Lia: Welcome to the Sparky Life Podcast with Lia Lamela. Thank you for joining me every Thursday for tantalizing trade tales, compelling craftsman stories of struggle, heartache, and unparalleled success in blue collar careers. I share with you my electrical journey, experiences of insight through engaging banter with those I've met along the way. If you're interested in trade tales and industry fraught with excitement and risk, subscribe and be notified every Thursday when trade tales continue.
I have another guest from one of my favorite locations. I am a big fan of Australia. I had the opportunity to go to Australia when I was younger, and I was able to dive the Great Barrier Reef. It was just a life-changing, amazing experience. And so Australia holds a very special place in my heart. I even tried to get residency in Australia, but surprisingly, it is more difficult than you would think. So I am pleased to introduce Steph Mannering. She is a level three certified marine craft construction boat builder. She basically gets to play with boats all day. I am so jealous. The amazing, Steph Mannering. I love it.
Steph: Yes! That is me!
Lia: I was so envisioning you in like a superhero, man ray costume. Like, like.
Steph: I'm gonna have to get one now. Now.
Lia: Yes. Yes.
Steph: I can send you a picture.
Lia: I think you should. You're like a land mermaid.
Steph: Yeah. I, I am actually just minus the tile. Yeah. Not really practical.
Lia: Yeah.
Steph: I don't think the boys at work would say I'm as majestic as a mermaid.
Lia: Ah, they don't know what they're talking about. You're majestic as a hell. So I didn't even know this trade existed. If I did, I might have gone into it myself. Cuz it sounds like heaven on earth. Can you walk us through what your day-to-day looks like? You wake up in the morning and…
Steph: And I make myself my ice caramel latte because I can't stop my day without it.
Lia: That sounds delicious.
Steph: And so when I get to work, I assemble the boat. So our boats come in three parts where we have our hull, our floor and our top deck. And because we build fiberglass boats, it comes from a mold, which is pretty cool. So that mold is uniquely made by hand by the people at work. And I'm hoping one day I will be able to make a mold to show that I had an input in that for the company. And what I do is I put all the opponents together and I've got a, a job card, which tells me what part, any extras that the boat's getting. Um, and takes me about three weeks, depending on the size of the boat and all the extras. And I put it all together. It's really hard to explain because I don't, I don't work off a plan. I, it's just steps. That's how I've learned. It's just, this is my first step. This is my second step. This is my third step. It's like a big Lego. That's how I explain it to people.
Lia: I love that.
Steph: Without the instruction booklet.
Lia: Right.
Steph: I do wiring, I do plumbing.
Lia: Holy shit.
Steph: Yeah. So it's small stuff. It's not massive stuff
Lia: Still. That's, that's wonderful. You've got your hands a little, a little bit of understanding in each trade.
Steph: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So the only thing I don't do is rig the motor on the boat.
Lia: Okay.
Steph: And run all the rigging harnesses. It's the only thing I don't do. Um, because you need to a qualified marine technician to do that. So yeah. I'd yet to do my wiring. So I wire up all the small stuff, like if there's toilets or deck wash pumps, I install all that. Wow. Um, so I get to dip my fingers in almost every trade I feel.
Lia: Yeah.
Steph: It's pretty cool. It keeps you doing different things all the time, rather than it just being the same mundane stuff because you can become very complacent and bored of what you're doing if it is the same monotonous work over and over and over again. So when I get to do stuff like that, it just keeps it exciting and keeps me learning.
Lia: And how did you step into marine craft construction? Is this something you always wanted to do?
Steph: So a bit like you, Lia, I never even knew it existed.
Lia: Yay. I'm not alone.
Steph: No, you're not. And I, I'm not qualified. I didn't even know it existed. So I was 22 and I wanted to change what I was doing. I was working in an office, I was getting bored of sitting at a computer all day. So I thought, you know what? I'm gonna try really hard. I'm gonna become a builder. And what I wanted to be was a carpenter, a house builder. And I applied for 300 apprenticeships and, and I didn't get a single phone call back. That was really, really hard. I was 22. So I was mature age and meaning that the employer has to pay me more because I'm no longer a junior. I had no labor experience. I didn't really have anything going for me. So I knew that whoever was gonna take me on it was gonna be just off the attitude that I have. And that's really hard from a piece of paper for people to know your attitude. So I applied for this job where I am now just as a laborer, um, to see if I just got a response back. And sure enough I did. I got an interview and two weeks later I started working there, which was pretty cool. I was the first or the only female there on the working floor. We have our office lady, she's there, she's awesome. And then I became the first female apprentice boat builder. And as of about two weeks ago, I think it was, I became the first qualified female boat builder that cruise craft my company has.
