JC Sykes is a carpenter, co-owner 90 Degree Construction, author and the Founder and Executive Director of Black Girls Build, a non-profit organization that " Brings boldness and authority to all women and young girls by providing exposure and opportunity in the construction industry. " On this episode of the Hazard Girls podcast, JC and Host Emily Soloby discuss overcoming gender and racial bias in the construction industry, dealing with unions, being a wife, mother and author, as well as the i...
Mar 14, 2023•28 min
Dr. Ronda Hamm is an entomologist, educator, and a princess in Reinvented Magazine's Princesses with Powertools calendar. Dr. Hamm and Hazard Girls podcast Host Emily Soloby discuss her unique story and her passion for insects, agriculture, and STEM. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 07, 2023•36 min
On this episode of Hazard Girls we welcome Diana Iracheta to the show. Diana is the Founder of Latina Engineer, an organization she founded on 2019 and who’s mission is to empower Latinas in Engineering by providing educational and professional development resources. Diana sits down with Hazard Girls Host Emily Soloby and shares her experiences and obstacles as a Latina in engineering, her inspirations and what it took to grow the Latina Engineer network to over 10,000 women in STEM around the w...
Feb 28, 2023•30 min
The Hazard Girls podcast welcomes high school edtech librarian Kristina Holzweiss to the show. Kristen and Host Emily Soloby discuss the importance of libraries and librarians for professional development, fostering a love of reading, creating a safe and welcoming space for students, and integrating STEM with literacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 21, 2023•34 min
After running her yoga studio for a couple of years, Hope Zvara said, “OK universe, what’s next?” The answer came to her after a question from a stranger at a small-town mixer in Wisconsin. On this episode of the Hazard Girls podcast, Host Emily Soloby welcomes Hope Zvara, Founder and CEO of Mother Trucker Yoga. She shares her fascinating story and some simple strategies truck drivers and everyone else can use to improve their fitness and health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone...
Feb 14, 2023•32 min
As a child in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, Dr. Jenny Patel always wanted to be a pediatrician. During her last year of high school, she was introduced to the field of biomedical engineering and realized she could do so much more as a Biomedical Engineer. Join Dr. Patel and Host Emily Soloby on this episode of the Hazard Girls Podcast to hear all about her roller coaster ride including earning her PhD. during the pandemic, applying for her first job (16 interviews in one day!), leveraging the power o...
Feb 07, 2023•28 min
Susan Martinez is a Payload Systems Engineer with a passion for space exploration. As long as she can remember Susan has dreamed of working at NASA. While studying engineering in college, a staff member at her school presented her with a tattered flyer from the 90’s she found on her desk. On a lark, Susan applied for what she thought was a one-week robotics course. When she received notice congratulating her on her 10-week NASA internship her response was “Is this a joke?” From there, her career...
Jan 30, 2023•29 min
As a child, Maria showed an interest and proficiency in tinkering and improving things. When her father’s job took her from her home in Mexico to the suburbs of Detroit at 14, Maria joined the robotics team and never looked back. Today in her role as Chief Technical Officer and co-founder at Canvas, Maria has put her PhD. from MIT and a lifelong passion for improving things to good use. Maria joins Hazard Girls Host Emily Soloby for a closer look at her experiences in the fields of robotics and ...
Jan 24, 2023•43 min
Cait Lowe is the Principal of Pretty Pretty Precon, a preconstruction firm located in Acworth, Georgia. Cait joins Hazard Girls host Emily Soloby for a fun conversation about Cait's journey through the male-dominated world of construction. As the founder of a woman-owned small business, she's seen it all in a very short period of time. Cait talks about hitting the wall professionally, making the decision to go her own way, and the various changes she's seen in the construction industry as a resu...
Jan 24, 2023•37 min
Growing up on a farm on the outskirts of Sydney, Australia Louise Azzopardi found her love for working with her hands early. By the age of 15, she had left school and was working full-time as a mechanic. During that time she attended an Apprenticeship Expo where she met a woman who was a Heavy Vehicle Mechanic. Inspired, she applied for and got a similar position. Unfortunately, her dream of working in the male-dominated world of heavy vehicle mechanics soured as she was lectured and bullied ext...
Jan 11, 2023•42 min
Ashton Thompson has been burning rubber since the age of 6. Now at 22 her impressive racing resume and passion for motorsports stand out in the male-dominated racing field. On today’s episode, Ashton takes time out of her busy racing schedule to talk to Hazard Girls Host Emily Soloby about the challenges and rewards of her career as a rising star in racing. These include the physical demands of being a race car driver, the stress her busy schedule puts on her family and friends as well as the ph...
