Lia: Welcome to the Sparky Life Podcast. I'm your host, Lia Lamela, and here we create the sparks in our lives. Join me on this electrical journey where I highlight skilled trade tales and construction career opportunities with those I've met along the way. Thank you for joining, for trade tales continued. Today's guest is a modern day Jacques Cousteau. She landed her dream job working for the International Ocean Discovery Program, where she sailed around the world, spending two and a half years of her life at sea. Alexis Armstrong, host of Smoko podcast, is a geologist from Vancouver, Canada, with an extensive background in STEM and skilled trades. She began her journey in mining at the age of 19, working in northern Canada before moving into academia, completing her MS in Sedimentology… Sedimentology, I believe that's correct. Sedimentology. And then pursuing her lifelong dream as a pirate aboard a deep sea drilling vessel. After Alexis’ time at sea, she returned to land in order to complete her MBA. Can you tell she's driven? During the program, she interviewed over 75 women in STEM and trade occupations. Alexis was motivated to better understand women in STEM and skilled trade careers. As a consequence of this, she experienced the power of giving women a platform to highlight themselves. This led to the Smoko podcast. As a listener of the Smoko podcast, I enjoy Alexis's platform, being an advocate for women, creating a community and sharing compelling stories. She creates a space for women in Stem and skilled trades to be represented and of course, Sparky Life is all for that. During the conversation with Alexis, she shares her travels at sea and all she has learned along the way. Her encouragement to have an open mind and be led by curiosity, not by fear, has paved the way for the most excellent adventure. For those of you who are interested in exclusive spark life access to some of our juiciest conversations, you can join our Patreon page. Your support not only helps us continue creating electrifying episodes, but also helps us to share Sparky Life with more listeners like you. So welcome with me, Alexis Armstrong.
Alexis: Hello.
Lia: Hey.
Alexis: Hi.
Lia: How are you?
Alexis: Oh, I can't hear you. Oh, uh.
Lia: No. Can you hear me now?
Alexis: Yes, I can. Yeah now.
Lia: Yeah.
Alexis: How are you?
Lia: Good. How are you?
Alexis: Good. Am I coming in loud and clear? Can you hear me?
Lia: Yeah. You sound good. The first thing that, like, really piqued my interest is the name of your podcast.
Alexis: Oh, that's a good question. Where it comes from.
Lia: Yes. Yes. So let's start there because I'm super curious.
Alexis: That's a really good one. Um, so I worked on a ship for a very, very long time called the Geordies Resolution, and I worked for an organization called IODP, which is the International Ocean Discovery Program, ran out of Texas A&M, and it's basically this deep sea drilling vessel that goes around the world and studies climate change. And it was pretty cool to be like on it. It was like a dream come true. But it's an international boat and it has kind of people from all over the world, has been going since the 60s, has people from Canada, Australia, the UK, Texans like it's all over the place and on the boat since the 60s, our brakes have been called smokers and I had never known that term ever in my entire life. But every single time we'd go for a break, you'd be like at 3 p.m. or 3 a.m. or what, what have you. Every three hours they'd be like, Go grab your smoko. Which was a smoke or a coffee or a tea or like a biscuit. What would end up happening is, like all of my friends and coworkers would end up sitting at a table and just like, shooting the shit and just talking about whatever we want to talk about. Like the job, like our rocks, like being a girl, sometimes if it was just a girl, smoko, right? And like being in this industry and it was really just this, like, coffee culture and this time that we could all take a break and just chit chat and talk to people that were like, very similar to us or had the same experience and could kind of commiserate. Sometimes it would be like, “Oh my God, I'm so freaking tired of looking at the ocean and this fucking sucks and like, I need to go home.” Like it was just one on one time. And so that's where that idea came from and that's where that name came from. Because for me, it was always a time that I could connect with friends and really just like, have a genuine, like, authentic conversation and to take a break.
Lia: I love it. That is awesome. That's a great, great background.
Alexis: Thank you.
