WEBVTT - Concrete Plans: An Unconventional Journey 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:02.800 This is my margin trowl. And you always know a 0:00:02.840 --> 0:00:05.080 finisher because we've we've got him in our back pockets 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:07.080 sticking out. And it's such a small tool, but you 0:00:07.160 --> 0:00:09.320 just use this all the time when you're pouring concrete, 0:00:09.320 --> 0:00:12.320 ees to scrape your forms, use it to get in 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:15.040 little corners that maybe your other trials are too big for. 0:00:15.480 --> 0:00:17.880 So you can always tell a finisher by the margin trowl. 0:00:20.440 --> 0:00:23.479 When Liz Nichols was in her twenties, she knew that 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:28.080 she wanted two things financial stability and to start a family, 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:31.520 but she had no roadmap to help her achieve those goals. 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:35.000 That is until the day she met a guide who 0:00:35.000 --> 0:00:38.440 would show her a new world of work. In this 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.440 episode of I'm the Job, brought to you by Express 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:46.159 Employment Professionals, we'll hear a story about shattering expectations in 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.680 order to find meaningful work. If you want to find 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.559 your next job, or if you're a company hoping to 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:57.360 grow your workforce, Express Employment Professionals is for you. Find 0:00:57.400 --> 0:01:02.040 more information at express prose dot com. Um Now producer 0:01:02.120 --> 0:01:06.960 Chris Siegel has the story of Liz Nichols. It's early 0:01:06.959 --> 0:01:10.360 in the morning, I'm in Northwest Portland, in a neighborhood 0:01:10.360 --> 0:01:14.160 where new developments are springing up like dandelions. I parked 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:18.080 behind a beat up old truck, a nine Toyota that 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.320 belongs to my friend Liz. How's work going so far? 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:26.720 This morning? While most of Portland is waking up, Liz 0:01:26.720 --> 0:01:29.399 has been at work for a couple hours. She greets 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:32.800 me in her loose, dirty jeans and union hoodie. Under 0:01:32.840 --> 0:01:36.479 her chin, she has what's called a particulate respirator. It's 0:01:36.520 --> 0:01:40.319 like the construction workers version of a surgical mask. Liz 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:43.360 is a journeyman cement mason, and today she's working in 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:46.720 a half finished building. There's some sheet metal guys, some 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:50.480 electricians running wire. But yeah, there's we got just different 0:01:50.480 --> 0:01:53.760 trades people were kind of working around. As a woman 0:01:53.800 --> 0:01:56.960 in the trades, Liz has certainly taken an unusual path. 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.720 Only three percent of people working on constructions sights are women. 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:05.000 That means for every one hundred plumbers or carpenters or mechanics, 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:08.680 only about three of them are women. But since she 0:02:08.760 --> 0:02:11.560 was a child growing up in Massachusetts, she's always been 0:02:11.600 --> 0:02:14.400 a bit of a contrarian. This one time, my father 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:17.400 took me in my siblings to the fire station and 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:20.239 Waltham because one of my mom's cousins was a firefighter, 0:02:20.800 --> 0:02:23.880 and it was a bunch of guys, and I remember 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.800 very clearly as nine or ten, asking if there were 0:02:27.840 --> 0:02:32.399 any women firefighters, and they said there had never been 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:36.040 a woman firefighter in the history of wealthy and firefighting. 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.720 And at that moment I wanted to be a firefighter 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.280 really badly. But the expectations that were placed on Liz 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.200 by her family, by society and culture, they had her 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:50.119 pointing in a different direction. You go to college and 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:53.160 then magically you figure it out. You go to college 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:55.240 and you come out and people will pay you good 0:02:55.240 --> 0:02:59.280 money to do things. And so I didn't I think 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.040 twice such as go to college, go to college. I 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:07.080 wasn't very academically motivated or talented in high school. And 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:09.480 now that I know, there's all these great jobs out 0:03:09.520 --> 0:03:12.040 there that you don't need a college degree. Four. If 0:03:12.040 --> 0:03:13.480 I could go back in time, if I had a 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:16.080 time and sheet, I would not have attended college. Liz 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:18.880 was an English and history major, and while she dreamed 0:03:18.880 --> 0:03:22.000 of a career in writing, she struggled to pass her classes. 