Building the Future of Concrete with Sarah Patrie

00;00;00;23 – 00;00;15;07
Unknown
Oh, hey. Oh, hey.

00;00;15;10 – 00;00;32;22
Speaker 1
Welcome, everyone to Blue Collar Start Up, the podcast where hard work meets big ideas. This is your home for real talk, real stories and real strategies from the front lines of life in the business of the trades. I’m one of your hosts, Mike Nelson from Five Towers Media, and Derek is jumping on, but I know he’s a little indisposed at the moment.

00;00;32;25 – 00;01;03;05
Speaker 1
But realistically, other than this short intro, we’re going to let Stacey Spector from Catamount Consulting do the lifting today for our women in the trades episode. Which, if you don’t know, we’re doing a few different formats these days. We’ve got obviously today is women in trades and Stacey comes on as a guest host. We also have interviews from the field when we’re sitting down with blue collar workers, tradespeople, business owners and kind of talk about what they do and what they see every single day.

00;01;03;07 – 00;01;21;13
Speaker 1
Also, Catamount comes on and does a Catamount roundtable with us every other month, and that is where we are sitting down and talking about specific ideas. A lot of the times it has to do with personal growth, development, having that growth mindset and, some really fun, cool topics that we, we all really love to talk about.

00;01;21;15 – 00;01;53;20
Speaker 1
And then, of course, we’ve got the, episode with Bill Tansey, the let’s ask Bill or the lab episodes, that we’re doing. We’ve got one coming up here and excited about that as well. Real quick, before we get started, just want to give a quick shout out to our sponsors. They are people, Liz Martin, Electric, MLB construction, Menasha Construction, Michaels Group, Catamount Consulting, Northeast Construction Trades Workforce Coalition, Curtis Lumber, Daigle Cleaning Systems, and of course, my team over at Five Towers Media.

00;01;53;22 – 00;02;02;18
Speaker 1
I think that’s it. Stacy, I think we’re going to bring you in. Stacy. All right, Catamount consulting to introduce your guest and say all the nice things.

00;02;02;20 – 00;02;21;22
Speaker 3
Yes. Well, thanks. I’m always appreciative of the opportunities that you guys at Blue Collar give us as Catamount team members to be involved. So you’re doing great things. And we’re always happy to be involved in anything you have going on. So I’ll do my best as new co-hosts title. Right. I’ll add that to my resume. Yeah. And we’ll get started.

00;02;21;22 – 00;02;50;00
Speaker 3
I’m super excited about today’s guest. And, you know, I would say I met Sarah maybe three and a half, four years ago. I got introduced to her while she was at the AGC. And right away, I, kind of put her into my top five favorites in the construction and trades industry. She’s definitely got an energy and sees things through, lenses that that we definitely align with and sort of the people first approach to how she tackles all of her roles.

00;02;50;00 – 00;03;09;20
Speaker 3
So super excited to get to know Sarah a little bit more and have our viewers and, learn about what she does and the energy she brings to the construction trades industry. So thank you, Sarah. First for for agreeing to give us your time. We appreciate it. And let’s start with just, you know, getting to know you a little bit better.

00;03;09;20 – 00;03;20;12
Speaker 3
Maybe, give us some details about who you are, what you know, where you’re from, what you like to do, and a little bit about you and your, your your faves.

00;03;20;15 – 00;03;43;25
Speaker 2
Sure. Well, thank you guys for having me. My name is Sarah Patri. I am, currently the executive director of PCI northeast, which is the Precast Distressed Concrete Institute Northeast chapter. It’s a mouthful, but we’ll get into that in a little bit. I currently live in Ballston Spa with my husband, and, I’m originally from Chestertown, about an hour north of here.

00;03;43;28 – 00;04;07;03
Speaker 2
I know Stacy’s got a place up in Warrensburg or the office is up towards Warrensburg. And that’s where we as well. We did meet through AGC, but I think I came up to your guys’s office, and. Yeah. So, but my husband and I have a camp up in Long Lake, so we like to do all the outdoorsy Adirondack things if we’re, you know, having a fire and a four Wheeler ride or a snowmobile ride or fishing or whatever, that’s.

00;04;07;03 – 00;04;14;01
Speaker 2
That’s kind of what we like to spend our time doing on the weekends. And if our friends and family are there, even better.

00;04;14;03 – 00;04;35;16
Speaker 3
Nice. So let’s start with where this all began with you. And sort of what, the route you took with regard to your education and sort of what steered you towards that, your interest? And did you have, experience or did you have family members that were in construction and trades industry and, and sort of how you got to your first position?

00;04;35;16 – 00;04;38;18
Speaker 3
And I think that was Dar Collins. And you can correct me if I’m wrong with that.

00;04;38;21 – 00;05;01;17
Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah. So, growing up, my whole family was in construction to a certain degree. My dad is a residential contractor, so is my brother. Now, my step brother has a cast to place concrete business. My stepfather is in commercial construction. My whole mom’s side of the family was in well drilling. So very well versed in in kind of the blue collar sort of world.

00;05;01;20 – 00;05;19;22
Speaker 2
But I was also really good at math and science, and at that time was kind of set on that Stem sort of path. Didn’t really know what I wanted to do, but I knew that I was really into bridges, as a kid. The bridges were just so cool, from a construct ability standpoint, from a design standpoint.

00;05;19;29 – 00;05;40;25
Speaker 2
And that’s when my dad was like, hey, maybe you should think about being a civil engineer. They design bridges. So when I was in high school, now I went to a small high school, North Warren. So we graduated in the 30 to 40 people range. So it’s pretty small. And it was before all of the, high tech, you know, taking classes online and things like that.

00;05;40;25 – 00;06;00;05
Speaker 2
So we didn’t have a ton of access to Advanced Placement classes. So when I was a senior in high school, I was able to, connect with my local Boces program, and they were actually offering at the time it was called New Visions Engineering, and they just stopped doing the program last year, unfortunately. But it had a good run while I was going, and I was able to do that.

00;06;00;05 – 00;06;22;01
Speaker 2
And through that I could take Advanced Placement calc and physics and chemistry and then what that really opened my mind to, though it was, it was about engineering as a whole, which is really just a problem solving mindset. But what we were able to do was through the Boces program, they would set up site visits with different companies all over the capital region and all different kinds of engineering.

