So Brooke Lang, right, got it, and Eric Hyatt, our very first international guests for all the way from Toronto. So it was very exciting. You are apprentices with the local 47, steam fitter apprentices. 46. Yeah, 46. I wrote down the wrong number. Okay, 46 is not 47. So you're a steamfitter apprentices up in Toronto. You were able to join us. We got connected through Nush with the Sisterhood of Trades. I'm super excited to have you guys on. So why don't you guys just kind of kick it off? Tell me a little bit about who you guys are and what you're doing right now. All right. I'm Brooke, like you said. I am a third year steamfitting welding apprentice with the 46. Right now I'm in trade school. So I'm in my level two, which is like, you know, we have three levels in an apprenticeship, at least in our trade. I'm not sure if it's the same for all the trades. But so we have our level one, which is basic, level two, intermediate, level three advanced. So I've already done level one for welding and then one and two now first team hitting and correct i don't know a lot about um trade schools or anything like that um to get to these different levels what does that entail is it like graduating each level is a certain amount of time is it like marking off different skills that you have to be able to do to be able to get to the next levels the way that works 1 ,700 hours? Yeah, 1 ,700 working hours. That's a lot of hours. Yeah, 1 ,700 hours a year times five years. So I think it works out to 9 ,000 hours. 9 ,000 hours total. Yeah, and then you also have to pass each level of trade school with a 70 % or higher. Okay, that makes sense. So the tests that you guys had to do today, was that one of these, the tests for a certain level or certain skill set? Yeah, it's just like every week. Every Friday we have a test. Every Friday. Our blocks are only eight weeks long. So we have an eight week block. We have a test every Friday. And then the last week we have exams for I think exams this year is only math drafting, which is blueprint reading. Or not even blueprint reading. It's blueprints. Making blueprints. Yeah. And then our final exam. It's crazy. That would actually, I feel like that would interest me a lot. That one, do you guys like that one? Like, I enjoy it, but, like, the same time, it's really painful. Is it just meticulous? Yes. Very. You can't have eraser marks on your paper. Like, you have to get it right, like, the first time. And that makes me think the only experience I ever had with that was, like, when I did a shop class back in middle school, and we had to learn how to do pretty much like, you know, like an architecture drawing. and it was the same thing he was telling us kind of obviously he didn't care with us we were middle schoolers but he was telling us things like that like they have to be pristine and they have to be so accurate yeah i was like i don't think i'm got out for this but that does sound like it'd be maybe fun if you have that kind of brain for that yeah i feel like it's fun when your drawings aren't to scale when you have like a not to scale drawing okay and you can just like you know make sure it fits in the page but when it's to scale and your scale is like 30 seconds yeah and then you have this big project due at the end of the year and it has to be like to the 30 second or you're losing a mark for every single 30 second that you're off yeah and you're no eraser marks nothing like we spent last year I think it was like a total between the two of us is like 12 hours doing one one drawing and like give me like how big are these drawings are we talking like The paper, what's the size of the paper? Do you know it? It's like, I think it's like 12 by 24. Yeah, it's not like a full -sized blueprint that you're actually drawing. Yeah, like this giant like a Taurus paper. But it is big. It's like 12 by 24, I'm pretty sure. And that's crazy too, because that's like not a big paper for that many hours to go into that. Last year we had to do a four -story building with different heating systems on each floor. I was going to say that was going to be my next question is what are you guys actually drawing like buildings or is this like piping systems or piping systems in buildings. We obviously don't have to worry about like the HVAC, the electrical, all that stuff. But it is like full heating systems in buildings down to like the trim off the boiler. That is crazy. I got us on a tangent all that. I was very, I don't know a lot about trade school. So we'll probably be getting more into that anyways. So you are, you said your second level right now. Okay. Okay. Gotcha. And what are you at right now? I'm also in my second level. I'm in my fourth year of my apprenticeship. I started that like a few months back. I moved up into that, but I'm also in the second level in my apprenticeship as well. Okay. So you guys have both done welding and you guys have both, your guys are both in steam fitting right now. So she is in welding. I'm a welder. Gotcha. I'm just a team fitter, yeah. Gotcha, okay. So you gotta, you gotta break it down for me. What is the difference? Like, I understand there's a big difference there because you guys are doing very, very different things. But what would be the difference between, because I know when we were talking before this, you are currently getting like fab shop experience? Is that? Yes, so before I went to trade school, I was working in the shop at my company. Gotcha. So I was working with the Hyde -Mech machines. Shouted Tony Little. I love Tony. He's so cool. Shout -a -tony. Yeah, but I was like troubleshooting the machine one day and I just messaged him and I was like, hey, help me. Like, please. That's why I love my LinkedIn network. I know I can message every of them and just be like, please help me. But yeah, it's been really cool because I hadn't worked in like a fab shop before. I've always been on site. So just working with those really like big machines and kind of seeing how they operate and seeing how the behind the scenes of everything operates. It's been really cool. And what kind of machines are we talking about? Because I feel like large -scale fab shop machines would be scary. Yeah, they are. There's one. Do you remember what that one was called? No, I don't remember now. I've also never worked in a fab shop. This machine is huge. What were they doing one day? Oh, they were fabricating a bucket for like a bobcat to plow snow. Okay. Just for a shot. Like to plows snow in the back. So they ordered like there was it 36, 36 inch pipe, which is like huge. Yeah. 36 in diameter. But and they have this big machine that's on rollers and they just set it to like whatever. And the machine does like all the torch cutting and like rolls it. And I was like that machine is so scary. When I walk by a Fab Tech and see some of those, I'm like, this is terrifying. This thing was huge, though. Like, it was probably, it had to be like at least like a hundred feet long. Yeah. Well, and then when you start getting into like, did you, do you guys ever see like beam cutting and things? Like when you're looking at these massive length beams that they're just like feeding through these machines. Yeah. Like, do you understand how large capacity of room you have to have to make something like that happens. Yeah, do you also understand the weight capacity that you need to have for that? Because, like, people underestimate how heavy the stuff that we work with actually is. Yeah, for sure. Like, even just six -inch pipe, like, anything over a two -inch pipe in our union, you're not supposed to carry by yourself. Do we still do it? Yes. But you're not supposed to. Supposed to be asking for help. Yeah. But sometimes you just don't have time for that. Can't always be waiting around on someone. It's a half -length of six -inch. I'll do it myself. No, don't do that. Also, don't look at me when you talk. I think I can't hear you. That's a good point. Okay. So, we're both in our apprenticeship right now. What are you guys working towards being in these apprenticeships? I just really want to get my ticket. Okay, and what does that mean? Like, once you've done your apprenticeship, you are eligible to write to become a journey person. Okay. Your certification of Certification. Certificate of qualification. And then from there, I want to have my own job site. Like, I want to be a foreman. I want to be off the tools. I like working on the tools. I'll do it for however long. It's not a big deal. But I do eventually want to move up into more position of power. And what do you, what kind of products do you hope to work on if you were to start, like, your own shop? If I were to start my own shop, Oh, that's tough. I'd want to do more, get into the more like industrial welding side and do more like industrial service. That's kind of where I started out was working in a steel mill doing service with a non -union company and like seeing kind of everything that goes into that. Yeah. And that's kind of like what I think I'd want to get in. I've always been super big into the industrial side of the trade. I think it's the coolest thing. That I've ever done. Looking in a steel mill would be crazy. Yeah. I have a lot of