0:03:22.639 --> 0:03:25.840 She couldn't stay focused, She'd fall asleep during lectures and 0:03:25.880 --> 0:03:28.799 then have trouble catching up. But she learned one thing. 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:32.040 The summer before my senior year of college, I worked 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:36.080 on a fruit and vegetable farm on Martha's vineyard, and 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:38.280 it was awesome and it was sort of my first 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:40.840 taste of manual labor. And I loved it. I loved 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:46.800 working outdoors. I you know, loved feeling strong and muscular 0:03:46.880 --> 0:03:50.680 from busting ass all day. It was a minor miracle 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.480 that she made it through college, she tells me. An 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:57.960 adviser of hers basically dragged her to graduation day. After college, 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.800 she got by on a combination of gardening and landscaping 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:04.280 jobs and serving coffee. It wasn't going to make her rich, 0:04:04.480 --> 0:04:06.920 but she was content. She had a good life and 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:12.640 a loving partner. But then I was suddenly it was 0:04:12.640 --> 0:04:15.920 in my late twenties, and I knew I wanted a kid. 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:18.560 And that was sort of the aha moment of like, 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.240 I need health insurance, I need benefits, I need a 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:26.520 wage that will support a family. I've always loved sports, 0:04:26.600 --> 0:04:31.280 so I found a physical therapy assistant program and uh, 0:04:32.120 --> 0:04:33.840 it was a two year program and you'd come out 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.719 making forty dollars a year, which sounded like so much 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:40.800 money to me at the time, and I thought, Okay, yeah, 0:04:40.880 --> 0:04:44.600 that's something I can do, and I took one anatomy 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:48.760 and physiology class. She thought maybe this time she'd be 0:04:48.800 --> 0:04:52.680 successful at school. But I ended up trying in my 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:58.120 car one day after class and realizing that it's you know, 0:04:58.160 --> 0:04:59.640 it wasn't that I was immature, it wasn't that I 0:04:59.640 --> 0:05:02.400 was late. Easy is that I'm just not I just 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:04.480 don't do well in an academic setting, and that's not 0:05:04.520 --> 0:05:08.440 how I learned. And I dropped the class and then 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:13.159 really started to panic. To Liz, there was no way 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:16.719 forward the life where she starts a family, where she 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:20.800 has financial stability. She couldn't see that life. She spent 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:24.479 about a year in this cycle, comfortable but feeling like 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:26.479 there was a hole and she could be doing more. 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.400 But when she least expected it, a short, white haired 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:33.320 woman named Dolores would walk into a coffee shop Lizza 0:05:33.360 --> 0:05:37.520 is working at and change everything. There was a regular 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:40.800 customer who was an electrician, and she was a woman, 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.480 and I was talking to her one day and she 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:48.599 told me about Oregon tradeswoman and she talked about how 0:05:48.640 --> 0:05:51.400 being an electrician had changed her life and the quality 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:53.520 quality of life. She was able to provide for her 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:58.359 two children and her partner. And this was someone telling 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.320 me she um worked in construction and made eighty thousand 0:06:02.360 --> 0:06:06.120 dollars a year and had health insurance and would receive 0:06:06.160 --> 0:06:08.200 a pension when she retired. And it just sort of 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.240 like bells were going off, and I was like, that's 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:12.360 what I want, that's what I want to do. Dolores 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.640 brought the change Liz was searching for. After a Google 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:19.160 search for Oregon Trades Women, Liz was sold a world 0:06:19.240 --> 0:06:21.480 of meaningful work was starting to open up to her. 