Meet Diana Coopersmith, a fascinating and determined ironworker, who was one of the first few women to work on the Golden Gate Bridge. She’s also an educator and change maker in the metalworking and welding industry, an iron sculptor, she’s worked with the late artist, Richard Serra, she’s a photographer and she’s a mom! Tune in to hear her stories of being uplifted and sometimes, nearly falling hundreds of feet down to her end. Take a listen to Diana's terrifying AND a hilariou...

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

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

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

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

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

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

Aryn tries to give their Imposter Syndrome the steel toed boot and then takes matters into their own hands when they’re rejected TWICE from the program’s employers. Aryn (or “Mykel”) is a queer trans person living in Oakland, California. They recently decided to leave their career in the nonprofit sector working as a disability rights advocate and as a part-time home care aide and took a big, bold leap into the world of automotive and diesel mechanics. This is a four-part documentary of...

Aryn finds confidence in coveralls, discovers their tech talent is in high demand, and loves that BANG! when sh** breaks!. This is a four-part documentary of Aryn’s real-time audio journals and interviews following Aryn from the jitters of the first day of class, through a wildly revealing last day of class, to the rough road of pursuing a full time job in the diesel mechanics’ industry. ThickSkin supports the College of Alameda and thanks them for allowing us access to the shop so we c...

You’ll feel like you’re a passenger in their big-rig getting the first listen to their experience- as it happens! Listen to Aryn’s journey into the world of auto/diesel mechanics. In Part 1, Aryn quits their job during the pandemic and decides to enter an industry they knew nothing about, just following their gut. Wrestling with their identity, fashion choices, and name changes, Aryn, a trans person Oaklander, doggedly and enthusiastically na...

Carol, a super-brain, works at Tesla as a tool & die specialist and talks about her beginnings working in the theater, her mentors, her cool mom, why she takes everything apart, and how she feels more put together now, more than ever. Listen to Carol’s stories about her insatiable curiosity and get an inside scoop from this brassy, next-gen womxn in the skilled trades. “No is an opportunity because the next YES is going to be AWESOME!” -Carol, Tool & Die Specialist, Tesla ...

An inside scoop from two pioneering tradeswomxn who paved the way in the 70s and 80s for womxn working in the trades. Molly and Lynn talk frankly about enduring culturally accepted sexism, their exclusion from equal opportunities in the unions, and how they fought back and WON! (And are keeping the fight alive…). You won’t want to miss this time traveling episode! And you won’t believe how far the movement has come and the work they did to make it happen. These ladies are an...

In this episode: Jessika, a transwoman ironworker shares her story of being a welder as a man then as a woman, and Evelyn, a metal fabricator and machinist talks about working with men- when it really rocks and when it doesn’t. A revealing portrait of two women in the trades, with the added bonus of the blunt truth from the male experience. Support the show