Thick Skin: Revolutionaries in the Skilled Trades Host, Alicia Crawford

April is National Welding Month and Thick Skin is celebrating!Ever heard of a national, women’s iron working training program? In this episode I take a tour at the Bay Area’s Local 378 Iron workers HQ and talk with Jeff, a leader in the iron working field and advocate for women working in the trades, especially in iron working. We talk about Local 378’s all women iron working training program, maternity leave,and the University of Iron. The program is open to women anywhere in the ...

Meet Alex! She’s the Executive Director of WINTER (Women In Non Traditional Employment Roles).For 18 years she and her team have worked tirelessly to prepare BIPOC women for careers working in the construction trades in the Los Angeles and Long Beach areas. (Check out Episode 2 for the full WINTER founding and origin story!)This is not a job, it’s a career and Alex and her team have high expectations for all who enter through WINTER’s doors! This successful per-apprenti...

Susanne = Exacting. NASA. Uncompromising. Competitive. Humorous. A Global Manufacturing Mastermind! Susanne was a 15 years old when she began working in manufacturing in Germany, nearly 40 years ago. She made her way from the machine shop floor to building parts for NASA to her current role as a leader for a global manufacturer and a mentor to others following in her footsteps.We talk about cobots, giant tanks of acid in the desert, and horses! And mentor of hers who worked on the Apollo...

SEASON TWO CONTINUES!WOW! It’s Women’s History Month AND Women in Construction Week so we’ve got a double scoop episode for you!We’re serving up some riveting (that’s right) history about women, their successes in saving the war effort, and on the flip side, the true challenges of racial inequity and segregation at the shipyards during WWII. Then we’ll chat about youth, gender inclusivity, equity, diversity, and the future of the trades. Then hop aboard with me as I tour a&nb...

Jazzy started welding as a teenager at 13, and now works as a fabricator, an artist, an educator, and a fierce advocate for BIPOC (Black & Indigenous people of color), women, femme identifying, Queer and Trans people in the trades and industrial arts. Jazzy is unphased by anyone who doubts her skills and even uses that to urge her onward to reach her big, welding dreams. She’s igniting her own pathway and is always extra prepared to blow everyone’s expectations way out of the cooling tank...

This is the final episode in our four part documentary. Aryn’s internship and mechanic training program is winding down, they’re faced with getting a full time gig ASAFP, and Aryn reveals their big dreams for the future. This is a four-part documentary of Aryn’s real-time audio journals and interviews following Aryn from the jitters of the first day of class, through a wildly revealing last day of class, to the rough road of pursuing a full time job as a trans person in the diesel ...