in the industry and how her unique blend of marketing and psychology has become a secret weapon in navigating this traditionally male-dominated field. Together, we'll explore the captivating narratives of women finding their voice and passion amid gender biases and the role of the Association of Women in the Metal Industries (AWMI) in fostering such success.
Check out AWMI:
Website: https://www.awmi.org/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/awmisocialmedia/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/association-of-women-in-the-metal-industries/
Thank you to our Podcast Advertisers:
Canada Welding Supply: https://canadaweldingsupply.ca/
Canaweld: https://canaweld.com/
Josef Gases: https://josefgases.com/
The Association of Women in the Metal Industries Annual Conference is about forging futures and empowering women! Save the date: November 5-7, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona. https://www.awmi.org/events/2024-annual-conference/
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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:Attention welders in Canada looking for top quality welding supplies, look no further than canada welding supply. With a vast selection of premium equipment, safety gear and consumables. Cws has got you covered. They offer fast and reliable shipping across the country. And here's the best part all podcast listeners listeners get 10% off any pair of welding gloves. Can you believe that? Use code CWB10 at checkout when placing your next order, visit CanadaWeldingSupplyca now. Canada Welding Supply, your trusted welding supplier. Happy welding. Hello and welcome to another edition of the CWB Association podcast. My name is Max Saron and we are here in Nashville, tennessee, this week recording at the wonderful AWMI conference. This conference is a wonderful platform for women to get together and work on solutions and inspire each other into the future of this industry, in the metal trades, in which we need so many more women to become a part of. Today, I have Tamela Old here with coming to us. She is from the Chicago chapter of AWMI. How are you doing, tamela?
Speaker 3:Very good. Thank you, Max. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I got to start right away. Tamela, what a nice name. I've never seen that before. I'm sure you've heard that a thousand times in your whole life. A? I'm sure you've heard that a thousand times in your whole life. A few times.
Speaker 3:Where did it come from? It's not a real intriguing story. When I was born, my parents wanted to call me Tammy. I guess my father said, well, she needs a real name. We said there's Pamela, We'll call her Tamela.
Speaker 1:I think Tammy is usually short for Tamara right. A lot of different things, yep. Yeah yeah, but I mean that's wonderful. But in your day-to-day you go by Tammy Usually. But yeah, as long as they don't call you late for supper.
Speaker 3:Correct, correct sure.
Speaker 1:So what part of the country are you from? Where are you kind of? Where are your roots from?
Speaker 3:Central.
Speaker 1:Illinois.
Speaker 3:I grew up in a town, pekin, illinois, big town, little town. Big town 40,000 people. Okay, that's good.
Speaker 1:So you got all the services there? Sure, yes, we did, probably had a subway, yeah, and we had a hospital, yeah, yeah, Now, when you were coming up growing up as a little girl in central Ohio or Illinois.
Speaker 2:sorry, that's okay.
Speaker 1:When you were coming up, did you have an understanding of what this world of the steel and metal industries even was?
Speaker 3:No, no, my father was an egg distributor and my path was going to be to work for him.
Speaker 1:Oh, really, so did he own, or yes, so did he have the chickens and everything? No, he was the distributor.
Speaker 3:Yes, he was the distributor, so he would collect the eggs from the farmers or whoever might have the chickens, inspect them, package them and sell them then to schools, prisons, stores.
Speaker 1:Okay, and you were getting geared up they were, I guess, grooming you to take over the reins my sisters might not think that, but yes, and and and you know in school. Then you kind of you know, dad's got a job, this is what you do. You probably do it after schools or with him on weekends. What were? What was your dream? What was it that you wanted to be?
Speaker 3:Well, I thought that that's what I wanted to do and after about five years, I decided that, five years after graduation from high school, I decided that this wasn't it. So I went home and told my parents and my boyfriend of six years that I was leaving and going to college and that was in 1981. And I did not return to live there again.
Speaker 1:And that includes the boyfriend right.
Speaker 3:And that includes the boyfriend.
Speaker 1:yes, Well, I hope he's doing well.
Speaker 3:Yes, so do I.
Speaker 1:So you decided to go off to college, which you know it sounded like in your family. That wasn't necessarily part of the plan. You know what did your parents say? Were they like? Are you crazy?
Speaker 3:pretty much, pretty much yeah, yeah. But it took a very short period of time and they realized it was the right decision and then, from there found my way to the steel industry.