Lia: Oh, congratulations.
Steph: Super excited.
Lia: Very exciting.
Steph: Thank you.
Lia: So I wanna backtrack a little bit because you talked about something very important. You said you applied to 300 apprenticeship programs and now you didn't have experience and you were older. So in Australia that meant you, they needed to pay you more. But you said your attitude was what was of value. And that's, that's very hard to see on paper. What is it about your attitude that makes it so valuable?
Steph: That I'm willing to give it a go. It's not for me. It's not about gender, it's not about my age. It's about my ability. And I have a passion to work with my hands and to build things. And I wanted to go from that just being a hobby. And don't get me wrong, I had no idea about tools, about anything. I was, I thought I did as we do. And then I started working in the trade and I was like, wow. I learned about my power tools. I learned how to use grinders and use, um, all sorts of tools that we have.
Lia: You applied it to 300 places. That tells me you've got an attitude of persistence. That's somebody that doesn't give up easily. I would want somebody like that working for me for sure. So, oh, I thank you. What else about your attitude?
Steph: I just wanted to do what I did for fun every day. And I know, like I didn't have a very wide skillset to begin with, but that's why I wanted to do a trade so that I could expand my skillset both for my personal life and for my work life and become the best I can be. And I guess when I first started there and I was like the only girl, I'm like, oh, game on boys. Game is on. I'm here. I'm passionate about girls being the best that they can be. And it doesn't come down like yes, there are boys and girls, but I'm a worker at work. I am there. We all have the same interests: boats, and that's what we're there for. It's not, oh, she's a a female trades person. It's, she's a boat builder. I wanted to see if I was capable of it for a start because it isn't for everyone. It's not. Um, some people start and don't succeed. I mean, we don't have a very high turnover of, um, apprentices here in Australia as you know, um, because they drop out quite frequently. So I want, I wanted to prove to people that you can, that you can do it. And you know what, if you just stick to it, if you ha But not everyone has that either, of the determination to stick to it. Um, but I did and I wanted to see how far I could go and I think I pretty much smashed it outta the ballpark.
Lia: Yeah. There you go.
Steph: I don't with, uh, the awards that I won this last year, um, Apprentice of the Year, both Queensland and nationally. And then to finish off my apprenticeship this year, I, I don't think I could have done any better than what I did. It's pretty amazing. I came into work one day and like this particular award that I won was only four fourth year apprentices because they want to see these people sticking to the trades as well. You know, they don't wanna give you a reward when you're only a first year, cuz you might not complete the rest of your three. And I did, yeah. I didn't even know it existed. Uh, and I had one of the guys come into work and he was like, oh, just letting you know I've nominated you for Apprentice of the Year. And I'm like, what? What's that? And he explained it to me and I was like, oh my God. Like you actually think I'm worthy of something like that, that you're gonna put my name to that. And, and they wrote an awesome spiel about me. There's a, if you Google my name, it actually comes up with the article that they wrote about me
Lia: Uh oh that's going in nice show notes, that's going in the show notes.
Steph: That's okay. It's all nice things. So that, yeah. And when I was told that, I was like, holy crap, imagine they must think I'm awesome if they're gonna nominate me for something like that. And clearly they do. And then I won and yeah, it was amazing. I cried.
Lia: Aw.
Steph: I don't cry over a lot of things, but I cried over that. I was like, oh my God, I've achieved like the biggest thing I could have ever thought that I could have achieved. And I didn't even know it existed.
Lia: Did you ever think that you would be here?
Steph: No. Not at all. I, I mean, when I left school I wanted to be a nurse.
Lia: Why didn't you pursue the nursing?
Steph: Because I didn't want to go and study. Mm. I was working full-time at the supermarket and getting a full-time wage and I wasn't ready to sacrifice, um, studying because I knew that if I was to study, even if it is just part-time, that I was gonna lose part of my wages. And even though I could have done it, I didn't want to do it. And I just left school. And when you just leave school, you think you know everything. So, you know…
Lia: It isn't that true.