00;06;22;01 – 00;06;43;05
Speaker 2
So I was able to visit software engineers and environmental engineering firms and construction companies and civil engineering firms and figure out what I did and didn’t want to do. So that was really huge. If I didn’t have that opportunity in high school, I don’t know. I don’t know where I would be right now. So I did that, decided civil engineering was definitely what I wanted to do.

00;06;43;05 – 00;07;03;18
Speaker 2
Construction was what I wanted to do. I went to Clarkson University and got my bachelor’s in civil engineering, and then I did go on to get my P.E., which not a ton of people do, especially if they’re in the construction path. But it is becoming more and more valuable these days. So, that’s that’s how I got here.

00;07;03;20 – 00;07;16;10
Speaker 3
So for people that don’t necessarily know, like if you had to describe if you could, you know, what, does a PE do, or what would you say it represents in the industry.

00;07;16;12 – 00;07;38;22
Speaker 2
Yeah. So a PE is a professional engineer’s license. A lot of times you hear the term engineer and it could be tied to a bunch of different job titles. And like I said, engineering as a whole is really a problem solving mindset. But when it comes to being a licensed professional, especially in the world of construction and civil engineering, that is where your PE is going to be stamping your plans.

00;07;38;23 – 00;08;02;14
Speaker 2
So most buildings, bridges, anything. You know that has a public safety component that all has to be designed and stamped by a professional engineer. So that’s the engineers that serve, say for the Dot or maybe some municipalities and the, the engineers that you work with on the project design team. And then there’s PRS and construction too. Now we have the same license, but we might not necessarily specifically design.

00;08;02;14 – 00;08;29;18
Speaker 2
I don’t I’m not a practicing designer. But my whole goal of getting it in the construction world was, as jobs continue to get bigger and they’re bundled differently, and sometimes there’s different procurement methods like design build, it’s becoming increasingly more important for the whole design team to be able to collaborate, meaning that you’re bringing in your engineers, your architects, your contractors, your subcontractors before the job is even designed.

00;08;29;18 – 00;08;51;03
Speaker 2
And that way, everybody’s giving their $0.02 from a construct ability stance. And you can build a better project for a better price. And then you’ve got this whole team collaboration and and having a PE with that helps. And there’s actually a lot of requirements in contract documents. Now that your construction team has a P on staff, whether or not they’re stamping and practicing, regardless.

00;08;51;06 – 00;09;10;18
Speaker 3
And you’re awesome and I’m always and art when you know, I listen to engineers talk and the things in the projects that they do, and I can’t even wrap my head around it to begin to understand, when you talk about bridge work and all of those amazing things that they can problem solve and look at and understand, and we’re just like, oh my gosh, how do they make that right?

00;09;10;20 – 00;09;36;06
Speaker 3
So, so I love that, you know, you had that opportunity or the experience that you mentioned through Boces. Because we are very passionate about that and trying to, you know, sort of bridge that gap of getting students and, you know, those trying to determine what job path they want to consider and really exposing them to all the different things that are available in the construction and trades industries.

00;09;36;13 – 00;09;57;22
Speaker 3
Because, you know, there’s always just such a lack of knowledge and lack of direction in that space that whatever we can do to to be able to, you know, educate students, whether it’s construction and trades through a path through college or if it’s directly into construction and trades, absent college, it’s always a struggle that we’re hoping to try and close that gap.

00;09;57;22 – 00;10;16;09
Speaker 3
And sounds like at least the experience you had through Boces really was, a great one for you and exposed you to understand, you know, which area of engineering you wanted to go into. And, why do you want a great gap now? Clarkson I assume there was a couple of, you know, different opportunities or schools that you were looking at.

00;10;16;09 – 00;10;23;24
Speaker 3
Was there something that stood out specifically with the Clarkson Clarkson program that that, drew you towards them?

00;10;23;27 – 00;10;37;21
Speaker 2
I did what nobody should do. I put all my eggs in one basket, and I decided I was going to Potsdam, New York, period. So I was really glad that they accepted me, because that was my plan. I didn’t really have another plan to go.

00;10;37;23 – 00;10;40;02
Speaker 3
But I loved the location.

00;10;40;02 – 00;10;52;11
Speaker 2
Being from the north Country, I didn’t really want to leave the North Country and smaller school. When you think about, fully accredited engineering university. So that’s just where I was comfortable.

00;10;52;13 – 00;11;06;05
Speaker 3
And and when you chose, do you get real specific with, you know, within that program of the focus on bridges or is it more widespread or broader for for what you have to specify within the engineering program itself? You could do.

00;11;06;05 – 00;11;27;08
Speaker 2
Different minors and things like that. And their programs have changed since I graduated. I did do a construction concentration at the time, so I was able to focus in on, taking electives. That had to do with estimating and, and contract proposals and things like that. And now they have a robust construction management program, and they have a master’s degree.

00;11;27;08 – 00;11;44;08
Speaker 2
They’ve, they’ve got all sorts of programs, that they get a lot of input from the industry, which I think is incredible because if you’re building the next generation, what better than to hear from the people that are going to be hiring them on what they’re looking for as far as qualities and skills coming out, as well?

00;11;44;10 – 00;12;04;17
Speaker 3
Yeah. So I’m curious, since we are focusing on, you know, amazing women in the construction and trades industry, what was the diversity as far as some of your classmates, did you have a decent, mix of men and women in that, that, program that you’re in, or did you seem to to still lack a little bit in the numbers for women representation?

00;12;04;20 – 00;12;22;21
Speaker 2
Yeah, I’d say that we lacked in the numbers in the civil engineering program in the school overall. No. But definitely yeah, there was far fewer women in my class. But, I mean, we all stuck together, and I think we were kind of used to it at that point. Same thing as I was entering the construction industry.

00;12;22;21 – 00;12;27;29
Speaker 2
You’re kind of just used to it. But I will say in the last 15 years, boy, how things have changed.

00;12;27;29 – 00;12;41;29
Speaker 3
So. Yeah. Yes. Awesome. So all right, so we go to Clarkson, and then you get into your first real world true engineering job at D.R. Collins. So what did that transition look like and how did you land there.

00;12;42;01 – 00;13;05;07
Speaker 2
Yeah. So I started a D Collins when I was an intern. I was 19 and so I worked for them for two summers before I graduated and then started full time. And the project management role with them at the time, was kind of from project inception to, to project close. So you had your hands on it from the minute the plans came out, you were on the estimating team.