Lia: Love it. Very cool. And so you're no longer on the boat, right?
Alexis: No.
Lia: Done, done with that. So when you finished that, is that when you had the idea for the podcast?
Alexis: Yeah, it was, it kind of came across a little bit while I was on the ship, but I was working in a rotational life that my rotation was two months on, two months off. And so I was six months at sea and we had no internet. We barely had like any communication. I was on like nights. It was just completely ridiculous. But while I was at sea, I was like, it would be really cool to start something. Like, I don't really know what it's going to be yet, but it would be like, nice to have something that I could maybe help move the forward, the conversation about being a woman in science and a woman and trades. Like I knew I wanted to have some community aspect. I just didn't know what it was going to be while I was sailing. But it wasn't until I stopped sailing and I went back to school and I actually did an MBA because I was like, okay, maybe it's time to get out of the field and not be a pirate.
Lia: Why not? Being a pirate rocks.
Alexis: It does rock, like it was really fun, but like I was like, can I have, like, kids? Like, can my kids come with me? Like, to be like a baby pirate? Like, probably not. Like I'm probably…
Lia: Probably not.
Alexis: I had to do something different. So, like, I went back to school and did business, which was like, totally different. And like during that it was like, okay, well, let's, let's go back to that community. And like, now that you actually have Internet, and time, let's, let's start something. So that's when it actually became, became real.
Lia: Okay.
Alexis: Yeah.
Lia: So when, when you reached out to me and I went on your YouTube to see your very first YouTube episode. I love, I love it, by the way, I highly recommend everybody check that out.
Alexis: Thank you.
Lia: You were talking about this need to represent women in STEM and in skilled trades. How did you discover this need? Like why? Why do you feel like that fire was inside of you?
Alexis: I honestly kind of don't. I've asked myself this question to be like, Where did this start? And like, why did this start? And, and honestly, I don't really know where the fire came from or like, if there was like one defining moment to be like, Yep, this is going to be kind of like my passion. I think I've always been passionate about it since I've always worked within STEM. I started working really, really young. I think my first job in mining, I think I was like 19 and I got shipped up to a mine up in northern Ontario, up in northern Canada, and I was working in a mine site. And I think just being so young, working in that position and being one of the only women on site, like I remember when I came in, they were like, “Oh, sorry, we actually ran out of student housing. So like, you're going to live with the drillers.” And I was like, “Excuse you. What?”
Lia: Really like, have your own room, right, though, like private room?
Alexis: Kind of, but like, communal showers and like, very…
Lia: Nuh uh. No!
Alexis: Yeah.
Lia: No. With a whole bunch of men? No.
Alexis: Yeah. At 19. So I think like that, I think some of those things, and like it was fine it was honestly okay like they were very respectful, like it wasn't, it probably shouldn't happen and I hope it doesn't happen now. I hope that like it is complete separate. But back when I started, I was in a communal shower situation and a communal living situation being like myself and another, another woman. And I think that that maybe seeped in more than I realized, of being like one of the only girls in mining and like walking into a mining camp and being like one of 20 women, right? Like, I think that just kind of solidified this need to be like, okay, there's not many of us. I think that we need more representation. I think we need our stories to be told because the ones that I'm meeting are like the most cool, kick ass, wonderful people. So I feel like they deserve their, like, flowers and their spotlight. And we need to change this. We need to kind of change equity and change numbers and change representation. So I think that might have been where it started and where that fire started. But there isn't like a moment that I could be like, Yep, that's when you decided your life passion. I think it was kind of presented, because I was 19 and it was one of the only ones.
Lia: Right, like built over time with that kind of always seeing that you were the minority on site or wherever you were stationed at that time with whatever typically male dominated field that you stepped into, right?
Alexis: Yeah. Yeah. Like I think that's way nicer than I said it. Oh, completely. I'm like a build, a build up of it, of just being like, I think like a necessity, seeing it over and over and then also having like, friends and colleagues and my sister, like my sister is a welder and she's a huge influence.
