Empowering Women in Construction: A Conversation with Carly Steiman

Welcome back to The Sparky Life! In this electrifying episode, we sit down with Carly Steiman, a seasoned electrician with nearly two decades of experience and the proud owner of Lady Electric in Vancouver, Canada. Carly shares her inspiring journey from a high school graduate to a successful tradeswoman and reality TV star on "Tough As Nails."

Join us as we explore Carly's passion for empowering women in the skilled trades, her innovative platform connecting homeowners with skilled tradeswomen, and her commitment to spreading kindness and etiquette in the construction industry. Carly's unique perspective on the importance of balance in life and work, as well as her insights on navigating the challenges of a male-dominated field, are both enlightening and motivating.

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
00:11 - Meet Carly Steiman
02:00 - Carly's journey into the electrical field
09:05 - The importance of kindness in the trades
16:04 - Balancing work and play
24:09 - Navigating challenges as a woman in construction
38:17 - Carly's upcoming projects

In this episode, you'll learn about:

Carly's journey into the electrical field and her early experiences

The significance of kindness and etiquette in the trades

How humor can be a powerful tool in overcoming challenges

The importance of self-sufficiency and independence for women

Carly's upcoming projects, including a calendar featuring women in trades and her new directory, WorkBe

Don't miss this opportunity to be inspired by Carly's story and her vision for a more inclusive and supportive trades community.

Like, share, and subscribe to The Sparky Life for more empowering conversations and insights from the world of skilled trades!

✅ Follow Carly:

💥Lady Electric - @ladyelectric_
💥WorkBee - https://workbeehomeservices.com/

✅ Follow Lia Lamela:

💥LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lia-lamela-820a33155
💥Website: https://sparkylifesolutionsllc.com
💥Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sparkylifeoflia/
💥Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesparkylifepodcast
💥YouTube:  @sparkylifeoflia 

Thank you for joining us on this insightful journey through the trades. We appreciate your support and look forward to having you with us in our next episode. 😊😇

Create the sparks in your life!

