Alexis 0:00

Hello. Hello everybody and welcome to the Smoko Podcast. My name is Alexis Armstrong, your host. Nice to meet you. The Smoko Podcast is a place to celebrate and highlight women, trans women, and non-binary folks working within STEM and trade occupations. And so please come join us. Tune in, take a break. We're on smoke. Go. We're extremely lucky today to be joined by the lovely Louise from Sydney, Australia, which is crazy to me cuz I'm sitting in my living room in Vancouver, Canada. So we're extremely lucky to have her from around the world. Louise is a heavy vehicle mechanic. She has an extensive career as a heavy vehicle mechanic. She's gonna talk all things working within trades. She's gonna talk about competing within heavy vehicle mechanical competitions, which I think is like the coolest thing ever. And then she's also gonna talk about how she's transitioned to being both a trainer, a speaker, and a life coach for women within trades, supporting trades women on their journey to overcome self-doubt But Louise, thank you so much for coming on the show. I appreciate you coming on immensely.

Louise 1:03

That's all good. Thanks for having me on.

Alexis 1:06

You're welcome. One thing I guess to, to start us off is could you kinda walk through. How the hell you became a heavy vehicle mechanic. Like how did you become interested in this? How did you discover this trade and that this was an occupation?

Louise 1:20

We'll go back to the beginning. So I grew up on a farm. And like my parents, they grow vegetables. They actually grow tomatoes at the moment, but I was always helping my dad, do the farm work. Like picking, packing, and also repairing the farm equipment as well. And I knew school wasn't for me. I wasn't a sit down and, study kind of person. I knew that quite early on. So when I was about 12, I was like, mom, dad, can you let me leave? Like I just work on the farm. Like I don't need this school thing. You're like, no, no, you need to like, Finish at least like your junior years kind of thing. And so then I was like, fine. Okay. So then it got into the last year, like the year before I could leave. And I was like, Hey, I need to find out what I'm gonna do. What occupation am I gonna do? And I was thinking about it and I was like, you know what? I really like working with the machines. And at the time we also rode dirt bikes. Okay. And I was like, Yeah, I was like, oh yeah, cool. I could be a motorbike mechanic. Wow. I did work experience, so like for here, over here we have free work trials kind of thing where you just spend a week working. And especially like when you're in school, it's encouraged to get out into the workforce. So I did work experience at my local shop, so where we used to buy our parts for 'em, for our bikes, so they knew me. So I went in and I said, Hey, Ken, can you take me for work experience? And they were like, yep. Cool. So I did a week there and I really loved it, but they had just taken on an apprentice so they couldn't take me on. So then I went around and I did a few more, like lots of work experience at local shops. And I ended up getting a position, but it wasn't really exactly what I wanted to do. It was like on lawn mowers and like hedge cutters and stuff like that. So I was still looking and I ended up going to a careers expo. So over here we run these expo where they, like everyone who has careers and jobs like apprenticeships, traineeships, like available. They go to an expo, they all display, talk about what they offer, what they do. They usually have like apprentices or something there, someone there who's doing the job as well. As well as the recruiting team. So you can all go, go through, walk, and talk to all these different employers. And I went with my mom and dad cause I still couldn't drive at that time. So I went with them and, I had three like really life-changing conversations. So the first was like really short and sharp. Like the guys at the stand were like, no, we wouldn't want our daughter working here. We wouldn't recommend this for girls. Wow. Which was like a bit crazy, but I later found out that male apprentices had been sexually harassed there, so I was like, got outta that one. That's as sad as it is.

Alexis 4:02

But I'm happy that they told you that straight up.

Louise 4:04

And then the second conversation was like a bit of a lecture. Like this guy lectured me and my dad for 10 minutes about how I couldn't be specifically a motorcycle mechanic because I was too small to push the bikes around. Oh. And I was like, Ugh. But I was feeling very disheartened, so like at this time, like I was 15 years old, so I was quite young. Wow. And I was feeling like very disheartened, but my parents were like, come on, let's keep walking through. And that's when I met Sarah. So Sarah at the time was a first year heavy vehicle mechanic and she was like the same height as me, the same builder as me at the time. We were both blonde, which changed a few times since then. But she was doing it and I was like, okay, cool. If she's doing it, like why can't I do it kind of thing. And she encouraged me to do work experience at her work, which I did and I loved it. So I applied for the job and I got the job there. So the apprenticeship there. So I started my heavy vehicle, my heavy commercial vehicle, mechanical apprenticeship, which is on highway trucks. In 2012 when I was 15. Wow. So young. So started like just right off the bat and there was good and bad things about starting so young. Like looking back on it, like I wasn't very mature. I didn't know much about the world, let's be honest, even though I thought I did. Yes.

