Christoph Lohr: All right. And then I'm going to do the countdown timer and we'll start after that. So this is, this is your pump up music here.
And welcome back to The Authority Podcast: Plumbing & Mechanical. I’m your host, Christoph Lohr. And joining me today is Judaline Cassidy. Judaline, thank you for joining us.
Judaline Cassidy: Hey, thanks for having me, Christoph.
Christoph Lohr: In this episode, we’re going to talk about addressing the skilled labor gap by addressing what it takes to attract more women to careers as plumbers.
Our guest, Judaline Cassidy, founded Tools & Tiaras Incorporated, a nonprofit organization that aims to empower women by introducing them to the trades. Judaline was the first woman, or one of the first women, accepted into Plumbers Local 371 in Staten Island, New York. She is a L’Oreal Paris Women of Worth honoree and a CNN Champion for Change and collaborated with IAPMO on the first children’s coloring book about women in the trades called My Mom is a Plumbing Superhero.
Christoph Lohr: Judaline, we are so excited to have you here. Thank you for joining us.
Judaline Cassidy: No, thanks for having me. I’m excited to share all the love that I have for plumbing and the skill trades.
Yes, it’s always an awesome opportunity to do that.
Christoph Lohr: Well, we’re excited for you to share those insights with us. To start things off, why and how did you get into plumbing?
Judaline Cassidy: I got into plumbing out of absolutely necessity. This person you see here wanted to be a lawyer and Wonder Woman.
But my great-grandmother passed away. I grew up in the beautiful twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago. And after she passed, I couldn’t afford to attend university and become a lawyer. So the skill trades was the next-best free option, and I took it and I ran with it and I’ve never looked back of feeling any regret, and just loving being a plumber, and that’s how it began.
Christoph Lohr: Well, we’re so glad that you joined the profession and since you started a career, how have you seen attitudes evolve about the trades in general in terms of like plumbing and other trades?
Judaline Cassidy: I would say back when I started over 20 years back, it was bad, like people had this really poor perception of what people in the trades did and who we are as individuals.
They assumed that we weren’t smart enough to go to college and we just couldn’t cut it doing other things. And I could say I’ve seen a big shift happening recently during COVID, seeing people view us differently, but I think it used to be where people would show their kids and say, “Don’t become like that person wearing the helmet.”
Now I think people understand that their life wouldn’t be as good as it is if it wasn’t for amazing plumbers and electricians and people who do the skill trade. So I’m seeing a shift now, but it was difficult.
Christoph Lohr: I think that’s really insightful and you’re really boots on the ground, that’s from a firsthand experience.
Judaline Cassidy: Yeah.
Christoph Lohr: I guess part two to that question then is how have you seen attitudes evolve about women in plumbing?
Judaline Cassidy: Oh, it’s gotten a lot better. When I started on the jobsite, it was bad. Nobody would speak to you. You would go into the shanty and they’d see a woman come in and everybody changed — “I guess I’m going to have to stop using cuss words” or “I’ll have to start to …”, like they just had this perception, so nobody would speak to you. But what I always loved, and there’s always a man who thinks for himself and he sees things differently and he’d be the one to come over and say, “Hi, my name is Christoph. Nice to meet you,” and then form a relationship with you. And then the others find out, hey, she’s not that bad. She’s actually like one of us. But now I see that there’s more openness to having women on the jobsite, even teaching them the craft. Sometimes they used to hide to do stuff so that you don’t see how you learn the craft.
So it's really changed a lot for the better, and I’m so, so, so, so happy and proud of that.
Christoph Lohr: For many of the engineering firms I worked at, it was very similar. And there’s lots of similarities there, and I would say, I think it definitely has become much more equalized in that sense, much more common and acceptance.
And I think people are figuring it out, which is nice.
Judaline Cassidy: I love that.
Christoph Lohr: Why would a woman consider a career in plumbing? What are the benefits that you found in your life and career?
Judaline Cassidy: I would say one of the benefits is mucho grande dollars, dead presidents. If nothing else motivates you, put that toolbelt on, get that wrench in your hands, the money that you’re going to make.
So that’s one of it. Also the economic freedom and independence of having a skill that, right now I want to retire. I love, love plumbing. But let’s just say I’m like, “You know what? I’m tired of doing it in the U.S.” I could literally take a world map — I have Trinidad behind me — put a map up, take a dart and throw it, and wherever it lands, I will always have a skill.