Lia: She has to come on my podcast!
Alexis: Oh my goodness. She would love that. Okay, then she would absolutely love that. She's a Red Seal welder and like, she's a, she's a huge inspiration. She's a fucking badass. She's so cool. And so, like, her experiences and like sharing some of her stories and like, seeing how cool she was, I was like, okay, well, like being her, like, older protective sister. I was like, this has to change as a change for me and my friends, but it also has to change for her. So I think that's kind of where it came from.
Lia: And why do you think there is so few females in these types of career paths?
Alexis: Oh, I think that's going to be a different answer depending on occupation. For geology or for mining, one big thing in Canada at least, is it was illegal for women to go underground and to work in mining until 1970 something. So for a long period of time we just couldn't work in that field.
Lia: Really?
Alexis: Yeah.
Lia: I had no idea why. Why, was that a thing?
Alexis: I have no idea of what they like justified it. I think it must have been like a safety thing or like some bullshit. It was some prejudice that they disguised as safety or, or something along that line of culture. But like, it was completely illegal. You couldn't go underground, you couldn't work in this field. And then in the field of geosciences, something that's being kind of reckoned with right now is the whole issue of field work and that our, our science is heavily, heavily field based. And there's this idea to be a geologist, you have to be extremely tough. You have to go into the woods. You have to be able to, like, handle a lot of grit and like, live in the woods for six months. And we're kind of being like those environments aren't necessarily the safest. They're not the safest for everybody. They're not the most inclusion friendly to everybody. And this whole idea of field based geology, that that's the only type of geology is kind of changing. But that was the norm for a very long period of time. And it was kind of, I think, this bias that led to, who is tough enough for that, that location and who is tough enough for that environment, and is it women? And I think the prejudice said no. And so I think that there was just a lot of this, kind of cultural barriers to entry, at least in geosciences historically. And I think that's slowly changing as women are entering geosciences at universities and becoming professors and entering into the occupation. But you still have problems of like, leaky culture and them leaving the field, either problems of like culture, a toxicity or lifestyle imbalance. Like my, my situation where like, can I live at sea if I'm going to have a family? Right? And that, that doesn't really jive. So we still having issues there of keeping, I think, women within natural sciences and geosciences, but at least for geosciences, I think that's some of the big barriers and biases that existed in the past. One being that it was completely illegal for a long time. And then two, an issue of like culture.
Lia: And that's wild.
Alexis: Yeah.
Lia: Wow. When you're speaking to different women on your podcast, are you seeing any themes or correlations or similarities? What's something that stands out when you speak to them, that you're starting to go, “Wow, everyone I speak to kind of has this or that.”
Alexis: I think the one that stands out is just that they're so fucking cool. I think that it stands out in my heart of hearts, is just like me fangirling like as they give answers of just me being like, “Oh my God, you're so cool.” Like, that stands out. Like, I just think that they're just so fearless and so like, I don't want to praise someone for like, putting up with a terrible culture of being like, “Oh, they have, they persevered through kind of like struggle,” because I don't want them to struggle in in the first place. But I think, like, what does stand out is that they're completely fearless, they're completely authentic, they're themselves and they have put up with shit to get to the position that they are right? Like they had to navigate some type of bias. And a lot of people being like, this is not designed for you. Why are you here? Who are you? Like, what gives you the right? They've had to navigate that and they've come out on the other side. So they're these like incredibly strong, resilient, amazing, kickass, cool women. And then on top of that, they’re so nerdy and they're so in love with what they do. And it's a lot of stuff that I've never heard of. Like, I don't know anything when it comes to carpentry or steelworkers, but it's so cool to hear about that and to be like, okay, that's unbelievable that that's your day to day.
Lia: Mm hmm. You guys in Canada have more women in the skilled trades than we do here in the US. And I am always impressed and jealous at your community in Canada and Australia in particular is a wonderful environment for the skilled trades. And I noticed that a lot of the perks in the sense of how much like, vacation time you have or maternity leave, it's it's more female friendly in those countries compared to the states.
