Alexis: 0:00

Hello everybody and welcome to the Smoko Podcast. My name is Alexis Armstrong, your host. Nice to meet you. The Smoko Podcast is the place to celebrate and highlight women transwomen and non-binary folk working within stem and trade occupations. So please tune in, take a break. We are on Smoko Today, we are joined by the lovely Leah Lamella, who is a complete spark plug, which is a terrible dad joke, but it's true. She's absolutely incredible. We're gonna talk about her journey and her experience working in the skilled trades and working as a sparky. We're also going to speak to her wonderful show, which is the Sparky Life Podcast, and that's actually how I first discovered Leah Lamella is through her show, which comes every single Thursday. It's on Spotify, apple, and now on YouTube. It's fantastic. It's basically a trade talk show where she interviews. Both tradesmen and tradeswomen and just basically talks about their life. So it's super topical. It's funny, it's engaging, it's insightful. I'm obsessed with it. You should be obsessed with it too. I love it. So we're gonna talk about her show as well, and I just can't wait to have this conversation. Leah, it is so nice to see you.

Lia: 1:11

Thank you so much for having me here. I'm so happy and excited to be here.

Alexis: 1:17

Me too. I love it. I absolutely love it this first one, this is like a classic question for me. I feel like I ask it every single time But I was wondering if you could talk to that experience of getting into the skilled trades and making that decision and making that pivot of switching from the beauty space to becoming a sparky. Could you speak to that decision and that total experience?

Lia: 1:41

I was in medical aesthetics for over a decade, and I was overseeing three different facilities as a skincare director, and I was contacted by a high school sweetheart. The relationship was long distance until he proposed and I moved back to New Jersey. I moved in with him. With plans of getting married. Unfortunately, this person was extremely toxic and dangerous. I'm a domestic violence survivor, so what ended up occurring was I ended up losing everything. Fleeing the state for my life. I really left with only my dog, cats and car. I was in a woman's shelter and my brother-in-law, I was like living in a bathrobe, massively depressed couldn't believe this has happened. I have a strong psychology background. I actually went to college for psychology and I've been involved in NAMI since the age of 12, for me, this was devastating that I came across someone like this and did not identify it besides, it's so hard

Alexis: 2:56

though. It's impossible. But yes, I could understand that of like that beating yourself up, which I think is just human nature. No, I'm so sorry. Yeah. Yeah.

Lia: 3:05

So I'm in a woman's shelter and my brother-in-law says, why don't you try the skilled trades? And I'm like, Haha.

Alexis: 3:15

Like

Lia: 3:16

with what money? Yeah. Because immediately I, it was so ingrained in me to, you must go to school, must be academic in some way, shape, or form. So even with the option Of skilled trade, I had it in my head. Can't possibly do that unless I go back to school.

Alexis: 3:36

Yeah. Not knowing that's not allowed. Yeah.

Lia: 3:39

Not knowing that there's several different paths in order to become, involved in skilled trades and that you do not need to go to a vocational school, a college, or any university to do. But I didn't know this at the time and my brother-in-law overheard, actually through a podcast type of situation of an all woman's, Trade school in West Virginia and they were offering scholarships, like free rides. I had absolutely nothing to lose at this point. And I happened to get in and so I got exposed to carpentry, electrical, and plumbing, and I just fell in love with electrical. I was like, holy. Yeah. This is awesome.

Alexis: 4:19

Thank you so much first off for talking about that and being so vulnerable and just open about it because I think that's really hard to do and I'm so sorry that you had that lived experience. A lot of people go through it and never are able to talk about it or, feel scared about talking about it, feel like they can't talk about it, or it's a super dangerous situation. It's hard to get out of. I'm just so proud of you that you got out of it, that you're talking about it now, that you're telling your story and sharing your story, because I think that in itself is super powerful and has far more of an impact than you probably realize. So thank you for sharing that story.