Transcript

0:00

Create the spark in your life. Welcome back. Today's guest, Carly Steinman, has been an electrician for almost two decades. She joins us from Vancouver, Canada, owner of Lady Electric. I love that name. Carly's electrical background will shock you, pun totally intended. Carly was on a reality TV show called Tough As Nails, and now she's about to launch a platform that connects homeowners with capable and kind skilled tradeswomen. She's building a road to give hands-on opportunities for women interested in the trades and helping spread etiquette and kindness in the residential service industry. She deeply believes a career in the trades is something that more people should seriously consider, and she ain't wrong. Carly's quote of the century, I'm in love with this. Ready? Carly, realizing the footprint I have made, I want to do what feels aligned to do, and that's connecting wires, hearts, and homes together. Can you just, I'm dying. Oh gosh, this is a good one. I can't wait to introduce you. Welcome with me, Carly Steinman. Carly is a fellow Sparky and we share a lot in common in some of the experience that we've had through our journey and how we view the construction industry and what we would like to see in the construction industry. Farley, Lady Electric. Can you give us a background? Like how did So good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening. I got into the trade when I was 17, right after high school, which is wild. And when you think back on like, you know, what I will just how young I was. But my uncle was an electrician up in Sudbury, Ontario. So I'm from Oakville, Ontario, which is just just outside of Toronto in Canada. And my uncle Rick was working at the mine. And so I knew about electrical and then I actually went to in math. I was in academic math. And then our teacher was a little bit of like, it wasn't a good fit. And we ended up going to like 14 of us dropped out to go to applied math. And it was there that we learned budgeting, taxes, interest rates, like very applicable math. And they handed out a sheet of all the different trades. And it was like, there's probably 50. And I remember Googling like what the highest paying at the time was, and it Before we get started, a big thank you to Sparky Life sponsor, SupplyHouse. Calling all electricians. SupplyHouse.com's Trademaster program is completely free, and it gives you access to free shipping, full order discounts, and more. Learn more at SupplyHouse.com slash T-M today, and you can become a Trademaster too. like All right, let's get back to the show. And I was like, Oh, you know, my uncle's electrician. I had it in the back of my head. But I wanted to go I applied to bishops in a university for environmental sciences. And I got into Brock for theater and York for business. But I just didn't have the end goal of what I wanted to apply the degree to so I found it a little bit reversed in order of operations and so I kind of paused and then I went to grade 12 grad trip down to Dominican and there was a group of men that had graduated from BC Hydro as linemen and they were nice they were friendly they were outgoing and I was just like what are you So they're like, they're like pretty much electricians. Right. And, um, I told them that I was considering going to be an electrician and the, the response that I got in the encouragement just like sealed the deal. So I applied for a job with no experience. Um, and I started off as a receptionist and I told my boss at the time, I was like, well, I want to be on the tools. Like, you know, like, and he was like, okay, okay. And then sure enough, three weeks later, he bought me a tool belt. And he asked me to, he said, go to the back and empty the work truck. And it was like a 16-foot cube van. And he's like, and put it back better than you found it. And I remember going back there. And I was 17. And I was just like, because my birthday is October. And so I was 17 in September. And I remember going, What is all of this stuff? And what did I get myself into? Because I had now a clinker's clue that there were wires and walls. It didn't even dawn on me. And so now whenever somebody's like, I have no clue about electricity, I'm like, no worries. I Yes, yes, yes. Oh my gosh. So first off, I am so jealous of your school system. Why the United States doesn't have something like that is beyond me. That is incredible. Maybe we have some STEM high schools that are driven in that direction, but definitely our public high schools are not like that at all. That's incredible. You're actually learning the shit that I wish they taught in school here. It's it should be mandatory, but you know, we were pushed to do the academic math. Like it went, you know, applied academic calculus. So, you know, academic was the average, like shoot for academic, but they don't even teach like the differences between, you know, a loan or a line of credit or a credit card. Like it's insane how financial, right? Like financial literacy isn't even touched. And then the banks are like, here's a credit card. 20% interest. Oh my God. Okay. Well, I am so glad that you did the applied Me too. I mean, if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have got that sheet with like all the different trades and like, Yeah, for me to consider, you know, about electrical. But like, I