Alexis 5:21

Yeah.

Louise 5:22

Yeah. But really what that led was like to me, being able to be qualified by the time I was 19 and like already have four years experience under my belt. Wow. I wasn't even 20 yet. I had all these opportunities laid out for me kind of thing. Like I've got my qualification, I've saved up kind of thing. And then I went, so I did my apprenticeship all at the same workshop where, Sarah worked, and then once I qualified, I moved workshops. So I was, we were working for like a fairly big international company, so there was like 40 mechanics on the floor kind of thing. And then I went and worked for a smaller business where there was just like me, the boss, and an apprentice. So there was just three of us and we were out like working on farms and stuff. So that was really cool. And during this time, that's when I competed in the World Skills competition.

Alexis 6:09

That's how you got into world schools. It's a beautiful story. I, one I have always completely blown away by farm kids and how much you guys know so young and how. Much you guys learn in terms of, mechanics, in terms of engineering, in terms of basically all sciences and trades? I feel like farm kits can kinda rule the world honestly. Like I would take a farm kit any single day cuz I'm like, I feel like you can kind of do anything. So that's amazing that's the setup and that I. That and the love of motorcycles is what brought you into it of riding dirt bikes. Hate those two conversations at the The vendor set up. I absolutely despise those two conversations, but I feel like unfortunately they're common within this industry. But I love that the third conversation in your conversation with Sarah is like true representation and why it's so important. I you saw yourself and she opened up doors for you and was your mentor like instantly like that of how important it was to see someone like you doing this job? That's pretty beautiful that happened in real life and that led you down the path of becoming a heavy vehicle mechanic. And before we get into world skills, cause I do wanna ask you a million questions about world skills. Maybe just for people who aren't aware of the profession and maybe not aware of the industry, could you describe what a heavy duty mechanic is like? I know you mentioned it's on highway vehicles, it's not on lawnmowers. Those are. Beneath you. He wants something big and heavy duty and it's on, farm equipment. Could you describe like what is the role, what's your responsibilities and what skills do you need to be a heavy duty

Louise 7:47

mechanic? So I started out working like my apprenticeship on highway trucks specifically. We're doing like maintenance repairs, fault finding, that kind of thing, full engine rebuilds, there. So pretty much as an apprentice starting off, You do a lot of the cleaning stuff, it is part of the job. But then you start out like on smaller tasks, so like servicing, the trucks, and helping. Tradesmen or tradespeople to carry out repairs. So a lot of the times it's like passing tools, but then you're also talking to the trades person about, why are we doing this? What are you doing, kind of thing. And then towards the end of the first year, you are starting to have a go. They're like Here, you've watched me do this a few times. You have a go at doing it. So that's like the first year. The second year you start to do some things on your own and you start to get a bit more into the fault finding. So say if there's an issue with a truck, say it's blowing smoke, then you like start doing your testing to find out what's wrong with it, and then carry out the repair. And then, like third year, you get even more independent. So you start maybe doing some bigger jobs where you've got some larger repairs involved or some trickier faults. Yeah. And then fourth year you're pretty much working as a trades person. You're still like, Getting familiar with some things, but most things you can do. And then after, like here, our apprenticeships are four years, so then after that, then you become qualified and you're doing all aspects of the job. So right from the beginning, from any troubleshooting, you also do like the basic servicing as well as big engine rebuilds. And like the larger jobs that can be more intricate.

Alexis 9:22

It's really cool that in a couple years, and I mean I think it's something that you just touched on in your past story about how you got into this industry as well, is that. At 15, you started, and then by at 19 four years, you're completely, totally ready to go within this industry and you have your full training. That it's a four year period of apprenticeship. And from that, at 19, you're not even 20. You're ready to go. You can basically take on the world with that and have years of experience already under your belt. Is there something that you like the most to fix? Is there one that you're like, yes, give me like a broken engine. Give me like, is there a specific type of either truck or, problem that you love to fix?