00;13;05;10 – 00;13;24;29
Speaker 2
Then you jumped into the buyout team and and then the project management team, and then closing it out. So you really got to touch every aspect of the project. And then obviously there was a lot of learning that had to happen before I could just jump in and do that. So I had some really incredible mentors, and just learned about all different kinds of projects.

00;13;24;29 – 00;13;33;12
Speaker 2
I was on, you know, water work projects, some large concrete projects, bridges, roads. I got to do a little bit of everything.

00;13;33;14 – 00;13;54;07
Speaker 3
Yeah. I mean, the mentoring piece, I would imagine, especially in that field, is so significant just to expose you to everything and sort of get your feet wet in that industry and, and, I’m, you know, glad that you brought that up. Do you think having those really solid mentors has sort of shaped the way that you approach all of the roles that you’ve found yourself in since, since fire?

00;13;54;07 – 00;14;22;07
Speaker 2
Percent, 100%? It’s been 15 plus years and I still call on them today every once in a while on specific things. Hey, what do you think? Just really, really great. Incredible people and so smart. And they’ve seen a lot of things, you know, you cannot replace experience. That’s probably one of the biggest issues that we have in our industry is, is kind of bridging that knowledge gap from those that have all this experience and are retiring and those that are entering and not really having that time to overlap with each other.

00;14;22;10 – 00;14;25;16
Speaker 2
Yeah. So I, I still do call on them.

00;14;25;19 – 00;14;52;15
Speaker 3
And that’s great that, you know, sometimes the difficulty is getting some of those more, you know, seasons experience individuals to, you know, to understand and invest the time to, to mentor and, and help the younger generation. And a lot of times there’s a lot of different factors that come into play, but it sounds like it was a great culture where that was that was already well-established as part of their culture and woven into that’s just how they operate as serving as coaches, everybody.

00;14;52;15 – 00;15;18;06
Speaker 3
So that that sounds like it was an awesome experience. What do you what would you say making the transition from student into now? You’re you’re real, you know, real world, PA role is what would you think was the, the biggest obstacle or one of the, the hardest things to sort of, acclimate to if there was one.

00;15;18;09 – 00;15;48;18
Speaker 2
At the time, I would definitely say, just kind of learning to learning that you don’t need to know everything. I think people feel like they’re expected to know everything. If you’re the project manager on a $20 million job at 24 years old, nobody expects you to know everything, but you feel like you’re supposed to. So that’s that’s something that was really important to learn and, you know, asking those questions and knowing that, you know, nobody wants to see you fail.

00;15;48;20 – 00;16;01;23
Speaker 2
We want to see you try and we want to see you try hard. Don’t don’t just throw your hands up and say, I can’t do this, but nobody wants to see you fail. And failures do happen. But when they do, you know, we’ve got your back. Let’s figure out how to how to work through it.

00;16;01;25 – 00;16;25;07
Speaker 3
Yeah, definitely. I can imagine I can’t even I can’t imagine that that weight of, like, thinking like at that young age and working on such massive projects like that and you being the go to person that stress or that, that comes with that. But then to have the mentor that you feel comfortable have, you know, having an opportunity to ask and they get it and understand and make you feel confident in the fact that they’re there to support you rather than, you know, shut you out.

00;16;25;07 – 00;16;46;29
Speaker 3
So super important for a great place to have that culture piece involved for your learning. And then now your knowledge of how you, you know, relay that to and help and mentor other people that that you come in contact with. Would you say, you had a favorite, a project or a project that stands out that you, that you worked on while you were there?

00;16;47;01 – 00;17;12;05
Speaker 2
I had all sorts of stuff that stands out, but, two projects that stand out, just off the top of my head. One was my very first kind of boots on the ground project. It was fall of 2011 when Hurricane Irene came through and kind of decimated everything. In New York State, we were one of the emergency contractors for, D.O.T. at the time.

00;17;12;07 – 00;17;41;10
Speaker 2
And, I mean, everybody was wiped off the map. It was really horrible. But to see the collaboration for an emergency response when we had roads and bridges and my job was down on the Mohawk, river, the canals were just completely wiped away. The river went around the lock systems. So we spent a year putting the river back to where it was supposed to go and fixing up the lock systems and getting the canal back online for the following year.

00;17;41;12 – 00;18;03;09
Speaker 2
But being able to see all of that collaboration when it came to the state agencies that we had to work with and other subcontractors and other contractors and who had what equipment, where and what could we share and how, how can we move forward together because the whole state needed it? That kind of parlays into, you know, part of why I wanted to eventually work for AGC to.

00;18;03;11 – 00;18;19;23
Speaker 3
So let’s, I guess, switch into that transition then, because that’s, you know, very different role than Des Collins. So how did you navigate that path and what sort of led you in the direction of now AGC and, you know, fitting into that role?

00;18;19;25 – 00;18;42;09
Speaker 2
Yeah. So I definitely have a nontraditional path when it comes to anything construction related. I acknowledge that there’s not a lot of people that are out there doing what I’m doing, going from being a, a licensed and construction to nonprofit management on the trade association side. But I’d always known AGC I was a scholarship recipient when I was in college.

00;18;42;09 – 00;19;03;07
Speaker 2
They have a very robust scholarship program. And that was thanks in part to Des Collins. When I was an intern, they said, hey, you should really apply for this. And then once I got my feet under me in a professional capacity, I started serving on some committees there. And here’s my shameless plug for no matter what industry you’re in, there is an association for you or a group of people for you.

00;19;03;07 – 00;19;26;12
Speaker 2
Even if you’re a union trades person, that’s what your local is there for. They’re your representatives. And you get out of an association what you put into it. And I was ready to start doing, some work for the association. And I found that to be really fun and really engaging. And the more I learned about what they did for the industry, it just really kind of blew my mind.

00;19;26;15 – 00;20;01;18
Speaker 2
And then when a job opportunity came up there, it kind of just seemed like a natural fit. And I had support, from my, my bosses at Dar Collins. And, they were like, again, nobody wants to see you fail. We’re going to make sure that you’re supported in this role. And that was really my first parlay into being able to step back from the project level and from the company level of what are we dealing with on a day to day basis to a bigger picture of what is going on around the country and around the state that impacts the business that we’re all trying to do.