Speaker 1:So what did you take in school, in university?
Speaker 3:Marketing and psychology.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's a mix, so you knew people's brains, and then you knew how to sell it to them. That's a double-edged sword there. Yeah, that's my skill set.
Speaker 3:I'm in sales. I've always been in sales. I enjoy it.
Speaker 1:Now, that's probably something you did learn from your dad.
Speaker 3:I believe so because a distributor of any kind.
Speaker 1:You got to be good with people, yep, right and and sales is really about having clients trust you right, it's really you always hear that word trust. But when it's somebody else's money you got to really really make them trust you, right? Absolutely absolutely so when you finished school and you had this marketing background where you're like, okay, I'm gonna, I think I'm gonna go down this path. Marketing is a pretty wide field. What was that first job out of college?
Speaker 3:I actually was the metals industry really yes, yes stumbled into it, decided I was going to maybe just go for a couple of years to get some experience. You know, back then 40 years ago you stayed at a company. Your short term was at least two years, and then, after being there for a couple of years, I realized I loved it. I loved the people, I loved the industry. And again, that was 40 years ago.
Speaker 1:This year so, and that's the same company you've been with the two companies, that's it oh wow, yeah yeah, the first one I after I.
Speaker 3:I left there in 2001 and they were part of the demise of the steel industry at the time 2002, they went bankrupt and um, but had already left, and I've been in my current company since that time.
Speaker 1:So 20 years with the first one, if I do the math right, 18, yeah, 18, yeah. And then since 2002 at the new job, right, right, and all that time in the sales department working. So in that first gig, what was it that they sold? What was it that you were selling as a salesperson for them?
Speaker 3:Steel mill. I've only worked for two steel mills.
Speaker 1:Yes, and in Illinois there's quite a bit of steel production for the people that are listening.
Speaker 3:Northwest Indiana.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, that's where it's all at.
Speaker 3:That's where all the major steel companies were at the time.
Speaker 1:Well, I believe in Indiana, now or back then, there was an Ipsco, if I remember correctly, because now it's Evraz.
Speaker 3:Well, ipsco is where I was my second job. It used to be SSAB, excuse me. I said that completely wrong Backwards.
Speaker 1:Yes backwards.
Speaker 3:We were Ipsco and SSAB bought ipsco in 2007 right.
Speaker 1:So I worked for ipsco because I'm from regina saskatchewan oh my goodness where we worked at ipsco and I did my first 10 years of welding as maintenance at the steel mill.
Speaker 3:Yes, exactly, and then?
Speaker 1:they got bought. Well, it was a partnership with ssab at first, because we built a pipe mill attached to our steel mill, which ssab was from Sweden, I believe, or somewhere they came, and then it got sold out outright a few years later.
Speaker 3:Well, they kind of they did a divestiture. So, part of the pipe mills. The US pipe mills went one way and the Canadian went another way, and then the steel mill went.
Speaker 1:And in the end they all got sold out, right.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, yes, didn't they?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I remember there was that time when it was we were flush with work for well, 70 years, 60 years.
Speaker 1:That mill is one of the oldest mills in North America, in Regina. And then we got, we did the pipe mill and then 2001,. It was dead in the water. We had yards of steel, yards of pipe coils, as far as you could see, sitting there there rusting out in the rain. No one was buying steel, and it was a scary time, and that's actually when I stopped working at the mill, because I got laid off, right right. So then I had to go figure out what else I was going to go do yeah, well, you should have stayed, because that's when they built the mills in the us.
Speaker 3:That's what I heard.
Speaker 1:That's why as soon as you said that, I was like. You know, there was that talk about going to the us, to Indiana, because of all the new mills that were popping up there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but it was actually built in Iowa, okay, so that's where the first one was in 1997, actually, I think, is when they commissioned, or that might have been the first slab. And then the second mill is in Mobile Alabama. Okay. That was in 2003.
Speaker 1:It would have been the 97 one, because I remember it was right before my daughter was born. She was born in 98.
Speaker 3:There you go.
Speaker 1:So wow See small world.
Speaker 2:Small world and.
Speaker 1:I always have fond memories of working in a steel mill. It was dangerous.
Speaker 3:It was scary? Yes, it is.
Speaker 1:And it's a place where you've got to keep your head on a swivel and be careful Safety first Safety first. I did see a workplace death in that mill in my career and it was very scary for a young welder to see, but also impacts you for the rest of your life.