Alexis: Yeah.
Lia: So, I would really like to see us adopt some of Canada's ways of handling employment and how they do you know your maternity leave stuff, your benefits stuff like that, as well as Australia's got some goodies to do.
Alexis: I think it's like, very similar. I think it's like a very similar system. But yeah, I would love that for you guys as well. I've always, completely blown away, especially with like Mat leave the how small it is and how it's not really available in a lot of companies or organizations or skilled trades. Yeah, you're welcome to come up and, and live in Canada whenever you would like if you would like to come up.
Lia: I've got a lot of friends in Canada. I feel like I should relocate.
Alexis: Yes, ma'am.
Lia: Other than all the women that you speak to being kick ass throughout your journey in particular, you must have had struggles. You must have come across bias being as though you're in that environment. What's something that comes to mind that really affected you?
Alexis: Oh, that's a good question. Try not to think about it too much. I try not to be like, okay, this this was a really shitty day, but I definitely had some, some really ones, I had unfortunately, some issues with sexual harassment and issues with inappropriate conduct, and those always stick out even if they were just like a lewd comment or I had one that was like a full on proposition and like a little bit of light stalking. And that was not fun and not fun to deal with, especially when you're in like a very confined space where it's very hard. I mean, with, with mining and with working on the boat, the whole thing about geoscience is when you're at field is you have nowhere to go, you're completely stuck and you're completely in an isolated environment. And that's largely what we're dealing with right now, this reckoning of trying to make field work more safe, because a big part is just how isolated you are and you have nothing, no resources available. Right? Or like no way to escape. So it's not the nicest feeling being in like a very constricted environment in dealing with something like that and having to kind of like, live and work with your coworkers. It's not not the nicest. What's helped, though, is talking about it and having friends on the ship that I instantly went to to be like, Hey, this, this happened. And luckily I had women mentors and women bosses, some who've come on the show who's been like, absolutely amazing. And to be able to talk to them and for them to be like, Nope, this is not correct. Like we're going to, we're going to solve this for you. That was really, really nice and and made it manageable. But those are the ones that stick out. If if I go down like bad memory lane, then I'm like, Oh, that was a shit day. That, that was a shit day.
Lia: And then. How did you overcome that? Like, what made you keep going, basically?
Alexis: I think part of it was spite was being like, yeah, that part was like, yeah, and like, how dare you, like, and also like to give context about the boat situation is, I grew up on Jacques Cousteau. He was my idol as a kid. I was like, I'm going to become Jacques Cousteau. And so since I was seven years old, I was like, I'm going to work on a research vessel. This is going to happen. I'm going to work on a research vessel. And being a Canadian, working for a state organization, part of, kind of what I had to do to be able to work on IODP is get a secondary degree, get a master's in science. So I did my undergraduate. I got all my time, I got all my experience working in mining. I then did my masters. It was hard, super, super hard to go to grad school. And then I got the job at IODP and then this bugger sexually harassed me and I was like, How dare you? I have worked so hard and I have. Like, this has been a dream of mine since I was a kid. You're not going to take this away from me. So part of it was spite. And then I think part of it was having a really good community organization that kind of supported me and helped me and and having those female mentors in like a place of leadership, having them as bosses that they were able to stand up for me, I think that made all the difference.
Lia: That's wonderful. So you were in an environment where you had other women and not they weren't just like colleagues, they were actually in leadership positions. Yeah, that's great. That's great. Yeah.
Alexis: But yeah, I do think some of it was spite. Some of it was just like, How dare you?
Lia: I love that. I love that. That, that makes me so happy. Because you worked so hard.
Alexis: Yeah.
Lia: And I love that, you're, you're thinking no one's going to take that away from me because no one should. No one has the right to.