weird experiences in that place. We must get into that. Like that is the dirtiest place on the face of the planet. So based on the very few amount of videos that have come up online, even on my social media, just because I've pretty immersed in the steel industry and metal industry on LinkedIn, even TikTok sometimes. I find myself there. Steel mill videos are like, in my opinion, the closest thing to hell. Like, they look terrifying. That's actually, giant, like, molten lava metal or whatever that would be. There's one story from that steel mill that you worked in. I don't even know if you can share it, but which, what is it until? You had to escort people places to do things. I don't know. I think we should share it. And then we'd share it after. Yeah, that's a good point. I like the way of it. Yeah, it's a good point. Once a month, they used to bring, they had a couple of cops come every single month, and they'd bring all the guns that they confiscated from people, all the guns that were no longer certified for the police to use. And they literally, yeah, they literally bring them in wheelbarrows. And we used to have to escort the cops with also one of the steel mill workers as well and we'd have to escort them up and it's like this big plank that they walk across obviously there's railings on a side or whatever and then you drop them in those big melting pots it is like it is one of the coolest things you'd ever see actually it's like looking in the top of those pots is like one of the coolest things you ever see that sounds terrifying to me personally it does not terrifying it's kind of like falling yeah yeah so I guess it probably depends, like, where, which ones you work out, whatever. But like, is the safety pretty good at those places? Like, be honest. Be honest. Like, no, not really. Yeah. I just feel like you have to know what you're signing up for to work in a place like that. Yeah, exactly. And it's non -safed. No. It's like a completely different animal in there. Like, it can be, It sucks to work in all seasons because it's really hot in the summer. Those pots are, I don't know how many degrees they get up to. Thousands. Yeah, like, thousands for sure. But, like, if you're out there in the summer and you have to walk into that building, you're, like, immediately wanting to die. Yeah. Just because it's so hot. Is it even better in the winter? No, not really. Because you go from. And the air is also very thick. Like, I have pictures. I can try and pull them up after, if I still have them, of me leaving there after just like a random day of work. They're just completely black. Yeah, I feel like you'd just be like, it's like working in a mind. But like, honestly, it's probably pretty similar other than the fact that it's probably much more hot. But just like the the hazards, the risk, the what you're breathing, I would imagine is not good. No, no. And that's what I mean to. Like there's days where I got and we obviously have this now too, just depending what, what job site were on or whatever but if you go home and you go in the shower like I've had days where I went in there and just like the blackness that came like running out of my nose and like the corners of my eyes and like my ears everything it was just that's got to be honestly foul yeah yeah those are the days that you're washing your hands like six times before you get in your car you like get home and you're washing your hands again and they're still black yeah all like your exterior clothes gets left, like, at the door and you just have to, like, put it in a bag. Yeah, he had garbage bag. He said and forget it. When he worked there, he wouldn't even wash his work clothes at his parents' house. He would take them to a laundromat. You have to at that point. Yeah, because, like... Or get your own separate washer or something because, like, there's no way your parents would be. No, no, the first day I came back, I, like, had them in a garbage bag. I was like, oh, is there your work clothes? Yeah. And she, like, took him out of the bag. She's, like, get them out of here. Yeah. She's not going in my washer. Like, like outback or something. There's no way that you can do that. Not in Susan's house. Not in Susan's house. That is crazy. I've always been very intrigued by steel mills. Obviously, just given the nature of the work and being in the industry, wondering where it all comes from. Because we deal in raw material, obviously. But when you really start thinking about like how, it's kind of like that show, did you guys ever watch how it's made? With my dad all the time. So, like, those types of questions, when you're just looking at something and you're like, I just wonder, I must know where this came from. Yeah, exactly. And I feel like that working in a place like that would really start answering so many questions that you're like, to really see how it's made is just so wild. Oh, for sure. Like you see those big mills and you see those pieces of like molded metal, literally being formed and then being cut and just like thrown along the line. It's just like one after another, after another, it just keeps going. It's so cool to see. So is this mill that you were working out? Were they making all metal products? They were making, it was mainly rebar, and then channel and angle iron. That's pretty much what they focused on all of their time. Okay. And there's this pretty like small sizes of these things? Or did we get up into like some mass? No, we got up to like 60 foot pieces. Damn. Yeah. That's crazy. Okay. Okay. So a little steel mill work. I take it. You did not work at this steel mill. No, I did not. I think you should. You might like it. No, I'm okay. That's so comfortable where I'm at. You would love to open your own shop someday. And obviously we know that you guys are together. So do you hope to work together in your future after you guys are both done with your apprenticeships and things like that? Like, no. Yeah. I think that that's fair we don't even work together now like we've never worked together the closest we get to working together is be doing that school together and then obviously like our podcasts and all that yeah other podcasts that we do but my goal is to get off the tools ultimately yeah like I want to get my C like get my license it's Red Seal in Canada so like Red Seal basically I don't think you guys have it down here but the difference between Red Seal and like the certification you would get here is that with our red seal as soon as we get licensed and we have that red seal we can go work anywhere like we don't have to stay in Canada oh okay we can go work anywhere without like a universal it's a universally recognized okay yeah so like I'll always have that to fall back on and like obviously I'll never leave the industry as a whole I just don't want to be on the tools just like him he says he wants to be a foreman that's He doesn't want to be on the tools, because he still wants to be directly involved. Yeah. I would rather. And when you guys say on the tools, do you mean like the grunt work manual labor? The actual manual labor. Okay. But like I want to not even be around. Well, I mean, that's like hard to continue to do that for the rest of your life. I mean, that's like really gruel. We've had a lot of fabricators in for this podcast. And I mean, yeah, there are people that have been doing this pretty much their whole lives and then they've there's probably going to do it until they die yeah um but it's really hard really like just on your body even your mental state i feel like running your own shop can really be like mentally tasking as well so i would understand not really wanting to do that forever yeah the only reason i got into steam fitting to begin with i've been a welder for five years so since basically the second i turned 18 i've been a welder and the only reason i went into steam into steam fitting because our union, our training department, it is like mandatory that you have to do like a compulsory trade before you can do a skilled trade. So when I came into the union, they were like, okay, pick steam fitting or plumbing. And you have to finish that first before we'll let you be a welder. Okay. I was like, but I've already been welding for like two and a half years. But whatever. So I digress. I took a steam fitting apprenticeship. And once I get my steam fitting license, immediately I'm going to challenge my welding so that I can have that license as well. And then I will never work as a steam fitter again. Yeah. He will fit for me and I will weld. That is like how it's getting. I was going to say so that's already the duo right there. But what does steam fitting entail then? It's steam fitting is basically like the equivalent to pipe fitting in the U .S. except we also work on high pressure steam. But if you look at it as like a duo like fitter welder, like the welder will do all the tacking, all the welding. The fitter literally does. Not even the tacking sometimes, honestly. Usually the fitter tax too and then the welder comes in. Yeah. So it's like you think about like a piece of pipe needs to be like welded to this fitting. The fitter literally does everything except for welding. Okay. So the fitter will