Speaker 3:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:To not take shortcuts and to do things right, because we knew what caused the accident. It was a shortcut, it was someone not being safe and in a steel mill you don't get a lot of time to react.
Speaker 3:No, you need to always have that head up. Yeah, heads up.
Speaker 1:So for you coming up in this industry, in the steel mill industry. What was that learning curve? You didn't come from this background, no, and they don't teach you that in university. Now here you are in a highly technical field, because foundries and mills they don't talk in rough conversations, they talk very specific conversations. You're talking about very specific runs of steel, very specific mixtures and types. How did that work out? Like, how did you do that?
Speaker 3:Well, it worked out. Fortunately, I've worked for. You know, the two companies that I've worked for have a fantastic technical team, great metallurgists. The company I currently work for, ssab we have wonderful research. So when you have a team around you, surrounded like that, it helps make the selling much easier, when you have a great product and you have the resources Right.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and as a woman now, through the lens of a woman 40 years ago you know. I assume you were likely the only female sales rep they had, you know, and that would have been Ipsco back then that would have been a different company.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, but whatever company, that was way way back.
Speaker 1:What were the hurdles that you felt you had to go through at that point, or did you feel like you were kind of well-received?
Speaker 3:I think it was a mixture. You have some people that obviously were willing to open up and see you. Welcome you, welcome you, thank you, thank you for searching for a word there, and then you had some that of course, some jerks.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:But you know, that's life, that's life yeah, you have to figure out how to maneuver that and use you know, use it, use what you can, um, to get over those hurdles and obstacles. And, um, I was fortunate again. I've been very fortunate to have people surrounding me, um, that did support me, um, and if there were people that didn't, you know you have to also be um. I don't know if brave's the right word, but brave enough to challenge.
Speaker 1:To challenge and to be heard, because, at the end of the day, you have a job to do. It's not like you can just say oh, they were not nice to me, I'm going home, I don't like it. There's still an expectation that you have to come home and the product has been sold or moved. Product has been sold or moved. Um, just recently, at the the conference in in orlando that we were at, we heard a story about you know a customer coming up and saying I don't want to talk to you, I want to speak to a man, you know, because you're not going to be the expert because you're a woman. I want a man, even though the woman at the booth was far higher up than any of the men there. Right, did you ever have situations where people would say you know what, why are you here from Ipsco or SSEB or whoever? Where's the man Do you ever have?
Speaker 3:that happen, oh sure, sure Over the years it did and you know, interestingly, it depends on the manager at the time it depends on the manager at the time. One did not probably handle it the way that they should have. They succumbed to pressures, but that was short-lived, because he was replaced and they had to deal with me and if you wanted our quality product, then you've had to deal with me. Yeah, and if you wanted our quality product, then you've got to deal with me.
Speaker 1:That's the person you're going through and that's that Right Right. You brought it up, you said it a couple of times already, but how important is it to have that mentorship or that support in the workplace?
Speaker 3:male or female but especially female yeah. It's, it's paramount, it truly is Mentors, friends, people you can rely upon, turn to for advice, direction. It's something that is invaluable. And that is the one thing with AWMI that you know. I have been a member probably for 35 years and my best friends are from meeting them from AWMI that many years ago. Most have a lot, have left the industry, a lot have retired. Some will be here.
Speaker 1:Are you pumped to see them? Oh, absolutely, and I see a lot of them all the time.
Speaker 3:I'm you pumped to see them? Oh, absolutely, and I see, and I see a lot of them all the time we're still pumped to see them, of course so well, that was good.
Speaker 1:That was exactly where I was going with. My next question is you know we're talking about mentorship, we're talking about having the proper supports and feeling safe and empowered at work, and you're in a. You know now that I know where you cut your teeth. I know that industry. Well, that's about as male dominated, rough and tumble as it gets.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:That's. It's kind of about as hard of an industry as there is Right For you. How did you find AWMI, or how did they find you so early in your career? You know, I just heard of AWMI two years ago. I've been in the industry 32 years. You know how did that connection happen?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well in the Chicago chapter it's a large chapter that has always been very active. And there were you. There were women that were mentors that would seek out young women in the industry.
Speaker 1:Young girls coming up?
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I was very fortunate, there was a woman by the name of Gail Heineke, and she was relentless.
Speaker 1:She would not let you go.