Lia: 4:53

Oh, I, it's my pleasure. I feel like it should be talked about because there's a lot of stigma and stereotype attached to it. And many of us, me included, we'll watch, crime TV shows Yeah. And see situations like that and go that, that, that would never happen to me. It can happen to anyone. Yeah. These people are predators. There's a reason why. When you see on the tv, the neighbors go, I don't understand. They were so nice. So it's important to talk about it. Because I wanna break a lot of the stigma and stereotypes that come along with that and the shame that comes along with it. And I also wanna let, domestic violence survivors know you're not alone. And you absolutely can get out. Yeah. And thrive. Yes. You don't have to just survive. No.

Alexis: 5:48

What I do love about this story is I hate that it, it comes from such a negative place and that you had to go through that struggle and go through that. Just as like hearing from a friend or hearing from another woman within the community. I never wanna hear that story, but. What I do love about this story is how good you are right now and how much joy you get out of your career, and how much of a positive impact changing your career has been. Thank God for your brother-in-law and just like that is so fantastic that he found that program and that you got that scholarship. I love that aspect of it and look where your life is now. I was wondering if you could speak to maybe that transformation of how good a career or an education in skilled trades was, that impact that it had on your life and kind of the impact that you think it still has.

Lia: 6:38

Getting involved in skilled trades as I was in the female trade school. I was in a woman's shelter, and so I was on this mission to study electrical and study self-development and make sure that something like that would never happen to me again. And as I learned about electrical and as I learned about building and using my hands, my confidence just grew and grew. I discovered I could do things that I never thought in a million years I could do. I never thought that I could build a panel. Or terminate like a control panel or problem solve. Skilled trades has brought me such success, not just career. But in self-development, in life in general. I don't think that I would be as successful today if it wasn't for my journey in the electrical fields. The one thing that I always say about construction is it's Murphy's Law. What can go wrong will go wrong.

Alexis: 7:58

That's true. Yep.

Lia: 8:00

Yep. But that's the way life is. Life is unpredictable and skilled trades taught me to always have a backup plan. To have a backup for the backup. To be creative, to be innovative. You don't have what you need. Figure out how to. Get what you need or create it. I've actually built tools for myself because some of the guys who could just like Hulk things I can't necessarily Hulk out on. Yes. Yeah. And by doing so I've brought those things into day-to-day life. And I'm reaping the rewards of that. That's why I'm so passionate about people investigating skilled trades as a career, because I thoroughly believe that the amount of confidence and self-growth that you get from building, and I say, build something, be something.

Alexis: 8:56

I couldn't agree more I think a career in skilled trades. Watching my sister and watching her go from like an 18 year old punk kid to who she is now after her completing her like Red Seal and just seeing that transformation and that confidence and the ability to think on her feet. You can see that it's impacted her so much in every single regard of her life. Like she is just a complete different person just because of her career and her education and welding and it, I think it just teaches you something that is very special to that industry that's very hard to replicate in a different field or a different occupation. Has there been something that has really surprised you is there something that really sticks out that you were like, oh my goodness, I had no idea. I did not expect that. I had no idea that I had to learn or adapt to that. Yes, many

Lia: 9:46

hit me. The first thing that pops to mind is, what I thought an electrician is, one electrician is are different, completely different, two different, two different things. And I imagine most people have this misconception. So what electricians really are. They are mechanics. Who understand how to manipulate electricity in order to get devices to function the way that they wish. That is what electricians really are. And it's important to emphasize the mechanic aspect. Okay? Because if you do not understand how the device operates, you can't understand how to manipulate electricity in order to make that thing function. Bring power to it, right? And where installers, I had no clue, but you were an installer. How much of it is installing, right? I didn't realize, and. There's a lot of cool aspects to that. When you're running conduit. It's you know those puzzles that you have to find the way out? It's like a maze. Oh yes.

Alexis: 11:01

Yay. Yeah. Like rat race or something. Yes,

Lia: 11:06

That's like running conduit.