Alexis: Yeah. And I'm kind of like, we shouldn't even have to deal with that. Like, we shouldn't have that, like, battle of being like, the fact that you almost did take it away from me because I don't know if spite would have gotten me all the way through if I didn't have that leadership part. You know what I mean? If it was just spite, could I have actually lasted in that environment? And I think no, I think it aided me to get me like, through it and to keep going. But I don't think it was like the true linchpin of that, that decision. I think the true kind of consequential thing is that I had people in management that stood up for me. I think that got me through it. I think the spite was a nice added spicy, like, yeah, keep going. But yeah, I don't know if I would have actually been able to keep going. And I understand why people drop out if they have had areas of harassment or assault and if it's too much like I could completely imagine it. And I think in hindsight now I'm sounding like a badass that I got angry. I cried like a little baby girl for like two weeks. You know what I mean? I was really scared. I was really freaked out. Like, yeah, I did. I did not want to go to communal spaces. It did affect me for like a year of talking to other like, scientists or other people on the ship. It changed my relationships. It changed how I approached relationships, right? Like it did have more of an effect than I think maybe on like, first glance that I say, you know what I mean?
Lia: Yes, yes, yes, of course. But I mean, you're human. You know, so of course something like that's going to affect. A part of me feels like these struggles make us stronger. But the other part of me feels like it's one thing to struggle and overcome because you were problem solving or your back was up against the wall or it was work oriented. It's another thing when it's a toxic, unsafe environment and a lot of the men don't have those experiences. But even when I was on the corporate side of things, I dealt with sexual harassment, I dealt with, and I think, the stats are scary of, of how many women will experience some sort of sexual harassment throughout their lifetime as opposed to men? And even now, when I think people are super afraid of, like, saying the wrong thing changed.
Alexis: Yeah, it's totally changed.
Lia: But I don't. I don't know that. It's changed in the sense of I'm not saying something vulgar because I don't feel like I should be objectifying women. It's more of I don't want to be on TikTok or lose my job.
Alexis: I don't want to get caught. Yeah, there's, there's a difference in the motive, I think. I think unfortunately, sometimes the definition of what is harassment and the behavior of harassment hasn't changed. And you're right, it's not in like, only male dominated fields. It's kind of all over. And I feel like it's I think you could talk to any single woman and they've had an experience of it, right? Like they know what that feels like to be in a professional environment where you're there and you want to be judged on your accomplishments, your capabilities, your intelligence, how good you did, like that is your fricking goal at work is like to basically like be the best version of yourself professionally you can be. And then to have someone come in and taint it and be like, Oh, I'm actually going to make an advance to you, or this is going to be something sexual. And you're like, This is, there's no place for it. Like, why don't you view me as a professional and view me as another colleague, right? Like, why don't you let me only focus on professionalism and professional things at work?
Lia: Yeah, it's disappointing that I feel in some ways things are the same. It hasn't been much change, and I feel if the majority of male behavior is going to remain the same. Right? Because I'm not saying all men. Absolutely not. There are tons of great guys out there. But clearly, if almost 9 in 10 women experience some type of sexual harassment in their lifetime, that means that there's excessive amount of males that are being inappropriate to females. So why is there no schooling for women on how to, number one, handle a situation like that? Because I don't know about you, but when I was in school, high school and college, I never sat in on, so if you're approached in this manner, this is how you handle it. And why isn't there any schooling for men as well? You know, what's considered an appropriate atmosphere to court?
Alexis: Yeah.
Lia: And and what's, what's not like.
Alexis: Yeah.
Lia: Why aren't we teaching these things? Because it's one thing to go, oh, this is sexual harassment if you make somebody uncomfortable. Yeah, well, I make people uncomfortable every day, man.
