0:04

The HVAC School Podcast is made possible

0:07

by these brand partners. Refrigeration

0:10

technologies at refrigetech.com and specifically

0:12

the new Viper Wet Rag

0:14

Heat Shield. The

0:16

revolutionary flame-resistant welding pad

0:19

designed to be used either

0:21

wet or dry. Find

0:23

a Viper Wet Rag Heat Shield at a distributor near

0:25

you or go to truetechtools.com

0:28

and use offer code GETSCOOLED for a great

0:30

discount at checkout. Navac and

0:33

navacglobal.com and the break-free

0:35

Power Tube Bender model

0:38

NTB7L. Seriously,

0:41

this thing is really great. Bends even large size

0:43

tubing up to 7.8s OD. Find

0:46

out more at truetechtools.com. Use

0:49

the offer code GETSCOOLED for a great discount

0:51

at checkout. Carrier

0:53

and carrier.com. I've been a

0:55

Carrier dealer for many years. Carrier

0:58

has their new green speed extreme

1:00

super high efficiency heat pumps out

1:02

on the market now. Find

1:04

out more by going to carrier.com. Copeland

1:08

and White Rogers. Upgrade

1:10

your heat pump game with the 47D01U-843 universal heat

1:12

pump defrost control. Yes,

1:17

I did say universal. Say

1:20

goodbye to inefficient time defrost and

1:22

hello to cutting edge demand defrost.

1:25

Adjust your compressor slash costs

1:27

and boost efficiency effortlessly. Choose

1:30

smart with just one universal heat pump defrost

1:32

control to keep on the trucks. Replace

1:34

more. Carry less with Copeland

1:36

and White Rogers. Find

1:38

out more at hvcrschool.com/defrost.

1:46

The podcast host, you turn on

1:48

when you're having a hard time

1:50

getting to sleep. Brian

1:52

Orr. Ye to the haw.

1:55

This is the HVAC School Podcast. I am

1:58

Brian. This is the podcast that helps. She

2:00

remembers some things you might have forgotten along the way as well

2:02

as helps you remember some things you

2:04

might have forgotten to know in the first place. And

2:07

today we're doing a rebroadcast

2:09

of our Women in HVAC

2:12

livestream. So these are

2:14

all women who are working in the

2:17

HVAC trade from different angles of the

2:19

HVAC trade, which makes it

2:21

a really lively conversation. Moderated

2:23

by our own Matt Bruner and the guests

2:26

are Jennifer Manzo, Shelby

2:28

Breger, Shally Cobb, and

2:30

Jessica Egan. I will let them

2:32

introduce themselves in

2:34

the livestream. But yeah, it's a

2:37

good conversation. I think it's really nice

2:39

to talk to some ladies, get their perspective on

2:41

what it is to work in this trade, maybe some

2:43

of the areas we can improve, but also some of

2:45

the really bright spots and they actually had a lot

2:47

of really positive things to say, which is always

2:50

nice to hear. So here we go. Next

2:54

up, our HVAC School

2:56

livestream, Women in HVAC.

3:00

Hi, welcome everybody to the

3:02

HVAC School livestream. Talking

3:04

about women in HVAC this time. We've

3:07

got some really great guests. Well, we'll let them

3:09

introduce themselves. I wanted to start by just going

3:11

through and having each of y'all share just a

3:13

little bit about what got you into the trade

3:16

and what you're

3:18

passionate about within the

3:21

trade. And let's start with Jessica. Oh,

3:25

Jessica Egan. I am a

3:28

residential service technician with

3:30

Kalos Services. So

3:33

I get to see Brian every now

3:35

and then in the office. My

3:37

husband actually was

3:40

the catalyst to me getting into the

3:42

trade. So that's fun. Yeah. Tell

3:45

us a little bit about that. He had just

3:47

started working for a company

3:50

and they celebrated their 50th

3:52

year in business and

3:55

had a semi-formal dinner for all the

3:57

employees. We went. And

4:00

the owner said, when

4:03

my time honors is done, God is not

4:05

going to ask me what I did with

4:07

the money. He's going to ask me what I did

4:09

with the people. And I looked at my husband and

4:12

I said, I am going to work there. And

4:15

five years later, I got the opportunity.

4:18

And since I was already seasoned for

4:20

working outdoors, they decided to throw

4:22

me in a van and teach me how to

4:24

do maintenance. And then what happened? How

4:27

was that? That was fine. I

4:29

learned a lot. And

4:32

I learned that I needed to know

4:34

a whole lot more. And

4:37

I saw a post

4:40

on Brian Orr's Facebook,

4:43

specifically targeting women

4:45

in the industry for

4:48

a class that he was going to put

4:50

together. So I emailed him and

4:52

I said, I'm really interested in this. And

4:56

because the company I was working with

4:58

at the time wouldn't sponsor me to

5:00

go to these classes where

5:03

I am said come work for me.

5:05

And I did. So

5:07

they taught me and I

5:09

got to work with good

5:11

old Bert. Everybody loves Bert

5:13

life. So I got to train

5:15

with Bert and the

5:18

rest is now history. That's

5:20

awesome. What has kept you

5:22

interested in the trade? What has made

5:24

you stay with it? It's

5:27

really neat that

5:30

I get to come home and I

5:33

can talk to my

5:35

husband about the different things because

5:37

he also attacked about the

5:39

different things I've seen, asked

5:41

him questions about different

5:44

things that I don't quite understand

5:47

to get his opinion on it. And

5:50

then I've made so many

5:52

friends through these

5:54

podcasts and live streams and

5:56

their influence really helps keep

5:59

me interested. interested and

6:01

wanting to learn more. Cool.

6:03

Yeah, that's awesome. Up next for

6:05

their intro, we've got Jennifer.

6:08

Jennifer, tell us a little bit about yourself. I'm

6:12

Jennifer Manzo. I'm a service

6:14

tech engineer and coalition owner

6:16

from Maine. I own HVHX Coalition,

6:18

basically a free training platform and

6:21

free track tech support line. And

6:23

we also do resource management for women

6:25

HVAC, amongst other things. I

6:28

also got into the trade because my husband was

6:30

in the trade, has been in for 28 years,

6:32

and we've been together for 17. So

6:34

I've always been part of the trade. I've

6:37

always been a helper. I've always helped with installs,

6:39

stuff like that. And five or six years ago,

6:41

I decided I wanted to make it my full

6:43

time gig because I love HVAC. So that's

6:46

what I did. Now I'm here. Yeah,

6:49

that's awesome. So I know that you

6:51

do a lot of teaching and stuff. Is

6:53

that your passion within the trade or what is

6:55

it that keeps you interested? There's

6:59

this whole trade keeps me interested. Let's

7:01

be real. I love this trade

7:03

because I never do get bored. There's no possible way

7:06

you could get bored being an HVAC. My

7:08

passion is definitely teaching. I was

7:10

a teacher before this. That's what I

7:12

did for my full time job. And I'm

7:15

still a teacher. I teach K through 12

7:17

still at this moment. And then I teach

7:19

through HVHX remotely. And I think

7:21

that not only is my

7:24

passion teaching, but my passion is being

7:26

able to give people who don't have

7:28

the financial means to afford many

7:31

of the awesome trainings that we have on our

7:33

market. I'm able to give that to them for

7:35

free. That right there is my passion. Yeah,

7:38

that's awesome. We'll definitely come back to that. After

7:41

we go through everybody's intro here. Up

7:43

next is Shelby Frager,

7:45

not Shelby Burger. Good, good

7:48

work. It's hard every

7:50

time I struggled with it for the first few

7:52

years of it. Tell us about yourself and then

7:54

what you're passionate about. So I'm Shelby.