got into, like, the first job I got, it was doing residential service calls. Oh, wow. So, for me, it was like MTV Cribs, like, season five. I was the host. Wow. I loved it. I was like, I got to see, I got to meet people. I got to, you know, help them. I got to get paid and I got to ask them questions. I got to see design. And I know, you know what? I know. I know if I had started my apprenticeship on a construction site, more commercial or industrial, I probably wouldn't have pursued because I probably would not because it's the, it's the people, it's the, uh, it's the community and the people that I'm serving. That That's amazing. I have heard a lot. One of my really good friends, Chessa, she's in residential electrical work. And she has the same experience as you, these high-end homes and buildings. And she felt the same way, like that, oh, shit. I was a crit, like I'm taking a crit. She loved it. I was on the industrial construction side. And there's a lot of value in what you say regarding that. For me, because I went to like kind of an all women's pre-apprenticeship trade school program, before I was put into that environment, that gave me the backbone and the strength and the confidence that I needed to be placed in that environment. Because that environment is completely different than the environment you're speaking of. And for many reasons, we're going to go into that, right? We're definitely going to talk about that. Yeah. So it's been 17 years. I'm 34. I'm turning 35 October 17, which is next week. 30, 30. I know. I know. Yeah, it's kind of wild. I feel like my career is very original and it's like trajectory. It's been very, uh, you know, follow your gut, follow your gut and what you, what you, what inspires you and, you know, doing the residential world, I was loving it. And then in trade school, um, I had been an actor in theater, my most of, most of my life up until that point. Um, and my trade school teacher was like, okay, so you love lighting and you, you have like a theater background. Have you thought about going into film, like film union? And I was like, what say you film? And he like, pulled back the red curtain. And I was like, Oh, my movie magic. And I got into the film union. And it was like, I remember I showed up on set. Fast Eddie was the name of the gaffer on my first day. And I ended up showing up with a bucket and my tools. Iconic, iconic bucket, white bucket. You know you're a tradesperson when you hold a bucket. Yes, yes. And you don't buy a new one, even though the plastic handle's broken. You're just like, I'm stubborn, I'm tough. Yes. I don't want to throw it out. Yes. Anyways, I ended up showing up on set And he's like, you're not going to need any of that. And I was like, okay. And so I got like, you know, gloves, you need different things, because you're a light, you're a lamp operator, as well as, you know, a generator operator, and you run the distribution and the power. And then, but lighting, lighting was my, my, my magic sauce. You know, we had an 18 wheeler filled with like so many lights from like, you know, um, a 50 watt bulb to a 20 K watt fixture that it took three guys or three people to put the lamp on the stand and, uh, you know, mount it. And we had cranes and rigging to cranes and in stages. And I was just like. enamored, like, film films in my blood, my Zeta, so my grandfather, who was in Montreal, and he was first generation Canadian. And like, they're Jewish, they're there from Russia. Anyways, he I just like whispered to Carly for my podcast, OGs that aren't watching this on YouTube that I'm also Jewish. That's like immediate love for you. Yeah, it's so funny when you meet another Jewish person, you're just like, oh hey, me too. It's like your family. It's like an instant familial response. But then also you're a female Jewish Very, very cool. Yeah. So my Zeta, he worked, um, one of his jobs, he was a projectionist at, like, the movie theater. So he would, like, load the film. And then my dad, like, the only time to hang out with him was to, like, go with him to the movie theater and to help load films. So my dad always took us for two films, and we'd always, like, rate them. And anyways, film's been in my blood. So I got into film, and then I stayed into film. I went to school for architectural lighting design at Ryerson University. I got a certificate because I loved light, but I really needed to know why. I was like, why do I love it so much? Why am I compelled in a way that's pretty intense to lighting? And I went and learned the theory after work for two years. I took all these courses, like human factors in lighting. Wow. Like learning about the circadian rhythm and the impact of color temperature. It's so important. And then I continued doing kind of residential kind of film. And then I was 27 and I bought a Toyota Tacoma and I drove across the United States. to British Columbia. And I was like, you know, Indiana Jones, doo doo doo doo. And at first, I was only going to be there for like six months. But like, I ended up I had I had a wicked summer, I went like kiteboarding on Vancouver Island. And I just was like, kind of live in my truck. And, you know, same like, I was having a fun time. And at that point, like, in film you work like 13 to 16 hour days on shooting so you're so most of my 20s were just like hustle and