Louise 10:03

Not really. Like I do the fault finding process. Cuz it's like problem solving, a bit of discovery going on there. But really, I never really had a favorite vehicle or anything like that. It's broken, I get to fix it kind of thing. It's keeping me in a job. Yeah. Yeah. I wasn't really too, fussed on anything in particular.

Alexis 10:24

That's a good way to be. I think I would've been like, I only wanna see this, which I don't think is correct if you're a mechanic. It should just be like, it's nice to find the faults to fix them, to work on it. And that's just really cool that you get to work on equipment that big and That complicated and intricate. And skillset, do you have to know a little bit of everything? Like a little bit of engineering, electrical.

Louise 10:46

So you load that through your trade, so you don't need to know any of that going in it. You come out with, yeah, the electrical side of things as well as the mechanical. A bit like, yeah, a bit of the engineering kind of thing, because you need to, sometimes you need to modify things or create things to make them work, depending on your situation. A bit of that science, kind of science mindset. So you'd know how the system works and there's To run like an running engine is pretty much a chemical reaction. So you need to be aware of that and if anything's going on with that reaction, then that's what can cause smoke and that kind of thing.

Alexis 11:19

Probably a lot of on the fly as well. And very like specific to that one instance, that one, vehicle that maybe that year in model that one problem. It's really cool. I feel like you have to know a little bit of everything. Touching on, world skills, because this is a competition that's associated with heavy vehicle mechanics and I'm guessing repairs. Could you talk through what the. Competition looks like. Cause I know you've been both competing within the program. You've been a judge. I think you have some really impressive titles that I know of that I'm sure people would love to hear more about of how that felt when you grabbed those titles.

Louise 11:55

So Weld Skills is a competition that's run in about 60 different categories. So it's heavy Vehicle Mechanics is the one that I, competed in, but it's run in carpentry, welding, hairdressing, beauty services, like so many different, it's all about vocational education. So with that, it's run at a regional, national and international, level. Some people have like regional, some countries have regional state, but national and international. But in Australia we just do regional, national. International and, yeah, you pretty much, it's pretty much testing excellence. So for the competition at a regional level, there's usually no, age limit. But then when you get to nationals, the age limit, I think over here it's like 24, and then internationals is 22. Just so then it's really like capturing young talent like excellence. Yeah. Young talent early on in the career kind of thing, because it's not really too, like fair if you've got someone who's got 40 years experience with someone who's got two. So it's really catching that like fresh years, like who's really keen, on their industry and learning and being like the top of their game. So I competed regionally in 2015. And I like had a week's notice kind of thing and I was like, yeah, cool. So I did some basic study, went in and I was like, cool, I feel like I've won if I don't come last. So I went in, I did better than last, I come second. So that was pretty cool. And then from there I was put forward to compete in nationals and I was accepted and. I went into it with I'm none of the second bullshit anymore. Like I'm in it to win it. Yeah. When, yeah, when. And that's where I really started to expand my skills. So I had qualified in, heavy commercial, so on highway trucks. Okay. But then I did a few extra courses, at tafe, which is our technical college over here. So I did my auto electrical, so more into the electric side of it. And then I also did mobile plant, which is. More of your machines, your construction equipment, and your mining equipment as well. It's funny cuz like from the outside it looks complicated, but there's only like a few systems and there's just a lot of them that do different things.

Alexis 14:07

Okay. Gotcha. Okay. It's the same thing in a different package the entire time.

Louise 14:11

Pretty, pretty much. There is, yeah, some intricacies, but it's pretty much so then I, like I expanded my knowledge a bit more to get prepared for the national competition and. I just went in, I had a really great time. So from the regional competition, went over a day. And we had six categories where we competed in, like we did fault finding and repairs for an hour on each category.. So we are just like, so it's like almost like a breakdown kind of situation where the judge is like the customer. And they're like, Hey, my truck's got this fault. And it could be in the electrical system, in the gear box, in the brakes. We go around to do different parts of the truck. In the different stations. So regionals was one day, nationals was three days, and internationals is four days. Nationals was three days and the tasks were three hours long. Still six of them. And I ended up going in and I had that kind of. I went in and I was like, yeah, I'm gonna have a really good time. Like I've studied, I've prepared for this. So I went in and I was like, yep, cool. And at the end my mentor was like, Hey Louise, you know, how do you think you've done? And I'm like, well, I found it pretty easy. So I either missed, you know, like you get to the end of the test and you're like, I finished early, why isn't everyone else finished? And you're like, piece the page.