cut the pipe. They'll bevel it. they'll like make sure the gaps proper sometimes they'll even tack it and then the welder will just come in and weld it yeah just comes in burns rod welds it jobs done they don't have to do any of the heavy lifting unless they're nice the dynamic duo right now yeah but i still don't think we'll ever actually work together because he works in wastewater yeah and i work in like commercial i do like a lot of hospitals and stuff like that gotcha okay okay cool because you can choose really interesting career paths yeah I stay with like the cleaner like hospital that's pretty clean I last job I was on yeah last job I was on was on a boiler house refurb okay so just replacing any of this like dangerous work is yes it is I would imagine so you've had a I've had quite a few dangerous experiences actually on site yeah you have actually recently yeah tell me a little bit about If you can, I can't, I can. We had a diesel truck delivering diesel, and we were just like standing there watching it, whatever, and I was on the other side of the diesel tank doing what apprentices do, the grunt work, and I just heard a boom, and I like walked around, and the truck was like up in smoke, and there was diesel everywhere, and I was like, what happened? And they were like I don't even know and it was like this probably like 19 year old kid who like worked for his dad's company that was driving the truck and he was like uh he had no idea what to do I was this his fault what did he do no I'm pretty sure that the coolant tank like exploded in the truck so it was like no one's fault in particular but yeah but it didn't know it made my day four hours longer so Wow. Yeah, that's just one of them. I've also had people drop pipe on my head. That's also not good. Yeah, I got a concussion over the summer because I was... And hopefully you, like, have a helmet on and correct. So I had a hard hat on, yeah. But like, the only thing that the hard hat is stopping is the pipe from cracking your head open. It's not preventing you from getting a concussion. Yeah, of course. So I think I've had like, what, three concussions in the last year? All from pipe getting dropped on your head? Or like, you know, not being the smartest and, like, standing up and hitting my head off of, like, valve handles. That's always a given, though. And if you're not wearing a hard hat, that is, like, one of the worst feelings you could ever... When you stand up and smack your head on something. Sometimes you can't wear a hard hat because you're, like, up in a ceiling, and you're between, like, 18 million pipes. And, like, nothing's going to fall on your head when you're up there, so they're not, like, really hard on. Until your head makes its own contact with something else. Exactly. No. Okay, so kind of got the idea of what you guys are doing now. So I'm very curious to hear. We'll start with you, Brooke. How'd you get into it? Like what even led you to this career path? So when I was growing up, my dad worked for GM. So he was always very hands -on working in the garage, stuff like that as well, and I'm an only child. So to also very young parents, my parents, like, my dad was only 22 when I was born. Okay. So I spent a lot of time with my parents, obviously, being an only child, and having such young parents. So I was always out in the garage with my dad doing this, doing that, whatever it might be. And then when I got to, like, 18, I was a COVID graduate, actually. I know. I understood that. Yeah. So I didn't have school for like a year and a half. I worked full time because I was like, I don't like have to go to school. My grades aren't going to be any lower than they are. So I'm just going to go to work. And then when I got to 18, graduated all that stuff, I was like, I also played very high level volleyball. So I like, I was like, I'm going to go to college so I can keep playing volleyball. I didn't care about schooling part of it, like at all. My mom wanted me to be a nurse because I am type one diabetic. So she was like, go be a diabetes nurse. He's laughing because he's Filipino, so his whole family's nurses. Oh, okay, gotcha. So she was like, oh, I was like, okay, whatever. I'll go pre -health science, like, feel it out, whatever. I lasted three weeks before I dropped out and like quit volleyball altogether. I was like, I'm not doing this anymore. Yeah. And I took like a month or so off. And my mom was like, you've always been really hands -on. Like, why don't you look into a trade? Again, being diabetic, needed good benefits. Unions up in Canada offer really good benefits. So I was like, okay, I'll feel it out. I watched, like, one YouTube video on welding, and I was like, yeah, sold. Okay, cool. Spent $14 ,000 to go to school because I needed, the union wouldn't even look at me until I had prerequisite schooling. So I dropped $14 ,000 and went to school for, what was it, three months, I think. Yeah. So it's like a really really short program. Wait, so what is the prerequisite to get into the trade school? I didn't need a prerequisite to get into, oh, okay. Like the trade school that I went to, but I needed experience to get into the union. Gotcha. So I was like, okay, I'll go to school. So I went to school, three months, a lot of money later, and then I was on the waitlist to get into the union for another two years. Oh, yeah. And then I finally, they were like, here's an offer for basic welding. So I went to basic welding as a non -member. They sponsored me. And then by the end of my school there, like the end of my 10 weeks, I had a seat. That's basically the best way to put it. Nice. Yeah. Okay. So started a lot with like your dad kind of being out there. Yeah. I can relate to that. My dad's a welder too. Well, I grew up. He was a construction worker, like laborer also in a union, but he does a lot of welding on the side. So I understand that. Not an only child, though. I'm one of five. So we were all kind of like, someone had to be the boys and get out there and bother him. Five sisters? Oh, yeah. All girls. Oh, wow. One of which you obviously already met. She's the oldest of the youngest. Nice. We got four in between. Nice. That's crazy. But, yeah, one of us had to get out there, bother him while he was doing said welding, but I'm still telling him, I said this to all the ladies that I talked to at Fab Tech 2025. I interviewed a lot of female welders, and that was really fun. And I told all of them, like, 2026, I'm going to learn how to weld. Even if I just like, do something so able to just run it. No, seriously. So I've been up my dad's ass. every weekend I'm like what are you doing? And he just keeps telling me he's like I gotta switch it back to Meg or whatever and I'm like I literally don't know what that means nor do I care You don't want to learn Meg I would just like whichever one is like the easier one That's Meg what? Well no sorry Meg is easier but I was saying you to learn stick Whichever one He said that he has to switch his whole setup back to and I was like do you know what switching the setup entails literally no flipping a switch yeah see he's lying to me he's lying to me because this man just doesn't want to teach me out about calling your dad out on the podcast yeah you hear that he wouldn't he would have to have two separate machines because you can't run Meg on the same machine that no you can run stick and tag on you run stick and tag on a machine so you're saying I need to reach out to him right after this podcast and tell him that he's a liar. Yes. Precisely. On it. So we have your background. Eric, you got to tell us how you ended up where you are today. It's kind of a little bit of the same of like how she got in. So my dad also was in the trade. He's a licensed millwright. Which is? Millwright is a little bit of thing. Okay. It's like kind of a good way to put it. Like you learn the basics of pretty much like every trade. A little bit of welding, little bit of electrical, a little bit of plumbing. I've seen that title a lot. Yeah. Like on LinkedIn and I've truly, I've never what it is. So I didn't know either. Yeah, no, I didn't even know what it was like half my life until I like basically my mom was trying to push me to go into healthcare as well when I turned like 16 And she's like, talk to your guidance counselor. And I was like, okay, cool. So I talked to my guidance counselor. And he wanted every single person to do the exact same thing he did, which was go to university and, like, take kinesiology. And then he can be a gym teacher. So like every single one, me, all my friends would go in there. And we'd be like, what do you to do? And he's like, oh, like, take kinesiology. So I'm like, I'm not talking to this guy anymore. Yeah, that's odd. Yeah. So finally, like, one day I went up to my dad and I was like, what should I do? And he's like, you're good with your hands. Like, you can go out and, like, do a trade. So I went and did, like, a prerequisite course as well. But it wasn't at a private institution, like Brooke did hers at. It was at just the regular college in my town. So I did, like, the Trade Fundamentals program. It gave me, like, a couple weeks of each trade, per se. So I did, like, a little