Speaker 3:No, no and thank you, gail.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So she got me involved in volunteering and then then I was on the board and then I became president, then I went to the regional board, then I went to the international board and then was international president and I just loved the organization would support it 100 always. Obviously I'm here still supporting, so yeah, and want to and let first like a.
Speaker 1:Can we go back in time to that first meeting that you get invited to? Like you're a young woman in this field, I can sense it's a tenacity off you and I love, like very much Illinois here we got you know you're coming in, I this job, you know I'm going to do my job, so be it Right, and you get invited out to AWMI for the first meeting from Gail after she hunts you down. You go to this meeting, what are you thinking, what are you feeling, what are your first impressions?
Speaker 3:I think at first I had to find the right women there, because not all women are the right women there.
Speaker 1:Not all women are the same Right.
Speaker 3:And you know, some were a little more cliquish.
Speaker 2:But you were able to get through that. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And you know there were men that supported. Obviously men support the organization today and are active members, and they were back then too. Um, so it just finding, finding, finding your, your people and when I say your people.
Speaker 1:That could be everybody at that meeting yeah, you know except for maybe one, yeah it depends on the daigles exactly yeah, yeah, yeah so now in in this, like I love the fact that you've been a part of the industry so long like I'm getting a little long in the tooth now.
Speaker 1:So there's certain things that we get as we get older and that's a perspective, right, and you get to look back on your career. You get to look back at things you do, like, like you just talking about the steel industry, I was like I mean, I was 17 years old when I went for my first job at the steel mill and, uh, you know the thoughts going through my head as a 17 year old kid, right, um, but for you, you know you get into these, these jobs, and now you're in with awmi. You've seen 40 years of change of movement of industries. There's been in my life at least three complete collapses of the economy and you know it's up and down and there's there's the boom time when all the welders are rich and then there's the downtime when we're all looking for jobs at the gas station, and you know there's these ebbs and flows of our industry. For yourself, you know how did you protect yourself for 40 years to stay in the job with these companies even as they switch hands and get moved around?
Speaker 3:I think it's um intentional and you have to be um you know, you have to be willing to, to roll with the punches. You've got to change and adapt it's dynamic um you may not always agree with the direction, but hang around, it'll change, so you know, that's. I think that that's the best advice that you can give anybody in any industry doing anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just be adaptable. Keep ears open, don't cause too much of a ruse.
Speaker 3:Oh no, I don't know about that.
Speaker 1:I immediately regretted, saying that to you.
Speaker 3:I think you might hear that from other people.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you got to cause a ruckus.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that would not be Tammy, so yes, All right.
Speaker 1:Well, this is perfect. Let's take a break for our advertisers right now. We'll come right back and we'll keep going with Tamela, because now I want to talk about how you're involved now you know your.
Speaker 1:AWMI course and what's happening, and even this week, all right. So we'll be right back here on the CWB Association podcast with Tamela Holt, who is here from the Chicago chapter at AWMI in Nashville, tennessee. Stay tuned. Looking for top quality welding machines and accessories, look no further than CannaWeld. Based in Vaughan, ontario, cannaweld designs, assembles and tests premium welding machines right here in Canada. Our products are CSA certified and Ontario-made approved, reflecting our unwavering commitment to excellence. Count on us for superior service that's faster and more efficient than market competitors. Whether you're in aerospace, education or any other precision welding industry, cannaweld has the perfect welding solution for you. Visit cannaweldcom today to discover why professionals rely on CannaWeld for their welding needs. Cannaweld where precision meets reliability in welding. Enjoy peace of mind with our four-year warranty on most machines. Conditions do apply.
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Speaker 2:I'm not much of a country fan, but I'm learning All right.
Speaker 1:Tamela, before the break we were talking about you know the course of your career, the changes and ebbs and flows and how you stay relevant In that same lens. You know 40 years. You said you've been with AWMI 35 years. There's also an ebb and flow with associations, and roles change Lots of times you're voluntold into the next role in a volunteer type association. How's your career been in AWMI and how have you stayed relevant and involved?
Speaker 3:Well, I stay involved at the local chapter level. Well, I stay involved at the local chapter level After having the presidency and then your past president for two years. I felt like it was time for me, then, to step off boards because there's a lot of young women that should be taking those positions.