7:57

I'm one of the co-founders of Conduit Tech, which

7:59

is a load calculation. and sales software for

8:01

residential heating and cooling professionals. And

8:03

we use things like LIDAR and

8:06

building data and augmented reality to

8:08

be able to help professionals win

8:10

by doing quality work and quality

8:12

load calculations every time. And

8:14

what got me into this field is my

8:16

background was industrial energy efficiency, but it felt

8:18

very far away from the end homeowner and

8:21

what was really making a difference every day

8:23

for a lot of the people I interacted

8:25

with. So I started exploring what

8:27

are ways that I can support small businesses,

8:29

but also help drive energy efficiency and what

8:32

industries is that really the case. And

8:34

that's what brought me into HVAC originally

8:37

is trying to learn what could we

8:39

do to support professionals in the field

8:41

in designing and selling and supporting this

8:43

transition to more efficient equipment and in

8:45

some cases heat pumps. And what we learned

8:48

was that job is really, really hard. That's

8:50

obvious to everyone on this call right now that

8:52

it's not easy to play any of these roles

8:54

in the industry. And there's so much

8:56

opportunity for technology to support. And so that's

8:59

what we started building when we started building

9:01

Conduit Tech is what technology can we build

9:03

to support pros in the field and help

9:05

them do high quality work, but not add

9:07

so much time and also really stand out

9:09

by doing so. Awesome. And then we've got

9:12

Sally Cobb. Hi. I am Sally

9:15

Cobb. I am a senior product manager for

9:17

Dyken, as you can see. I've

9:19

been with Dyken almost five years. So the first

9:21

product that I launched was the heat pump.

9:23

So that was quite an amazing product to

9:25

cut my teeth on. We were

9:27

given some prompts to prepare for this. And

9:30

one of them was how hard is it for

9:32

women to break into the industry? And

9:34

something I say quite a bit is that

9:36

HVAC finds you. You don't find HVAC

9:39

unless maybe you're married to you in HVAC. Or

9:42

it's your family business. So that

9:44

was absolutely true in my case. I

9:46

was in power generation for seven years.

9:48

And then we got to experience an

9:50

overseas assignment. So as an expat, and I

9:52

had to start my career completely over. And

9:55

so I was just ready to go back to work. And

9:57

I just let everybody know that I was ready to go

9:59

back. work and my fitness friend,

10:01

her husband who he was in

10:04

charge in a residential HVAC consulting

10:06

company gave me the opportunity. I

10:09

hesitated to go into it. I thought it

10:11

would be boring after being in power generation,

10:13

but it's absolutely not boring. It's fascinating.

10:16

It's just such a great industry. And

10:18

so again, it's not hard to break

10:20

into. There's so many opportunities and

10:22

then something I would just suggest just to

10:25

go for it. So from my passion energy

10:27

efficiency as well. I used to make electricity,

10:30

reliable and efficient to make it.

10:32

And then now consuming it, I

10:34

am on that other's end. Everything I'm really

10:37

passionate about my particular job is

10:39

that I get to be on the front line with sales

10:41

and know what the market needs. Then I work with engineering.

10:43

And so I have, I call the puzzle

10:45

pieces. I'm the hub of the product and I

10:48

get to take all of these pieces, put it

10:50

together and tell a story. And so when I

10:52

do that and I get to see my products

10:54

out and being used, people

10:56

are installing them on the internet. It's just absolutely

10:58

satisfying. I love to see all of that come

11:01

together and what we can do with it. That's

11:03

awesome. Can you tell us

11:05

a little bit more about that coming back into

11:08

the STEM field after taking a significant

11:10

amount of time off? Sure, sure. Yes.

11:12

One of my passions. And once I got through it,

11:14

I'm going and I help other people with it. Everyone

11:17

told me it would be easy because I

11:19

have an engineering degree seven years, but

11:22

it wasn't easy at all. It was the hardest thing

11:24

I've ever done. And so I just had

11:26

to get through it. I always had to be

11:28

willing to try new things. HVAC in

11:30

particular, when I went over to Doug and I had

11:32

not heard of product management. So being

11:35

willing to try new things and persevere is

11:37

just how you get through it. But there's

11:39

a lot of lovely ladies that met with

11:41

me and encouraged me. And so

11:43

now I'm able to take everything that's been done

11:45

for me and that I've

11:48

gotten through it and give back. So

11:50

I am a passionate career, mid-career reentry

11:52

advocate. And so I do a lot of

11:54

people will know that and bring people to

11:57

me to help them personally. So it's just

11:59

a passion. of mine, but it's not

12:01

easy. And again, HVAC found me and I'm so

12:03

grateful for it. Jennifer,

12:05

you had mentioned helping

12:08

women in particular with resources and things like

12:10

that within the trade as well. Can you

12:13

talk to us some about that? When

12:15

I first started HVAC coalition four years

12:18

ago, it started out as

12:20

a women's only coalition. At the time,

12:22

we only helped women because women, we

12:25

were wrong, basically. I'll say

12:27

that my personal experience breaking

12:29

into the HVAC field wasn't as positive

12:31

as many are. And I think I

12:34

took that experience and

12:37

I thought that everybody was in that same situation. And as

12:39

I grew, and as I learned, I realized that

12:41

wasn't exactly the case. And that many women did

12:43

have access to good training, they did have access

12:45

to these resources, they did have good HR, all

12:47

these things that I was trying to provide. And

12:50

so I did have many men that didn't

12:52

have access to those things. And so we

12:55

opened it up and now we take everybody.

12:57

But when I say resource location, so

13:00

in every state, there are a depth

13:02

amount of resources for women in general, not

13:04

just in the trades, but women in general.

13:07

So I started meeting one on one

13:09

with some women who were like, I had one woman who couldn't stay in

13:11

the trade because she couldn't get childcare, she couldn't pay

13:13

for it. She was an apprentice, she wasn't making enough

13:15

to pay for childcare for three kids. And so she

13:17

was going to have to give up her apprenticeship and

13:19

go work at McDonald's or whatever she might do. We

13:22

were able to actually find in her state where

13:24

the resources were for help with paying for childcare.