Alexis 15:33

You're like, I did amazing. Or I did terrible. Like it was either something I totally missed. Story. Yeah. Okay. I know that feeling. That's a terrible feeling. Yeah. Yeah.

Louise 15:41

So I had that feeling. I'm like, yeah. And, I think he had been watching me and like he had been watching the other competitors, so he knew where I was at from the outside. Not technically, but it's oh yeah, she's doing everything there, doing plus more kind of thing. They were like, oh yeah, you know what, I, we reckon you did really well. It's fine. So we had the medal ceremony and they called out like third, second first, and then it was me. Yes,

Alexis 16:05

it was,

Louise 16:06

So that was so cool. And it was just such an amazing experience. There's a video of it up on YouTube. My mentor actually recorded it. Amazing. Yeah, if you look up Louise as a party, world skills, then it comes up, of me like getting announced. Oh, amazing. So that was amazing. And then I went into Internationals, which was, internationals was in 2016, internationals was in 2017, and it was in Abu Dhabi. So that was an amazing experience. There was 16 countries competing in my category, so cool. So in the competition, I, I ended up coming fourth in the competition and it was a real rollercoaster for me because I had put so much pressure on myself, like going into nationals, it was like more a playful, let's see if I can win kind of thing. But in internationals, I'm like, I know, like I have done really well before and I should do really well again. So I just put so much pressure on myself and a few things went wrong during the competition and they totally threw me off cause I was like, oh shit, I've stuffed it. And I really thought that I had come last because I was like, I've just totally stuffed this. Then we had the medal ceremony and I didn't get announced a medal. But then my mentor come up to me a bit later on and he's like, oh, Louise, Louise. And I'm like, what? Like, oh, I'm so over this. You wanna go home? And he was like, oh, you come fourth. And I was like, oh, shit. Like outta That's amazing. 16 countries. Yeah. Yes. Coming forth. I was like, this is crazy. And so fourth in that instance, got a medallion of excellence. So there's first, second, and third, and then there's whoever scores in like the top. 20% kind of thing. Even if they don't get first, second or third, they get a medallion of excellence. So I end up getting a medallion of excellence and yeah, from there I've been a judge. I've mentored other competitors. I've been national judge. I've been an international volunteer as well, so it's been really cool.

Alexis 18:03

It's just such a cool organization. I didn't realize it existed. I didn't realize that it was like full vocational skills and competition and looking at it on an international perspective or all over the world. It's just such a cool organization thing to be a part of. But then on top of it. To go into it and to do so well and to win. And I know that you were the first female to go into it in Australia, is that correct?

Louise 18:27

Yeah, at the national level. Yeah. I was the first girl to compete nationally. There has been girls after me, which has been amazing. And I think I'm still the only girl internationally to compete in heavy vehicle.

Alexis 18:39

That's like absolutely amazing. And you deserve your flowers for that alone. Like you just must feel so proud of yourself because it's such, such a crazy feat. And. The fact that you could sit there and be like, yeah, like it was okay. It was super fun. Like I would've been so nervous, and I think most people would've been really nervous to be in this like high pressure situation and high pressure competition. How do you like being a judge? How has that transition been?

Louise 19:03

it's had its moments of challenges I could imagine. So my first, so after I competed internationally, I come back and so I had judged a national competition. Then I chief judged a regional competition. So I was like the coordinator For that. And then I went and volunteered in Russia. In the category. So where the next competition, the next international was. To get a bit of an overview of the competition and like really to help out. Cuz I wanted a position there that had less pressure. I just went as a general volunteer. Which was awesome. But then even, cause I was volunteering and I got placed in the heavy vehicle category. It was amazing cuz they, they knew me, they respected me, they were asking for my opinion. So instead of just being a general volunteer, I pretty much come the assistant of the manager of the section. Which is really cool because then I was going from the national, volunteering at internationals to starting to plan the national competition. So in the previous round of the national competition, I was the chief judge. For heavy commercial or heavy vehicle. And so I was taking a lot of the concepts from internationals to create a better pathway for competitors going from national. So I was implementing that and because the people who had previously run the competition had been running it for the last 20 to 30 years. And I had taken over and they were like my assistants kind of thing. There was a bit of pushback there.