bit of carpentry, a little bit of plumbing, a little bit of H -FAC, all that stuff. And that I didn't really know where to go after that. So a couple of my buddies started their plumbing apprenticeships doing service right when they were 18. So as soon as I finished, I called them and I was like, hey, any of you guys hiring? And that's kind of how I got in. I did that for about a year. I wasn't really enjoying it that much. That company sucked. Yeah. I was working like 18 hour days making minimum wage. In the steel mill. In the steel mill. Yeah, and like when you're a young apprentice in the steel bill, too, like it is not. Well, you're doing like the bitch work. Yeah, like hauling lengths of pipe up like 20 flights of stairs just covered in like black so it the whole time. So I tried to get in the union. It takes a special kind of person to be able to do that because like so many people would probably just day one out the tour. I would be one of those people. But I also wanted to get in the union as well, the same thing is broke, but they wouldn't take me being younger and not having any experience. So like I kind of took that non -union job as like a way to get my foot in the door knowing that like in the future, if I like stick it out here, I can try and get in the union maybe in like a year, maybe in two years, whatever you're looking for apprentices again. And that will be ultimately like what gets me further in my career. Yeah. So I kind of just had to push through that for a little while. I figured it's probably the same here. I should know more about this given that my dad was also in union and I like brother -in -law's over in the union. Is it those wait times? Is it just because it's so competitive to get a spot? Are they really wanting to see all these different prerequisites, requirements, skills or you can get in. I feel like the wait time is just our union because I know we talked about earlier. Our union has like 15 ,000 members, which is the second largest member base in the United Association, which is like the group of units that we're for, I guess. But yeah, we have, we're just Toronto. It's not like we're like southern Ontario or anything like that. It's just Toronto. We have 15 ,000 members, 7 seven thousand apprentices right so the wait list isn't like a oh we need to see x y and z from you first it's just we have 3 ,000 people on the wait list ahead of you yeah the only reason I got it I got in fairly quick like when you look at it the only reason I feel like I got in is because when I started into the trade there was a really big push for women in the trades at the time yeah so me being younger wanting to be a welder having some experience all of that they were like yeah let's go you kind of got bumped a little bit higher up because I know people that have been trying to get into the union like welders who have been welding for like 10 years yeah that I've known for a while since like I worked in like I was a manager to gym right before I got into the union for like two years there was people that I knew from there that have been trying to get into our union for like five years already. And then I got in before them. And I would get like cornered at the gym when I would go back and they would be like, how did you get in? And I was like, I'm a girl. It was not my decision, but I'm also not mad about it. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, so I feel like that's pretty much it. There's just so many people trying to get into our union because we're paid well. We have good benefits. Yeah, it's usually, I feel like the benefits is such a massive thing. I mean, that was at least for like my dad with us growing up. Huge reason why he's kept that job or the entire time that I was growing up. Because I mean, the benefits for a family of seven crazy. Yeah. Oh, for sure. Wild. I could see that. And that's the thing now too is like you go and try to find jobs. It's hard to actually find full time work with pension and benefits, any kind of benefits at all really. Like when I was working non -union, I didn't have benefits. It was costing me, like, when I went to the dentist, like, twice that year I was working there, I think it cost me, like, almost $700 out of the pocket just to go get my teeth clean. For sure. And, like, it's something that I want to keep up with because, like, I'm doing it my whole life. It's, like, personal hygiene. Yeah. Well, and then it's tough because then you're like, well, I don't really want to pay for this right now. But then that's when you get actual problems, which the fixing the problems, way more expensive. Yeah, exactly. But, like, the preventative care is already like wildly expensive yeah yeah so I would imagine that the that's probably why there's such a big push well and then also like we had talked briefly about which we'll probably get more into this later on in the conversation looking for jobs that not a lot of other people might be willing to do there's a lot of people that especially coming out of college or universities want to maybe work at a desk, work with computers, things like that. But now people are looking more for the people that are willing to do hands -on, more of that grunt work too, which I think is, I wouldn't say a few and far between. Like you said, there's a list of 3 ,000 people waiting to get into the union. But I just don't think, which this kind of plays into the whole conversation on the skilled trades gap, where that shift is happening with the younger generations, ending the stigma behind people going to the trades. And also probably getting guidance counselors that actually advocate for the trades and not just tell people to become kinesiology majors. But which that kind of takes us into, the next part of our conversation is talking about that skilled trades gap. And just because you guys are younger, you guys have now been in the trades pretty much since you turned 18, done all sorts of different skills and you have union experience now. What are your guys' opinions on the gap? How did it start? Where do you think it's going? Even just kind of what you've seen from your own personal experience and then what you're seeing just in general in the industry. Yeah, I feel like we've talked about this on our podcast quite a few times but I've always said in my experience, I see a very like definitive line between people that are like 40 and under and people that are 40 and over, in our trade at least. I find that the 40 and under crowd when it comes to like the journeyman, the foreman, whatever it might be, those guys do not care if you're male, female, race, sexual preference, anything like that. As long as you show up and show that you're willing to work and that you actually care to learn, they are 100 % willing to teach you everything that they know. And then obviously you get a few in that younger category that are more traditional. Yeah, of course. I'll say more traditional. And then you get a few in the older category that are like realized like, hey, I'm going to retire in five years. Like I should probably pass my knowledge on. And then that 40 and older, I have had older welders who have straight up refused to work with me because I'm a girl, and they've used the excuse of like, oh, you're like, oh, you're so young, you're so pretty, like, you shouldn't be here. And I'm like, okay, but I am. But I am, so we might as well get something going. Yeah, and then like to my foreman or whatever, they'd be like, I'm not working with a girl. She doesn't know what she's doing. So they would, these old hand welders, some of them would rather pay a fifth -year apprentice who is only 15 % below journeyman rate, however much, almost $50 an hour to stand there and watch them weld. Whereas I was the first year at the time, I was getting paid like pennies on the dollar compared to them. And they would rather have the person that they're paying way more stand around and do nothing than the person that they're paying less just to watch the welder so that's like kind of where I stand on that but it's it's literally the same thing for me too because it's it's just like the way people were taught right you have those guys that are like I don't know say like you said traditional yeah 40 to retirement age where they were like brought up and everything was just so different compared to where it is now and like They need to realize that, like, the state of the world now, like, the way work is in the trades is so much better than it was back then. Yeah. Like, we even had people talk to you about that this week, like, compliment you about that this week, just talking about how, like, when women showed up on job sites, that's, like, when job sites actually got clean and got, like, washrooms and water and, like, different things like that. I totally forgot conversation would have happened. I have so... I'm now caught up to feet. I now actually remember who that was, yes. But that was like really cool being recognized in that way. Even like me being with you, like it's cool when she gets like recognition. Yeah, of course. Like it's like, yeah, it's badass. Yeah, I heard that a lot from, especially my conversation with Demi Knight Clark at FabTech. She