13:26

And we were actually able to get her a

13:28

scholarship for her apprenticeship as well. So she was

13:30

making a little bit more money on top. And

13:32

from that first interaction that we had, we've expanded

13:35

that tenfold and we now do the exact same

13:37

thing in all 50 states. We have 22 states where

13:40

we have pro bono lawyers who will take

13:42

on sexual abuse cases or sexual harassment cases

13:44

for women in trades that are particularly part

13:47

of our coalition. And there's nothing

13:49

that we couldn't help someone with. There's

13:51

absolutely nothing. Wow, that's super cool. Jessica,

13:54

Shelby, what have your experiences

13:57

been like coming into the trade as a

13:59

woman? I can share that.

14:01

Mine's been extremely positive. One of the questions

14:03

was what keeps you excited and it's definitely

14:05

the people and I think that's probably the answer

14:08

from every single person right now.

14:10

Everyone's nodding their heads. We

14:12

were super welcomed into the industry

14:14

by literally anyone, which in most cases

14:16

is predominantly men. This is my co-founder

14:18

is also a woman and we found

14:20

that people were just willing to help

14:22

us, not just help us specifically, but

14:24

because they believe that if there's any

14:27

way they could help the trade, whether it

14:29

be through us or anyone else, they would help us

14:31

so that we could help other people. I've never

14:33

experienced that. I've worked in a few other industries

14:35

and I've never experienced that before in

14:37

my life and I thought that was

14:39

really, really cool and it's been amazing

14:41

for me since. So it's been super

14:43

positive. Yeah, I would say

14:46

I also have been extremely blessed

14:49

with my experience. I haven't

14:51

had any negative

14:54

experience with coworkers at either company

14:56

I've been with. The

14:58

first company, I felt

15:00

like I really had to work

15:02

hard because it wasn't just me, it

15:05

was my husband's name and

15:07

I didn't want the guys to have to go back

15:09

and be like, dude, your wife. The

15:14

only experience I've ever had is one time we were

15:16

checking out a job install and someone's like,

15:18

Oh, I've never been in the attic with

15:20

a woman before. And I was like, here

15:22

we are. I've

15:24

been wearing a hard hat

15:26

and PPE and still so big since

15:28

I was 23. I'm like, I don't know. I need

15:31

to be in the field and see things. How else am

15:33

I supposed to learn about it? So that was

15:35

the only comment I've ever had being in this industry. So

15:37

I was like, I don't know what to tell you. My

15:41

negative experience was only, I mean,

15:43

I've had comments, but my first

15:45

experience in HVAC was my negative experience. It

15:48

was my boss. So like that was

15:50

the worst part about it. I

15:52

was actually fired in a discrimination

15:54

case. Not to know me now, but that actually happened

15:57

to me. So I think that that was what I was

15:59

like, Oh my gosh. everybody must be dealing with

16:01

this. And then I realized where I was at.

16:03

That's not the case at all. I

16:05

agree with you guys. It's one of the easiest that

16:08

I've ever broken into after that situation. Interesting.

16:12

So we

16:14

were asking. I mean, that's great. Do

16:21

you think the perception versus reality is

16:23

different? Do you think that there's a

16:25

disconnect there? Can you share some about

16:27

that, Jennifer? Yeah, like I said, I

16:29

judged an entire industry that I had

16:31

already been in for almost a decade.

16:33

I judged that industry based on my

16:35

experience with one person. So

16:37

if I, as a female in this trade,

16:39

can do that, imagine what people from the

16:41

outside looking in are seeing. So

16:43

like, for instance, when I won Malco's Trade

16:46

Pro the year last year, somebody had told

16:48

my local newspaper about it. And so

16:50

they wrote up a little article and I had people calling

16:52

me and saying that they were firing their current

16:54

HVAC company to hire me. And

16:57

I'm going, this and I'm talking

16:59

to my husband and he says, because you're a woman. That's

17:01

why because you're a woman. And

17:03

that thought, I think that was like

17:05

a turning point for me where I

17:07

was like, the perception is completely different.

17:09

It's completely wrong from reality. There

17:12

was nothing wrong with the work that they were getting. It

17:14

was the fact that they saw a pretty face

17:16

in a newspaper and said, oh my gosh, she

17:18

swings a wrench. I've got to get her here. I've

17:21

got to meet her. I've got to talk to her. They

17:23

think it's crazy, but we

17:25

don't. If that makes

17:27

sense. Yeah. Do you

17:29

think that growing up, were

17:32

you given the opportunity

17:34

to like consider working in the trades

17:37

as a woman? You guys, there

17:40

was God, I

17:42

was must have been

17:45

22 and we had a truck

17:47

and the serpentine belt kept breaking.

17:50

And I asked my dad to teach me

17:52

how to change it. And he

17:55

said, no, that's what

17:57

men do. And he taught my

17:59

husband. spend at the time how to do it. Yeah.

18:03

That was more my experience too. I was taught

18:05

to be independent and go for whatever

18:07

I wanted. My dad was an accountant

18:09

and I never thought about it

18:12

whatsoever. So my mom

18:14

said when I was before I could walk I

18:16

put a chair and a high chair and I

18:18

got up to the freezer and

18:20

got myself a popsicle. So she said I should have known you

18:22

were gonna be an engineer before you

18:25

could walk. The thought never

18:27

crossed my mind. Since 1994 when I started

18:30

college I'm so used to being in the

18:32

minority. I don't even think about it. But

18:34

you do feel like it was a

18:36

minority at that time? Oh yeah. Yeah

18:39

I'm so used to it. Like it's

18:41

all I know. Honestly. Yeah I

18:43

understand that. I was gonna bring up Women

18:45

in HVAC conference and Society Women in Year

18:47

conference when we actually are all, none of

18:50

us are used to having to wait for

18:52

the restroom. So we're all like our minds

18:54

get blown. Like we're not used to it.

18:56

Oh yeah yeah yeah. I see what you're

18:58

saying. Yeah I

19:00

always wonder about that at the supply house right? There's

19:02

like the women's bathroom and the men's

19:04

bathroom. And my supply houses don't.

19:06

They have one bathroom for everybody and I mean

19:08

all of them. And I just walked

19:10

my happy little ass in there. You

19:13

can wait if you're in line. I'm gonna walk it for

19:15

us or whatever. It's not usually an issue. But yeah.

19:18

That's all I know. That makes sense. So

19:22

let us pause for a second and

19:25

talk about NAVAC and specifically

19:27

the Break Free Tubing Bender Power

19:30

Tubing Bender. More specifically because it

19:32

has power. Power Wonder Working Power.

19:34

NTB 7L bending

19:37

large diameter tubes can be a real pain. But

19:39

this high quality power tubing bender makes the job

19:41

so much easier. The NTB 7L

19:43

is perfect for tubing sizes from quarter

19:45

inch to 7 8s OD. And with

19:47

just a single press of a button you can bend tubes

19:50

to any angle you need. When we're

19:52

struggling to get the tube out of the traditional bender

19:54

mandrel, the baffle pushes the tube

19:56

out automatically once the bend is completed.