Alexis: Yeah, it has to have a different definition. It has to be, like, specific, I guess, what you're saying of, like, we don't have that training and. I do think it is changing. I do think we're starting to get it. Like I talked to one of my mentors, actually. She's absolutely wonderful. Her name is Dr. Jean Hutchinson at Queen's University, and she actually runs a workshop that does this type of training and does kind of work on EDI because she started it that she was hearing from her graduates, her recent graduates. She was still hearing stories of the field that she was like, this is like when I went in the field like 30 years ago, like this. Like to your point, it hasn’t changed. Like this is still happening. Like what? What is this behavior? So she started these seminars where she goes through like, real anecdotal issues of harassment or bias or sexism or prejudice. And then she brings them to kind of the classroom. And she teaches both women and men about like, what's wrong here? What happened here? How would you change it? Like, what do we do with this? And I feel like that's that type of grassroot organization and workshop I think is happening all over the place. I think it would be lovely if it becomes a standardized across the board, everyone gets it, but I think people like Jean are exactly who we need and like hopefully, there's other genes out there in the world, I'm sure there are, that are also doing, doing their own seminar, right. Or their own work on it.
Lia: The only time that I come across organizations or specialists in that type of field is a corporation hires them for like their quota of, we did sexual harassment, blah, blah, blah. But I mean, academically, like, high school. I would like to see programs there.
Alexis: Agreed, 100% agreed.
Lia: Yeah. Yeah. That's, that's where I wish we would start. And I'm not quite sure why that hasn't happened. Yeah, it's kind of like everyone recognizes removing skilled trades from high schools in America was a mistake. There's tons of people who are on board with this, right? Tons.
Alexis: Yeah. Yeah.
Lia: But it's not changing. Like, why? Why? So where's, where's auto shop?
Alexis: Where's the disconnect? Yeah, like, why is that not coming back? We realize it's a problem. Like there's a huge gap in skilled labor. Teach people early. I would love to learn early. Oh, my God. Bring it to, like, elementary school. In South Africa, like, I have a bunch of friends on the boat and I used to live in South Africa. They got taught like how to solder and how to weld at like age seven, like it's in elementary school. Yeah. Like it's part of their kind of curriculum. It's technical skills. Like bring that to North America. That's freaking fantastic.
Lia: Yeah, that is fantastic. It, it builds such confidence and independence. And if you have a confident, independent, self sufficient society, I can only imagine that would bring good things.
Alexis: Yeah, I could. I don't know. But like, it sounds like it must be like, it sounds pretty good man. Yeah, like, agreed. Like, it's so interesting. And it would be so cool to have those skills early on. And I think it also builds like, resilience and like understanding of resources, understanding of how things work. Like, it's freaking amazing. Bring it, bring it to schools.
Lia: Kado wants to make a guest appearance here.
Alexis: He's really cute.
Lia: He’s like, “Love me!” He’s my Sparky Life mascot.
Alexis: Oh, he's so cute. Yeah, I've seen him. I've seen him in the logos. I've never seen him in real life. Nice to meet you, sir. You're handsome. You're handsome and lovely.
Lia: Yes, my handsome boy. For women who are interested in becoming pirates, much like you did, walk your walk, you know, travels the path that you traveled. What would you tell them? What would you, what would your advice be?
Alexis: It's so funny being on the opposite end of this question because I asked this question all the time and I'm like, I've never thought of it to be like, What would you actually say? So good one, what would I advise for those just starting. A couple things. I think, ask loads of questions and I think something that I struggled with early on in my career is I didn't want to appear dumb or that I didn't know the answer. And I think that that was such a common mistake of thinking that you have to know everything and that you have to have all of this experience. And especially as a girl, you don't, you know, kind of feel uncomfortable if you're like you're going to be judged doubly hard. So yeah, but having maybe that the guts to ask a question and, and to say like, hey, I actually don't really understand this, like it might be a quick moment of feeling uncomfortable or feeling like an imposter. But I think the repercussions of it is so much better than when you just pretend like you know something and then you have to like, scramble to try to figure it out. Like you're probably going to end up at a better situation if you just ask that question. So that's something that I would have done differently is just ask way more questions and been way more open when I don't know something and that I'm not the expert. I think the other one would kind of say yes to everything. If someone says like, Hey, do you want to learn this or do you want to try this? I think sometimes I would narrow and boxed myself into what I thought was within my skill set. And again, I think it's very tied to the same first advice of asking more questions and be comfortable not knowing something. I think because of that, I would box myself in to be like, okay, these are the tasks that I'm comfortable with. And in hindsight, so many people gave me so many opportunities to like learn how to weld or learn how to solder, learn how to do something. And, and I was scared about it. So I said no. And I think going back, I would have just been like, Yeah, why not? Teach me that. Like, I'll probably use it at some point. Like, why not say yes to that experience and to that opportunity. And for, to follow the life of a pirate and to follow kind of if you want an exact like to become a marine tech and to have that life, what got me my job is cold calling the US government and just finding an email and send, Tina Hello, this my name is Alexis. This is my resume. I would like a job. And they said, we don't have a job. Come back in two months. And I came back in two months and they had a job.