Alexis: 11:08

Oh my goodness. That's hectic. And also up in like a confined space cuz y'all get put up into the attic. So wow.

Lia: 11:15

For commercial and industrial I personally love confined spaces. Okay. It's my favorite place to be. I can fit inside a generator and I'm perfectly happy. I am not a fan of heights.

Alexis: 11:29

Oh, okay. Don't tell. Okay. I won't. You know what we're not gonna, we're not Yeah. Nationally, it's not like it's going on a podcast, but I promise no one will just skip by that. We'll just put a little as you say that they always

Lia: 11:44

ask you when you are applying for a local or a trade. Most trades, not every trade. If you're afraid of heights. And I lied and said that I wasn't, I'm terrified of heights. I'm terrified because in my head I was like, I'm an electrician. I'm working on panels. I'm not going up high.

Alexis: 12:07

Why are they asking me that? Yeah, exactly. They're as the ledge. Yeah,

Lia: 12:13

yeah. No, if you're doing commercial and industrial work, you're getting an lift. You're going up seven stories. You're even more so depending on where you are. Like you're going up to high places,

Alexis: 12:28

up to high towers that are very scary. I'm be terrified. I hate heights too, but I do really appreciate you saying like a universal truth of lying on your resume. Because like my first job, they were like, can you drive? And I was like, yeah. I didn't have a license. I'm still a terrible driver to this day, but I, it was me too. But it was the same idea. I was like, why do they ask me about driving? Like I'm a geologist, I look at rocks, but like in the middle of nowhere, driving for two hours is, that's crazy though that you like confined spaces. I find that's mind boggling because most people are really scared of them and they're very dangerous. Like what about it is it just cuz it's snug and you can fit and it's a challenge.

Lia: 13:14

I've been, Patty certified since the age of 12. Okay. And when you scuba dive, it feels like you're in a confined space due to the mask and the apparatus. Most people who are afraid of confined spaces don't like scuba diving for that reason. For me, scuba diving is such a magical, peaceful experience. I would say that it's the place in which I feel most aligned and in balance is in the water. That being in that environment then translated to other small spaces and I just feel safe, I feel comfortable. There are of course risks. But for me it's a happy place. I don't mind, need me to go into your generator. Need me to go into a panel. I'm there. Yeah.

Alexis: 14:05

You zen out like this is your morning meditation. This is like when everything in the universe is aligned. That's beautiful though. You found something that you were so interested in it, and then for it to mimic like one of your safest spaces and one of like your most kind of cherished activities, that's pretty beautiful. Like honestly that's really lucky. The first thing that you mentioned was not knowing that you guys are almost engineers. I thought that was really interesting and because that is definitely not how, the public No generally views, electricians. Do you think that there's any misconceptions surrounding your career and trade and what do you believe that the people outside of the trades should better understand?

Lia: 14:44

So much. That's why I started a podcast. I find this in the US in particular, not Canada and Australia is elevated when it comes to skill traits. I find that there's less demeaning or looking down on your blue collar careers. Unfortunately, the United States has a lot of media influence and some things that happened with our government that created this. Idea that people who are blue collar are somehow less than They aren't smart enough to go to college. Because they're not understanding what construction work actually is. What you're actually doing every day. They envision an overweight man with his ass crack showing Yeah. Who in and hollering at women and just being filthy in every sense of the word. Yeah. That is not it.

Alexis: 15:50

No, not at all. How? No way. No.

Lia: 15:53

One of my good friends, she has a podcast about, homeschooling. And I tried to talk to her about skilled trades before. And I mentioned to her that this is something she should really look into. And she had a stigma in her head. It's sometimes it's yeah. Okay, Leah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And this is how it clicked. A friend of hers is a plumber and she had him come over to the house to do some work, and the talk about salary came up and you know how you work. And he divulged that last year he made 400,000. And she was like,

Alexis: 16:34

shocked. And apo Yeah. What?