Steph: It's, it is. And when people say it, when you're that age, you're like, Ooh, whatever. And then you grow up and you're like, yeah, I was like that.
Lia: Yeah. Right.
Steph: Yeah. I get it. So, and I guess that all comes down to maturity as well. Like I wasn't mature enough to have to sacrifice. And then when I became a little bit older, I decided that yeah, I wanted to do a trade and, and learn the trade's lifestyle and work with my hands. So that's what I did. I just changed what I wanted to do and did it.
Lia: Oh, you say it like, it's so easy. I know so many people who wanna…
Steph: Well it's not!
Lia: Yeah, right.
Steph: It's not. Once you make that initial step and you get your foot in the door for whatever it may be, it's, if you have that attitude and that determination to keep going, it will take you everywhere. But you have to have it in your heart of hearts to want to do it. Cause no one's gonna do it for you. And especially being a female in the male industry, no one's gonna do it for you. Like when I first started there and I, I've heard you talk in a few of your podcasts, um, when you go, cuz I don't get to work on site, I work in a, a warehouse. So I work with the same people day in, day out. So we have a awesome team. It's pretty cool. They're, they are literally like a family.
Lia: Ah, I love that.
Steph: Yeah. It's really nice. It's really nice. I hear your stories and you're like, oh, you know, I'll take a ladder on site and then a guy will see me carrying it and he'll ask me, he'll ask me if I need a hand. When I first started at where I am now, we have a, a manual time sheet. So you go up, we have all our workers there and you pick your little card out and you put it through the machine and it stamps the time on it. And when I first started there, cuz we all clock in and then clock out at the same time, I'd walk near the clock card and all the boys would just like get away from it. They're like, it's okay Steph, you go first, ladies first. It's just like, oh, my…
Lia: Parting of the Red Sea!
Steph: Yeah. Literally, literally. And I'm like, oh my fucking God, how long is this gonna go on for? Like I don't wanna push in like, so stop. And now, now they don't. So it's good. It took them a while. I think it took them about 12 months until they worked out that it's like, I don't want you to do that. Like, it makes me feel awkward. Because I feel like you're segregating me because I'm a female, but they're just trying to be nice as well. And I appreciate that. Like it's, I can't, I can't take offense to it cuz they're being nice. It's like when somebody opens the door for me, it's like, you know. I opened it for you. I'm like, oh thank you. It's really nice. But I open the door for them as well. It's not a one-way street.
Lia: Right. Right. But I love that. I find that in the trades, this happens often where you get two types. Either they want to help you, you know, you go get a ladder and they're running to help. I'll, I'll, I'll help you can, can you do the 12 foot ladder? You need a hand. Like they, they're ready to help you or you get the ugh, ugh. She, she can't carry that. Like, I gotta go over there. You know, like.
Steph: Yeah. Literally.
Lia: You know, it's, it's one or the other. There's no in between.
Steph: Just ruin their day.
Lia: Yeah. Like, ugh, I gotta pick up the slack. She can't do it. So, it's funny how though, if you, there's like little itty bitty guys on site and I don't know about the warehouse you work in, but are all of them six foot giants? Are they all like muscle meat heads?
Steph: We have, we have one six foot giant, the rest of them are average
Lia: Yeah. Okay. Do you have any really little guys, like guys close to your height or weight?
Steph: Uh, yeah. Yeah, we have a few.
Lia: Yeah. Yeah.
Steph: We like, size doesn't really matter. I mean, what I think's really cool is, um, we have a windscreen that we make. And so I've been building for two years now and I haven't been able to lift the windscreen like it's a big windscreen. I dunno how heavy it is, but it's probably near on. Like, I, I don't know. I couldn't even give you an estimate. It's massive
Lia: Yes.
Steph: Regular a boat. So you can imagine the size of it.
Lia: Yes.
Steph: And I have never been able to lift it. Never. So I always, always have to get one of the boys to do it and I'm like, ah, it just pains me. Cause I can do everything else by myself. I just can't lift this windscreen.
Lia: Yes. I, I'm with you, I'm with you.
Steph: God I hate it, I hate it. And I finally, cuz I could get it to here, but I just couldn't get it up my head. Cause you have to lift it straight to get into the boat.