19:58

Plus the large capacity lithium-ion battery lets

20:00

you make over a hundred bends on a

20:03

single charge and fully recharges in

20:05

just 30 minutes. But

20:07

wait, there's more! The patented tubing size

20:09

selector makes switching between different tubing sizes

20:11

a breeze, and the ergonomic

20:14

handle ensures easy operation. So

20:16

why not give the brake-free Power Tube Bender a

20:18

try? We love it, and we know you'll love

20:20

it too. Find it at a

20:23

quality distributor near you or at trutechtools.com and don't

20:25

forget to use the offer code GET SCHOOL to

20:27

check out for a great discount. Trust

20:29

me, this is a game changer. The

20:32

NTB-7L from Navac. So

20:36

as a kid, you didn't really think about

20:38

that. It's not something that you

20:40

just have pretty strong self-confidence in terms

20:42

of what you wanted to do. Yeah,

20:45

so no one in my family had been an engineer

20:47

at Life, Math, and Science, so just why not go

20:49

for it? I'm a really just go for it person,

20:51

so go for it. I love your

20:54

attitude about that so much. I just want to say

20:56

that. I just love that. Yeah,

20:58

Shelby, what about you? I

21:00

think my parents probably didn't even share

21:02

with me. There was no talk about a

21:05

career in the trades, which is okay. They

21:07

pushed me towards other paths. Eventually,

21:09

I got here, and I'm super fortunate for the

21:11

path that I got to take, but I think that

21:13

there just wasn't too much knowledge about it.

21:16

I do think it's a huge plus when

21:18

you go to these conferences. Never align for

21:20

the ladies restroom, something men might not understand,

21:22

but it is just such a joy to

21:24

walk into a very clean bathroom and not

21:26

have to wait for it. In

21:29

reality, I think it's been great to be able to

21:31

find the way into it. I wish more people were

21:33

aware that this is a huge land of opportunity, but

21:35

I think it can sound really daunting. I think the

21:37

first time I told, well, actually, I still haven't told

21:40

my mom that I go on ride alongs or that

21:42

I go to other people's homes,

21:44

which is so normal to every single

21:46

person who's listening right now who's on

21:48

this livestream, but the first time I

21:50

went over to somebody's home that I

21:52

never met before, only met them online

21:54

to test our software, my husband's like,

21:56

what are you doing? This is

21:58

how this operates. This is someone I

22:00

trust and I have a lot of trust with this

22:03

person and every single person who's here does

22:05

this as part of their job. I

22:07

can only imagine the sense of grit that

22:09

that fills up over time as well. And

22:11

now I've built it up too, but I think there

22:13

are things that when you talk to people outside of

22:15

the trade, they're like, Oh, that's crazy. And

22:17

it's not at all. People are putting themselves

22:19

out there every single day and acting with

22:21

such professionalism that as they do it. But

22:24

yeah, don't tell my mom. Okay,

22:27

we want to share this with her. Well,

22:30

my mom, my mom's air conditioner broke because she

22:32

keeps calling me. So I'm going to her house.

22:34

So that's part of it too. And

22:36

then I sat down with her contractor at her

22:38

kitchen table. So it's fun to I

22:40

like that part being able to help out my friends

22:43

and family. I do too. I

22:45

think there are a lot of

22:47

preconceived notions about

22:50

what a woman in the trade is.

22:53

When I started at

22:55

Kalos, you know, I learned

22:57

this a couple of years ago. My

23:00

first day I was training with Bert

23:03

and he thought I

23:05

was going to be this really

23:08

butch like

23:11

to say it just manly, this

23:14

really butch and manly. And

23:17

I come in and I've got makeup

23:19

on and he's like, didn't know

23:21

what he did in Florida. And

23:24

there's a huge variety just

23:26

like there are men. I've seen men

23:29

in the trades where I look more manly

23:31

than they do. So

23:34

it's just a wide variety on both

23:36

ends of the spectrum. Yeah,

23:38

I think that it's not so much that

23:40

people are freaked out by seeing a woman. It's

23:43

being freaked out by seeing a woman who looks

23:45

like us. That's been the

23:47

hardest part for me. My experience

23:50

coming into the trade was pretty challenging

23:52

because I am not a super

23:54

like, I don't know, like tough

23:56

guy. Yeah, they were like, go do this. And I'm

23:58

like, wait, I have questions. I'm like,

24:01

hold on, what's going to happen if this, and they're

24:03

just like, just go do it. Just

24:05

go. And I'm like, no, I

24:07

can't do that. So yeah, it took me a

24:09

long time to develop any confidence. I think I

24:11

struggle in that sense. I think we

24:13

all struggle in that sense. So like the imposter

24:15

syndrome sets in and then it's like, okay,

24:18

wait, it has been me doing this the whole time.

24:21

I never heard the word imposter syndrome until after

24:23

I got through it because I started a completely

24:25

new career at 37 years old. So

24:28

I bet that was. I thought that I

24:30

would go to like the Greater Acoustic Builders

24:32

Association meeting and everyone's going to know

24:34

that, oh, that's the new girl. She should have had

24:36

20 years experience, but she's

24:38

brand new. So I

24:41

absolutely had that without knowing what it was.

24:44

And then every single person has that, even

24:46

if you know, if you can identify it

24:48

or call it and you

24:50

just have to practice and get on

24:52

with it. What are some of the things that,

24:55

let's say I have a one person company right

24:57

now. It's just me. When

24:59

I'm ready to hire people, if I

25:01

wanted my company to be more attractive

25:04

to women, what

25:06

kinds of things could I consider doing that

25:09

would be like beneficial in that sense? Hey,

25:11

when people ask this question. I

25:13

was just on a panel of experts and we

25:16

have this question. We

25:19

all women experts,

25:21

but what I could personally,

25:24

I've been working with a small company now. I've

25:26

met a huge company is that

25:28

just that my boss, my company,

25:30

they all support me with giving

25:33

me time to go participate in

25:35

women in HVAC, either the

25:37

local or the national. And

25:39

also the networking events that go along with

25:41

it. So we have all these great resources

25:44

out there. I wanted to make sure I got

25:46

that in, even if the topic didn't come up organically.

25:49

So there's great resources already for

25:51

women. And so just being

25:53

able to allow them to

25:55

participate in those with again,

25:57

time, time to take time off for those.

26:00

I got to speak at one.

26:02

So my boss supported me there. So

26:04

just supporting them and the resources that are

26:07

there already. And Jennifer, I hadn't met you

26:09

before. You've got such a great resource. So

26:11

just allowing them to participate in these great

26:14

resources that are there already because

26:16

we are building, we're growing. Right now we're

26:18

still 3% of the industry. Society

26:21

of Women's here, we're 25% there, but

26:23

I think H-TAC and Society of Women's here

26:25

is about 1%. So we

26:27

are here to grow this

26:30

as well. And so we're all part

26:32

of this community and just being able

26:34

to participate with that as well. And

26:37

to supporting whatever that person wants to

26:39

do. So that would be

26:41

my say. My boss and my company

26:44

really do support me to be able

26:46

to participate in all these wonderful resources

26:48

that I'm so happy exist. And

26:51

so we just wanna keep it going, keep growing. That's

26:53

a good one. I didn't talk about the one person.