Lia: Persistence.
Alexis: Persistence and also just like being comfortable, cold calling. I think some of my best jobs and biggest opportunities have come from cold calling and finding a contact and going for it that way, that, that'll get you a seat on a on a boat for sure. If you find somebody’s email.
Lia: That's awesome. That's awesome. I would never think of that. So that's fantastic. Like I wouldn't, it wouldn't come to my mind to reach out and call to try to get a position on a boat. And I think, I think maybe because of the commercial fishing backgrounds, yeah, it's such a small community and we all kind of know each other, but it makes so much sense. It's like, why wouldn't you approach it that way?
Alexis: Yeah, I think if you're from the outside of it, right, like there's no in unless you're like already kind of in it because it's such a small community that if you're an outsider but you know, you want to get into it, you know, that's your career. I think like, one of the easiest within your wheelhouse ways to do it is just cold calling. But I mean, I got my job like that in mining as well because I just would ride elevators all day and hand out resumes. That's how I got my first jobs in mining is like, I'm ready to, like, leave tomorrow. This is… Yeah, I was a punk kid, right? Like, I had the confidence of a 19 year old. I didn't even know what a rock was yet, but I was like, I'm the best geologist of all time. Like, you know what I mean? I was just a piss and vinegar, like, complete, complete punk kid. Yeah.
Lia: Oh, my goodness. That. That is punk. That is punk. I love it. I love it.
Alexis: And shout out to my mom who would do Sudoku in the car and drive me to the next like, tower to be like, okay. And like, do her little puzzle.
Lia: Oh, my gosh, that's wonderful. Yeah, I wish I had that confidence when I was that age. Holy cow.
Alexis: I don't know where, I don't know where it came from. I don't think I have that confidence now. But like, it got, like, got me past that hurdle. Like, who knows where that confidence came from. But it was great for the time being.
Lia: Yeah, obviously I had some good role models there.
Alexis: Yeah.
Lia: All right, so.
Alexis: Your favorite question.
Lia: What tool is in your tool belt with all of your life's experience, with everything you've learned along the way so far, what's something you bring with you every day to help you achieve your goals?
Alexis: I love that question. That's a good one. It's funny that the first thing was like, what tools am I? I was like, Rock Hammer and like, you like. It was like pad land and yeah, acid and then a scratch plate. Like I like, at first I was like, Oh, I got this. I nailed it. Like, I know exactly how I'm going to answer this one. I went like, full, full, black and white thinking. I think if we're going creative, I think something that is within my tool belt is more powerful than I realized when I first started my career, is the ability to get along well with kind of everybody. And I think that's something that came with working in mines and came with working in remote environments is that you live and work with people for your entire rotation and at sea. That means that we're at sea together with 120 people for two months straight, working 12 hour days, seven days a week. We have communal food, we have communal bathrooms. We got a communal gym like you are with people. And you have to have these kind of complicated, nuanced relationships, so you have to work together, live together, be friends, be colleagues, be bosses, employees. Like it's, it's just a, a very odd, odd relationship. And I think that allowed me to be a little bit non-judgmental and to get along with people from all walks of life, from all over the place, like. And I think that's a very powerful skill that I didn't realize was being formed from working in remote environments. But I think that's a consequence of, of living in the woods.