00;20;01;19 – 00;20;24;15
Speaker 2
So whether that’s a policy perspective or workforce development initiatives, or working on Capitol Hill, down in Washington with AGC of America. Seeing how all of those parts and pieces came together so that the people in the field could do their work without these hiccups. We were managing all of that stuff in the background. And I just love this.

00;20;24;15 – 00;20;28;22
Speaker 2
Like, I kind of fell into it and I absolutely love it.

00;20;28;24 – 00;21;03;06
Speaker 3
And so you learned a whole different side of when we talk about policy and politics that go into the mix. And so, just to understand that, I think brings a whole level, a different knowledge base to any position that you do in that construction and industry kind of construction and trades industry space. So, I know in what and having met you while you were at AGC and, and sort of followed you and your career in that role that you were able to, have opportunities to meet some pretty interesting people and travel.

00;21;03;08 – 00;21;09;05
Speaker 3
What fun things can you share about some of those experiences that you had while you’re at the AGC?

00;21;09;07 – 00;21;37;05
Speaker 2
Yeah, I would say people, is my favorite part of this is when you’re working for a trade association, especially a statewide one. Or now I’m region wide. So I’m in all of New England and New York. You get to meet and interact with the best of the best of every person and every company, and to to be able to expand your network to those sorts of people and see how they think and see how they problem solve it just it makes you a better human overall.

00;21;37;07 – 00;21;55;03
Speaker 2
So that’s that’s always really cool. But specifically when I was with AGC, doing some of the work down in DC, so we would go down the, had the transportation coalition fly in, that I would go down for, with a bunch of folks from New York. We’d all go down and we would lobby with our congressional representatives.

00;21;55;06 – 00;22;24;12
Speaker 2
And, as somebody who, like I said, I was pretty good at math and science, in middle school, I don’t remember history at all how a bill becomes law had to, like, relisten to that song. But it really opened my eyes to my generation and how there is kind of a disconnect when it comes to construction advocacy and how bills become laws, you know, by the time it hits you in the construction company, by the time it’s already a law and it’s impacting your project.

00;22;24;20 – 00;22;43;11
Speaker 2
All that work advocating, on behalf of or against it happened years ago. So being able to kind of talk to my, my counterparts, or my peers across the industry and say, hey, you know, this is this is why we need to pay attention to these things, because this will impact us five years from now. Was huge.

00;22;43;11 – 00;22;51;21
Speaker 2
And definitely it was a lot of fun to do it in DC. Also to see everybody across the country come together to advocate, for something.

00;22;51;21 – 00;23;11;21
Speaker 3
So yeah, that would be a cool experience for sure. And then what it brings to the lenses, now that you have in sort of, seeing ahead in the future and understanding that we got to start this now to, to see change and, and sort of, you know, start some of those initiatives up and know, you know, the direction that you have to go in and get support.

00;23;11;21 – 00;23;28;27
Speaker 3
So that’s that’s a definitely, interesting, you know, add on to, to help you in the positions and any position that you have. So would you say what was the biggest takeaway if you, if you had one of of the experience that AGC brought to you?

00;23;28;29 – 00;23;51;02
Speaker 2
I think just that, that people and relationship piece is just how interconnected our entire industry is. You know, somebody always knows a guy. Yeah. And, and that would be for girl. Right. And it could be another contractor. It could be you need a bonding agent and somebody knows somebody. It could be, an owner. It could.

00;23;51;06 – 00;24;12;14
Speaker 2
There’s just there’s so many parts and pieces to what we do. That, you know, understanding how interconnected all of that is and how networking can kind of be like a buzzword in some industries, or something you might dread doing if you’re not an extrovert. No, I don’t mind getting out there and networking. A lot of people don’t like it.

00;24;12;17 – 00;24;25;27
Speaker 2
To be able to literally have a network that you can rely on when you run into a problem, is huge, and that’s something that trade associations give you, especially the AGC.

00;24;26;00 – 00;24;51;07
Speaker 3
So yeah, and that’s definitely an area that I’ve come to learn in, in. And and there’s a difference between, you know, I came from a legal background and I would cringe at the thought of a mixer or, or, you know, avoid it like the plague, but a completely different experience. Now, what I’ve been able to, you know, be involved with AGC and be involved in other associations, and it just is a different feel for sure with the people and the personalities.

00;24;51;07 – 00;25;04;25
Speaker 3
And in the construction and trades industry. Definitely. It’s not on my cringe list anymore, and I actually look forward to it. And I’m not an extrovert. So that’s a big that’s a big thing for me to be able to say. I don’t mind them. Right? Yeah.

00;25;04;28 – 00;25;09;02
Speaker 2
Same like I had conferences and not a lot of people. Yeah.

00;25;09;05 – 00;25;29;16
Speaker 3
I told Scout recently, I’m like, I got to wear a pin that says my social battery. So you know where I’m at, right? If I’m in the red, it’s time to go home. Yeah, yeah. Though now we are at PCI and I think, let’s give you an opportunity to, share with everybody the amazing things that you’re doing at PCI, what PCI does.

00;25;29;19 – 00;25;39;05
Speaker 3
To explain a little bit about their, space in, in the industry. And then, you know, what you, you do as, your role with them.

00;25;39;07 – 00;26;03;14
Speaker 2
Yeah. So I am the executive director for PCI northeast, as the precast pre Stressed Concrete Institute northeast chapter. So the northeast chapter part is just New England in New York. That’s the area that we represent. I do have other counterparts across the country that represent other regions. And we belong to a national organization or we’re a chapter of that national organization.

00;26;03;14 – 00;26;39;24
Speaker 2
And that’s the precast concrete Institute. Now, what they do primarily is they, set the standards for designing with pre stress concrete. Now pre stress concrete is a specific type of precast concrete. And we won’t go totally into the technical details. But if you think about total precast structures maybe like parking garages or certain types of bridge beams that it would be used in lieu of like a steel girder, we’ve got pre stress concrete girders and then we also have a side of our organization that handles architectural precast.

00;26;39;24 – 00;27;03;11
Speaker 2
So a lot of buildings, especially in the multi-use space if you have like a parking garage on a lower deck and an office space on an upper deck, if we have a lot of schools, like the New York City School Construction Authority uses a lot of architectural precast for their buildings. And with that, we’ve got insulated wall panels.