Alexis 20:32

The old guard doesn't really wanna change anything up.

Louise 20:36

So that was pretty challenging, in a sense. So I like learned a lot from that. And then since. Chief judging the nationals. I've judged a regional competition and now I'm taking a round off cuz it's been like six years of something. So I'm taking a round off and then I'll get

Alexis 20:53

back into it. That's very fair. To give yourself a break I could completely understand it, but it's really cool that you were able to do both sides of it to compete and to be a judge. And I just think the entire process of the competition and the fact that there's multiple specialties, different types of instruments and. Machines per competition. I think that's also really cool and very different. From a skillset set, I feel like even if you compete and you don't get gold or you don't get anything, you probably just learn a lot. Like it's probably a crazy experience to learn so much from it.

Louise 21:24

It's a, an amazing thing. So internationally it's like very common that. Countries that may have a low skillset or may also almost be considered like third world countries. They bring their technicians and stuff over, not necessarily to win and compete, but to learn. So it's amazing. And we've had, like for the national competition, often countries will go and. Participate in other people's national competitions. And they like won't place or anything because it's for that country, but they will like practice and use it as learning other country skills and stuff like that.

Alexis 22:00

From like a mentorship and from a learning perspective, I feel like this competition is barn, not I can't imagine it. And this maybe is similar, I in that way of, being that mentor role and being that coach role, I know that you've now transitioned into doing a million things. I mean, I feel like you do so much of being a mentor, coach and a speaker. Could you speak to your mentorship program and your work as a trainer?

Louise 22:25

So I transitioned like off the tool, so out of being a full-time mechanic, to becoming a trainer and assessor, so a technical teacher. And I did that full-time for a few years and then I ended up starting my own business coaching and mentoring tradeswomen and tradies. So through that experience, like one as being a mechanic. I had mentors, but they were male mentors and they were amazing and they cared so much about me, but they just purely didn't experience the things that I had experienced. So they could help me as much as they could, but there was some things that they had never experienced. So I had that experience. And then also when I was a trainer, I was, Seeing that so many of my students were struggling technically because they were struggling in their personal lives with their communication, with their mental health, with their confidence, and so there was that, and then there was also the part where so many businesses were saying that they supported Tradeswomen and they would host a lunch every year on International Women's Day, and that was their supporting. And I was like, you can do a lot more than this. This is not a thing. Yeah, this is not much. It's nice, but it's not much. So then I was like, cool, how can I make this a thing? And that's when I went into like formally becoming, a life coach. So I've done my Diploma of life coaching and I'm currently in the process of doing my Masters of Life coaching. As well to add some more resources to like my, the things that I've learned and then add some more techniques in as well to help support like the community. So now I do a few things. So I do one-on-one coaching, mainly for trades women. But tradesmen and like tradespeople are more than welcome. I. Do group coaching as well for companies. So they might have a whole apprentice cohort and I'll like coach like all their first years together to give them extra support, like from outside of the company, someone else to talk to. I love that. Yeah. And then I do speaking, so I go do keynotes run workshops kind of thing, on different things. So like telling my story to inspire and motivate, giving, tips and tricks on managing anxiety, building confidence, that kind of thing to really get skills. So skills that I've learned into the hands of as many people as possible so they can get them straight. The idea is that they can get all the skills that I learned in seven years and now, like even with my diploma and everything, straightaway.

Alexis 24:53

In right now in like in an hour of a keynote speaker or how long it is. That's amazing. That's fantastic.

Louise 24:59

So they're the main things that I do.

Alexis 25:01

It's so lovely to see and to hear about Louise and it's just so much good that you've done. And I think what's really nice about it is that it's so necessary within our industries and within these occupations. And I also think it's something that's not really talked about. It's not offered. It's very rare that you meet someone that, is. A life coach specific to trades women? I think that doesn't happen often. Their life as a tradeswoman is a little bit different. To focus in on them and to focus in on those anxieties and those issues within our industry, I think is a fantastic thing. And I am really excited to learn more about your speaking and also about some of these practices too, of managing anxieties. When I was listening to a little bit of your snippets for your speaking rules, one thing that stood out was that you really highlighted and you spoke to mental health within trades and specifically to managing anxiety. Could you speak. To the, this inspiration of this topic and then the necessity of this conversation.