Lia: Yes. Upper body strength!
Steph: Um, cause you can't carry it here. Cause if you do, you're gonna hit it on the side of the boat and probably end up smashing it and you don't want that either. So it's up over your head. And finally it's taken me two years, but I can do it and I can do it by myself. And not drop the windscreen and not struggle. And some of the boys can't do it. So it's like…
Lia: Amazon Queen!
Steph: Yeah!
Lia: Yes. Yes. I had the same experience. That's pretty cool.
Steph: Yes. It's very cool.
Lia: I had the same experience with pipe. I couldn't bend three quarter pipe when I started and now I can carry a bundle of three quarter pipe, which I couldn't do before. So it's like anything else, if you keep training your muscles.
Steph: It’s little achievements.
Lia: Right. You keep training, you keep attempting, you keep working your way up, it will happen, it will happen.
Brenda: Yeah. I was listening to your podcast, your solo podcast and the one that you run after that, um, with the Hunter.
Lia: Oh yeah.
Steph: Awesome. And how training…
Lia: Chris Heskett!
Steph: Yeah. Yes. He was awesome.
Lia: He's amazing.
Steph: And all the struggles that you had, like with your training and whatnot, like I think it's pretty awesome that you, you worked out what was, what was going wrong. And you managed to fix it. And now you can, you know, you're growing muscle and you're able to do more of your job, um, without assistance and that's pretty fucking cool.
Lia: Yes. It's, I love it. It's wonderful feeling. It's an independent feeling, right?
Steph: Yeah, absolutely.
Lia: And the health, the health I, I'm less likely to get hurt because my muscles are stronger and I'm more limber because I work out.
Steph: You're more conditioned.
Lia: Right, exactly. Yeah, exactly.
Steph: More conditioned to the work that you're doing. And people don't realize that either. Like you've gotta be pretty strong both mentally and physically. It gets heavy and it gets hard.
Lia: It can, but I, I always like to point out that yes, some trades you're gonna require more physical strength than others.
Steph: Absolutely.
Lia: But if you use your brain and use physics, there's, there's a way to figure it out without physically forcing. We have pulleys and rigs and all these fun cool tools like a forklift and dollies that you can use to move things. You don't have to be the Hulk, but it is a, an absolutely fantastic feeling to see yourself get physically stronger.
Steph: And also if you stop and think about it, there's a technique to doing it to make it easier as well. So even if you don't have the machinery, like, I don't know about you guys, but when you do your, your trade, do you do any sort of manual handling training where you learn how?
Lia: Ohhh…
Steph: There you go. Had to learn how to manually hand, handle things. So when you have two people lifting how two people lift things.
Lia: I love that.
Steph: And now if you're carrying, it's so basic…
Lia: Genius.
Steph: Yes. But it is so important. Exactly. Yes it is.
Lia: I love that.
Steph: How if you have a like, a 20 kilo pail of we use bog or paint how to lift that correctly to not hurt yourself.
Lia: That's fantastic. I wish we had something like that. What we get is, what does this tool, what does it do? But some of the guys don't even know how to use the tools properly. Do you know how many bits I burnt out because I did not know how to use the tool properly. Like just destroyed. I mean like, and we, I had a boss one day go out and get, um, a, uh, stepping, a stepper, what are they called? Darn it. It's a whole saw that steps down each size bigger and bigger has um, the diet, it like cuts down, and I just rammed that thing in there with all of my body weight as fast it was smoking and then of course I burnt the shit out and I'm like, it's not working anymore. What happened? No, nobody explains like, there, there are two speeds on the drill for a reason. There's torque. This is how it works. No one explains. And a lot of the guys honestly don't know how the tools work. They treat them the same way. They just literally beat the hell out of the tools. And I think that's so valuable to actually be taught how to use it. And not just that, but how to lift things properly. That encourages teamwork, that action of how to lift something with someone else. Did you have to perform it? Did you then have to do it?
Steph: Yeah, I had to do a, um, like a, an exam I suppose where my college teacher watched me perform the activity.
Lia: Yeah. I love that.
Steph: In front of him.
Lia: I love that. Now that's value there. That's fantastic.