Speaker 3:So that's my take on it. But I keep involved with the chapter events, any kind of mentoring or anything that when people come to me, I try to help out. Tomorrow I'm actually another long-time AWMI past president who actually just retired. She and I are conducting one of the training sessions.
Speaker 1:Awesome.
Speaker 3:So I was asked to do that, which I'm very happy to do. So I think that's how I keep myself relevant. I also am a big within my own company, a big proponent of AWMI.
Speaker 1:Helping the young women coming in to join.
Speaker 3:And we have a lot of members. We're a platinum member of AWMI. We have, I think there's something like nine of our nine people that serve on boards.
Speaker 1:From your company. Yeah, amazing. So you're kind of a recruiter too.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely Everybody who's in AWMI needs to be a recruiter.
Speaker 1:We talk about that with our association too, and even in this relationship that's developing now with our association and the AWMI, I see so many intersection points where I'm so amazed that this connection didn't happen sooner. Our association is 104 years old, oh my.
Speaker 1:You know, like we've been around since the like I mean our original signers were like Mr Lincoln.
Speaker 1:You know, like it was a long time ago and somehow this connection wasn't found until by accident in Denver at the steel conference, when we got put in the booth next to AWMI and we, on our mandate, our job is to try to reinforce the steel industry, make sure that we always have enough young people coming in to support the work that we have, not just in Canada but really around the world, because everything is pretty connected and a big part of that is getting more women in the industry. Right, women are 51%, 52% of the population and less than 5% represented in the steel industries. Well, here at AWMI in this conference this week, I'm the minority Right, which I love because I'm here to learn right. So for yourself, you know I love because I'm here to learn right. So for yourself, you know, how has AWMI changed as an organization in the last 35 years? I mean, growth is obvious. It looks like you guys have exploded in the last few years, but what other changes have you seen happen?
Speaker 3:Well, you know, you had mentioned, you know ebb and flow, and that's what's happened, because again back in the late 90s there were so many steel companies and the Chicago chapter was huge and we would have dinners that were 800 people, Wow. But when you shrink and those companies go away, there's less people. So I think AWMI has seen ups and downs throughout the years and it goes sometimes with, obviously, business conditions in the industry. In the last few years though it seems like when I say few years, maybe 10 years or so AWMI has been very consistent, Even in times when the industry was down money was being watched very closely.
Speaker 3:AWMI is being supported because I think employers definitely see the value that AWMI brings.
Speaker 1:And what is that value? What is the value If I reached out to a company? We're always out talking to businesses and we are adding it now to our portfolio to say, hey, reach out to AWMI and you know their sister association. What is it that you're going to offer them when they call?
Speaker 3:Well, we talked about mentorship, but you have there's tours and there's, you know, industry speakers and there's educational programs in many, many different forms, different subject matters. A lot of it can be regional, based on, obviously we're different. I mean the, you know, chicago chapter is different than California.
Speaker 2:Different industry.
Speaker 3:Right different industry. So all those things are available. I think that if you participate on a board level, you learn how to run your own small little company. You have budgets you have to answer to people, budgets, you have to answer to people.
Speaker 1:So it's it's a challenging and fun and rewarding event in life to do this, and for the members themselves, the young women that are getting involved with AWMI, what are the skills that they're gonna pick up, you know, being a part of your, you know in terms of their own personal professional development? Some of it's the courses and training, obviously, but working with the organization itself sometimes is the training right.
Speaker 3:Oh sure, I mean if you've got 13 type A women sitting in a room together.
Speaker 1:Things are going to get done.
Speaker 3:Yes, they are. Yes, they are. Now there might be a couple of different ways to approach that, but they're going to get done. So I think just I shouldn't say just I think learning to work intimately with people to get the job done and issues resolved, where you may not always get those opportunities within your company, depending on the role you have.
Speaker 1:That's right, and it's not necessarily the company's fault, it's just the role you're in and what you do.
Speaker 3:Right, right.
Speaker 1:I started volunteering with our association. Now I run the association that I used to volunteer at.