Louise 25:58

Yeah. So I went through all my own mental health challenges and like still got some things going on like today that I, I work through all the time. But one thing that I really found is people would say like, there's the cliche, it's okay not to be okay, kind of thing, or I'm always here to listen if you need. But so often when you are going through a mental health struggle, you feel really isolated. That's what it does to you. Yes. And I really, what I found was that so many people weren't sharing their stories. It wasn't like they'd be like, oh, it's okay not to be okay. And then they'd be like, oh yeah, cool. And then they'd just leave. That's it. Yeah. But then it's like, Yeah. Okay. So this is what not Okay. Looks like for me. And then sharing particular things that have happened. And then even if people don't come up and say, speak to me about it, they might be like, oh, I'm not alone. Like it breaks through that aloneness as well with stories and. That's something that I really found, like when someone would tell a story about their mental health struggle, I'd be like, oh my God, I'm not like what's something I was telling myself was that I was like broken or there was something wrong with me, or that like I literally didn't have the words to explain what was going on. So that's another thing that comes into it as well, like believing that they're alone. I wanna tell someone, but I don't even have the words of how I'm feeling. Yeah,

Alexis 27:18

that's true. Yeah. I don't know how to explain it to someone. Yeah. Especially if someone's never gone through it before. And if they don't know, it's hard to have that conversation.

Louise 27:27

That's it. And so that's why I think, that's why, I do share stories so often when I talk about mental health because it gives people the language and it makes them feel like they're not alone.

Alexis 27:38

Thank you so much for having that conversation in these spaces because I think it's something that we don't talk about, and I think within these industries like. One being a woman within STEM or trades, you're kind of isolated already, And then you're also going to be potentially subject to different types of like oppression and prejudice that maybe your colleagues won't be subject to. And so it's hard to have that conversation to explain to them maybe what you're going through, that they haven't experienced themselves or something that's happening to you. I know myself, I've struggled with mental health in terms of rotation, geology and mining, and, my type of work, it's all rotational based. And so I'd be gone for two months at a time. I'd be working 12 hour days, seven days a week for two months straight and. By kind of week three or four, I was exhausted. I feel like I was completely drained and I got very anxious, very depressed. I would go through times where I wouldn't see the sun for two months at a time. It's a tough environment and I think we don't have enough conversations about mental health. The fact that you're having these conversations and speaking about it and giving people language and giving people a space to talk about it, is just so powerful. Even if they maybe can't share their story yet, I feel like it instantly does have that, like you're not alone.

Louise 28:55

That's it. I think like, especially working in such a male dominated space, like one thing that some people don't realize is that like that toxic masculinity or hyper masculinity also can negatively affect the men as well. Having those conversations and those dialogues, like it doesn't only help the other women, but it also helps the men as well.

Alexis 29:16

Completely. And I think that we're in an industry that is stereotypically male, but it's also stereotypically Very rigid view of what that means it's very much that stereotype just gone crazy, gone wild. So I think it does affect everybody negatively because it keeps you so defined and then I think it causes a lot of anxiety. So I agree. I think it helps everyone to be able to talk about it. I know one thing that you do talk about when you speak about mental health and anxiety, you talk about practical steps to manage it and to manage them. Could you speak to what are those practical steps when you're working within a non-traditional role?

Louise 29:55

So I think one of the main ones is just like to recognize what anxiety actually is. So pretty much like our brain is still like our primitive brain, like the same brain that like the caveman humans had. So for us, one of the things like when you start to feel anxious, your body is literally reacting, like you've gotta run away from a wild animal or something like that. So one of the things is, especially as women, in male dominated spaces, Is often we feel like we're gonna get, we're not part of the tribe or we're gonna get kicked out of the tribe. So back in caveman times, if you got kicked out of the tribe, you were literally isolated and a tiger was probably gonna eat you. Yeah. It's true. but our body still reacts the same way when we start to get isolated, if we think we're not fitting in. So it's really important to okay, if. Oh yeah. Okay, cool. I'm not in like the cool kids group. I don't fit in. Your body might start to feel that way, and it's important to remember no, I'm physically safe. And reminding your body of that can help calm like so much of that anxiety feeling. Yeah, so going just remembering like I'm safe and then going from that, okay, why am I anxious? And then like almost like troubleshooting is there something that I forgot to double check because yeah, sometimes our anxiety is just you should double check this.