so I just wanted to like you know have a pressure release valve of like fun and play because if you don't have that in conjunction with, like, a work-hard attitude, you're not gonna make it. You're not gonna be happy. Yeah. Because I would work with all these, like, older guys that, like, worked their asses off and had money, but they were separated or they had substance abuse or they were just sad. Yep. And I was like, oh, okay, so money isn't everything. It is not everything. And, um, so it kind of made me reevaluate, like, how hard do I want to work? I I think what I'm hearing is the importance of balance that you recognized the importance of balance pretty early on I think sooner than most of us do because yes yeah I and I hear a lot of the Older guys say, you know, work hard, play hard. I remember, like, being on construction sites. But the way they said that, their play hard consisted of what I would call, like, partying. Like, hard drinking, you know, partying, and then working like an animal the next day. So for me, that's not balance. And I don't know how much joy you're actually getting out of that. Maybe your animal house and toka parties and shit, and that is your jam. I am no one to judge for sure, but I can't help but deep down, based off of psychology and research, feel that maybe that is important in a certain part of your life, but if you're not doing the type of activities that you were talking about, it sounds like you would. and outdoors and sharing experiences with people, that feels more appealing and more in balance when Thank you. Yeah, I... Thank you. My parents will be proud. I mean... Yeah, I think there's... It's really important to know what your values are ASAP, like the sooner the better. Know what your values are yesterday. And that looks like writing down, okay, career is one thing. It's only one thing though. You have your relationships, you have your community, you have your personal development, you have your curiosity. There's just so many things to nourish. And I think Western society is like super focused on career. It's not like you meet somebody and you're like, oh my God, how's your week going? How's your day going? It's like, hey, what do you do? It's like our jobs are truly defining of identity. And I mean, I don't know about you, but for me being an electrician, it is part of my identity for sure. I I'm pretty proud of that. Yes, it's a great feeling, feeling that way. It's a feeling of independence. It's a feeling of security. And I say, in 2024, the best career path for a woman is in construction. I firmly believe that. Oh, my God, yeah. A hundred percent, because a lot of women value a sense of security, and you're never gonna really feel secure unless you have a strong independent ability. Because it's not, I'm not saying, oh, women independence, like, you know, don't need a man. I'm not saying that. What I'm saying is that we have to be able to take care of ourselves. And if your focus is always somebody else is going to take care of me, then you're setting yourself up for failure. You're setting yourself up for a very hard life because the truth of the matter is you need to be self-sufficient. You need to be able to take care of yourself. And your self-confidence is going to grow to such a point by being able to do that, that you're going to attract the alpha, the elite type of men, if you're into guys, or the alpha elite type of women, if you're into gals, whatever your flavor. So better, higher achieving people are going to be attracted to that type of movement. Oh, yeah. I totally agree with you that learning how to fix, build, manipulate Save time when you shop online with SupplyHouse.com. SupplyHouse.com gives you that online convenience of being able to shop from anywhere. The website is super easy to use. Check it out. No digging through shelves or looking for the right parts. Really great inventory too. They've got all the top brands in stock. and ready to roll. Even though they're online company, they give you that brick and mortar service. When you call in, you talk to a real person and everyone is super helpful. Are you a pro like me? Great. Join their free trademaster program for discounts on every order. Learn more about being a trademaster at supplyhouse.com slash t dash m and shop for your next electrical I think for women to learn skills that they can do it on their own is eye-opening. And it also fights the patriarchy that feeds the Disney films that, you know, they happily ever after and like find Prince Charming and you're going to be saved by this male figure. is really, really terrible brainwashing that does not enable women to, you know, be the be the savior themselves, right? You know, like save other people. Because we have that, we have that potential, like even, you know, more, I mean, not more, more net more. So now, like, I mean, when you think back that women could only get a credit card in 1970. That's not long ago. And Now we are in this time where we're empowering women that like, hell yeah, you can do it and we're going to teach you. And you know, the, the, the pioneers of the trades and construction that are women, like it's our responsibility to inspire women and to say like, it's absolutely possible. And here's the way sign up for this. Like I find, I don't know about you. There's a lot, I don't have