Lia: 16:36

What? You're a plumber say what? And then she and her husband did like a whole bunch of research and they started reaching out and they realized, wow, skilled trades has tons of financial opportunity. And the people in skilled trades are very intelligent, completely, very innovative. A lot of entrepreneurs. So now she's introducing that to her children. Bringing it to her

Alexis: 17:02

podcast. That's so amazing. I'm happy that clicked and that she has is now having you on the show and having you on her platform. The common kind of snobbery of looking down on people in skilled trades, unfortunately is still there. And I think I still see it in STEM occupations. And that's why for me, for this podcast, that's why I've combined them because I've always viewed skill trades and STEM as the exact same thing. They are tackling the same problem. They're both the same degree of technical skill and ability and intelligence. But I think sometimes in the STEM industry, people don't look at plumbers or electricians or welders in the same light as they would an engineer or a scientist like, no, they don't, no it's ridiculous. And I don't know really if that is just a true media or if it's just a not understanding or not speaking to people across the chasm. I don't really know where that comes from.

Lia: 17:58

For the US we took a lot of skilled trades out of high school. And there was this giant push for college and social media played into this idea that skilled trades are really not qualified people do this. In America, we went through a period where people who were violating going to court for certain offenses, they would be told, okay, we're gonna send you to a skilled trade program to help you turn your life around. And so then we had an influx of people involved in, crime issues. And so then the your helping paint this picture that. The degenerates are in Yeah. This aspect. And when you hear the word engineer you associate that immediately with academia. And anything associated with academia is somehow polished. Intelligence. Upscale.

Alexis: 19:01

Think like the one big misconception that I wish people knew more about was the fact that skilled trades offers women the ability to have financial independence very early on. And that is a very rare thing for women. To be able to do, right? That is a very different experience than going the academic or university route where most people end up being in debt when they exit school. It's the complete opposite experience. And I wish more women knew that because I think it's a huge opportunity for women to control their lives a little bit.

Lia: 19:35

In the United States, the largest population that is impoverished is women. We worked so hard for equal opportunities. And I feel that we're still in 2023, not there.

Alexis: 19:57

Think a lot of people get really scared that it's gonna be manual labor and it's gonna be

Lia: 20:00

really tough. Oh, that's all they think is that it's just like grunt work. And look, it is, let me tell you like it's, there is physical labor involved. But it's more magical than you think. I am in the best shape I've ever been. One of the things that I came across when I entered the trade is that I couldn't bend pipe. I couldn't bend conduit, not even three quarter. And the guys would be like, it's foot pressure, it's foot pressures, it's this. Great electricians. Not so great teachers.

Alexis: 20:34

Yes, exactly. Yeah. They're just like, just Hulk it man just 300 pounds on it and just flipped. And you're like, where am I gonna get these 300 pounds, sir?

Lia: 20:43

So I was very proud that I figured out using physics, using my mind and figuring out the right positioning for my body type. That I was able to then bend, condo it without an issue and I can carry a bundle of threequarter pipe no problem now.

Alexis: 21:01

I also think that a part of that conversation too with like grunt work is, I feel like for you guys get pounded on to be like, this is all grunt work. And you're like, so is geology man. So is engineering, so is all these other fields, like we're all so lifting stuff like yeah. But might have gone for four years of school and a lot of debt to get me here, but I'm still carrying rocks just the same. Like I, I dunno why this seems super like high brow, cuz I'm still like waist deep in a swamp carrying rocks. Like it's not a glamorous thing. If you could walk through maybe a day-to-day and highlight like a favorite task that you have. Is there something that you get to do on a day-to-day that you get to completely nerd out? Is it bending conduit and having that goal?

Lia: 21:47

I really am passionate about building automation. I always describe it in this fashion that it's like Terminator. You're con you're having one little machine, talk to another little machine, and you're basically getting, it's like the power, power of little devices. I make them do what I want.