26:55

I can't fathom that. Yeah.

26:59

I work with that. I know nobody likes to hear

27:01

it at all. Thousands of people. I

27:03

should get it over with because nobody's gonna

27:05

accept this from me. I think

27:07

they should not target us. That's what

27:09

I think. Specifically advertising

27:12

to target women furthers

27:15

the divide that we have between

27:17

us and the camaraderie we have

27:19

between us and our fellow tradesmen. I

27:22

think that it causes tradesmen,

27:24

specifically those who are old heads, who we'd call old

27:27

heads, right? It makes them think that

27:29

we're here to take their jobs. And I've

27:31

personally struggled with that. And I know a lot of women who have. It's

27:34

harder for us to break in at a new company

27:36

if everybody thinks that the boss is just turning

27:38

a new leaf and trying to grab all these

27:41

women and bring them in and take our jobs, right? So

27:43

I think that not targeting women is the

27:46

best way to target women. I think if

27:48

you just don't specifically target men and

27:50

you just put it out there as a job

27:52

inquiry that anybody can apply for, make it

27:54

known that anybody can apply. That

27:57

right there will attract a lot more women.

28:00

make sure that your benefits are there. You want to

28:02

make sure you have health insurance. Women come with children

28:04

a lot of the time and even those who don't

28:06

deserve health insurance. And now that's

28:08

not as much of a problem as it was

28:10

when I first started. When I first started, there were many companies,

28:12

especially here in Maine, that didn't have benefits

28:15

at all for anybody. So coming in with six

28:17

kids, like, what do you mean you don't offer

28:19

health insurance? That was a problem. I think

28:21

making sure your benefits are there, making sure

28:23

that you are keeping up with state and

28:26

federal standards as far as balanced

28:28

work and non-discrimination. I think you'll be

28:30

fine. I don't think anybody really needs

28:32

to try to specifically target women

28:34

to bring their company. Any bump or merit

28:36

or anything that I get, I don't want

28:38

it because I'm a woman. I want it

28:40

because I earned it and I'm the right

28:42

person for it. At the

28:45

same time, we do need our community and

28:47

advocates and support each other. So we have

28:49

all of those things. Just

28:51

to build on that, I think that

28:53

one thing that is helpful is when

28:55

once they're hired, connecting them with other

28:57

women, whether they be at your company or

29:00

elsewhere and say, here's a resource for you

29:02

who can speak to what their experiences

29:04

like in this trade, how they navigate certain

29:06

issues. I'm going to do my best to support you.

29:09

But I also know that I am not a

29:11

woman and maybe I can't answer some of the

29:13

questions that you have. And I think that's true

29:15

probably in any industry, not just this one, but

29:17

I think that can be helpful to create that

29:19

sense of I'm here for you as a manager.

29:21

I know it might be different for you, especially

29:24

if you're the first female tech that's working here,

29:26

but that's just one thing that I think could

29:28

be helpful. I love that. And I love that

29:30

idea, Shelby. Yeah, you just nailed it, Shelby. We

29:33

don't want to feel like the

29:36

diversity hired. Yeah,

29:38

exactly. The reason you're going to hire

29:40

me is because I'm a woman. I

29:42

should be hired because of my merit. An

29:45

aptitude, period, because of what I can do. Hire

29:48

on merit, period. Y'all

29:50

got me thinking a lot. So circling back

29:52

to what Shelby was talking about, like going to people's

29:54

houses that you've never met before, what's really interesting. I

29:56

mean, again, like to me, I'm just like, yeah, that's

29:58

what I do every day. Are

30:00

there other things like that that you

30:02

guys have experienced like I guess the

30:05

bathroom thing being in the van Every

30:12

day and I'm like, what do you mean?

30:14

So yeah now I'm a pro who knew There's

30:19

a lot of things I'll that's just a joke but there are

30:21

lots of things that it's like Would

30:23

be totally normal to any one of you but to

30:25

us we're like, oh we're doing this. Okay Good

30:29

clothing clothing is yeah I'm gonna say clothes

30:32

even the shirts that we get portrayed shows

30:34

our visiting has gotten really a lot better

30:36

about We want our

30:38

feminine cut. We don't want to wear y'all sir We

30:42

still wear man's pants at work. I hate it

30:45

Yeah, we have we have no choice. I have

30:47

to Give us pockets

30:49

or give us stuff. So that's where

30:52

I'm at with that So yeah, just clothing just

30:54

getting dressed in the morning My husband's like I've been

30:56

wearing the same thing for 28 years and I'm getting

30:58

up like I have to wear that for 28 years No,

31:02

that's super interesting. Yeah, just lots of things that

31:05

I've never had to think about before It

31:08

goes along. Oh, where was it Kevin

31:11

Hart? Asked a

31:13

really really good question he

31:15

asked what sort of HVAC tasks

31:18

or processes are Common

31:20

that men think are normal but

31:22

might put women off from joining

31:25

the trade and I think that the

31:27

pee bottle Is the biggest

31:29

one? Yep,

31:32

I had to smuggle my bosses out of a basement once

31:34

one out of ten do not recommend I Do

31:38

get it so I'm not in the homes

31:40

every day like y'all or I'll be on the factory floor

31:44

so same thing Yeah,

31:46

I did plan when I guess we

31:49

try to go observe those installs That's

31:51

pretty great. You guys do that. I didn't know

31:53

that. Oh, that's part of product management is our

31:55

voice of customer observation We want to know all

31:57

the things Yeah, incredible I

32:00

just keep loving Dyken more and more every day. Okay.

32:04

Just like every day. Well,

32:06

that's great. It's a great

32:08

place to work and it's the right place for women to work.

32:11

I love that. Food for thought for sure.

32:14

What's on y'all's minds related to this topic when we sent

32:16

out the invite? What was something that you really wanted to

32:19

bring up? I just knew that

32:21

this was going to happen. What

32:24

was going to happen? We get invited to stuff like this,

32:26

right guys? Like we get invited to stuff like this. Our

32:30

answers are always so far off from what people

32:32

think we're going to say, I think. I

32:36

love when that happens because it

32:38

forces real change and it forces people

32:40

to really think, okay, well. There

32:43

are men who absolutely support us

32:45

to a point where they overly support us. There

32:48

are women out there who are like, oh my gosh,

32:51

you're so cool. They're like fangirling over us because yes,

32:53

I'm going to crawl in that hole at the top of your

32:55

Chipotle store. Yes, I am going to do that. I

32:59

think they want to be overly supportive

33:01

because they think that we're not being supported. I

33:03

think that we just need to really get like this is

33:06

a perfect platform to get it out there that we do

33:08

actually feel supported and we appreciate it.