Alexis 31:12

It's a reminder almost.

Louise 31:13

So then actually listening to it like helps it go away so much faster. So often we're like, we're not anxious, we're not anxious, we're not anxious and trying to convince ourself we're not anxious. But really they're just like, you should like the anxiety's. Okay, you should just double check that. Go read that email again. And then sometimes it calms down from that, Another question that I encourage people to ask themselves is this a reasonable response to this? Situation, is this a reasonable reaction to this situation? So sometimes we can feel heightened anxiety, maybe over quote unquote small things. And if we say okay, like you get to the point where you've checked your emails against once you've double checked, but then you find yourself like triple checking or not being able to sleep over it. Or. Having big emotional reactions to things that, you know, consciously and logically, you're like, actually no, that shouldn't have been such a big deal. Is where, I encourage people to either, see a counselor or a psychologist go to their, general practitioner, go to their doctor and see if there's anything medically behind it as well. Because like sometimes we do need a bit of support. On that sense as well, like there might be actually something going on that you can fix quite easily if you go and speak to, yeah, your doctor and that kind of thing too.

Alexis 32:26

Those are all fantastic advices and steps. I like the idea of using sometimes your anxiety. I think if you try to push it down to try to be like, it doesn't exist. It doesn't exist. It just balloons and goes crazy and it'll grow on, its. Self. So I think that's a very good advice of reframing it to be like, what is it telling me potentially? I think the advice always to speak to your doctor and speak to your practitioner, I think is the way to go speak to a therapist. I know my therapist helps me loads of times to deal with my anxiety, and has been a fantastic resource. I don't love the idea that this is why, what's happening to us, but like I do think that's a very strong message as well in reality of being a woman within these non-traditional roles. How does that affect us? And feeling like an outsider, feeling like we don't belong, feeling like this space wasn't made for us. And then because of that we're constantly vigilant and hyper-vigilant of, are we gonna get kicked out and do I have to prove my validity? Two part question, and maybe this kind of ties into a little bit of what we've talked about with anxiety and within these spaces. What's something that's challenging? Maybe it is anxiety and problems of culture. And then on a two part of that, what's something that you love about this industry? What's something

Louise 33:38

that you like? I think probably one of the challenges. There's so many like little ones now that I've got so many ways to navigate different things. But probably that, like the internal, the self-talk is probably one of the biggest challenges, especially in an environment where you may be a minority. Because it's almost like there's so much evidence, like your brain can find so much evidence that you don't belong. So even though you might not consciously be looking at it, like your brain is like, well, there's no one here that looks like us. Oh, you made a mistake. Yeah. That's very bad. Yeah. You're not supposed to be here. Look at all these reasons. Yeah. So really being able to manage that part of you and yourself talk, to remember that that is not a reason why you shouldn't be here. Making mistake isn't a reason why you shouldn't be in the position you're in. And then I think probably one of the best things about the industry is like, just so many opportunities that come out of it. Like for me, I did get to experience the world skills competition and travel around the nation, travel internationally as well. And it's something that is available for anyone in vocational education to be able to be like, if they're younger, to be a competitor, if they're a bit older, to be a judge and to be able to experience it that way. Also, so many career paths. From it. Like even though I've been technically like in the workforce for about 12 years now, it's, I've been mechanic, I've been a teacher, I've been a trainer and assessor. Now I'm like in the mentoring life coaching space of that as well. And there's so many different paths that each of these jobs get. Like you can work into managing any part of this or starting your own business in any of these industries as well, which is so great to be able to have.

Alexis 35:23

Trying to manage your internal thoughts and trying to manage that self-doubt, I think is so important and it's a hard skill to have. Because I think you're right. All of a sudden you're like, oh my goodness, a mistake means that I don't belong here and that this is not for me and this is not the right environment. And just reframing it to be like, no, it was just a mistake. It doesn't matter. It can be fixed really easy. It's good that it's talked about and it's discussed because I think it's a very common challenge, within women who work within trades. And then I love the idea of how many directions that you could go because it's testament. You brought it up yourself at Not even 20 years old. You're basically a full-fledged mechanic and you had the world wide open to you and you've been able to do so many different things. That's the joy of vocational education. Do you know what you wanna do? What would be the next one? Are you gonna stay life coach and mentor for a little bit

Louise 36:12

I've got a few levels within life coach and mentor that I want to do, like for now, I'm like, I'm on my own and doing my own business, but I love to grow it to a point where I could employ other tradeswomen, say, have them work part-time in their like, in their trade and then have one day a week where they can coach a mentor, like other women that are specifically in their trade. So I've got like a few levels that I wanna grow through. Within life coach and mentor.

