Calling All Humans: Let’s Guide The Next Generation Of The Trades With Passion, Pride, Determination, And Generosity

I grew up without a mom. I also grew up in the trades. My dad was our primary caretaker. He was – and still is, to this day – a general contractor and independent business owner. Without always having someone to care for my younger sister, brother, and me at home, he’d often take us along with him to job sites. I usually was a quiet, shy girl, but around my dad, I always felt bold and brave and like I could take on the world.

Some of my earliest memories include us climbing into his dump truck. He’d buckle us up in his dusty, gritty, soot-covered seats, and he’d let us play with the CB radio and tell knock-knock jokes to the other truckers. At the job sites, he would take the time to show me how to mix cement and pave stones. With a great amount of pride and passion, he’d show me how to find studs in walls, and he’d tell me all about the wonders of radiant heating. Every time I got to join my dad in visiting another job site, I’d peer out the window of that big, bumpy truck with joy, feeling like I was larger than life.

I grew up adoring my dad. I grew up adoring the trades. So, after I finished school, it was natural for me to eventually enter the trades. I had worked a few years in corporate settings, but I quickly found out that those stuffy white-collar settings weren’t for me. I later joined a local plumbing company as an office manager. I was the only woman in the business at that time, but I felt right at home.

At the plumbing company, the owner poured knowledge into me, just like my dad did. He taught me all about his business and love for plumbing. He hired a female financial advisor, who came in to close the books a few days of the month, and to sit in on their board meetings, too. Every time this woman came for the monthly close, I was intrigued by her – she was smart, sharp, bold, opinionated, outspoken, and determined. She was passionate about both her career and teaching others. She’d invite me to monthly lunches and give me pointers about being a woman and being in business. One time, during one of our lunches, I told her about an error I had made at work that I felt terrible about. She pointedly said, “Jennifer, human beings don’t fail.” It’s still something I think about. I had few women I could look up to in my life, but she became one of them.

I also accepted professional coaching during my career. My primary coach was a woman. She brought a whole lot of her personality to our calls and gave me pointers and a listening ear. She was determined to bring out the best in me, and it paid off.

I’m now a Customer Experience Coach at Nexstar Network. I help business owners build and grow their call centers. I also support their frontline staff. I work with many women in the trades. Half of my colleagues are women, too. They’re smart, bold, passionate, and determined. To me, they are larger than life. As a coach, I get to pour back into businesses like other mentors have poured into me.

According to the 2022 Department of Labor study, women make up only 4% of the workforce in the trades. 87% of them fill office roles, and 14% of them fill staff executive positions.

Anecdotally, I experienced what it’s like to live this. I had few women to guide me in life and in my career. But the professionals who did change my life – both men and women – all had something in common: They took the time to guide and explain. They shared their passions and knowledge; they believed in greater outcomes. They lifted up others and looked out for the people working alongside them.

This is what makes the trades so magnificent: a sense of camaraderie. No matter who we are, we take pride in what we do.

Sometimes, when working with business leaders, I’ll hear a few misguided individuals still refer to their female staff as “girls in the office” or “girls in the field.” I’m determined to shake the ground here. These adults who support businesses in the trades are women. But more importantly, they are professionals. They take pride in what they do. Most people at the heart of who they are do.

I believe that we don’t need more women in the trades – we need more professionals, both women and men, to guide the next generation with passion, pride, determination, and generosity. We need more humans to step up and show up as their best selves in service of others. When we become our biggest and best selves, we invite others to do the same. This is the world I want to live in.