Alexis: 22:11

It started into like I was an ar I feel like that was like I, your blood and power, the electrical

Lia: 22:22

love, building control panels and working with PLCs and things of that nature. But right now what I'm doing is I'm on an active construction site and it's 90 degrees outside. So I wake up at three 30 in the morning as you do. I happen to be a morning person. I know many people are, but I am, my

Alexis: 22:43

God. Yeah.

Lia: 22:45

Gotta get my coffee. I head into work and a official start time is at 6:00 AM but we basically all congregate together on an active construction site because you have so many different skill trades and so many different people. We always wanna like check in. Everybody's here. Everybody's okay. And then we do stretch and flex. Oh, cool. Love it. Yes. So we actually stretch as a group before we begin our days task. The guys are very funny. I'm probably the only one who enjoys it.

Alexis: 23:23

They all grumble

Lia: 23:25

more. Right now I'm doing automation with lighting for a CIA building.

Alexis: 23:30

Oh my goodness.

Lia: 23:31

That's cool. So they do extensive background checks in order for you to be able to work on a site like that. We're not allowed to have any type of phones or devices. They even have machines that if you put your phone in like airplane mode or have it off, they can tell identify it's there.

Alexis: 23:48

They are the cia, so I would hope so. I hope they're good at their job on that,

Lia: 23:53

so 90 degrees, no air conditioning and I'm. Up in the ceiling wiring and running. I'm driving these lights in the sense of this is the brain. I'm gonna tell them what to do, they're gonna go where I want them to go. And then you have your sensors and emergency lighting and things of this nature. And so I am profusely sweating yeah. Drenched head to toe, just standing on top of the ladder, terminating, okay? However, why am I enjoying this? Because in every single room there's a new problem. Oh, cool. I have to install the drivers a certain way. I have to install the lighting a certain way. Everything needs to be supported. You have certain tools that you need to use. Most of the time you can't use what you need to use because you have a metal stud in the way or the fire. We, it's a running joke, fire alarm. They always run our pipes where we wanna put our things. Or drywallers. They'll go, we'll say, okay, this is going to be for an electrical panel outlet, whatever, box, whatever. Did not go over this. And they'll go over it. And then good luck finding your box. And we pride ourself on symmetry. A lot of skilled trades are creative and artistic and like symmetry and things to be aligned. Somebody not in the skilled trades would never know what my electrical looks like in the sense of does it look pretty? Is it done properly

Alexis: 25:36

in the wall that they can't see? But you know Exactly. You know that it was done. I know. Perfectly know.

Lia: 25:42

And other electricians that come through. So that's why we're known as the primadonnas, cuz we're always judging each other's work. You always tell Yeah. Who did what, and when you're working commercial and industrial. At data centers and stuff, people see your work. People see it. So when you walk into a building and you look up and there's conduit running and everything is just symmetrical, it's so cool. It looks robotic. It looks it's futuristic.

Alexis: 26:12

You're a big old nerd. That's super cute.

Lia: 26:18

So those are the things that make it rewarding. And when you're sweating the way that you sweat an environment like that, you're cracking jokes. If you're on a great crew, yeah. You're having comradery. You get to troubleshoot together and problem solve and collaborate, which I'm very passionate about. Collaboration. Yeah. And. As the beads of sweat pour out of you. As one of my really good girlfriends, to say, I had her on the show recently. You sweat the evil out.

Alexis: 26:59

Honestly, though, you do there is something like revitalizing, it's who needs hot yoga, like that. Yeah. Set the evil out. I like it. Yeah.

Lia: 27:09

And then when you're finished for the day, you always wanna end on a good place. You wanna wrap everything up, nice and tidy and then we all congregate again. To celebrate great day's work. Oh, a lot of the guys are more like begrudging about it. They're like, oh, thank goodness it's over. And I'm like, let's go again tomorrow. And that's pretty much what it is. The new thing on site that is this, very much this generation, every construction worker you can see going to site on a little scooter. We can't park on site and they all have these little scooters. So you see these big burly manning construction uniforms on scooters. It's like all coming in to work.