00;27;03;11 – 00;27;24;03
Speaker 2
So we can kind of mitigate some of the other trades having to come in, deliver it as a prefab system almost, where you kind of just put in the Legos together on site. And with those architectural finishes, the world is our oyster. You know, I work with architects consistently. And if if they can have a vision, we can create it with concrete.

00;27;24;05 – 00;27;44;04
Speaker 2
This is not your grandma’s concrete, as I like to say. It’s, it doesn’t just have to be a gray box anymore. We can do anything with concrete, and most anything that you can cast in place. You could probably precast it. So, my organization is out there trying to educate about what pre stress concrete is.

00;27;44;07 – 00;28;10;18
Speaker 2
And the funny thing is, is that concrete has been around for over a thousand years. Pre stress concrete was a concept that was introduced in the United States in the 50s. So if you think about us being 70 years young as a, as a engineering concept, we’re, we’re the babies of the industry. So we’re kind of hitting the ground running as if we’re we’re brand new even though we’re 70 years old.

00;28;10;21 – 00;28;32;09
Speaker 2
But as far as construction materials go, it is a little bit newer. So we’re out there just trying to to grow the awareness. And, when it comes to workforce development, just like every trade organization is, how do we grow our own workforce and how do we supplement everybody else that we’re working for to the best of our ability?

00;28;32;12 – 00;28;55;28
Speaker 3
Now, when you talk about workforce and growing workforce, you know, what’s your experience as what you feel? Some of the biggest struggles are in that development of retention and getting people, you know, to, consider, careers in that path. What do you feel you’re seeing across the board as some of the biggest hurdles in that area?

00;28;56;00 – 00;29;20;09
Speaker 2
I think the hurdles, it’s the exposure, if it’s kids or if you’re looking for a second career. We do a lot of work with veterans or, you know, folks coming out from incarceration or immigrants or just anybody who’s looking for, a second career or a first career if they’re if they don’t have exposure to the construction industry or the manufacturing industry.

00;29;20;11 – 00;29;51;27
Speaker 2
Because really, precast is kind of the middle of those two. If they don’t know about it, they don’t know what they don’t know. So it’s it’s getting them into the plans. It’s getting them to see what we’re doing. To understand how it works and to, to understand, all the different roles that exist, because that’s something that I often talk about is, yes, we need, tradespeople on the floor doing the hands on carpentry and the laboring and the iron working.

00;29;51;29 – 00;30;10;06
Speaker 2
And, you know, finishing the concrete and sandblasting these finishes. But we also need accountants and we need office staff, and we need estimators and salespeople. So we kind of focus on all of it to the degree that we can. And that goes right up to people that work with our products for engineers, architects and construction management students.

00;30;10;08 – 00;30;28;06
Speaker 2
So really, when we talk about workforce on our side, we’re kind of approaching it from both sides. Who’s actually who, who’s going to be the future of working in the plants, but also who’s going to be the future, person that is working with the materials so that they understand how it’s made, and how to use it.

00;30;28;09 – 00;30;44;12
Speaker 3
As far as you know, I know you do a lot. I love to watch the different adventures you’re on. I know you travel a lot with your current role, and I watch you on social media and see where you’re at and all of the great structures that you’re you’re taking a look at from parking garages and all these amazing structures.

00;30;44;14 – 00;31;07;26
Speaker 3
So that is a significant piece of getting people just to be aware of, like all of these great projects and, and, amazing things in precast that can be constructed. What would you say is like another area that that we can really try and educate people on? Is it is it educating at a higher level within the high school level?

00;31;07;26 – 00;31;12;07
Speaker 3
Is it working more diligently with Boces programs?

00;31;12;10 – 00;31;16;23
Speaker 3
What are your thoughts on on some of those avenues?

00;31;16;26 – 00;31;39;22
Speaker 1
Managing payroll and workers comp shouldn’t slow you down. People ease. P0 delivers a complete solution for hard to place workers comp seamless payroll, HR support and benefits management. Built specifically for blue and gray collar industries. From pay as you go workers comp to streamlined onboarding, compliance and competitive benefits, People Ease will help you stay protected, efficient, and focused on the job.

00;31;39;24 – 00;31;50;06
Speaker 1
Visit people easy. Com or call (941) 224-8981. To learn more, make sure you ask for Nick.

00;31;50;09 – 00;31;53;04
Speaker 3
What are your thoughts on on some of those avenues?

00;31;53;06 – 00;32;16;13
Speaker 2
Yeah, I think it’s all of the above is the answer. And we’re trying to get into different levels as well. I’ve got a really cool event that we’re doing next week where we partnered with ASI, who’s the American Concrete Institute. They focus on their codes and standards for, for just your traditional cast in place concrete. And I’m partnering with their New England branch and the Federal Highway Administration.

00;32;16;14 – 00;32;42;15
Speaker 2
We’re bringing in we’re calling it a concrete convoy. So we’ve got, their mobile testing facility. Everyone has the latest and greatest and all the concrete testing technologies in this really excellent educational trailer that travels around the country. So they’re coming to meet us, and we’re setting up precast trailers with them. So we’re going to have mock ups of, you know, structural components so that you can see what this pre stress strand looks like inside.

00;32;42;15 – 00;33;05;05
Speaker 2
How’s the rebar configured. Just how much concrete is in there. And then we’re going to have some architectural mock ups and things like that. So we’re taking them around to three different schools in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut. And we’ve invited not only the engineering, architecture and construction management students from all the surrounding universities, but we’ve added in, invites to the technical high schools.

00;33;05;07 – 00;33;25;13
Speaker 2
So the Boces, so to say of these other states are able to bring their students in to so that we can, you know, kind of holistically all look at concrete as a whole together, and go through anything that the students want to go through. So I’m pretty excited. That’s a it’s a brand new event for us. And so I’m excited to see how it goes.

00;33;25;16 – 00;33;44;19
Speaker 2
As we start to bring in, yeah, some younger folks. And then one of my counterparts down in Georgia, Caroline, as she’s been working, her and her producer group have been working with, as young as fourth graders, you know, and they bring in, like, little Lego molds and they’re pre casting Legos in the classroom and then go into the plant to do a field trip.

00;33;44;19 – 00;33;55;28
Speaker 2
So, exposing is is the goal. It doesn’t really matter how old you are or what path you’re headed down. If you don’t know that it exists, you don’t know what you don’t know.