33:11

Thank you all for being here and supporting us and

33:13

making it so that it hasn't been weird for us. I

33:16

mean, there are four women on this screen, which

33:18

is probably a huge percentage of the women

33:20

in HVAC, right? We

33:23

all feel normal to

33:25

be where we're at. It feels normal. It

33:27

feels like I wake up and go to work

33:29

every day just like everybody else. I think people

33:31

make shows like this because they think we're going

33:33

to say something else. I love that

33:36

I'm with other women who don't say something else. That's

33:39

all I wanted here. I am sure

33:41

there are women out there that haven't

33:43

been as fortunate.

33:47

That is an absolute shame, but I

33:51

think people seeing this, seeing

33:53

that they can just treat us like

33:55

normal, it will be fine.

33:58

Yeah. When I got the invite, I was like, I wanted to

34:00

participate because I'm wanting to support

34:03

other women and it's all about

34:05

giving back for sure that all

34:07

of us have been fortunate having that support,

34:10

but supporting each other is just a huge piece

34:12

as well and so that's the main reason I

34:14

wanted to come on here was just to show

34:16

support. And to offer it,

34:18

talking about what we were talking about

34:20

earlier, if there are women who

34:23

do want to reach out, I think probably

34:25

every single woman on this right now and

34:27

probably Matt as well would be open to

34:29

them reaching out and just being a voice

34:31

or an ear to listen if people are

34:34

struggling with their experience in the trade thus

34:36

far. Absolutely. And there

34:38

are resources out there. And I actually

34:41

was thinking about that as reflecting on

34:43

this too earlier today. There are probably

34:45

women who watch, especially HVAC school like

34:47

I remember when I first started my

34:49

boss was a huge Brian or

34:51

fanboy actually got Brian to make him

34:53

a happy birthday cameo when I first started.

34:57

So my training at that company was

34:59

watching HVAC school. And so I feel

35:01

like that's probably common. And

35:03

if there are women out there who are in

35:05

a different situation from what we're in, we're here.

35:07

Like, when you see this, reach out to any

35:09

one of us seriously. I just want to put

35:11

it out there that you can also join the

35:13

HVAC coalition Facebook group, and

35:15

you will find a ton of support from both

35:17

men and women in that group as well. So come

35:20

on and join we got to. I'll

35:22

go ahead and bring up just text things

35:24

my friend that I met in I met

35:26

her in Phoenix at the women at HVAC

35:28

conference. We were talking about regulations and I

35:30

was there to support my co worker that

35:32

was speaking. And so she came up

35:34

and talked to me afterwards. I said,

35:36

Hey, do you want to present at the Society

35:38

of Women Engineers. And so we put

35:40

in our application to do that. And

35:43

we really have formed a really great friendship

35:45

because we are in such a niche that

35:48

nobody quite understands what we do.

35:51

And who we are. And so being

35:53

able to make that even though she works for a

35:55

competitor, we were able to work together and support each

35:57

other. And she says that competing with women, we're here

35:59

to help. with each other means no one wins.

36:01

And so I wanted to bring that quote

36:03

in as well. It's a really great

36:06

one. So she was speaking at HRXO

36:08

in Atlanta. And so I made sure I

36:10

went and watched her presentation. So we've been

36:13

able to really build this amazing friendship

36:15

across the country. And even though we

36:17

work for competitors, that's just

36:19

one example of supporting each other and being

36:21

able to make friends. Sometimes you're

36:23

gonna make friends in the bathroom because there's only two of you

36:25

in there. So. Yeah. And

36:28

it's hard to make friends elsewhere. Like

36:31

when you're one of us, it's hard to make friends anywhere

36:33

else. Like my girlfriends that I've had my whole life

36:35

are like, what are you talking about? Yeah. I

36:37

don't know what you're talking about. So I'm like, okay, why don't you

36:39

tell me about your day? And so. Right.

36:41

So we can speak HVAC, oh, this

36:44

or that. And then also talk about

36:46

being a mom. And so. Exactly. We

36:49

have all of those things where it's

36:51

a kind of important niche and support

36:53

network. I love that. Yeah.

36:56

How interesting. Super cool. I

37:00

want to tell you about the game changing

37:02

Copeland and White Rogers 47 D O

37:05

one U dash eight four three universal

37:07

heat pump defrost control. It

37:10

isn't just any universal control. It really

37:12

is a leap forward in efficiency and

37:14

cost effectiveness, both for contractors and

37:16

for our clients. The

37:18

advanced demand defrost technology eclipses outdated timed

37:21

defrost methods, which means that you don't

37:23

have to go back to the way

37:25

it was running. You can actually use

37:27

this to put it into demand defrost,

37:30

ensuring that the heat pumps run more efficiently

37:33

while offering substantial cost savings. But

37:36

that's not all. It also

37:38

helps protect the compressor and has the

37:41

benefits of an integrated outdoor thermostat. With

37:43

Copeland and White Rogers, you're not just installing

37:46

a component, you're upgrading to the future of

37:48

HVAC technology. To

37:50

place more, carry less, dive

37:52

deeper into these innovations

37:55

at hvacrschool.com/defrost. That's

37:58

hvacrschool.com. What

38:00

else you

38:04

guys got? I

38:06

can talk for hours. So as

38:10

we all know, the conferences,

38:12

the resources, but got

38:14

some panels going. Yeah, just

38:18

a panel just like this going on at the symposium

38:21

in February. So I'll be there. And

38:23

I think Rachel Kaiser will be

38:25

there, which is amazing. She

38:28

is my idol. Oh

38:31

my God. I love her so much. If I could be

38:33

one person, it would be Rachel Kaiser, for

38:36

sure. She's so smart. I just like,

38:38

I'm surrounded by smart people, but not Rachel Kaiser

38:40

smart. Yeah.

38:43

So we've all done podcasts, HVAC, not

38:45

just being women in HVAC. We go

38:47

like, I get to present on stage

38:49

to customers. And so there's

38:52

just so many things we can do that are just normal

38:54

and just to represent. And so

38:56

again, we all got asked to be on

38:58

this because we've done other podcasts before. So

39:01

we just get on with the business. Yeah.

39:03

I think it's harder to do a full hour about

39:05

adversity when we're not feeling the adversity.

39:09

Yeah. I'm just talking about heat pumps.

39:13

I know. Like my palms are itching. Somebody

39:15

say boiler. Yeah.

39:18

So it sounds like, well,

39:20

particularly if you find a good

39:23

community to get connected into, where

39:26

you can be supported, that's the main thing.

39:29

Yes. And I highly recommend the online HVAC

39:31

community, 100%. And

39:34

women in HVAC conferences, local and

39:36

national conference. And I think it

39:38

go this year. I went last

39:40

year. They have blown it out. I

39:45

think that's 500 ladies this year. My

39:47

coworker went and they really got

39:49

it. Amazing speakers, really

39:51

professional, nice conference. So if

39:54

you can get to one of those, highly

39:57

recommend it. It's very tech focused.