Alexis: 28:07

We had the same thing with the boat is cause we were in these industrial ports that you would see the most hardcore, seven feet tall and he'd be like, on a bicycle.

Lia: 28:15

Like

Alexis: 28:19

what? It's just, it's a ridiculous thing. So funny. Yeah. I love how joyful you are talking about your day-to-day and talking about your work and how much pride you have in the finished project and like seeing it come to fruition. Thank you so much for talking about your day-to-day and talking about your life as an electrician. But I wanted to move into the Sparky life and I was wondering if you could speak to the decision of starting the podcast, the motivation behind the Sparky life and kind of the overall mission of the show and program.

Lia: 28:52

I was on this electrical journey. And I couldn't believe the woman that I was becoming, the woman that I am. I was astounded. I never thought I could be this. My self-confidence and my strength is surpassed like levels I never knew I could achieve. And I started to reach out to other women because unfortunately there aren't a lot of women in the field and I wanted desperately for female mentorship. And the guys, it's not all peaches and cream, right?

Alexis: 29:38

No. There's challenges

Lia: 29:39

for sure. I focus on the positive, but being in a male dominated space, like there is sexual harassment. The guys don't treat you like one of the team. You have to work extra hard in order to be seen as one of the team. Yeah. If you're lucky, you get on a great crew, sometimes you're not lucky and you're on a crew that. Doesn't want anything to do with you. Or doesn't think you can do anything. And even the guys that think that they are like

Alexis: 30:11

an ally. Yeah. Yep. Yes.

Lia: 30:15

You overhear them telling a story about a woman and it's very demeaning. And they have no clue that what they're representing is such a poor image of women to these other guys and they just don't even see it. So I couldn't understand why this wasn't introduced to me as an option when I was younger. I definitely would've gone this path and I couldn't understand why this wasn't looked at in a positive light. I've had seven different careers in my lifetime. So I consider myself a career connoisseur here. A lot of the time I felt like I was spinning my wheels Or it just wasn't rewarding enough because either I was using all of my mind and none of my body. I was using some of my body and yeah. We're made to have both things intertwined. That's how we best function. So I felt like this was a travesty. I also know that in the US one of, one of the reasons, there are many reasons. Okay. Many reasons. One of the reasons I strongly believe the American economy is so bad is because there is like barely anything made in America and all of our skilled labor barely exists. And. Skilled labor is the foundation of civilization. It's, and innovation. It's what elevates society. So when you see that, you realize how we become more elevated when we have these creature comforts, so to speak. Which are really like necessities. So I was like, this must be told How do we not know this? I just felt like it, it's a travesty that people don't know the opportunities that are out there. And I know what it's like to grow up without support. I remember desperately wanting a network. Desperately wanting mentorship. And you would read these books, you're the mean of the five people you associate with. Yeah. Guess what? If you're in a toxic environment or you're, if you're in a low income area, good luck finding those five people. Like it's, you're not going be surrounded. You can't break out. You can't. No. And I was like this, we have this amazing thing, the internet, right? It's time to use it. Yeah. Use it for good. Use it for good. Let's be able to connect the people that might not be in the place that would be able to make those connections. This is what Sparky life became then because I knew that I wanted to change perception. Help people, encourage women to form relationships, mentorship, create a community where we can collaborate and interact with each other. I consider myself a highlighter. I see great things in people and I like to highlight it. That's so cute. So I I actually had Kathy Heller, one of her programs for her podcasts pop up on my feed. And that's how the idea of the podcast came about. I was listening to her program and I was like, really on the fence of whether or I was gonna do it. And Nancy reached out to me who worked on her team. And she was like, no you've gotta do this. Oh, amazing. There's something here. There is. Yeah. Yep. That's what sparked the whole shebang.