a lot of women asking me like how to, how to get into the trades, but there, I do have people asking me. And it's not just about saying, yeah, go for it. We have to hold their Sparky Life Solutions is based off of helping women and men, but we attract a lot of women, elevating their careers in the skilled trades. So it's something that I saw that there was a need for, that there are women asking me, how do I do this? How can I move faster in my career path in the construction industry? I want to build my own business. How do I make that happen? Even the men, I've had guys come and say, okay, well, what's going to put me in a position to move forward in my career path in construction? And so that's why I started Sparky Life Solutions is for that exact reason, because I believe exactly what you said, that it can't just be like, have a great attitude, do a good job. Like that's not gonna cut it because people are so far removed from what the construction industry actually is. And especially you hit a nail on the head. You hit some really big and something that I resonate with on a huge level. I love Disney. Don't get me wrong. Fairy tales are great. I love Disney too. Okay. However, the environment that I grew up in, my family's mentality, the schooling, my social group and movie magic and Disney basically told me Prince Charming is going to show up and he's going to save me. And that put me in a position of weakness, of vulnerability and being susceptible to be prey. I was like, come eat me. And that's exactly what happened. I attracted predators. I really think, I don't know exactly how it is in Canada, but I'm assuming and correct me if I'm wrong, that the language is the same. It is a disservice to women to push that narrative. And not allowing them to participate in the type of activities that men participate in, which help them with their self-esteem, which helps them with their career paths. Shying away from that trajectory is a disservice to women. And you're not creating, this is the other thing, like there's a lot of confusion on, well, if a woman is in the construction industry, she has to lean into her masculinity and she's going to lose her femininity and all of this. which is completely false, it's not true. You choose how you want to present, and you choose what you want to embrace, and there's a lot of power being a female in a male-dominant space. The more females in male-dominant space, statistics, stats show that you get higher profit. So, The genders are important. They work together for a Oh yeah. We can work well together. Yes. Very well together. And, and I, I, I totally, uh, yeah. Yeah. Agree in a difficult way. Just like the, um, like what we were kind of designed or what, what we watched, you know, growing up. and the movies that we watched and how beauty was the focus. Be a certain body type, wear certain clothes, hair. The amount of attention that we put in our hairstyles throughout our high school. Beauty is really huge and where's the hard skills of learning how to sew, learning how to cook, learning how to be independent and self-sufficient. you hear so many kids that are not leaving the nest soon because nobody's empowering them with the skills. And like, by enabling a culture that's like online and just like gaming or whatever, it's like, that's not really empowering a generation to like, get out there and fix something. Get out there and paint that wall, you know? Yes. And like, I think the collective effort in these kinds of activities is so much fun. Like working with people on a project, like, oh my god, she's shooting the shit and just like getting it done. And being It's very fulfilling. It's very fulfilling. And I know that the last time we spoke, we talked about like, attitudes and how important for females in particular, their attitude to be when they're stepping into this type of careers. So can you go over a little bit about your experience, what you've discovered along the way and Yeah, I find it's, it's such an interesting path. Because you have like the stereotypical construction site that, like And this is also like a genera-, there's a generational aspect, you know, like, this club, like, it's chirping culture. Chirping culture, I don't know if the same word in the States, but it's, um, if you like someone and, uh, and you respect them, Teasing. Totally teasing. And I think teasing can be funny. Yeah, and fun. It can be fun. It can be playful. Like we're on, we're working together for 10 hour days. Yes. Or depending on where you work. I think most hours are eight. Okay, everybody, don't get scared. Like, I just like, and if I'm gonna work, give me like, give me a four day work week at 10 hour days. And I am happy. That's your jam. That is That is, yeah, that's a good call. Or just five days at ten, double time, you know. Yes. Just make my lifestyle like profitable, please. But anyways, back to chirping culture. Yeah. Chirping culture. It's like teasing. And I think the the key critical and piece of information that people a lot of people don't get is like you need to have respect and show respect first. So you need to be kind first. You need to have etiquette first. You need to be like, hi, my name's so-and-so. Eye contact. Nice to meet you. I know who I am. I know why I'm here. And I'm here to learn. I'm here to work. My ego's at the