Jan 03, 2023•34 min
Asia Fee is a chemist, the founder of Alchemist Asia cosmetics, a self-described “Remote Chemist”, and a Princess in Reinvented Magazine’s Princesses with Powertools 2023 calendar. Today Asia is our very special guest on the Hazard Girls podcast. Growing up in a small town, Asia had a passion for science but didn’t have a lot of women role models in the STEM field. If you were in STEM, particularly if you were a woman, you were a teacher or you worked in a lab. While still in high school, she di...
Dec 13, 2022•37 min
Growing up in a small community in India, Ayesha Iftiqhar saw most of the women in her family getting married and starting a family. When Ayesha read about Kalpana Chawla, an Indian-born American astronaut and mechanical engineer and the first woman of Indian origin to go to space, she said to herself “I can do that”. Seeing someone with whom she could identify reaching such amazing heights lit a fire within Ayesha. As astronaut Sally Ride said, “If you can see it you can be it.” At the age of 2...
Dec 06, 2022•32 min
On this episode of Hazard Girls, we welcome Dr. Hannah Shows, Artificial Intelligence Specialist at Haynes Beffel & Wolfeld LLP. When Dr. Shows was in tenth grade, her geometry teacher told her he would be placing her in a remedial math class “as a favor to her” because she would never use math in her future, he unknowingly set her on a course that changed her life. When she arrived at college she opted to take the more difficult of the available math classes to prove to herself she could do...
Nov 29, 2022•45 min
On this episode of Hazard Girls, Host Emily Soloby welcomes back to the show Kaylin Leas. Kaylin is a Journeyman Pipe welder for TDIndustries in Fort Worth, Texas She is their first Leadwoman welder. and Empowering Women in Industry initiative'sTradeswoman of the year 2021. Kaylin and Emily catch up on Kaylen’s work with projects including everything from airplane hangers to hotels. Kaylen fills us in on her rodeo and pageant experiences and her appearance in Reinvented Magazine’s Princesses Wit...
Nov 22, 2022•25 min
Jennie Blumenthal is a professional speaker, author, CEO and founder of Corporate Rehab , an acclaimed professional coaching consultancy that has helped hundreds of executives ditch workplace hustle culture and find their path toward a greater sense of purpose. When the pandemic hit it gave Jeannie a moment to think. The constant hustle, being on 3 planes a week, led her to ask a question of herself - "Is the version of me that I feel I have to be to make all these things happen, the person I wa...
Nov 15, 2022•33 min
As a young girl, Sydney Floryanzia was forced to attend an engineering camp one summer. There, she was introduced to the field of neuro-engineering, which ultimately skyrocketed her into a career that she is incredibly passionate about today! Sydney is a National Science Foundation (NSF) graduate research fellow and a Ph.D. student in chemical engineering at the University of Washington. She has a published research article, an inventorship on a patent, and she is currently investigating the blo...
Nov 08, 2022•32 min
On today's episode of Hazard Girls we welcome Rachel Kowert, Ph.D. Dr. Kowert is the Research Director of Take This , a mental health advocacy organization that provides resources, training, and support to individuals and companies that help the gaming community improve its mental well-being and resilience. Rachel and Emily discuss how Take This addresses issues women in the gaming industry routinely face such as burnout, systemic discrimination, and harassment. Also covered in today's episode a...
Oct 31, 2022•38 min
Nadean Carson graduated from college in the morning and was in the Air Force that evening. While serving she learned how important it was to protect the environment by preventing stormwater pollution. On this episode of Hazard Girls, Host Emily Soloby talks with Nadean about how she fell in love with stormwater which led to her founding her company Oya Construction which helps construction sites mitigate stormwater pollution while keeping construction going. As a woman owner of a successful cons...
Oct 25, 2022•36 min
When Diana Skellenger graduated from the University Of Texas with a degree in Public Relations she never imagined a career in construction would be in her future. On this episode of Hazard Girls, Host Emily Soloby shares an amazing conversation with Diana who recounts her incredible journey to her position as CEO and Founder of Skelly Build. Skelly Build is a residential and commercial construction firm in Austin Texas, where 12 out of 16 construction employees are women. Diana and Emily talk ab...