Alexis: 34:02

I love the mission. I love You deciding to pull the trigger and being like, yeah, screw it. I'm gonna do it. And I just think that the entire mission of it, of bringing more awareness to skilled trades in general is so admirable because I think it is needed. And right now we are facing a huge labor gap that is affecting both Canada and the US and so we need people to enter the skilled trade. So a podcast and anything that's giving information and shining a light on that is so important. One thing that I love the most about your show is you talk about everything, like literally every single topic. Do you have a favorite topic or is there like a topic that you were jonesing to talk about that you haven't talked about yet?

Lia: 34:48

Oh wow. Do I have a favorite topic? Anything that involves the human mind, I get giddy over. And I always see a correlation between working with your body and your mind and overall great mental health. And so that is a subject I quite enjoy. I'm an avid reader. I go through a book a week. I just finished the Good Enough Job by Simone. Oh, I don't know it. No. Stole back. Oh my. Okay. God. Oh my. I'll read it. Highly recommends. I'm hoping to get him on the show at the end of August. Amazing. He is. Brilliant. Cool. In what he introduces about careers. And like I said, being a career connoisseur, I I think many of us realized with C O V I D, like we were taught like work really hard and do the right thing and then you get to retire and enjoy. And what ends up happening a lot of the time is people are elderly and they become sick, and it's like, how much are you really enjoying? And you kill your yourself for years. Years chasing this rat race and then covid hits and it just shook everyone. The world didn't collapse, I didn't die because I wasn't working. Working 80 hours a week. So then it's like a mental shift happens. And his book is very interesting on his perspective on careers. And it was wonderful because when I started to read it, I was turned off because it challenged a lot of my ingrained thought internal

Alexis: 36:40

beliefs. And what about that book? What is the Cole's Notes message of that book that makes it so powerful? Oh wow.

Lia: 36:47

Okay. Let's see if I can make this a sentence. The book Captivate is about understanding human behavior and how we interact with one another and how to show your best self to others and understand the messages that you're really telling people that you might not know that you're telling them.

Alexis: 37:14

Oh, that's really interesting. I love that you are a geek completely of like mind, body, and soul. So podcast or like that kind of mentality of human behavior in terms of work and career and what drives people. Lessons learned from Sparky Life. I was wondering if something has shocked you, like some new learning that you just didn't expect. And this could either be like an external thing, it could be like from a guest that comes on and just tells you a really cool factor, a new idea. I know I had one where a woman told me about black holes and I felt like my brain was melting for 20 minutes. I don't even think I speak in that podcast. I think that YouTube is just me being like this, like for 20 minutes. Like it, it just mind melted me. Like it completely destroyed me. Is there something like that? Or it could be maybe internal, that it could be like, oh my goodness, I've learned so much about myself and my human behavior. Something that you've learned along the way that's really stuck with you.

Lia: 38:11

So doing Sparky life I learned that. I can be vulnerable and I can speak to people, because believe it or not, I was extremely shy and I would never be somebody who would be so exposed on social media. And one of my good girlfriends, Zuri told me Leah, how much do you care about your message and about serving the people the way you wanna serve them? And I said, I, it's all I wanna do. I believe in it with everything I have. I would give everything I have to share the knowledge that I have about skill, trades and careers. And she said if you don't utilize social media to do that, you're taking that away from them. And I was like,

Alexis: 39:16

oh, that's amazing. Yeah. You have to do it at that point. There's no way You can't be like, no. You know what?

Lia: 39:22

I was like,

Alexis: 39:24

stop me, god damn.

Lia: 39:27

She knew that, social media is a great avenue to reach many different types of people, and although I'm not a camera person, believe it or not, I'm, I always considered myself more of a radio voice. She convinced me. She let me know that if this is really important to me, then I'm gonna do everything humanly possible, use every resource and tool to therefore do it. And so I didn't think I could do it. And I'm doing it. Being vulnerable and creating content, which I never thought in a million years I'd be doing. Regarding things I've learned on Sparky life and with electrical, this is a little woo. So bear with me. I love, I like a woo.