was saying a lot of the same things about how even just the environments of these workplaces have changed and how I mean you would think that it's it is a lot better and also I think something that's kind of cool even if you don't want to admit that or accept maybe is a better word um that the younger generations are coming in wouldn't you want people like if you've been doing this your whole entire life and you're older and you might be thinking about retiring like wouldn't you want these younger people that are coming in who are like super excited about it like if you don't want them who do you want exactly yeah I don't know if you're connected with Andrew Brown on LinkedIn but he talks about there's a lot he has a pretty big podcast too the name of it's slipping my mind right now but he on LinkedIn all the time talks about how there's going to be like I don't know what the exact numbers are but there's like 50 ,000 welders retiring in the next five years yeah we need 80 ,000 welders just to replace them Yeah. And it's like people, like companies and all of that complain about not having anybody to hire. And it's like, okay, but you have to hire those first year apprentices that don't have experience and teach them. You can't just hire like, for example, a third year who's been doing it. Yeah. And has experience and all that stuff. Where are they going to get that experience if you're not hiring them? It's like the funny thing. Like I've seen this meme a lot on LinkedIn when, and this applies to like all jobs, anyone that's like job seeking, whatever. And it was something like me going out to job hunt and the requirements or the prerequisites was like, you have to have 10 years of experience, five more years of this skill. So pretty much you needed to start when you were like a baby. Yeah. Does that work for you? Yes or no. And it is kind of funny because you're like, but where does one get the experience that you're asking for. Yeah. If everyone's asking for that same thing, but no one's actually willing to give it. Exactly. Very confusing. We also have to think that there was that, like my welding instructor, Marty, he was in that age group where they, like, ripped shops out of high school. They didn't have shop classes anymore. They were pushing, going into, like, the computer. Yeah. IT, all of that stuff. It's exactly what happened by. So there's like, yeah. There's like a gap in like I find that there's people our age pretty much so like 25 and under the trades we were exposed to the trades a lot growing up so there's a lot of us that went into the trades but then there's that gap between like 25 and 35 yeah 10 years where nobody was going into the trades because in school you were told yeah in school you were told like don't go to the trades if you go to the trades you're dumb basically yeah like it's the best way to put it so there's that gap of like 10 years and it's like who's going to fill that gap that's those would be the people that have the experience that you're talking about yeah that have that 10 years experience or whatever it might be but those were also the people who were told don't go into the trades yeah they're pushed towards like a different career field yeah and it's all kind of a balancing act too because when we did our podcast with chris lucy i know that we were talking about him earlier um he made a great point that when you discuss the skilled trades gap. You also have to consider you can't make the pendulum swing so far the other way that now every single person, let's just say like just hypothetically, in the next couple years, all we teach in schools is trades, like in high school is trades. And then we don't advocate for universities at all. Well, then now you don't have engineers. Because you have to have like a balance of both. Because those things have to work in TAMO. They don't, we still need the people that are going to build it, but we also need the people that design it and create it and think of all the things that could go wrong. And budgeted it. I was like, fantastic point. So you have to, and obviously there's a lot of outside of the things that we build and make and create, there's a lot of other jobs that you can choose from. So like we want to make everything look like a good option and pick whatever's going to be the most, make that person the most successful. And also, I mean, and like you said, with your guidance counselor, I feel like we probably do need people in the schools that are actually advocating for both sides. Whether it's like bringing in someone from the trades that goes into high schools and like tells everyone about it, but you definitely can't just be telling people that the only thing that they can do is become a gym teacher, I guess. There has to be both sides. Like if you have guidance counselors in school, you have, they have to, like, be willing to, like, look at the person as an individual and be like, what is your skill set? And also, how were they brought up? Like, just like you were saying, you guys were already a little bit exposed to this growing up. So if they asked you that, versus, like, even though I had a dad in the trades, my mom did only tech stuff. So, like, I had a little, and she, she went to college. My dad did not. So I had almost like both of those worlds converging. So, but if they would have known about that, how would they have played that card? I've been like, well, you've been exposed to both. So, like, where are your interests? Like, but I do think it definitely starts a lot in the schools. And my conversation with Demi Knight Clark, she actually runs a, she started a camp for kids as young as six called Reimagined Rosie's. You guys should look it up but they teach skills and they teach welding to kids like that young and it's like a camp that they can she just helps them like learn anything and everything pretty much like anything that they want to build she'll like help them build it and I think it was I can't remember what I'd have to go back and listen to our episode but one they had like really cool project that like rockets or something like that they were working on it was really cool but you guys all have to go check that out but because she's a big advocate for not only talking about the gap but also when she mentioned the number that is needed like who is leaving and then who we need coming in she out put kind of posed the question like but who do we actually need because you can't just say we need X amount of welders like you actually have to start asking like but what spots do we need filled where do we need them kind of like back filling into what skills are required and then we have to almost like work backwards. Yeah. Yeah. But if you guys, so you guys have kind of been living it, what would you say in your opinion? How do we solve something like this? Or how do we start to close gap? Or do you think it's already happening? I definitely think it's already happening. Yeah. Up in Canada at least because when we talk about like career days at school and stuff like that and guide his counselors bring stuff in i speak at schools quite often just about like the skilled trades and all of that stuff right at career days and stuff like that so and i feel like it's pretty balanced like you'll have people that are in like real estate you'll have people that work in this sector that sector this that whatever job it might be and these kids are getting a lot more exposure to kind of everything that's out there yeah so i see it happening up in our area that's for sure yeah i obviously can't attest it down here but yeah no i can't as well like i know a lot of people that are reaching out to even me now but like to you as well looking for like just opportunities for apprenticeships and it's like the hardest part is just getting your foot in the door it's like we talked about earlier with experience like you want guys with experience companies want these people but they won't give anybody that first shot kind of which sucks because I also went through the first like I went through that firsthand too yeah and it does suck when you're young and you want to get in the trade you're full of energy and it's just like cold calling all day company after company and it's just like yeah we'll reach back out to you let me check we'll reach back out to you and then you should never hear back yeah now the cold calling sucks like when you get laid off oh yeah yeah so how did you guys secure your apprenticeships Was it literally that, genuinely just picking up the phone and just calling around? Or does your, does the union help facilitate that? So you have to get into the union, well, the way that it's supposed to work. Yeah. Anyways, you have to get into the union first. And then with our union, it's, there's list hire unions and there's name hire unions. List hire unions are very, very strict on like you go on the list and the people get hired from top to bottom. Okay. Our union is more name hire. I would say there is a list. Obviously, if you don't have a network like I do, you can go on the list and they'll find you a job eventually. But when I first got in and I was put on the list, I waited three months to be dispatched. So I