door. If I don't know something, that's OK. I'm here to learn. And when somebody superior to you sees that you have an attitude of self-assurance, curiosity and and you're you're you're willing to receive information and you state that and you're open to communicate that is such an attractive person to work with that they are going to only like take you in the fold and be like okay we're going to teach you work on this first and then we go from there And once that, that kindness relationship and the respect is, you know, reciprocated, then, you know, if your superior goes like, oh, you could have done this there. And it comes from a place of like love, then it's a tease. And it actually, you know, it's supposed to encourage and just be playful. And I think, I think it's sometimes a hard thing to read. Yeah. Especially if there's no respect. Like, if there's no respect and kindness to begin with, and then all of a sudden, like, there's chirping and teasing, like, do you want to continue this rise of labor shortage? Then continue. Do you want to have, like, a quick turnaround of employees on job sites and, like, constantly have to retrain and retrain and, oh, another new person, how long are they going to last? Like, if you as an employee, or sorry, as an employer, or a super, or, you know, if you have a lot of turnaround, take out a mirror, ask yourself, what are you doing that is encouraging people to want to work with you? Because at some point you got to look at yourself and go, maybe it's me. So back to attitude. Sometimes I think if you come into a job site and there is an older culture that's running the crew, then you may have some of the chirping, like, inappropriate chirping. And what I recommend in those situations is, like, water off a duck's back most of the time. Most of the time. But then when, like, when something actually triggers and you're like, hey, that, that didn't feel right, um, I think it's so imperative to make note, do not react. So that's, that's not reacting within like a minute. It's actually pulling that person aside one-on-one and be like, Hey, can I talk to you for a moment? And one-on-one, not in front of anybody, no other eyes. Be vulnerable. Like, Hey, I, that, what you said there, that wasn't cool. That, that, that's my boundary. You know, other things like I can, I can let it slide, but that, that hurt my feelings. Yeah. Put the ball in their court. If they can apologize, great. That's constructive, you know, conflict resolution. And we need more of that. Oh, yeah. We need more exposure of, hey, that was a rupture. You hurt my feelings. And someone going, thank you. Thank you for letting me know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I made you. I'm sorry I said that. I won't say that again. And then that's a repair. And then you can move forward and continue working. I think experiencing a boundary on the job site is going to happen. Yes. You're going to be tested. It's just being tactical in how you address it. Do not make fun of someone in front of others. Oh my God. That's just like, that's just like setting yourself up as a bigger target. I think it's, I think it's really valuable to like take a breath and respond one-on-one. Um, and then also like with like things that you think are like funny, but embarrassing because it was done in front of people and you have a barbed wire tongue access, AKA you can, you can, you can, you know, you can fire off a good chirp back, do it. Don't be afraid. Cause like for me, I out smart, I out dirt trash talk anybody. And I think that's like it adds to my armor, so to speak. It's like, oh, you want to mess with me? Cool. Let's Yeah. Something very interesting and enlightening that you said when we last spoke was how you would assess how certain women were treated and then like how you were treated and how why was there differences? You bloomed, blossomed in your careers. Other females struggled more. And you talked about humor being like the key and a weapon in such a positive way. Erin McGough, shameless plug for Erin, not like she needs it. She's got millions of followers. She has platforms where she talks about advice, career advice. And when I had her on the show, she talked about humor being a huge weapon. And when I speak to powerful, intelligent forever learner types of women like you leaders, you bring up this ability to use humor in such a great way. So when you talk about firing back, I want people to understand and just be really clear. You know, you're not saying dig into somebody and drag them through the mud and say hurtful things and be disrespectful. No. You're saying use your wit. You're saying be clever in your comeback. yeah yeah totally be clever in your comeback and like win like make fun of yourself yeah like agree with them be like haha yeah you're right and laugh it off oh my gosh like sometimes they're trying to find or get a rise out of you and if you have a quick access temper like great you're gonna be fun target you just put a big old x versus if you're just like kind of like laugh it off goofy like oh my god okay well they may go oh, well, she's fun. Yeah. She's not gonna be like, you know, an HR case that's gonna be on our case next week. Right. It's like, oh, she actually could, she could roll with the guys, huh? Like, rolling with the guys is like, I mean, I love