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:26.120 Jobs like welder or electrician, or crane operator or wind 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:28.839 turbine technician, where all of a sudden, jobs that she 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:33.039 could see herself doing. Shortly after the coffee shop conversation, 0:06:33.440 --> 0:06:35.719 she signed up for the training with Oregon Trades Women. 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:38.160 I met Liz a few years ago when she went 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.520 through our program. That's Amy Jane Neil, she runs the 0:06:41.560 --> 0:06:44.719 training program at Oregon Trades Women. The mission of Oregon 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:48.160 Trades Women is to serve women and girls to think 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:51.679 about careers and skilled trades. And that's their executive director 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:55.320 Kelly coopcheck. I met Kelly and Amy at their office 0:06:55.360 --> 0:06:58.160 on a busy street in northeast Portland, located half a 0:06:58.200 --> 0:07:01.520 block from my favorite hardware store. When Liz arrived at 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.400 Oregon Trades Women, she had a lot to learn. Day 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:06.960 one was like, let's look at a tape measure. If 0:07:06.960 --> 0:07:09.119 someone says five and three, eight's like, you can find 0:07:09.240 --> 0:07:11.240 five and three. It's on the tape measure really quickly 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:14.280 and hitting a nail with a hammer and not missing 0:07:14.320 --> 0:07:17.800 the nail. You know, there's lots of no tap tap tapping. 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:19.720 I don't want to hear the tap tap tapping, Like 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:23.320 swing and hit that nail. But Amy and Kelly recognize 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:25.239 that for a woman to make it in the trades, 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:27.920 she needs to have training with a variety of tools 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:30.960 and not just the physical ones they use on the job. 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:35.080 Men are better equipped for this male dominated industry to succeed. 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.120 So our program sort of bridges that divide. So we 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:42.160 equip our students, graduates of our program with tools to 0:07:42.160 --> 0:07:45.880 to fit into this male dominated culture and to succeed. 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:50.760 Throughout the program, Amy saw Liz transform and she was 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.080 a really different person than that she is now. She's 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:55.800 got the same heart She's got the same drive, but 0:07:56.480 --> 0:08:00.440 her level of confidence, her understanding of her own value worth, 0:08:00.560 --> 0:08:05.800 and she's ripped now she's strong. After the training, Liz 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:08.680 was excited to work. The next step for her was 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:12.640 finding an apprenticeship, only she didn't know what apprenticeship program 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:16.520 to join. It just so happened that the Cement Mason's Union, 0:08:17.080 --> 0:08:20.480 the tradespeople who make our sidewalks and building floors possible, 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:25.120 was hosting an apprentice recruitment training, so she thought why 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:28.720 not and signed up. I spent a week at this 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:32.640 met Mason's training center where we know built forms and 0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:36.960 we poured concrete, and I was just trying to impress everyone. 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:38.839 I just really, you know, I didn't know what I 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:40.560 wanted to do, but I know I knew that I 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:43.440 wanted everyone to want to hire me. So I was, 0:08:43.880 --> 0:08:46.600 you know, filling up the wheelbarrow twice as full as 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:49.640 everyone else and running them back and forth. And at 0:08:49.640 --> 0:08:52.160 one point during the class, I smashed my thumb with 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:55.679 a sledgehammer and was bleeding everywhere and just kept working 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:59.199 and they didn't notice until I just very casually asked 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:01.360 for a band it and they saw that my thumb 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:05.040 was just like black and blue and bleading. Her hard 0:09:05.040 --> 0:09:07.760 work and grit didn't go unnoticed by the leaders of 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.440 the union. At the end of the training, they pulled 0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:14.880 her aside and they offered me a job. They said, 0:09:15.000 --> 0:09:18.120 we want you in our apprenticeship. You can go to 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:20.800 work Monday if this is what you want. The door 0:09:21.080 --> 0:09:25.199 was finally opening for Liz, a rewarding job with good pay, 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:27.520 the pieces of the puzzle that she needed to start 0:09:27.559 --> 0:09:31.199 a family. She accepted the job with the Cement Mason Union. 