sat on unemployment for three months before I got dispatched. And now, like, the best way to go about it in our union anyways is calling companies or like I use my LinkedIn network every job that I've gotten in the union has been through LinkedIn. That's good advice for the people out there because they might not have been told that yet. I built his entire LinkedIn when I was looking for new work because I'd been with my previous contractor for like three years and I just wanted something new I was like telling her, I was like, I don't even know who to call anymore. Like, I don't know what to do. Like, I don't know which list to even be looking off of. She's like, you need to make a LinkedIn. And then she built my whole LinkedIn for me. And honestly, like, I wouldn't be actually in the position I've been now without having a LinkedIn. Yeah. I've seen a lot of people talk about, well, because obviously it is kind of the platform for our industry. And we experience that the most, we most heavily promote ourselves on LinkedIn because it's the biggest platform for B2B, which is what Brizos does. But it is crazy how the shift, because I have to be on LinkedIn all the time, just because I handle all of our social media. And the shift in, I feel like it is becoming more of a social platform. Yes. Rather than it was so much more like even five years ago, just about networking, job searching, things like that. It was very white color before for sure yes yeah it is crazy though the use of it in like the metals industry and manufacturing and stuff because that's like that's the only people I follow on like yeah yeah same but so from that where did sisterhood of trades because at this point our audiences will have seen um chef's episode with nush and you guys started sisterhood of trades together is that correct okay you did not start it okay so how did you get into that um so i have a rather decent following uh not following reach on tictock i guess you could say in the blue collar industry um they posted a video one day that took me probably about three seconds to film caption and post and it got two million views that's crazy Oh, okay. So people actually do want to see like this kind of content. Yeah. What was the video? It's actually so funny. It's so relatable. I'll literally just pull out and show you. That, that's part out if you want, but, um, because I will randomly get videos like that that I'm like, having no TikTok, I would have never seen something like this, which I just think is amazing. That's it. Do you see what I mean when I say it took me literally three seconds? Like, yeah, so I posted that one and then I posted another one probably like two weeks later where I was like, oh, you're an apprentice, your days must be super busy and it's like me threading a fitting on. And then it pans to me just standing beside a ladder and the caption is waits for journeyman to come back because like when you're an apprentice, like do anything on your own or, I mean, you can but it's like your journey mill will give you a task to do and then they'll go do something else and then like you finish the task and you can't find your journey you have to like wait so you're like sitting there twiddling your thumbs and i don't know a lot of people were hating on me in that comment section yeah you got so much hate that oh my god so being a woman in the trades you just get a lot of hate on social media period the only platform that i don't get hate on is linked so that's so professional i'm like well because it's also it's also, I'd say, a little bit more mature. Yes. TikTok, you get younger. It's a more mature audience. Like, I had one comment on one of my videos where it was like, this guy said, if you make TikToks at work, you're a shit tradesman. And I clicked on his profile and tell me why every single video he had was posted at work, of him at work. So I screenshotted his profile, and that was my reply to the comment. I usually don't reply to the hate comments, but that one just, like, You said, you didn't even have to say anything. But yeah, so, like, anyways, the whole social media thing. It's just so crazy to me. I, there's so many videos. I just went on a tangent. Now I don't even remember where we were going with that. Sister out of trades. Right. Yeah. So you have a, you had a large reach on TikTok originally starting off, and then you kind of pivoted. Yes. So I had that following on TikTok. I posted those couple of videos that got like a lot of traction. And then I posted another video with just like a few clips that I had of me just like messing around and just doing stuff like at home or like whatever it might be. And I was like why isn't there a community like an online community just for like apprentices to like get to know each other help each other out whatever it might be. Give advice. Yeah. And there's this girl who's also in our union hall who commented and just tagged at I was like, I'm intrigued by this, and then they DM me. They were like, here's the list or the link to our Discord and all that stuff. So got in there. I just got like really active. I think I joined in July, 25. They started it. So there's four co -founders. So it's Noosh, Carly, Hannah, and Zoe. We're the four original co -founders. And then now we have four moderators as well. So myself Cece is kind of the one that does like the server and like IT yeah we call it the discord wizard no she's telling me a little bit about her because then I saw the way that it's like organized I'm like that does take some skill to do that because I don't know how yeah it's something I would never be able to do yeah no so she handles that kind of stuff and then we recently added Catherine and Julia they are secondary moderators they basically just handle like server oversight and make sure that the conversations are how they should be and then nobody's fighting and all that stuff basically hating on each other because when you put like 1 ,200 women in the same yeah of course it's like bound to happen every now and then but yeah I just started connecting with everybody basically just talking to everybody one time somebody was looking for a job and I was like are you on LinkedIn and noosh also was obsessed with LinkedIn So that was when she kind of started talking to me more. She was like, oh, my God, you like LinkedIn? We're best friends now. And I was like, oh, okay, cool. So, yeah, her and I kind of just connected from there. And then I had surgery in the end of September. Yeah. And I was off for three weeks. So obviously during that time, I was like in the server more because he was at work. I couldn't do anything. So I was like, I might as well talk to these people all day so I did and then they were like oh like we think you should be on the moderator team and I was like okay so I thought I was just going to be doing the same thing like server oversight this and that but then also with my following on social media I was writing articles like I have a newsletter on LinkedIn I was writing articles I was starting to do podcast interviews like people were starting to have me on their podcasts all that stuff so I started getting a little bigger and a little bigger and a little bigger. And then Neuch was like, oh, you should start your own podcast. I was like, right, I should start my own podcast. And then I roped him into it with me. But yeah, basically just got really active in the server. And then they were like, hey, like be an actual part of our team. And I was the only one in Canada. Well, not the only one in the server in Canada, but the only one on the admin team in Canada. Okay. Now we have Julia. We just added her like four days ago. She's really cool. She catsets our cats when we leave the country and stuff. Shout out Julia for that. We love you. Yeah. She also baked us cookies and brought them for like Christmas. Oh. Yeah. Love that. The community is so cute. I was going to say like what sounds like a lot, but what do you feel like you've gained from being a part of that community? I feel like the main thing that I've gained is just like a community. Because it's really like yeah I can come home and I can talk to him about work because we're in the same trade yeah but he's not going to understand what I'm talking about like you know this snarky comment that this guy made to me or like the fact that there was no women's bathroom on this like refurb that I went and did or whatever it might be right so just having that community where I can talk to these women who understand what I go through every day like even if we work in different trades like all of the experiences are the same. Like I feel like none of us have a unique experience. Like we've all experienced the same things, whether it be like sexual harassment, which happens a lot more than I like, obviously. Yeah. To like some journey that just refusing to work with you because you're a girl or like all that stuff. Yeah. Well, and then I feel like you can even start getting like some big sisterly advice type of conversations going on to like help people under you or over you or whatever it may be and it also sounds like at least based on me now knowing you and Nush that maybe all of the co -founders or