it. Like, I love my men. Yeah. I'm, like, comfortable with my men. They're great. They're great. Yeah. We can, you know, we can joke around and we're kind and then at the end of the day, well, at the beginning of the day, actually, You've got to show you're a hard worker. You're not going to be on your phone. You're not faffing around. You're not idling. For me, I'm not religious, but Idle Hands are the devil's work. I do identify with that. If you find yourself just twiddling your thumbs, Go find someone to clean. Go find someone to organize. Ask your supervisor, like, hey, is there anything that I can clean out or get stock inventory on? You know, like, show that you actually want to work without being They love that. They love it so much. They're like, wow. She makes work really And most of the time, it's, like, cleaning, like, honestly, I Yeah. And they love it because they hate it but a lot of the time, the guys, like, my panels would always be pristine and my work area would be pristine and Chessa, Chessa just, her little saying is, if And I feel that the women embrace a lot of the tedious tasks and the guys don't. So there's a good balance there, right? Symbiotic. Yes. Yes, exactly. Exactly. You know, you've had this amazing, successful career. You're continuing on your journey. What tool is in your tool belt? What has helped you get to this point? You know, um, when I think of, like, the tool that I've used, like, throughout on site or off site, um, it's definitely electrical tape. And I say this because in my fanny pack, when I go out in the evenings, I carry electrical tape because I know it like I have my EMR license which is like your EMT license and I know that if like something were to happen like that e-tape has my back. It does. Do you know how many cuts I have on my fingers on my e-tape? We're And I think there's something about e-tape that is just the mindset that if there's a problem, if there's a emergency, you have the wherewithal to figure it out and not just be a bystander. You can help. You can actively participate to bettering a situation. And I think that's a very noble human quality, you Yeah, that's yeah, that I'm a gorilla tape gal myself. Are you? Now regarding life, right? Because you work for yourself, you, I mean, you're almost what, two decades of experience in the field. I mean, You've had this incredible career path and you continue to just move forward and blossom and affect those around you in such a positive way, a ripple effect, right? What tool in life have you used that has gotten Kindness. I think kindness. Actually, I know, I know. Kindness is my superpower. I love it. I really, really love being friends to strangers. I love being considerate to all humans, no matter where they come from. And a lot of people that are angry and sad, it comes and stems from sadness. Right. So if you can shine a light and just be a decent human to a stranger, You know, like hold door open or just be courteous and say good morning. Oh, like that stuff is the most romantic life purpose for me ever. And, you know, I'm at a point, you know, close to two decades where I'm I'm spreading kindness by like growing a platform for women to encourage them to show them the path of how to learn skills. and then supporting homeowners because a lot of my homeowners are like, we want more women. Do you have a woman plumber? Do you have a woman drywall? And I know a few and I connect them. And I've kind of realized that like, I have this this craving to grow and be bright and go brighter, you know, how bright can I grow? And I, uh, it's cheesy, but I'm like, okay, so I'm, I'm like making a new business that is going to have me as the advocate for women to like, like even newcomers to Canada, like they come with skilled trades. Yes. Like let's, let's, let's capitalize on that and teach you and like, have you join our crew, our crew, our little community. And, and it's going to be like a family of support where we, we have lots of work. We get paid a decent wage that you can provide for your own family. You do not need a male savior or a female savior. We got you. But relationships are really great too. Yeah, of course, of course, of course. A lot of benefits. Your networking ability and to assess women who want to walk the skilled trades path, advising and connecting them with homeowners is truly inspiring. It's beautiful. And I am so grateful and thankful to have women like you, who are taking the initiative to Thank you. Yeah, I appreciate that a lot. Because I mean, commercial and industrial so push it is like for me, even in trade school, I was the only girl and everyone was like, Why aren't you on the oil field? Yeah. And I was like, um, Because I like homes. Yeah, it's not your thing. Am I a bad person? I didn't have that knowledge. And now I'm like, OK, we need to get the megaphone out and say, home service, home service world, we need more people that can come help our elderly, help our visible minorities, help our women. Yes. There's a lot of women that have unfortunate situations where they get mansplained or jerks come into their home, and they're paying good money. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. If I'm going to pay like $250 whatever for a facial, I Thank you. I felt like the capital on that F. Thank you We can bring the spa. Yes, bring the spa. Bring the spa in. Thank you so much for coming on The Sparky Life. You are a pleasure. It was wonderful getting an opportunity to speak with you again, and I Oh my gosh, yeah, you're welcome. This was so nice. I loved our conversation, and I appreciate your questions and, yeah, So Leah was, I was telling Leah about something she wanted me to share with you is that I am making a woman in trades calendar for 2025. When I, in 2011, I actually wrote out a little dream of what trades I'd have in my calendar and as an ode to film and making something cinematically beautiful and Just like having these like epic boss, beautiful photos done of badass women in their element. I'm finally pulling through with that. So I'm recruiting women in trades that are ideally in the residential sector, honestly, but all in at least British Columbia right now. I'm collecting and I'm putting together a calendar. And depending on the responses, I may do another calendar, you know? So as far as a way to reach me, you can access me on the email provided. And this is all going to be in conjunction with the launch of my home service agency. WorkBe. WorkBe is a directory of women in trades and gender diverse individuals that homeowners can access and safely book a service for them. we will be offering anything and everything in the home from windows, doors, irrigation, landscaping, roofing, plumbing, odds and ends. Odds and ends especially because there's just like a lot of things in the home for homeowners that they don't know who to get or yeah, who to get for and WorkBe is going to have a photo and it's going to have a little about me and we're building a community that's going to build a road for women that have some skills and want to learn more. Um, and we're going to teach and we're going to have a little community. So yeah, the, the 20, 25 calendar, if you want to be featured, go to this link in the bottom and reach out to me. uh, explain what your trade is, uh, along with the photo. And, um, we're doing a photo shoot here in Vancouver, British Columbia, uh, beginning of November. Um, but if you're not here, uh, please feel free to contact. And if you're interested in getting on the directory and focusing on residential service calls, this is gonna be the platform for you. Uh, I'm really excited. It's a kind people connecting and serving kind people. That's what I've been doing for 17 years now. And I want to have that opportunity for others because commercial and industrial is fantastic, but a lot of homeowners need people to help them in their home. And I want to encourage that and be a little cheerleader captain. So Carly is such a pleasure to speak with. She will most definitely be joining us again. Her focus on kindness and etiquette is intriguing, especially when you think of blue collar careers, blue collar crews and teams. Typical old school thinking is toughen up, weed out the weak, right? You don't really hear about kindness or etiquette, definitely not on a construction site. When I think about toughness and grit, there may not be another organization on this planet that routinely faces such adversity and instability as the CL Team 6, officially known as the U.S. Naval Special Warfare Development Group or DEVGRU. But the methods these special operators use to excel under those conditions are surprising They go against most default approaches to leadership training and execution. I need to get a Navy Seal on The Sparky Life. I want to know from the most hardcore badasses out there who build like the elite teams, is kindness a factor? When I think of the situations that Navy SEALs must be in, I don't necessarily think of kindness, right? But I know the stats state that kindness can increase your crew's sense of connectivity. And it's also contagious, encouraging others to join in with their own generosity. Oxytocin is the stress-reducing chemical that is responsible for the positive effects of kindness. So prevailing through chaotic combat conditions requires an astounding level of cognitive dexterity and almost superhuman teamwork. There was a quote by Commander Rich Davis, which isn't actually his name because they were protecting, you know, the security and safety. of this commander, but he said, more than any skill, SEALs rely on the merge of consciousness, flipping the switch. That's the real secret to being a SEAL. So if you've got to have this amazing connectivity with your team, does kindness factor in? I would love to have an EBCL on The Sparky Life so we could discuss, you know, how they build their teams. How do they create this one connective consciousness? These amazing, incredible men that just are complete badasses. So what do you think? Do you think kindness plays a role at all when we're talking about these like elite you know, combat, incredible teams. Does it matter for a crew? Are all teams equal? Like, in the sense of, to create an elite team, does it matter if it's for warfare? Does it matter if it's for, you know, business and production? Are there different things needed for different types of crews? I don't know about you, but I'd love to find out. Let me know what you think in the comments below. And as always, if you enjoyed this Sparky Life episode, please like, share, subscribe, do all the things, thumbs up, all that stuff. And I will see you next time. The Sparky Life. Don't