Speaker 1:If that's a long train, I don't know, but I started as a young man volunteering with my local chapter for the association and one of the first things that they started getting me to do is to do presentations, because I used to work in the mill and I used to work with stainless steel and they would ask me to do presentations, and you start learning how to public speak and you start learning to stand up, and then you also start learning when it's time to stop talking sometimes, which is a valuable lesson in itself which is a hard one.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's. That's one we all should have.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and it's a tough one, yeah but you know, professionally, none of those things are official lessons. You know I'm not going to chapter meetings with the you. They put a big banner over the door saying today you're going to learn to shut up, but you go and you attend the meetings and you learn to respect everyone in the room. Everyone in this room, like you said, is a type A. Everyone here is ready to try to get something done. Everyone's volunteering. No one's getting paid. Everyone's here because they got a reason to be so. You don't want to, you know, hijack this or you want to. You want everyone to participate and get something done correct, right, those lessons in itself are so valuable and I think they're only kind of really found in volunteering you know, it's different when you're not getting paid right, right, because you want to be there you want to be there, so you want to seek that knowledge.
Speaker 1:And would you relate your passion for sales specifically to the trades, or do you feel like your passion for sales would have been the same, like, let's say, 18 or 19-year-old Tamela would have been hired, you know, at the Plastic Producers of America? I don't know.
Speaker 3:Right, right, I mean, I think that again, I think that sales is my skill set, so I would hope that I Would have crushed it. Yes, yes, that would have translated to anything, but I think that the people in the industry are the reason that I stayed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is a unique world, it is.
Speaker 3:It's a small industry, as you and I were talking offline and it's again some of my best friends that I have.
Speaker 1:Well, almost all my best friends are in this industry. Yeah, yeah, if I think about it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you're right Outside of maybe two. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, if I think about it. Yeah, you're right Outside of maybe two.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, you're, yeah, never mind.
Speaker 1:And not even necessarily people I worked with.
Speaker 1:And it's weird because you know now that I'm old, right, it's like there are people that I may. They may have been a student, they may have been someone that worked at a shop, or someone I never even met at an association meeting. We never actually worked together. But now there's that commonality between us, right, which is, at the end of the day, the industry, right. It's why we do the podcast, it's why we interview people like you, so that when people listen, they kind of realize that this industry is not just a job like other jobs.
Speaker 3:Correct.
Speaker 1:We're very unique in the steel industry where we have our own associations. We have our own support networks. You don't see this in other trades, you don't see it in other industries and I'm not really sure why it is the way it is, but it's a beautiful thing. You know, I've traveled around the world and run into people from my hometown. It's just these amazing stories that you run into for yourself. Now, 40 years in the industry, 35 years with AWMI, you must have a very good connection to just about every corner of this country here.
Speaker 3:I have a great network. I'm very blessed. I'm very thankful here. You see, 381 of my closest friends are here.
Speaker 2:Pretty popular. I may not know all of them, but they're going to be my closest friend by the end of the conference.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 3:So that's, you know, that's, and all over, obviously, again all over the country and Canada, and that's what's nice, that you really can. If you need, you can be in any city and look up somebody and you might know them. And if you need help, that's an easy way.
Speaker 1:It's probably there, yeah, and they're usually excited to tell you about what they do and what their job is. Sure, do you see a growth? Is it getting better for women in?
Speaker 3:the industry oh absolutely.
Speaker 2:Sure sure.
Speaker 1:Because that's always the question. We're trying, we're trying, we're trying, but is it going? Are we moving the needle?
Speaker 3:Yes, well, and again, I'm very fortunate with the company that I work for. My direct general manager is a woman, and before that our commercial director was a woman. That she's left, but we have a lot of women within our company in management and we're owned by SSAB in Sweden as our corporate headquarters. Our world headquarters, and there's a lot of women in those positions over there too.
Speaker 1:Well, the head of the Swedish Welding Society is a woman too.
Speaker 3:They're even.
Speaker 1:Right. I mean they're very forward-thinking and they have a new network out there I was just talking to somebody about it called the Swiss Global Learning learning network, where they are actually offering trades programming for women for free online and stuff like that which I was like you know, that is amazing, right, okay, now you know what's next on your bucket list now, because you know what keeps you inspired.
Speaker 1:You're going to leave this conference on friday and I'm sure you're going to have a new fire burning in you. What are these things that you look for?
Speaker 3:I obviously am towards the end of my career but I'm not ready to go yet. As long as my company feels that I contribute and I'm happy and I'm going to stay with it. I'm very again, very fortunate and blessed. I have five grandchildren that are under the age of four and another one on the way.
Speaker 1:You've got side projects.
Speaker 3:I have things that I could fill my time with oh wait, I do fill my time with.
Speaker 1:What do you think is on the horizon for AWMI and their future?