different moderators each have like kind of their own different background too of like what skills you guys are doing which I feel like is good because then your your reach is much broader with like the different people that you're talking to yeah because we have new shoes and manufacturing Carly's manufacturing. Carly's also a pipe fitter. And then we have Hannah who's a TIG welder. Julia's an electrician. Catherine's a Millwright. See, I feel like right. Like that's already like such a broad. You kind of hit almost like hit everything. And it's funny because we talk about how you don't see people in the same trade dating a lot. Right? But like I'm dating a steam fitter. I'm a steam fitter. Carly's a pipe fitter dating a pipe fitter. Julia is an electrician dating electrician. That's true. I forgot all about that kind of stuff. That's really funny. So it was like, that was another cool thing for both of us, I feel like, because we have only heard of one other couple in our union hall. Yeah. They actually just got married. That's the only reason I think I knew they were together because they were in our magazine. But yeah, just like meeting other people who like also people who are in the trade? That was really cool. Have similar just lifestyles. Yeah. And a lot of people will come to us and be like, how do you, like, how do you guys have a life where you don't just talk about work all the time? And it's like, well, considering our podcast, like we do talk about work. We do talk about work a lot. But we don't feel like it interferes with our relationship. At least I don't. I don't do Sorry, I thought you're speaking for both of us. Let me jump in here. But yeah, I don't feel like it interferes just because we both have very strong personalities as well. So, like, there's things that I'm passionate about. Like, we both are the biggest football fans on the face of the planet. So it's like, if we're not talking about work, we're talking about football. Okay. You know. So. That's a very good point. Yeah. A lot of people will come to us for, like, relationship. Yeah. They all call him Mr. Brooke. Yeah. And the In the server. Everyone in the sisterhood calls me Mr. Brooke. That's really funny. We actually have our ally role that we opened up now too. So he's actually in the server. And like they have access to a few rooms. Yeah. So we have like, who else is in there? We have Paul Van Meter. He just joined. I follow him on LinkedIn as well. Yeah. So he just joined. We have quite a few people, mostly in the manufacturing industry because I feel like notionized networks networks are mainly the manufacturing. Which is crazy because I've never even seen manufacturing happening in front of me. But the manufacturing networking goes crazy compared to like the pipe trade side or anything like that. I just think they've really locked in on the LinkedIn thing. Because I mean that's because I think I end up meeting so many people on LinkedIn because of that. But like truly our Who we work the most with at Brizos and with our platform is fabricators. Okay. Like, that's usually it. And we end up, obviously, meeting a lot of different people who own their own shops. We're talking like welders, fabricators, pretty much anyone making anything out of raw commodity, like materials. But so we're not, us ourselves as a company. We're not super involved with like manufacturing unless you're a company that also like makes parts and you do, you know, raw materials. But just being on LinkedIn as much as I am, sometimes the fabricator sides of things, they can be a little bit more quiet. Yes. Not as like super active on a platform like LinkedIn. Definitely met a lot of people. I'd say the bigger the company gets, they get a little bit more active. Yeah, that makes sense. Small shops around here and stuff, it's more reaching out to them in a different way because they're usually not going to be super interactive. Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, the manufacturing, like, um, Lee was on making sparks, which is part of like the making chips, which I know Nush works with them, I believe. So yeah, but like that whole kind of sphere of people, they go hard on like yeah. Yeah, so I was going to say like I just joined a networking. I didn't even think I told you this when you were at your haircut. I, uh, joined a networking webinar. networking webinar that Paul was hosting through ProShop. I literally, Nuch told me about it, like, I think it ended at three, and NUCH told me about it at like 255. So I got like the last five minutes of it, whatever. And just from that like five minutes that I was in there, I probably had like, some people stayed after and continued talking. So Nuchner, I stayed and just like listened. But I had like seven people just from that like 10 minutes that I was in there. They saw my name pop up in the chat and went and connected with me on that then. Yeah, exactly, right? So it's honestly sometimes that easy. And just kind of like, this is something me and Nush talked about a lot, but just marketing yourself, like posting more, posting daily, posting about your life, but also posting about work. And, yeah, I mean, I've noticed that even just like for myself, posting from my personal rather than just the company. Because people do like to see a face with a name. Yeah, of course. get some personality behind it. Yeah, yeah. But a question that has been on my mind, pretty much since I talked to Nish, you must tell me how you came up with your podcast name because it is the best podcast name in the world. So why don't you guys introduce the podcast a little bit? Tell me how it started, how you guys even like came up with it, and tell me about the name. Okay. So you can say what our podcast name is actually. All right. So we host a podcast together it is called two bolts short of a flange yeah we work with flanders a lot we do as steam fitters so that part was like kind of a given when we were thinking of names yeah but here you talk about the podcast a little bit first and then yeah so we'll go into the naming of it two will short of a flange kind of came from like the name of it kind of came from it's like a term in like the trade world anyways of something being like, you know, just a little off or like, not right. So I was like, hey, man, I always tell everybody I'm like, get it because it's like, we're the two bolts that are short. Yeah. And everybody thinks I'm really lame when I say that, but I think it's really funny. I think it's hilarious. Yeah. So that came from, Newsh had just relocated from North Carolina to Buffalo. And obviously, like, up and left the life that she had there for like years and I was like hey you're moving like an hour and a half away from me I have a passport like so I think it was like she moved home and then like the next weekend I had booked an Airbnb in Buffalo yeah I booked an Airbnb in Buffalo and I was like we're gonna meet like she had taken out like a hiatus from posting her own podcast um next gen MFG. So I was like, we're going to come, we're going to record next gen, we're going to hang out, like, all this stuff. Because I was already following you guys, I think, or at least Noosh, by the time you guys did your first episode. So I saw, like, the inception of this. Yes. So we were like, we're going to come, we're going to hang out, we're going to record your podcast. Like, in that first day. So we got there Friday night, and we left Sunday, right? Yeah, it was the Saturday we did. Yes. we got there Friday night. No, she was flying back from Texas. No, I thought it was Boston. I thought it was Texas. It was definitely Texas. Never by. Never by. It was actually definitely Texas. She's on planes all the time. Yeah. But anyways, she was flying back from Texas because she had went to an event there and we were like, okay, we're already going to be in the area, so we'll just pick you up from the airport. Picked her up from the airport, took her home, whatever. Next morning she drove to our Airbnb and we set up to record. We recorded on Saturday for 14 hours. We recorded like four episodes. And at the time, when we were driving up on the Friday, I got a screen recording of a news clip that was sent in our group chat, like our admin group chat. And the screen recording was of a news article that had just been released about Amber Check. I'm sure you heard about that. Yes, I did. And they sent a screen recording because, you know, Canada likes to block news like that. So I didn't actually see any of it until it started coming up in my social media, but that wasn't until after they had sent me this screen. Yeah, I only saw it on LinkedIn. Yeah, so that topic came up, obviously, like something that we talk about all the time, something that shouldn't have happened. Yeah, of course. Where we recorded an episode about that, recorded a few other episodes, all of that stuff. And then we were sitting there, it's like one in the morning at this point. And Nush's like, you guys should start a podcast. Like, Nusch's like you already. One a .m. Thoughts. No, literally. There was like alcohol involved. For you. Oh, for me, actually. I don't really drink. Like one glass of wine. Nusch also doesn't