Alexis: 40:11

Bear with me. I'm a hippie for Vancouver. You can woo me all day.

Lia: 40:15

Learning what I learned about electrical, knowing how I truly understand how that functions. How we function energy-wise. We have so much power within the energy within us. And we can control the energy within us. And that's so powerful.

Alexis: 40:39

That is magical. That can change your life. Yeah. I like a woowoo. I love a woowoo. I really do. It's peaceful. It's like music to my ears. It reminds me of my childhood. I'm like, oh, this is amazing. We need a sound bath here. A step. Yes.

Lia: 40:53

But I recently did that, by the way. It's awesome.

Alexis: 40:56

It's really nice and weirdly it's actually very nice. But thank you for that answer. I also love that answer of putting yourself out there On days where maybe that old fear comes back or that old bias that you're like, no man, I'm a radio person. Or this camera's terrifying. What helps you get through it? And what has helped you maybe fake your way at first when you didn't have the confidence?

Lia: 41:18

One of the tangible tools that was vital in becoming who I am now was when something really horrible would happen. I would journal about. How that horrible thing was a good thing. And when people would say, just tell yourself you're fantastic, or tell yourself you're beautiful, that doesn't work for me. What worked for me was there was a study done about luck. Yeah. Okay. And people who believe that they're lucky. Are

Alexis: 42:00

lucky. Control their energy, energy. Yes.

Lia: 42:02

And people who believe that they're not lucky tend to not be lucky. It's so weird, right? There's all these placebo effects and many more studies that I love. Needless to say, I would figure out something very difficult at work. And say to myself, see, you're smart. You got it. I would find truths, things that really happened, and I would note them. I would make note of them. And then eventually, like I believe I am lucky. I know it. I don't believe it. I know it. I am lucky. And I'm telling you, you would've thought I was a completely different person years ago. So those types of changes were vital in. How I started to create the life that I'm currently living.

Alexis: 42:52

I just think that's so beautiful that you were able to reclaim your identity and to reclaim your luck in a way. I think that's so powerful. I think

Lia: 43:01

the truth is this is. Always who I was. Yeah. I just didn't know who I was.

Alexis: 43:06

Brave. Yeah. What a beautiful woman. That's fantastic. That reframe is so powerful. To end us on the last one is just a pure plug of being like, what is the next chapter of Sparky Life? What can we be excited to, what are you working on? Is it a goal or motivation? Is there a big project? What is the next thing that we can eagerly await to hear or to watch?

Lia: 43:31

So it's Sparky life. One of the things that I'm working towards is more of the trade tales. So I really enjoy unraveling trade secrets and trade stories that people might not be aware of. Amazing. Are. The most difficult to produce, but I love doing them. So that's something that is to come. Cool. And we are now on YouTube. YouTube will be available and we've just started a Patreon where we are going to be giving out resources and mentorship. We're doing live streams so that we can continue to create a supportive community and anyone interested in trade careers or trying to figure out what the right career path is for them to create an environment for them to do that.

Alexis: 44:31

It was so lovely talking with you. Thank you for coming onto the show. It was lovely to have you.

Lia: 44:36

It was my pleasure. Thank you. Thank you so much for having your podcast. What you're doing is so important for. Mutual mission and values in promoting women and giving them the resources so that they can be whoever they wanna be in the best versions of themselves. And when they get to see you and you're wonderful YouTube, which I love.

Alexis: 45:07

Thank you.

Lia: 45:11

It helps people see the possibilities and it enlightens

Alexis: 45:16

Oh my goodness. Thank you for your kind words. For those listening, please go listen to Leah's podcast. It is out every Thursday. Please subscribe to it. It is on Apple Podcast, Spotify and YouTube as well. This is The Smoke podcast. It's been lovely. We will see you next week.