Lia: That's a very, very valuable skill, that, a lot of people struggle with that. So that's fantastic. I think that because a lot of people struggle with it, what's something, a tangible skill you can give to someone who wants to cultivate this?
Alexis: I think for me it wasn't a skill that I had immediately, you know what I mean? Like, again, being like a punk kid and also like a city kid, I was definitely judgmental or had my opinions, had my beliefs like everyone does. Everyone goes into a situation kind of biased and, and not free of judgment. So I think it's a skill that I had to cultivate and I had to learn. I think what got me there is talking with people, asking them their life story, asking them kind of like familial stuff. Like I always go to be like, who are you, where you're from, who's your family? What's like, what do you like to do? Like asking kind of personal questions which might be a little bit different in a corporate world. But when you live together, you kind of have to know that. And it's nice to have a break and not talk about work 24 over seven. That helped. Asking them to teach you something I think was a big one.
Lia: Oh, that's a great one.
Alexis: Like getting someone to be an expert, to be like, Oh, you really like, you know everything about drilling. I know nothing. Can you explain to me your favorite concept of drilling or like, why are you so jazzed up about gravity? Like, yeah, I don't really like gravity that much. Like, why? Why are youm why are you is this, your bread and butter that like, you're obsessed with it, right? Like, or that type of measurement. So that kind of gets people to open up and I think that opens your eyes to who that person is, where they're coming from. And then once you can get like, a commonality with someone, I think it's very hard to be judgmental of them, right? Like you're then, you're like, Oh, this man is super cool. He's an uber nerd because he's obsessed with taking gravity measurements, but like he's sick. And I think that that changes it.
Lia: Yeah. Yeah, that, that is a great, that is a great approach. Really nice. Really nice.
Alexis: Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it.
Lia: I want to ask you one more thing and this is for. So we recently started Patreon, so I wanted to be able to give a little something extra to people who support Sparky Life and help in creating the content. And this little nugget, this little nugget is just for them.
Alexis: Okay. Love it. Okay. I'll make it a good one. Yeah. No pressure. I got you.
Lia: It's okay. You work good under pressure.
Alexis: It's true.
Lia: It's true, right? Right. Yeah.
Alexis: Yeah. You know.
Lia: I am just quickly popping in here to let you know, if you are a Sparky Life Patreon subscriber, you can hop on to our Patreon to check out your exclusive content. And if you would like to be a Sparky Life Patreon subscriber, you can check out our show notes and click on the link. And now to wrap up the show, where can everyone find this amazing podcast?
Alexis: Thank you for asking. We are on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, if that's your preference, and on YouTube as well. We're also on Instagram at the Smoko podcast and on LinkedIn and we're soon to be on TikTok.
Lia: Yay! I think that it's amazing and I think that it's much needed and overdue.
Alexis: Thank you.
Lia: Being a highlighter for these women is truly inspiring.
Alexis: Thank you. That's very, very kind. And I can't wait for you to come onto the show. It's going to happen very, very soon. I know we haven't booked like next week. I can't wait. It's going to be so sick. I guess people have to listen to your episode to be like, Oh my God, she's so cool. Yeah, can't wait.
Lia: I much, feel like I like this setup better. But for you, for you.
Alexis: It's like a classic interviewer to be like, Oh, shit, I have to answer questions.
Lia: Yeah. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Thank you so much for being a part of Sparky Life and joining me and sharing really, really appreciate it. And it was a lot of fun. I'm not surprised.
Alexis: It was so much fun. And no, just thank you so much. You know, like I reached out because I fangirled over you and your podcast so long ago and it's just, it's so lovely to meet you and to be able to have this conversation and to come on the show. Can't wait to have you on the show and for people to hear your story. And just it's been an honor. Thank you so much. I really appreciate it
Lia: Stop making me all rad.
Alexis: No, but it's true, man. It really is. So thank you. Thank you a million.
Lia: 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.