Steph: Absolutely. Yeah. And going back to the talk, I think the most valuable thing, and it's such a, a little thing that I learned, but I take it everywhere I go for every job I do is trigger control. I didn't know. I just thought, yeah, you press the, you press the trigger and boom, you gotta use it in full capacity all the time. That's the only way you're gonna get the job done. But I didn't know any better, like. And then when my teacher taught me, he's like, you know, you don't have to have it going full ball all the time. Like, you actually have control over this. And he showed me how to use it to my advantage using control. And I'm like, holy shit. I don't just grind off everything in one go. Like I just work. The tool works with me, not I work with it.
Lia: Yes. You let the tool do the job it was intended to do.
Steph: Yeah. Yeah. That's right.
Lia: My first year on the field, my very first year, I broke the knockout. I like, it's a, it's a extremely expensive device that creates holes in metal, perfect size holes depending on the hole. And I broke it. So they called me “demo” from that point on. And that was just the beginning of the tools. I managed to burn up and break and, but in all, all honesty, no one sat me down and like showed me how it operated. They just hand it to you. And I would watch the guys like a hawk to see how they use it, how they take it apart, what they do. And they just muscle everything and just full on power with everything. And then I got lucky enough to come across a journeyman who was like, okay, so when you're using a whole saw, you wanna go on a lower speed and a higher torque. And he like, broke it down and explained to me what I was doing, why I was doing it, what the, what the tool was capable of. And then I was like, oh, how come no one else uses the tool like this? Like what, what is going on?
Steph: The light bulb just went off in your head, you're like, oh my god.
Lia: Yes, yes. It was wonderful because as you said, then your job is made easier cuz you're using the tool as it's intended to be used.
Steph: That's it. And then you don't have people looking at you going, what the fuck is she doing?
Lia: I feel like I have them looking at me saying, what the fuck is she doing all the time regardless of what I'm doing.
Steph: That's awesome. So when you say journeyman, what, what is that? Uh, we don't use that term here in Australia,
Lia: You are then licensed right. To operate on your own. You're considered graduated from all of the requirements to perform that craft.
Steph: So it's like a qualified tradesperson. They've completed all their, all their training and then they can go work off by themself if they wanted to.
Lia: Yes.
Steph: I like that name. I like that name. I might call myself a journeywoman.
Lia: You should!
Steph: I had one of the boys, well I had one of the boys ask me the other day, they're like, do you prefer tradie? Do you prefer lady tradie? Do you prefer tradesman? Tradeswoman? What do you prefer? And then I, in the back of my head I was like, I like the word journeyman but I don't know what it means. So, I have to find out.
Lia: There you go. Well now you know.
Steph: I do, I do. But I just prefer tradie. I think that's a, a broad, broad spectrum.
Lia: Yeah. Uh, it's a easy, easy quick on the tongue, tradie.
Steph: That's it. That's it. Yes.
Lia: For women who are interested in getting into trade careers, what would you recommend? What would you tell them?
Steph: I would tell them, if that's what you really want to do, give it a shot. It's, it's hard work, but it is so rewarding. I got so involved in my hobbies that I made it a job. And I think if, if you are interested in working with your hands, then a trade is definitely the way to go. Cuz it will make every day a hobby. I was, um, I was really excited to do this podcast with you and I told all, all the boys at work, um, and they're so excited. They're like, oh my goodness, when you do the podcast, send me the link cuz I wanna listen to it.
Lia: Yeah.
Steph: Got a big shout out to my crew. Big shout out to your boys.
Lia: Yes! You got very lucky there, because even though you fought with the determination for 300 applications and being denied, being denied, when you finally got let in the door, the crew that you got, it was like the universe meant it to happen because they're so supportive.
Steph: Yes. In fact, when I first started, it's really funny. So my, my boss said to me, he was like, you know, you're gonna be the first girl here, so I'm gonna put my faith in you. Please don't let us down. And I was like, in my head I'm like, alright, game is on. Like, I, I'm not gonna let you down. I've been given an opportunity and I don't think he meant it in a bad way either.
Lia: Yeah. When you first said that, my, my feeling was like, what the hell does that mean? What do you mean by that?
Steph: I guess, I guess he'd never had a woman in the workplace.
Lia: I wonder what the concern was.