drink, obviously, for religious reasons. Yeah. Don't drag me under that bus with you. But anyways, so we're like sitting there. He'd already gone to bed, Mnuch and I are still up. And she's like, you should start a podcast. And I was like, bro, you're so right. I should start a podcast. And I'm sitting there and I'm like, trying to think of names. Oh, no, you didn't go to bed yet because we're trying to think of names. No, we recorded an episode. Yes. But at this point, it was only my podcast. So I was like... You didn't get the invite yet. No. I didn't know if he'd want to, like, be on a podcast with me, like, host a podcast with me. So I was just like I'll start the podcast if you want to like be on a few episodes like you can be a guest if you I don't care whatever you want and then I was like trying to come up with names and I'm just like thinking and I'm thinking of like terms in our trade and like things that I could play off words and we're like we were already recording the first episode that didn't even have a name yet and this is not the first episode that we used by the way it was so bad yeah it was really bad sometimes you got to get the test run out there yeah but we were like shooting names back and forth and then I was like you know two bolts short of a flange and all three of us just like cracked up I think you got that like in that moment is crazy because we yeah for how like funny ours is we took like days to decide about ours because we thought it was just hilarious because we're like this is really gonna ruffles of feathers and it does but we we went back and forth and back and forth I'm like should we just do something like the brisos podcast like like Do we just keep it simple? And I'm like, you know, Shep was like, everyone kind of does that, like, where it's just their name, podcast. Yeah. So he's like, we got to do something where people remember it. The fact that you guys came up with that in that moment is crazy. Because that takes, that could take a very long time of brainstorming to come up with something like that. We're also just like very compulsive people as a whole. Yeah, we are. Sometimes best ideas come out of moments like that, though. Yeah. So we were like, fuck it. This is a podcast name. Like we're going with it. Recorded our first episode. that episode will never see the light of day. It stays on the hard drive and it will never leave. So bad. It's really bad. We have something like that too. That's all right. Yeah, but basically he went to bed after that. I'm trying to come up with a logo design in Canva. The first time I ever used Canva. Trying to come up with a logo design. So whatever I get the logo done, it's like 2 .30 in the morning. I go in there and I'm like, yo, do you want to be my co -host? Like, you want to do this together. You're waking mom. He's like half asleep and he's like, yeah, sure, babe, whatever you want. And I was like, okay, cool. We drove home from Buffalo the next day. Yeah, we bought like, bought a mic. We bought headphones. We bought like a boom arm. Everything. And then we were like, cool. Let's go. Yeah. Well, we had that conversation too. Um, because we actually, wait, this is actually funny. This is coming up. Today is the one year anniversary of this podcast. Oh, no way. Yes, I had on my calendar and I, it just, so we had recorded like that same week that because this would have been one year like from our very first episode airing and we recorded like that week. So we, and Shep had said that too where he was like, well, you could spend so much time prepping for it, like doing all this stuff. But he's like literally, because we already had all the cameras and everything because we did a docu series about our company. So we didn't have like these or anything. And the set was not here yet. But he was like, honestly, I think we just, like, start, we just flip on a camera and just get, start getting gas in here and we just, like, see what happens. So, like, you'll notice the very first episode looks way different in, like, quality. Oh, of course. And, like, even how the conversation flowed. But, like, as you do them, you, like, slowly just start tweaking things. It gets better and better and better. Oh, yeah. For sure. It's already progressing because we're moving. and we talked about how we're going to have an actual studio now. So it'll be so much better. So how many episodes do you guys have right now? We have... Out at least. Oh, we have six. Okay. We have six episodes right now. Okay. Yeah. So basically, I feel like our podcast vibe is kind of the same as yours, but we talk to people across the industry. Yeah, it's like unscripted. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. People from like leadership positions to apprentices who have only been working for like a month yeah doesn't matter like we talked to everybody just about like same thing how they got into it their experiences like we talk about industry bullshit a lot yeah as well and like things that we want to call out um but then newsh and I also have a podcast now okay wait did I see this one probably debur this motherfucker I have not heard of that What was that? DeBird this, motherfucker, because deburring is a term in manufacturing and in pipe fitting. There's birds. You've got to get them off. So that one is basically just me and Nush, no guests. Okay. And we just talk about our experiences. We call out all the shit that we see on a daily basis, all that stuff. Our first episode aired on January 7th. Okay. Yeah, they're coming out monthly, but we also have bloopers because Nus and I cannot be serious about, like, anything. Yeah, I get that. So our blooper reel was like originally, like, originally nine minutes long. Recordings. And then our episode, I think, came out to being like 40 -something. Yeah. But yeah, it's really fun to record that one, too. Okay. I also feel like not having guests and just like, talking back and forth, like just the two of us. Sometimes I feel like that would be fun and I, my fear would be like I wouldn't have anything to talk about. But when I think about that with like my sisters, I'm like, we could probably talk for 12 hours straight. Yeah. Well, Newt and I were sitting there. We didn't have like any idea what we were going to talk about. We just like hopped on to record and we were like, shit. We should probably figure out what we're going to talk about. So we're like scrolling through like the discord being like, okay, yeah, Yeah, have you ever cried on site? Like, it's just random in like stories like that. And a lot of maybe, maybe not, this may or may not be hearsay. Yeah. That was said probably like four times. Allegedly. Allegedly. Allegedly. I might have potentially, but yeah. Okay. So my one last question about your podcast, I know I told you guys about this at the beginning. If you could have dream guest scenario for two bolts short of a flange podcast who would it be and they can be yeah they can be different okay he's like hold on let me fire up the LinkedIn real quick you got to I got to fire up my phone quick and this would be like anyone in the with no no barriers anyone you could possibly have on anybody like not even trades related i would have george pickens oh we can go from the dallas cowboys oh we're going like that there you go i'm go with nick saven then okay yeah that's really good we are these both football ones yeah yeah okay nick saven was a coach of alabama crimson tie football for like a million years one of the greatest coaches ever go down in history of football i thought We were going like trades related I was also going to go trades related but then I was like Hey man Okay so trades related person Do you have anyone in mind That you were like If they walked in the door What about you? I feel like I haven't really thought about it Because like we were just like so early In the podcast That's true That's true Maybe that'll come to fruition later on When you start really digging into your LinkedIn and stuff And you see someone that you're like oh it would be really cool for me to have like one of the higher ups from the UA yeah just to come and talk about everything that'd be a good one yeah like that's like the the like my trade and nerve me though being like i just want to pick his brain yeah for sure like everything yeah anytime you get somebody like that with that experience where you can pick their brain like the conversation's always yeah it would go on forever yeah just totally organic somebody that you can relate to as well like it's it would be great yeah well we'll check in with your podcast in a year from now and I bet you would have had them at that point more here's here's hoping yes here's manifesting yes manifest it okay well I feel like that's a pretty good place to wrap up Brooke and Eric thank you so much for coming all the way it's closer than I thought it was but I will say all the way from Toronto. It was great. Our very first international guest, so I'm very excited for this. I feel so honored. Yes. I mean, we are honored to have you. You'll always remember us. Yeah. First international. Right? I know. Well, thank you guys so much. Thank you for having us. Yeah, of course. It's been really fun.