39:59

Absolutely. OEMs are going to be

40:01

there, but everybody's there. Everybody's

40:03

represented. For those of you that don't know, this

40:05

is the AHR of Women in HVAC. This

40:07

is big. Real big. Yeah. And

40:11

they're fun. My Society of Women Engineers

40:13

were pretty serious and it's important for

40:15

us to collaborate, but Women in HVAC,

40:17

they're a party. They're fun. They're

40:19

on the beach. I want to do... I've

40:23

been meaning to, I just haven't joined

40:25

the Women in HVAC. I

40:27

need to. I

40:29

think I'm intimidated, honestly. I think I'm

40:32

intimidated. And that's what is coming from

40:34

me. I'm intimidated. So,

40:36

in the beginning, so I was an influencer

40:38

for SkillCat and I actually met with a

40:40

couple of the women from Women in HVAC

40:42

and we were supposed to do a webinar

40:44

together and they bailed

40:47

and I got super, super self-conscious

40:49

about that. And I'm talking years

40:51

ago, not recently. And after that, I

40:53

didn't join. And now I just kind of feel

40:55

like they may think like I'm a snob and I just

40:57

haven't joined. Like they know about me. I know about them.

40:59

That's kind of one of those things where I just feel

41:01

like it's been too long and I just ruined it. So,

41:04

I'm probably just going to like take the leap now

41:06

and just be like, okay, let's do it today. I

41:09

think they would be very excited to

41:11

have you join and vice versa. I

41:13

think it's been a super welcoming community

41:15

in my experience as well. And it's

41:17

also just really cool. Even

41:19

though none of us have any issue walking into a

41:21

room of all men every day, it is also

41:24

really cool to occasionally walk into a room

41:26

of all women. Which

41:28

is a lot of fun. So, it's a

41:31

great community. People have been super supportive and

41:33

just help connect to other resources. And I

41:35

think then the other community I was going

41:37

to mention is that HVACR Training Symposium, I

41:39

went last year and it was so fun.

41:42

And it was where I got to meet so

41:44

many kind, incredible people. And

41:46

I know it's sold out for this year. So, I'm

41:48

really excited to go again this year. That's a resource

41:50

I hadn't heard of. So, I'm glad we had

41:53

this talk. I also worked at

41:55

Service World Expo this year. So,

41:57

that was pretty cool. That's a boost.

41:59

Did a pod. there. So that

42:01

was normal. Have any of

42:04

you been to HVAC Excellence? I

42:06

would really like to check that one out. That's

42:08

the training conference. It's like the AHR

42:10

of training pretty much. Oh I

42:13

think our training department goes to that. Yeah

42:15

probably. Yeah I work closely with

42:17

the industrial designers. So yeah.

42:19

There's so many things. So

42:22

many things to do. I'm

42:24

excited for AHR to share. I really am. Well

42:27

you have to come see me at the

42:30

Dikon booth. I'll be there. Dumb or whatever

42:32

giveaways we have. Scan your bag. Bring

42:35

out some swag. I will. I

42:37

actually was thinking that Jess earlier when I asked

42:39

if you were going and you said no but

42:41

you'd be at the symposium. I'm like I gotta

42:43

fill a goodie bag. I'm actually I was nominated

42:45

for a couple of the tactical awards so they're

42:47

giving away veto bags full of swag so I'm

42:49

gonna grab you some tactical stuff. Yeah I gotta

42:51

get my Kayla's

42:55

hat too. I sent Jessie on a

42:57

mission to Jack on Kayla's hat. That

43:00

was for you and Val. And there's

43:02

the Women in HVAC event on Tuesday night.

43:04

So that really worked. Uh-huh. They

43:07

always have a deal. Oh maybe I'll break in then so

43:09

I can blend in. Break in then. Yeah.

43:11

It's funny because the first time I met

43:13

one of my co-workers was in Vegas at

43:16

AHR and I met her at the Women in HVAC

43:18

event. I work at the third largest

43:21

factory in the United States. So we actually worked in

43:23

the same bay. It's the same

43:25

office and then we met in Vegas. Wow. She's really

43:27

high up on the board and does a lot with

43:29

them so that was fun. It's a

43:31

great event and last year it was at the

43:33

aquarium in Atlanta. Yeah. So

43:36

check that out in the end. Come

43:38

on. Actually they had a lot. I think if

43:40

you get a ticket this year but check it

43:42

out. I'll check that out. Because that's a perfect

43:44

way for me to like break in where I

43:46

can run if I need to. Well

43:48

you already threw it out. I don't need to

43:50

run. There's a lot of men that come to that

43:52

for the free booze I think. Oh

43:54

probably. Yeah. As ladies we know how it is

43:57

to get back to free booze. really,

44:00

really nice social event that they put on

44:02

and they do a great job. I'm

44:05

just giving them the lip service because I have

44:07

nothing to do with it other than showing up

44:09

and appreciating it. Yeah, that's

44:11

awesome though. That's what we need to be doing. Yeah.

44:14

With our lip service. It

44:16

sounds like the takeaway here is

44:19

find somebody to connect with,

44:22

get connected into community. And

44:24

that's the most helpful thing you could do. Yeah.

44:28

Yeah, just don't be alone basically. Yeah,

44:30

and there's no reason to be. And this is

44:32

why HVHX stays free no matter what. Because

44:35

there are people who are just breaking into the field that

44:37

haven't made the money yet that we've made. I keep

44:39

it free forever. I will always keep it

44:41

free no matter what that means. Yeah, it's

44:43

free 24 seven tech service. Yep.

44:46

And all of our training is free. It's

44:48

remote training once a month. It's custom. I

44:50

literally make it myself, your training. I have

44:53

236 students at this moment. But

44:56

it's amazing. We partnered up with SkillCat. They're going to

44:58

automate it for us. So you'll just log into SkillCat

45:00

and you'll get it for free. So it's going to be

45:02

awesome. But yeah, there is no reason

45:05

to not do it is my point. Because

45:07

you can go to the Facebook page

45:09

on the HVHX, coalition Facebook page and

45:11

just say, Hey, I'm here. And

45:13

we will all literally swarm you and support you and love

45:15

you. So that's all you

45:17

need to know. And you can also just show

45:20

up randomly to conferences like I did. And it

45:22

actually works out. I showed up to the

45:24

HVACR. I started training for the symposium knowing

45:26

literally no one last year. And

45:28

I left with quite a few folks that I knew

45:30

coming out of that. Probably too many friends, right? Are

45:32

now friends. Yeah. Really.

45:36

I know that. He's back. Because when I

45:38

first found you, he and I were talking about you.

45:40

We were gossiping. I love to be gossiping. That was

45:42

all good. He was probably like, awesome you are. He

45:45

was like, did you hear how great it was?

45:47

This was Adam. Yeah. Really

45:50

good. Yeah. All

45:55

of these things that we're mentioning is all

45:57

about building our network. women.