Alexis 36:40

I love that you could branch out to different trades and different occupations and specialties. I'm excited to see the next generation of it. The next one. It might be a little bit of a different question so far, but it's, when we're looking at trades women and being a mechanic and being a heavy duty mechanic, is there any misconception? Is there something that like we have to wrap up and we have to fix the public's perception of what it means to be a heavy duty mechanic?

Louise 37:05

One thing like. Diversity is such a buzzword these days. But then when you really get down to it, what does that actually mean and how does that benefit industries? And I think one thing, like people are like, oh, just diversity. You just need to tick the box. Like kind of, and like kind of thing. But really what diversity does is allows so many different. Things to happen within a workplace. And everyone to be able to support each other in their own unique skills and talents. So like we see diversity as, different colors of the skin, different like genders and all that kind of thing. I like to use this story, so there's. When I first become a mechanic and like in my first position, there were like a few of us that were really small. So like me and Sarah were like on the smaller side, and then there were guys that were like bodybuilders and they were quite large and almost like that intimidating build. But we would ask each other for help equally. So it'll almost be like, they'd be like, Hey, Louise, like I've got this truck and this really small space that I can't get into. Yes. Could you put this on? And I'd be like, awesome. Perfect. gimme five minutes and then we can swap and you can lift this thing in for me here. Yeah. Kind of thing. But I think people, they, that's the practical side of it, and then it comes into ways of thinking and all that kind of thing as well. But really it's not just oh yeah. Male, female. It's like different sizes. Different terms of agility, different terms of strength, like that is so important in any workplace.

Alexis 38:38

I love that story because I think that comes into a problem with culture of this idea that it's homogenous and this idea that only one type of person fits as a heavy duty mechanic. And that story of looking at everyone fits. Diversity is gonna help everyone in every single situation. Maybe diversity is also, this answer is for our last one. Is, where do you see the future of this industry and what's something that inspires you, for the future of

Louise 39:06

mechanics? I think with like mechanics, it's one of like next to like computer technology and that kind of thing. It's one of. The fastest changing industries as well. There's always new technology being developed and like sometimes people say, oh, there's, there's not gonna be a space for mechanics. Like going into the future when everything's electric. But it's Someone still needs to fix that. Yes. If the tires are still gonna hit the ground, all the other components are gonna be the same except for the engine kind of thing. And with that, we know that it takes a lot of time to create change and all the older models and all that kind of stuff is still gonna be in existence and being used Yeah. For a very long time. So I love that there's. Like such a wide variety of things that we can do. Like even as mechanics, you can specialize in so many different areas and there's so much to know even with just if we didn't grow any more than today, like you still couldn't possibly know everything in the industry and it's always growing.

Alexis 40:07

I love that you brought it back to reality, because I think sometimes when people think of, change in technology to be like, okay, this is gonna be a universal switch. All of a sudden we're gonna have this new technology. That's not the case. The old models will still be in existence. They'll still be used, they'll just be cheaper and more accessible in different sectors or different. Populations or what have you, but they're still gonna be a model and we still have to fix them. I know on the boat we had some things that were built in the fifties and we only had one guy that knew how to fix it. But you still need to have that one guy that knows how to fix it. Cause it's a crucial part. So I think mechanics aren't going anywhere. They're a crucial part to every single system and every single piece of equipment. And a wonderful way to wrap it up. Thank you Lee, so much for coming on the show today. I really appreciate it. I know that I learned a lot, I loved learning more about world skills. I can't wait to see the next generation of mentorship and life coaching. And just thank you again so much for coming on

Louise 41:04

the show. Yeah, thanks for having me. It's been great to be

Alexis 41:07

on. You're welcome. You're welcome. This has been Smoko. Thank you for tuning in and having a break with us, and we will see you next week. Bye-bye. Thank you very much.