00;33;56;00 – 00;34;16;06
Speaker 3
Yeah. And that’s, you know, even younger than sometimes, you know, at that high school, age, age group is almost a little bit too late because, they got to sort of be able to navigate and really know and and educate and learn and have some maybe even real world experiences, like going to events like you’re putting on with actually getting to see and feel it.

00;34;16;06 – 00;34;43;16
Speaker 3
So hitting as young as you can, I think is an it is amazing way to approach education as a whole with understanding all of the the really cool opportunities that exist and in the construction and trades. If someone were to want to learn more specifically about that event and the job that the travelers that are going to be out on that run, would they reach out and get information through PCI?

00;34;43;18 – 00;35;08;04
Speaker 2
Yeah, I mean, that event will probably be passed by the time this gets published. But, we’ve always got information on our website and our socials. We’ve talked about LinkedIn a little bit earlier. There’s so much going on in LinkedIn. And I feel like that that’s a good space to to be talking about how to, further our workforce development efforts is from a storytelling capacity, construction as a whole.

00;35;08;06 – 00;35;33;14
Speaker 2
How do we tell how cool our story is? Because our industry is is it’s cool, like, let’s be honest, it’s really cool. It’s exciting. You get to build something tangible and ten, 15, 20 years from now you can be driving down the road being like, hey, I built that. Hey, I was a part of that. And as the society as a whole changes and as our needs change, we’re here to help adapt our structures.

00;35;33;17 – 00;35;52;25
Speaker 2
So if you think about Covid and how much that changed, how offices are used in urban settings and how do we make sure that that space is, is being used if it’s not being used for offices? Well, we can transition it to residential. How do we do that? Well, you need folks in the construction industry to do something like that.

00;35;52;27 – 00;36;12;00
Speaker 2
But how do we tell that story and how are those stories being consumed? Is it on a video platform? Is it graphics? Is it what’s what’s catching kids attention? But also what’s catching the attention of the people who are already doing the work, and getting them to talk about their story? Because what you guys do here is incredible, right?

00;36;12;00 – 00;36;27;13
Speaker 2
Get people who have been doing the work to come in and talk so passionately about what they do, because I feel like anybody in our industry, we love what we do and we are so happy to talk about it. But we just got to get that message out a little bit, a little bit better as a whole.

00;36;27;16 – 00;36;58;05
Speaker 3
And that’s the amazing piece of it, the way that you the energy you bring to everything and the passion that you have and thinking outside the box, I’m sure the value that you’ve brought already to your role at PCI has been significant, just in sort of, you know, being a little bit of an innovator and creativity with thinking outside the box and that energy level, what a great asset you are, I can imagine to any organization, but just to educate and and have that passion to just you know, educate people of all of the amazing things that go on.

00;36;58;05 – 00;37;31;15
Speaker 3
And I it’s kind of funny, like, I think of you seeing the world through these different lenses of like, you know, we take for granted and we park in our, our parking garages, but you just see things so differently. And, and the knowledge that you have is just, is, is amazing to me. So I think we’re going to start to wrap up a little bit our first segment and really appreciate the opportunity to talk to you, Sarah, to be able to pick your brain and, you know, just hear some of the amazing things and energy that you bring to all your roles, but also the value that you bring into sort of thinking

00;37;31;15 – 00;38;01;01
Speaker 3
outside this box mentality and and spreading the word of all of the great things that are happening. And, why it’s really cool to consider a career in the construction and trade. So I appreciate your time for educating us today. I could I could talk to you forever about just all of those intricacies that you the way that you look at things and the things, you know, just in the the construction piece of it, from being able to tell what’s going on with a bridge and how you constructed it.

00;38;01;01 – 00;38;22;07
Speaker 3
One of those amazing structures in the precast world. So super, appreciative of your time. Today we’ll end this first segment with sort of a fun close with, we call it their Lightning Round. And this will be a fun way to, learn a little bit more about you. So I’ve got a few, quick lightning round questions and we’ll close up with those.

00;38;22;13 – 00;38;31;04
Speaker 3
So would you say you’re an early bird or night owl? Early bird? Early bird? Coffee or energy drink?

00;38;31;07 – 00;38;34;12
Speaker 2
Coffee. All the coffee.

00;38;34;15 – 00;38;49;05
Speaker 3
Is it do you have a hard cutoff time for that, or are you still good? So all day. There you go. The more. Now we know the early energy comes from, hard hat or office day.

00;38;49;07 – 00;39;10;13
Speaker 2
I, I would have said hard hat a couple of years ago. And now I’m going to say classroom. Nice, because I love taking the students out of the plants, taking them on to job sites and going to visit them and kind of bring some, some experts and some producers with me, and teaching them so I’m, I’m going to go have these with classroom.

00;39;10;16 – 00;39;18;26
Speaker 3
Serious or sarcastic. Sarcastic, scheduled or spontaneous. I think you might know that one.

00;39;18;28 – 00;39;22;19
Speaker 2
I don’t know. I like to schedule my spontaneity.

00;39;22;21 – 00;39;34;07
Speaker 3
Like, I could see I could see a mix of that, the schedule like that for sure. And so, and we’ll end on this one. This is a fun one. And if your job title had a mascot, what would it be? Oh, this is.

00;39;34;07 – 00;39;58;11
Speaker 2
A hard one. I’m going to say I’m going to say a beaver. And because I feel like I need to explain why. Because as a, as a trade organization, you know, we’re working in the background to build that infrastructure, for whatever’s needed in our industry. So I’m going to say we’re the busy beaver in the back so that you guys can do what you need to do on the front.

00;39;58;13 – 00;40;03;17
Speaker 3
Nice, nice. All right. Well, thanks, Sarah. We’ll close off this and we’re going to switch over to the Patreon side.

00;40;03;23 – 00;40;05;22
Speaker 2
Sounds good. Thanks, guys.

00;40;05;24 – 00;40;29;01
Speaker 1
Absolutely. And thanks for everybody. Of course, for listening. We appreciate, all of your support on the show. You can find this, blue collar startup bios, our website. You can also find us on Rumble, YouTube, Spotify, Apple. Make sure you like subscribe. I believe we need some, some reviews on those sites. I’m being told by my team that, our ratings are dropping because we’re not getting reviews.

00;40;29;01 – 00;40;47;25
Speaker 1
So please head on over to Apple, give us a little five star review. Really appreciate it and looking forward to hearing more on the Patreon side from Sarah and from Stacey. And of course, if you’re not familiar with the Patreon side of what we do, folks, it is our members portal. We do, short segment every single episode.