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:34.720 And then once I had an apprenticeship and it was 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:37.560 scheduled like Okay, you're going to work Monday, that was 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:39.760 sort of like I'm gonna walk on the job and 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:42.440 they're gonna know I'm a fraud. They're gonna know, like 0:09:42.480 --> 0:09:45.600 I've never done anything like this. It's time for Liz 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:47.840 to go to work. How does she fare on the job? 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.720 Find out after a short break. You're listening to independent 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:55.600 producer Chris Siegel and the story of Cement Mason Liz 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.000 nichols Um. The job is brought to you by Express 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:02.520 Employment for Esstionals. One company is on a mission to 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:05.520 put a million people to work each year. Sounds like 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:08.960 a big number, doesn't it not to Express Employment Professionals 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:13.280 seeking a skilled labor position or administrative ortment, and maybe 0:10:13.320 --> 0:10:16.600 you're an executive looking for a career that fits. We 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:20.000 take pride in connecting the right people with the right company. 0:10:20.120 --> 0:10:23.000 Express Employment Professionals is on a mission to put a 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.120 million people to work each year. Let us help. We'll 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:28.520 open doors for you to go to express pros dot 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:31.320 com to find a location near you. Now back to 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.280 the story of Liz Nichols. Before the break, she had 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.760 finished cement mason training and was gearing up for her 0:10:37.840 --> 0:10:43.160 first day at work. I get nervous standing around, like, um, 0:10:43.280 --> 0:10:45.240 you always want to be doing something and grab something 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:49.480 clean something. Liz feels right at home amongst the various 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:53.240 trades people putting together this building. While talking with me, 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:56.840 she continually scans for jobs to do. I ask her 0:10:56.920 --> 0:11:01.680 questions in between mixing concrete, sweeping and priming the floor. So, 0:11:01.720 --> 0:11:03.240 how does work. Do you see a job and you 0:11:03.320 --> 0:11:05.679 just do it? Or were you like assigned to do 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:09.160 that room? Um? Today, it's kind of we all know 0:11:09.240 --> 0:11:11.760 what needs to get done, so I thought needed to 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:15.079 be primed and just jumped on it. At one point, 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:17.439 she leaves me mid sentence to carry a couple fifty 0:11:17.440 --> 0:11:20.680 pound bags of cement over to the mixer. But when 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:24.439 she first started as an apprentice, work wasn't always this smooth. 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.760 There's this one day we were pouring a section of 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:34.840 street and there was rebar in the concrete. So you're 0:11:34.840 --> 0:11:37.120 walking on the rebar, you're bouncing on the rebar, and 0:11:37.160 --> 0:11:39.760 we're pouring the concrete, you know, a couple of feet deep, 0:11:40.280 --> 0:11:42.719 and at some point the rebar has covered, so you're 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:44.960 just walking in the concrete. You can't see where your 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.680 feet are going, and you're balancing on this rebar. And 0:11:48.960 --> 0:11:52.680 I was wearing this backpack vibrator, so we have these, 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:56.120 you know, vibrators as this long wand and it, you know, 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:58.920 you dip it into the concrete. You're consolidating the concrete 0:11:59.240 --> 0:12:01.280 around the reb bar, and it's you know, it's like 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:06.439 this fifty pound backpack I'm wearing. Yeah, this is going 0:12:06.480 --> 0:12:10.000 where you think it's going. And I just tripped and 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:14.439 fell backwards, just wiped out, laying there like a snow 0:12:14.480 --> 0:12:18.120 angel on the concrete. And my foreman came up and 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:20.360 he put his arm out to pull me up, and 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:23.200 I just pulled him down into the concrete and now 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:26.120 we're boling in