Oct 17, 2022•40 min
The Wall Street Journal’s poster girl for pandemic career burnout Sara McElroy sits down with Host Emily Soloby to discuss her journey from Chief Marketing Officer to founder of Raze to Rise – an organization created to amplify women’s voices from the Great Resignation. Her journey took her through Peru’s Sacred Valley (with a few stops at the Emergency Room along the way), ultimately returning to her journalistic roots with Raze to Rise . Don’t miss this insightful conversation with this reform...
Oct 11, 2022•36 min
Tasanee Durrett has spent her life surrounded by strong, resilient, powerful women, so it’s no surprise that she has turned into one herself. As a double minority professional working in the architecture and construction spaces, Tasanee has had to learn to find her voice and build her confidence in order to thrive. And thrive she has! Inspired by the iconic buildings of her hometown, Tasanee knew from a young age that she would pursue a career in architecture. After completing her degree at the ...
Oct 04, 2022•29 min
“Hazard Girls is about women in male-populated industries.” Today on the Hazard Girls Podcast, we are discussing what we do on this podcast! You will hear all about why we do the podcast, what our mission is, whom we interview, and why we need to shift the terminology from “Male Dominated” to “Male Populated.” We go through some examples of great episodes we’ve done, look at Emily’s interview process, as well as the overarching themes we notice when interviewing guests. Lastly, we talk about wha...
Sep 27, 2022•28 min•Season 4Ep. 19
With us today is Nancy Surak. She is a Senior Advisor and Managing Broker for the Tampa Bay office of the Land Advisors Organization. Nancy has more than 20 years of commercial real estate experience and has specialized in land brokerage since 2005. Tune in as we dive deeper into the commercial real estate industry to get up close and personal insight from Nancy. We take a close look at Nancy's professional experience as well as her efforts to support women in this male-dominated industry. You w...
Sep 20, 2022•35 min•Season 4Ep. 18
Joining us today on the Hazard Girls podcast is the inspirational Jennifer Todd. Jennifer is a lawyer, the founder of an NPO called A Greener Tomorrow, and the founder and president of LMS General Contractors and is here with us to discuss being a woman in the construction industry. We discuss Jennifer’s journey to getting her law degree, starting her company and her NPO, and the importance of having a ‘why.’ You will hear all about how and why Jennifer became a spokesperson for women in constru...
Sep 13, 2022•39 min•Season 4Ep. 17
The entrepreneurs who win the ‘game’ are the ones who keep going when the going gets tough! Joining us today on Hazard Girls is the CEO of Health-Ade, Daina Trout. Daina has an impressive resume and is passionate about gut health. In this episode, you will hear all about the positive effect kombucha and other fermented foods have on your health, the difference between prebiotics, probiotics, and postbiotics, and how to determine the status of your gut health. We discuss how Daina became interest...
Sep 07, 2022•39 min•Season 4Ep. 16
As women in construction today, we deal with microaggressions in the workplace. But what was it like when sexism was a blatant part of women’s working lives? Here to tell us all about this is author of Tower of Lies, Trump’s ‘woman in construction,’ and incredible speaker, Barbara Res. Today on Hazard Girls we discuss Barbara’s illustrious career starting from her studies in construction all the way to today as an author. Tuning in you’ll hear all about her biggest challenges, the blatant sexism...
Aug 09, 2022•46 min•Season 4Ep. 15
According to the US Department of Agriculture, Americans waste more than $161 billion each year on food, with most of it ending up in landfills. Our guest, interviewed by host Emily Soloby of Juno Jones Shoes, is a creative problem solver on a mission to end this kind of household food waste. Chef Alison Mountford is the founder of ends+stems, a meal planning service designed to reduce food waste and stop the effects of climate change. Alison is a chef by training and a successful culinary entre...
Aug 02, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Transitioning from one male-dominated industry to another is not easy, but it is something our guest, Jhanel Wilson, has managed to do successfully. Jhanel is a Philadelphia-based chemical engineer turned real estate investor with a portfolio of over 10 million dollars. Her strategy focuses on small multifamily buy-and-hold, and she now teaches others in STEM jobs how to generate wealth through real estate. In this episode, we hear about Jhanel’s experience as a chemical engineer and what ultima...
Jul 26, 2022•24 min•Season 2Ep. 4
There appears to be a growing trend of women and minorities pursuing careers in STEM, but there is still a long way to go. Only 17 percent of civil engineers in the US are women, while minorities make up approximately 31 percent of civil engineers nationwide. And while many women and minorities may obtain a degree in STEM subjects, the likelihood of them staying within that field is far from certain. Today we are joined by Ally, a licensed construction engineer in Colorado, working in the road a...
Jul 19, 2022•32 min•Season 4Ep. 14