46:00

It's also with other professionals. And so

46:02

we're just going to build and build

46:04

and build a network. And the networking

46:06

piece is extremely important. And you're going

46:09

to be able to get that in a lot of different ways. But

46:11

you're going to get it by showing up. Yeah,

46:14

you got to show up. Show up and

46:16

don't be afraid. That's it. And even if you are afraid,

46:18

pretend you're not. Make

46:21

it see make it or whatever that whatever

46:23

that thing is. Yeah, whoever you are,

46:25

you belong where you're going, you are supposed

46:28

to be there. So I think that mostly

46:31

HVAC is very accommodating in

46:33

that sense. Yeah,

46:35

maybe and watch podcasts. That's the other

46:37

part of my advice. Watch podcasts because

46:39

you can feel like a fly on the

46:41

wall of this industry. So when I

46:43

was new, that's what I was doing. I was

46:45

just listening to them talk like, okay, write down

46:47

my little notes. And like now I'm one

46:49

of those podcasters. And it's because I listened. So

46:53

you can lurk in the back and nobody knows you're

46:55

there. And you can learn if you're one of those

46:57

people that doesn't want to put on a brave face

46:59

and walk into the room, be the Shelby of the

47:01

room. Yeah, definitely watch this podcast too. There's

47:03

one every night of the week, a live one every night

47:05

of the week. So yeah. Any

47:07

other final thoughts? Sally,

47:10

if people want to find the Society of Women Engineers, what's

47:12

the best way for them to do that? Well,

47:14

just Google it. Yeah, I'm

47:16

really involved with the Houston area chapter, we have

47:18

over 1000 members. We

47:21

are very proud of that. In Houston.

47:24

We hosted conference two years ago. And so

47:26

I was on the board, I don't do

47:28

boards, volunteer boards, etc,

47:30

made an exception. And that's done

47:32

a lot for my leadership and networking. And

47:35

then I was able to present in Los Angeles

47:37

last year. So definitely you

47:40

can Google there's a lot of

47:42

local chapters, there's national chapters, there's

47:45

local conferences. So yeah,

47:47

women in HVAC, our conference rate 500 Society

47:49

of Women and yours has 17,000 people

47:53

in person. So it's my

47:55

gosh. Yeah, I gotta look them up. I've

47:58

never even heard of it. And so yeah, I

48:00

was involved with them in college and I've recently

48:02

got re-involved. And so, and then I was on

48:04

the board last year. I was VP of external.

48:06

So I got to do collegiate reach-up outreach,

48:09

tech tours, and working with different businesses.

48:11

So I've done a lot of networking

48:14

and made good friends that way as

48:16

well. And I really enjoy that

48:18

because a technical mentorship and community

48:20

outside of HVAC is good as

48:22

well. So we get to go see

48:24

what other industries are doing. I'm going to

48:27

have a lot of that. That's awesome. So I

48:29

got to go check out their marketing, see how

48:31

their showrooms are. So it

48:34

really branches us out and it's

48:36

really amazing, amazing network. Like I

48:38

said, 17,000 people in person and

48:40

they are all organized and it's

48:42

really wonderful. Can't even imagine

48:44

it. Wow.

48:47

Jessica, Shelby, any closing thoughts?

48:51

Been viewing the chat and there's somebody

48:53

who wants to know what kind of

48:55

sandwiches we like to make. Just

48:58

the knuckle kind. That's the only kind of sandwich

49:00

I make. Oh, I like the knuckle kind. That

49:02

reminds me of the

49:04

planet where mom makes those nachos. I'm

49:06

like, why is mom making those nachos?

49:08

You know, why

49:11

isn't she doing something technical?

49:13

My kids are like, oh, studying with me. Maybe

49:18

they like nachos. Maybe

49:22

she's making herself nachos. I don't know. I don't

49:24

know. I don't know how to answer that. Yeah.

49:27

I like the kind of sandwich my husband makes for me.

49:31

And because my husband's out there cooking

49:33

me dinner. Yeah,

49:37

but that always happens. Just if you guys haven't

49:39

followed Jess and her husband, you

49:41

need to because between Dungeons and Dragons

49:43

and him just being the sweetest, sweetest

49:45

ever to her and her just being

49:48

like so supportive. They're perfect and I

49:50

can't stand it and I love it.

49:52

So you guys have to follow. Yeah. They

49:56

are like queen of a literally. Yeah.

50:00

You should hear a sign. It's pretty fabulous.

50:03

I can't even imagine it. That's the stuff that

50:05

doesn't make it online. Noted

50:08

totally. We

50:10

need to install a ductless unit in this

50:12

room that I'm in. It's really cold. Yeah.

50:16

And I thought we should video

50:19

the install because it's going to

50:21

be madness. It's going to be

50:23

hilarity. Yes, do it.

50:25

Tag me. Yeah.

50:28

Share it in the group. Shelby,

50:31

any closing thoughts? No,

50:33

but I think Jessica just determined the

50:35

next HVAC school livestream is her and

50:37

her husband installing that. Oh,

50:39

no. I'd love

50:41

to watch. Just a couple of cameras set up

50:43

in different positions just watching them. GoPros. Just

50:46

go at it. Oh, you should do one of those

50:48

fast videos. Oh, yeah, right? Yeah. Then

50:51

we can't hear it. I'll pause

50:53

it and go regular when we start.

50:56

Okay, perfect. Pickering or fix something.

50:59

A little bit of dialogue. Perfect,

51:01

perfect. Yeah, I mean, I would say

51:04

thank you so much for having us on here.

51:06

We are all going to jump at the chance

51:08

to talk about this, almost our favorite topic,

51:10

I guess, is just supporting women and HVACs.

51:13

So thank you for having us on

51:15

that, really. Yeah, thank you, Matt. Yeah, thank you guys

51:17

for coming. Big

51:21

thanks to Jennifer, Shelby, Sally, and Jessica for

51:23

being willing to do it, taking time out

51:25

of their busy schedules to talk

51:27

to us about this important topic. We do have another panel

51:30

discussion that we're going to be doing at the symposium.

51:32

I'm actually recording this the day before the symposium. I'm

51:34

sure you're going to hear it afterwards. I'm

51:37

sure we will also rebroadcast that, and you can find

51:39

it if you want to watch it in its entirety

51:41

by going to hvacrschool.com. Go up to

51:44

the 2024 fifth annual symposium.

51:49

There's a nominal fee to access

51:51

all of the virtual sessions, and

51:53

that one will be a part of that. So,

51:56

again, that's a really important topic, and I'm

51:58

super thankful for the... these women in

52:01

HVAC who took the time to discuss

52:03

it with us. So

52:06

you may have wondered, why is Peter

52:08

Pan always flying? Well,

52:10

that's because he's from Neverland. Anyway,

52:13

thanks for listening. We'll

52:16

talk to you next time on

52:19

the HVAC School Podcast. Thanks

52:24

for listening to the HVAC School Podcast.

52:26

You can find more great

52:29

HVACR education material and subscribe

52:31

to our short daily tech

52:33

tip by going to hvacrschool.com.

52:35

If you enjoy the podcast, would you mind

52:37

hopping on iTunes or the podcast app and

52:40

leave us a review? We would

52:42

really appreciate it. See you next

52:44

week on the HVAC School Podcast.