the concrete and you know, someone else 0:12:26.160 --> 0:12:28.200 has to come and they help us. So I'm just 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:31.400 soaked through. And my boss was like, you know, just 0:12:31.440 --> 0:12:34.760 go home. You're covering to night. So I, you know, 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.280 got in my car and I'm just so humiliated. And 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:41.319 I spent all weekend like they're gonna fire me, They're 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.160 gonna think I'm an idiot, this and that. Despite her 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.040 belief that she would soon be out of work, Liz 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:49.440 was in for a surprise first thing Monday morning when 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:53.319 she returned to the job site and a guy from 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:54.960 another crew came up and said, hey, I heard your 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:57.480 fall on the concrete and proceeded to tell me his 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:00.680 first falling in the concrete story. And then I realized 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:03.920 it was this write of passage. As an apprentice, she 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:06.520 was the new person on the job, but on top 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:09.040 of that, she'd be on construction sites where she'd meet 0:13:09.040 --> 0:13:12.360 guys who had never worked with a woman. She received 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:15.480 a lot of attention. I definitely felt more like I 0:13:15.520 --> 0:13:18.600 was under an X ray, like just walking across the 0:13:18.679 --> 0:13:22.360 job site and feeling like every single person is staring 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:26.040 at me. Sometimes it just makes me feel like I'm 0:13:26.080 --> 0:13:29.840 a unicorn or and some like mythological creature and some 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:32.520 of the things that she heard while at work. Let 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:34.320 me do that for you. Hey, you look good when 0:13:34.360 --> 0:13:36.160 you're doing that. What does your husband think of you 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:38.640 doing this work? Oh? I heard about you. I would 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:42.360 never let my wife do this. Oh I'm joking. I'm joking. Oh, 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:45.559 you can take a joke. I had a foreman once. 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:48.719 Uh tell me, like, sure, you can handle this work now, 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:50.480 but your body is going to break down faster than 0:13:50.480 --> 0:13:54.959 our bodies because you don't have testosterone. And if you 0:13:55.000 --> 0:13:57.320 look at the science, like women live longer than men, 0:13:57.679 --> 0:14:00.800 you know, it's just like we're is he even pulling 0:14:00.840 --> 0:14:04.199 that out of So we got into it a little bit. 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:07.040 We've got into a fight about that one. What she 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:10.000 could use in those type situations is support from some 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:12.640 of the guys on the crew. The next day, one 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:14.360 of my corkers came up to me and said, Hey, 0:14:14.360 --> 0:14:16.959 you know what he said to you yesterday. That wasn't right. 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.000 None of us feel that way. And when I went 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:22.600 home that day, I just kept thinking, why didn't you 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:24.520 tell him? Why in the moment, why didn't you stand 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:26.280 up and say that if you want to be on 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:29.160 my team. Be on my team. Hopefully the next time 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:33.720 he witnesses something like that, he'll feel more comfortable saying, hey, 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:37.800 that's not right. She pushed back against this foreman. But 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:40.320 Liz doesn't always feel like she can speak her mind. 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:44.440 If you let things roll off your shoulders, people like 0:14:44.560 --> 0:14:47.680 you more like the crew accepts you. She's cool. Oh no, no, 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:49.520 she's cool out here that time. Oh she's cool. You 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:51.360 can you can say stuff in front of Liz, and 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:55.960 it leads to this awkward place where I want to 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:57.400 be accepted and I want to fit in and I 0:14:57.440 --> 0:14:59.080 want to feel like one of the crew. But you know, 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:01.440 where do you draw the line of like, actually, you 0:15:01.480 --> 0:15:04.760 can't say that to me. You can't just pass it 0:15:04.800 --> 0:15:08.520 off as a joke. Experiences like these they touched Liz 