00;40;47;25 – 00;41;01;23
Speaker 1
Or we try to anyway, just additional content, you know, we try to geared towards our guests. We try to geared towards growing and scaling businesses in the trades. So, jump on over links will be in the show notes. Thanks, everybody.

00;41;01;25 – 00;41;29;23
Speaker 1
And that wraps up another episode of Blue Collar Startup. A big thank you to our sponsors, Five Towers Media, Daigle Cleaning Systems, Daigle Fire Solutions, The Michaels Group, Martin Electric, MLB construction, Pinocchio Construction People, and Catamount Consulting for making this podcast possible. And thank you for tuning in. If you learned something or felt inspired. Connect with us on our website at Blue Collar Startup Bio or email us at hardhat Dot CSU at gmail.com.

00;41;29;23 – 00;41;42;23
Speaker 1
We’d love to hear your questions and topic ideas. Help us spread the word by sharing the show and following us on social media for updates. Until next time, keep on building. Keep on dreaming and keep hustling like your future depends on it.

00;41;42;26 – 00;44;55;04
Unknown
Oh, hey. Oh, hey.

00;44;55;07 – 00;45;09;23
Unknown
Oh, hey. Oh, hey.

00;45;09;26 – 00;45;28;06
Speaker 1
Welcome back, everybody. We’re, we’re now on the Patreon side. Excited to have our, our new co-host, Stacey Spector here from Catamount Consulting. And we’re we’re back with our interview for women in the trade. So, Stacey, I’ll let you take it away here.

00;45;28;06 – 00;45;52;07
Speaker 3
Yeah. So we’re going to give a couple more, bits of Sarah’s, knowledge base and let her drop some more golden nuggets on us. Specifically, if we’re focusing on, you know, women’s and construction and trade. What would you say if you had some advice to give a young woman considering, engineering or or construction, it as a career advice.

00;45;52;07 – 00;45;59;25
Speaker 3
What would you like to share as something awesome? My, I would say.

00;45;59;25 – 00;46;19;14
Speaker 2
Well, first of all, I would say do it and do it and be happy. I feel like I heard that somewhere, but I don’t know where I heard it, but I really liked it because when you have a positive mindset about something, it’s just naturally going to go a little bit better, right? So if you go into it with a positive attitude, things can get hard and construction and it can get a little messy.

00;46;19;14 – 00;46;39;17
Speaker 2
Sometimes you’re really putting out some fires. But if you could do it from a positive mindset, you’ll get through those tasks a little bit easier. You’ll be easier to work with, and people will gravitate towards you and they’ll want to work with you. Which I’ve always found to be really helpful. And then, be confident in in what you’re doing.

00;46;39;20 – 00;46;53;11
Speaker 2
You don’t have to know everything. You don’t have to be the loudest person in the room. But when you make a decision, be confident about it. Because if you don’t believe you, then why would somebody else believe that that’s the right decision to make in this scenario?

00;46;53;11 – 00;47;25;26
Speaker 3
So I love that. And so confidence I’m sure is a huge piece of the equation, I would imagine. And in many of the different roles that you have found yourself in, including, you know, the AGC in your current role in PCI, you know, the confidence factor of, being a woman woman in that space. I’m sure, you know, I’m sure at times can be heavy to, you know, just consider if if you’re lacking in the ability to, to feel comfortable in a space that hasn’t predominantly had a lot of women in it.

00;47;25;28 – 00;47;49;20
Speaker 3
So is there something that along the way that helped grow your confidence in that space, going into an industry or going into an association, the particular role that you’re serving that you knew there hadn’t been a lot of, of women traditionally in, serving in, in those titles. Or do you think it was just kind of something naturally that you had as a kid and, and continue to develop.

00;47;49;23 – 00;48;16;14
Speaker 2
I think a combination. But I’m actually really fortunate that both my roles at AGC and here at Piccinini have followed two really incredible women who forge the path in the 80s and 90s, and they’re making those paths. So I felt like I actually had even bigger shoes to fill, because they were the two that I could look to earlier in my career and be like, wow, that’s who I want to be when I grow up.

00;48;16;14 – 00;48;35;21
Speaker 2
And now I am, I mean, I’m not them. I’ve still have quite a ways to go before I’m like them, but I have stepped into the role and, they’ve always allowed me to lean on them should I need to. It’s it’s more in a fun capacity these days, as opposed to. Oh, my God, help me.

00;48;35;23 – 00;48;56;03
Speaker 2
But it’s it’s it’s so nice to have strong women like that that have been through this, to be able to kind of lean on and, and know that if they can do it, I can do it. But definitely there’s a confidence component to that. And, I feel like the hardest part was learning to communicate appropriately.

00;48;56;05 – 00;49;14;29
Speaker 2
Because you’re working with a lot of owners, a lot of designers, a lot of public policy folks, which don’t work in our industry at all. And you have to communicate the right the same message, but different ways to different audiences so that everybody understands the same thing. So learning to to do that has been huge for me.

00;49;15;01 – 00;49;39;29
Speaker 3
So I, I saw a quote recently and I loved it says I don’t work in a man’s industry. I work in an industry that I earned my place in. And so I immediately think of you and like you’ve you’ve earned your place. And the energy that you bring to all of your roles is definitely a a, recognition of of all of the things that you bring to the table and that work that you’ve put in, in the energy that you put in.

00;49;40;01 – 00;49;52;23
Speaker 3
Do you think you have a if you could narrow it down to like one specific trait about Sarah that has brought you most value, in navigating that, what do you what do you think it would be?

00;49;52;26 – 00;50;17;16
Speaker 2
That’s a really good question. Oh, I think doing what you say you’re going to do, like, it that shouldn’t be a skill. These days, but it is, especially in, you know, the association world, we set a lot of goals. We people come to an association for a couple different reasons. Usually they’re very passionate about those reasons.

00;50;17;16 – 00;50;47;14
Speaker 2
It’s either that they’re super excited to start a new initiative, or they’ve really negatively been impacted by something and they need your help as a collective organization to either get through it or change things down the road so it doesn’t happen to somebody else. So either way, when people come into organizations, they’re usually fired right up. And so you have to be able to fully understand, the, the, either the issues at hand or what they’re looking for, if it’s a new initiative or an event or something like that.