Steph: As it turns out, he had to sit all the boys down and tell them like, we have a female starting, you know, we've gotta be careful about what we say around the workplace and, um, and how you conduct yourself, blah, blah, blah. And all the boys were pulled in for a meeting the day I think I was walking around doing my induction and the boys are in a meeting being told to keep it like, to be sensible.
Lia: They must have thought, they had to walk on eggshells this not like a good way to introduce a female. Like…
Steph: For the 70 years that they've been conducting business prior to that, they, I think they had one, maybe one or two girls just blow in for a couple of months and then that was it. They never had a female come in and actually stick to it and do their job and, and own their shit. Uh, and I think that was just a big thing for them. And then to see me come in and just literally slot, slot right in. Apparently I said to one of the boys, my, on my first day, I walked into the lunchroom and I said, uh, what's up cunts? That's when they knew that I was normal. I was like, oh my God, was I that embarrassing? Oh, obviously, obviously.
Lia: Were they like, dead silent crickets, and then started laughing.
Steph: I don't even remember saying it. Oh, I had one of the boys come up to me later and they're like, we, we knew you were cool from the first day, Steph, because you came into the lunch room and you were like, what's up cunts.
Lia: I am a big fan of like crude sense of humor and things like that. So I I think it's great.
Steph: They knew that they didn't have to walk on eggshells. And that's what I didn't want. I didn't want to walk in. And another thing, like again, being the only female, I didn't wanna walk in and have everything handed to me.
Lia: Right, right.
Steph: No, I'm not about that. I was there to prove a point for myself.
Lia: But I got to tell you, a lot of women in the trades, they don't necessarily look at themselves as a trailblazer. I love that you are looking at yourself as, I'm, I'm preparing for when the, the next woman is to come on board. I want her to value herself and know she can do it. And I want to be a trailblazer. It's refreshing because a lot of women don't even look at it like that. They just look at it as this is a paycheck. I, I want this job. I, I love what I'm doing and I need, um, I need an income. So it's refreshing that you look at it on a level of leadership, really.
Steph: As like, as a boat builder, you learn how to read plans and you learn, you learn how to draw and design boats and, and that gets really hard. Like when you start learning math and, and like having to draw things, read plans, like it gets pretty hard, it does. Once you get over that hurdle, it becomes so much easier. You just have to have that faith within yourself that even, even if it is a little bit hard, it doesn't mean it's all gonna be hard. But you need to push through the boundaries that you didn't think you could push through. And if you think you have that in you, then the trades are 100% for you.
Lia: You know, from my episodes that I love asking this question. I love using the metaphor, what tool is in your tool belt, what’s something that you carry with you every day that helps you achieve your goals?
Steph: So I knew you were gonna ask this question. I wrote it down. I wrote it down because I was like, fuck, I need to prepare for this. And I, you know what I didn't do, prepare for it.
Lia: Good. It will be ever is invoked in you right now!
Steph: One thing I always say to myself is like, if I'm having a bad day, if things just aren't going to plan, tomorrow's a new day and there's always tomorrow, and tomorrow's not gonna be as bad as today. I think that's what I carry with me all the time.
Lia: Along with your positive attitude
Steph: That yeah, that's right.
Lia: Ah, Steph, this is too much fun; as usual, I've gone past the time. I am so privileged and so lucky to be able to speak to women like you. Speaking with Steph was a delight. She's down to earth, laid back and has the coolest job of anyone I've spoken to thus far. Her secret: make every day your hobby, which I translate as, do what you love for work. Now I know all of us have taken different paths in life and maybe the career you’re in now isn't something that you particularly love, but there could be parts of that career that you love, things that you do within that career that you're passionate about. So focus on those things and try to extrapolate it. If you love working with your hands and enjoy the results of a finished product, then expanding your skillset to the trades could potentially be an option for you. And if you haven't seen a pattern with these episodes, a lot of people start off in one direction and then veer into another. And there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, that stats say that the average person changes their career 7 times in a lifetime. So, you’re not alone. I myself was in medical aesthetics for a decade, until I started my journey as an electrician. I traded botox for bolts, facials for fixtures, and aesthetics for electronics. In Steph’s words, “give it a go.” Will you give it a go?
Thank you for joining us. If you felt a spark in today's episode, I invite you to write a review. I'd love to hear what lit you up. Take what resonates with you. And if you'd like to hear more of the Sparky Life, please subscribe, like, follow and share. Until next time, create the sparks in your life.