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:11.640 now more than ever after a recent development in her life, 0:15:12.240 --> 0:15:15.320 her dream of having a baby, well, she's accomplished that. 0:15:16.000 --> 0:15:19.240 She gave birth to her son, Shamus nichols Kirk near 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:26.200 the end of her three year apprenticeship. M my baby. 0:15:26.880 --> 0:15:28.240 I thought I was gonna have a daughter, and I 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:31.680 thought I was going to raise this little tomboy hellion, 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:35.840 And I realized if I had a daughter, I would 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:38.520 dress her, you know, I address her in blue, I 0:15:38.520 --> 0:15:40.800 address her and green. I would very proudly have like 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:43.640 this gender neutral girl and try and teach her to 0:15:43.680 --> 0:15:47.000 be an empowered woman. And and I had a son. 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.760 She had a son who she knows will eventually grow 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:54.040 up to be a man. She doesn't have the manufacturers 0:15:54.080 --> 0:15:57.560 instructions on how to raise a sensitive, thoughtful son, so 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:00.360 she looks back to her experience on the construction site 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:04.480 for ideas. I'm going to try and teach him to 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.680 speak out if he sees something that makes him uncomfortable, 0:16:07.720 --> 0:16:10.640 to not be um the guy who comes up to 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:13.720 me the day after something happens and says he's sorry, 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:17.440 and you know it's not right. I want Shamus to 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:19.840 be the type of person who, in the moment says, hey, 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:23.600 that's that's not right. As Shamus grows up, she wants 0:16:23.640 --> 0:16:26.560 to teach him the value of hard work. I really 0:16:26.600 --> 0:16:33.640 want him to it's crying right now. Uh. I want 0:16:33.720 --> 0:16:38.360 him to know that my job is hard but satisfying, 0:16:38.640 --> 0:16:40.920 and that I can provide the life that I'm providing 0:16:40.920 --> 0:16:44.080 for him through that hard work. There was an occasion 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.840 for Liz where her two lives, her life as a 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:50.400 worker and her life as a mother, came together. She 0:16:50.520 --> 0:16:52.400 was at the end of her apprenticeship and needed to 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.680 take a test to graduate and become a journeyman cement mason. 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:57.920 I took it this July and I was still on 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:01.600 maternity leave, so I actually to bring Shamus with me 0:17:01.680 --> 0:17:05.159 to the hall, and the apprentice instructor and all of 0:17:05.200 --> 0:17:09.080 the office guys babysat for me while I was taking 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:13.200 the exam. So I was building forms and pouring concrete 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:15.720 and finishing, and then you know, all these guys were 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:20.200 just mooning over my baby Liz. Past the exam. They 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:22.959 have a door that they have all the new journeyman's signed, 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:26.199 and I got to hold Sheamus while I was signing 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:30.399 the door, and it was this wonderful, full circle moment 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.240 of I got into this trade because I wanted to 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.439 have a baby one day and to journey out holding 0:17:36.480 --> 0:17:39.840 my child. That this job and this you know, living 0:17:39.880 --> 0:17:43.560 wage made possible. It was just a really cool moment. 0:17:45.400 --> 0:17:49.240 That's Liz Nichols, a journeyman cement mason and mother, living 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:53.280 and working in Portland, Oregon. That was independent producer Chris 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:57.359 Siegel with the story of Cement Mason, Liz Nichols, and 0:17:57.440 --> 0:17:59.880 that's all for this edition of On the Job from 0:17:59.880 --> 0:18:04.200 a Express Employment Professionals. Find out more at Express prose 0:18:04.280 --> 0:18:07.479 dot com, and you can listen to every podcast this 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:12.160 season at Express prose dot com slash podcast. This podcast 0:18:12.280 --> 0:18:15.439 is produced by your host, Steve Mencher for Mensch Media, 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:19.439 I Heart Radio and Red Seat Ventures. You can subscribe 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:22.400 on I Heart Radio and iTunes, where we hope you'll 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:24.919 leave a nice review which helps other folks find us, 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.439 and of course you can listen and subscribe wherever you 0:18:28.520 --> 0:18:32.040 get your podcasts. See you next time, On the Job.