Speaker 3:Well, they're expanding. They've just added two new chapters. One, I believe, is official now.
Speaker 1:In New.
Speaker 3:York, right, and the other one in Florida is a provisional still. You know we'd like to see, and I know that organizations would like to see, you know, maybe some chapters in the mountain states, because there's kind of a void there.
Speaker 1:Like in Colorado, you were talking about? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Colorado, Utah, whatever those areas, Well, it's interesting because Colorado has like one of the biggest mining and universities in the world.
Speaker 3:You'd think that they would be all over that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:What about Canada? I asked the other guest that too. I was like when's Canada on the list?
Speaker 3:We've got Toronto. Well, you've got Toronto, yeah.
Speaker 1:And they don't make any steel in Toronto. You've got to come over out west where we are. We make all the stuff.
Speaker 3:Exactly that's right Outside of Everest and Saskatchewan what is there?
Speaker 2:Oil and gas? I guess, yeah, oil and gas.
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah. People got to drive a long way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, so you have to, you know, really book it.
Speaker 3:Right right, right right. So I mean again I'm not involved in the leadership of AWMI on a board anymore, but there's a lot, of, a lot of growth potential out there. There's obviously good leadership. That's in place now and will continue and has been. Good leadership has been in place. I didn't want to make it sound like it hasn't been.
Speaker 1:It's always been good.
Speaker 3:It's always been great. It was great back in 2013 yeah that's when I was.
Speaker 1:That's when you were probably the best time ever. Yeah, so to, as we get closer to the end of the interview, I guess what are some of the key things that you are going to take away from this week. You know who's someone that you're here to see presentation wise, or what's something that you're here to see presentation-wise, or what's something that you're really excited to be a part of this week.
Speaker 3:Oh, I think that these conferences are always good and they're always different. We've got a couple customers here that are actually part of the presentations that are going to be here, part of the presentations that are going to be here, and so I always enjoy seeing that, of course, but I think that the variety and the way that it's broken up, the way that they have formatted it, the keynotes, the panels I think that keeps things interesting timely.
Speaker 1:Good, good and Nashville. How do you like Nashville?
Speaker 3:Well, I haven't seen much yet.
Speaker 1:That's right, you just got in this morning. I just got here. Yeah, have you been to Nashville?
Speaker 3:before you know, I was here in Valentine's Day 2020 for a wedding.
Speaker 1:Oh wow, very romantic.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 2:and then we know what happened in march of 2020, so that, uh, we got to enjoy it one good one in before it all yeah, yeah, that's good.
Speaker 1:I was actually just coming back from working in russia when covet broke out and I actually think I might have brought it back from Russia, I don't know, because we all got sick off that plane, every single one of us and and then that was in uh, that was in February of 2020. It was immediately right after everything shut down. I was like, oh man, and like we were all sick. I was like, oh man, I wonder if I'm patient zero, what do they?
Speaker 3:call them yeah, right, right that's awesome.
Speaker 1:So you're not retiring anytime soon. You're gonna stick around. We love that you're here. I'm so glad you took the time out for this interview well, thank you and it was a lot of fun and you know, now we're we're, we're brothers in arms. We, we did our time with the same companies and so like we were connected.
Speaker 3:Now, yeah, we call those sisters in arms, but okay okay, we know we are homies in arms there. There you go. I love it. Thank you, Max.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely. And how do people join just on the way out? How do people join AWMI? How do they become a member?
Speaker 3:Oh well, obviously you can talk to if they're here. They're already a member, but you go online wwwawmiorg.
Speaker 1:Awesome.
Speaker 3:Well, perfect. Thanks for taking the time to be on the showawmiorg.
Speaker 1:Awesome, well, perfect. Thanks for taking the time to be on the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you.
Speaker 1:And for all the people that are following along. You know, please be a part of these organizations. They're doing wonderful things. They need more memberships, they need more people to be a part of it, More corporate sponsors to help support these things, as our company is. And you know, even as our company is, and you know, even association to association, we can find ways to collaborate and support each other and make the industry better and safer for everybody. So until the next episode, we're here in Nashville having fun at AWMI and make sure that you comment, download and share. We'll see you at the next episode. We hope you enjoyed the show.
Speaker 2:You've been listening to the CWB Association Welding Podcast with Max Cerone. 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 Holm, this podcast serves to educate and connect the welding community. Please subscribe and thank you for listening.