00;50;47;17 – 00;51;08;22
Speaker 2
And, and making sure that you can then in turn give them what they’re looking for, but that it answers the, the greater good of the group. So when I say do what you say you’re going to do, if you make a promise like, we’re going to fix this problem for you, you got to make sure that you can follow through on that.

00;51;08;24 – 00;51;24;25
Speaker 2
And it doesn’t have to be as big as we made a promise to you, but it it could be, you know. Yes. We want to grow our young professionals organization. Okay. So now I’ve said that I’m going to take that on. I got to do it and do it happy. Got to do it with with all your might.

00;51;24;25 – 00;51;36;17
Speaker 2
And that’s what I did when we were at AGC. We really grew that young, professional side of it. Which was a little bit easier for me to do because I was that was my peer group at the time. But yeah. So you do what you say you’re going to do.

00;51;36;20 – 00;51;56;09
Speaker 3
And there’s actually and I can’t remember what book that it came from. But that’s one of the things that within our leadership training that we spend time on, and there’s actually a crazy when you take it as an acronym, it’s like, Do Izzy win or something? Do do what you said you would do. So I, I’ll pull that, that resource and I’ll share it with you because it you’d probably enjoy it, but that’s huge.

00;51;56;11 – 00;52;18;18
Speaker 3
There’s got to be that accountability factor where someone knows that you’re reliable and you’re going to you’re going to put put your money where your mouth is and give them, you know, sort of that follow up, which is appreciated and sort of sets the relationship right. And it makes things so much easier. Yeah. So what excites you most about your sort of next chapter?

00;52;18;18 – 00;52;38;23
Speaker 3
What do you find a space that you’re eager and excited to pursue? Do you have a goal that you’re looking forward to or something that you feel like you can can dig your heels into the next chapter of, of what you want to do in your role or in the industry as a whole?

00;52;38;26 – 00;53;04;17
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, I’m excited for everything. I think in 2026, you know, we are kind of at a pivotal moment with innovation where we’re going to see, things moving leaps and bounds, especially in the concrete industry, because sustainability is something that we talk about a lot. And, cement, the cement making process is a pretty carbon intensive process.

00;53;04;19 – 00;53;40;02
Speaker 2
But as we come up with some into, supplemental cementitious materials, or things like fly ash, something to replace some of that cement so that we can lower some of that carbon content. Just between that and owners, whether it be the government or the Amazons of the world, as they continue to care about sustainability and what longevity and sustainability looks like as far as their building structure goes, it’s going to change the way that we use construction materials and the way that we build with construction materials.

00;53;40;04 – 00;54;04;05
Speaker 2
And so especially if you are in that like 18 to 25 year old range right now, I think it’s a really exciting time to take a look at the way that we are doing things and figure out how to build a better mousetrap. We’ve always done it the same way is something you’ll hear all the time. But just because we’ve always done it the same way doesn’t mean we need to continue to do it the same way.

00;54;04;07 – 00;54;16;07
Speaker 2
And I think that, you know, right now is a really great time for innovation, especially in the sustainability space. But yeah, I think that there’s like tons of opportunity when it comes to that at this point.

00;54;16;10 – 00;54;37;03
Speaker 3
So I’m excited to see what more Sarah is going to bring to this space. I’m sure it’s going to be amazing. So we’ll continue to follow you and your journeys, and I’ll continue to value and all the amazing projects that you share on social media. I love that if someone wants to learn more about PCI or get more involved and become, part of the association, how would they do that?

00;54;37;06 – 00;54;44;05
Speaker 3
And you, where would they find you? What’s your, website and and what’s the best way to to learn more about PCI?

00;54;44;08 – 00;55;08;14
Speaker 2
Yeah. So my website is just PCI and org. My, my parent association is pci.org. Either way you’ll find us, we’re the only ones here in the North Country. If you’re anything related to precast, albeit a, an architect or an engineer or anybody, definitely head over to our website. Join, you know, come see what we have going on.

00;55;08;14 – 00;55;28;23
Speaker 2
We talk a lot about innovation and education and what we do, which I think is really cool. But just, you know, shameless plug for associations in general, because I will never not promote associations. I think the work that they do, while it goes a little bit unnoticed sometimes, it’s huge and it’s critical to, to your every day life.

00;55;28;25 – 00;55;44;22
Speaker 2
So if you have an organization that you do belong to or you’ve been on the fence, or Patreon supporters or anything like that, you know, if you’re on the fence about it, just do it. And, you get out of it what you put into it. So join your local association. Come join us. Come say, hey, come check out our stuff.

00;55;44;22 – 00;56;04;01
Speaker 2
And we’re super active on LinkedIn. I personally am our organization is. And that’s one of the ways that we’re really trying to change the face of storytelling in what we do in the precast industry. But straight through to, the erection and construction phase of what we do to. So you’ll see a lot of that from us on there.

00;56;04;03 – 00;56;18;05
Speaker 3
Well, awesome. Well, thank you so much again, Sara. Always a pleasure to talk to you. Pick your brain. Learn more about all of the amazing things that are going on in the precast world. And, super appreciative of your time today.

00;56;18;08 – 00;56;21;06
Speaker 2
Yeah. Thank you guys. I appreciate it.

00;56;21;09 – 00;56;33;26
Speaker 1
Thank you. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Stacy. Thanks, Sara. Appreciate it. Yeah. The innovators, thanks to all our members for being members on the Patreon side. And, we’ll keep going and you’ll, you’ll hear from us next week. Thanks, everybody.

00;56;33;27 – 00;56;34;15
Speaker 3
All right.

00;56;34;17 – 00;57;02;17
Speaker 1
And that wraps up another episode of Blue Collar Startup. A big thank you to our sponsors, Five Towers Media, Daigle Cleaning Systems, Daigle Fire Solutions, The Michaels Group, Martin Electric, MLB construction, Pinocchio Construction People, and Catamount Consulting for making this podcast possible. And thank you for tuning in. If you learned something or felt inspired. Connect with us on our website at Blue Collar Startup Bio or email us at hardhat Dot CSU at gmail.com.

00;57;02;17 – 00;57;15;17
Speaker 1
We’d love to hear your questions and topic ideas. Help us spread the word by sharing the show and following us on social media for updates. Until next time, keep on building. Keep on dreaming and keep hustling like your future depends on it.

00;57;15;20 – 00;57;25;17
Unknown
Oh, hey. Oh, hey.