So that’s something they should consider. And if you love working with your hands, that’s another cool benefit. And then the opportunity to open your own business is another great thing about thinking about being a plumber. And then one of the second best behind the money is you become a superhero.
Christoph Lohr: I was going to say you’re setting up my next question so well, which is: What called you to join with IAPMO to create My Mom Is a Plumbing Superhero? And you mentioned that being that superhero, how do initiatives like this change perceptions, and maybe even expanding on this whole superhero theme as a plumber, would be just really good to hear.
Judaline Cassidy: No, it really needs to be, part of it is like I go to schools and I talk to kids about it, and I tell them, I’m a plumbing superhero. A lot of plumbers, we have to own our power and own the things that we do protecting the health of the nation. I’ve always been proud to be a plumber.
I’ve never gone in a room and hide and tell anybody I’m not a plumber. It’s such a great conversation piece, but they also want your phone number for side work and to fix stuff. That’s one of the drawbacks — everybody wants your number once they find out. But I really found that a lot of kids, when I went to the school, couldn’t fathom that women were plumbers.
And that is why I was so happy that IAPMO reached out and wanted to do this and I wanted, it was intentionality with both of us, on both of our parts. I wanted the book, even though I could have been in all the pages, I didn’t want to do that. I didn’t even want to be on the cover.
And IAPMO’s like, no … you have to be on the cover. But inside, I wanted to show that plumbers look like me and other women. So in that book, there is people of different races, religion in that book. And that’s why I'm so proud of it. And it’s accurate with a lot of things that some of the plumbers do. It’s not all the things that plumbers do, but a lot of it is what we do.
And I wanted to make it relatable, like the fire, the kids could understand it; taming the fire and lighting fires and some of the tubing and stuff that we use to let them see it in a different way. And I didn't want the book to even just make it seem like plumbers only unclog toilet bowls because that’s the main question kids think that we do and I think us plumbers cause that, so if you’re a plumber and you have a truck — I’m just going to give out some information that you didn't ask for — I would say as plumbers, let’s not put the toilet bowl and a plunger on the truck. I think that’s what distorted the mind because people are very visual and kids are visual.
They see that and I’m going to school tomorrow, and if I ask that question, they all will always say they unclog toilet bowls. So you see what I’m talking about? So that’s why this book was so important, to let them know we work in hospitals. We do really cool things.
We work in schools. And that was the message to really change the the perception and to reframe it, the story of who plumbers are. We are very important to societies just like doctors. We are.
Christoph Lohr: That is such a fantastic point. And I think it’s worth, I’ve seen a statistic, there was a British medical journal article, back from 2006, they’d done a survey of all these doctors and nurses, and they’ve ranked what the biggest-impact things and inventions were to impact public health and safety. And ahead of anesthesia, ahead of antibiotics, ahead of all of these different things, the thing that was first was sanitary systems.
Judaline Cassidy: Exactly.
Christoph Lohr: And I think it’s so easy and it’s so critical to help kids understand that it really makes a big impact.
Public health, we wouldn’t have the society we would have today if it wasn’t for plumbing systems.
Judaline Cassidy: Exactly. That’s the story I tell the kids in the school when I do plumbing I explain to them that plumbing, even like I give them an example. Like I said, during COVID, what was one of the main things they tell you to do?
Wash your hands. How could you do that if I did not supply the water, kids? And then I say, if this superhero did not supply the water, how are you going to wash your hands? And they get it. As simply as it is, you explain that to them, they get it. And that’s a beautiful thing that a lot of people don’t know.
Christoph Lohr: I would agree. One last wrap-up question here. I know we talked about a few different things. If you were going to wrap up, or if you were going to summarize everything we talked about today in one word and one word only, what would that one word be, and why?
Judaline Cassidy: Wow, just one word? It could be a sentence. I think it’s more like a sentence, because one word would be odd. I would say that this experience was awesome. But I would say one word is, never has anybody ever asked me one word, but let me see.
I would say unity. Unity, yeah. Because if we united, then our missions are going to be aligned because we’re united in the belief that everyone has an opportunity to be a plumber if they want. So unity.
Christoph Lohr: I love it. I absolutely love it. Well, Judaline, thank you first off — on behalf of IAPMO and The Authority Podcast — so much for being our guest.
We really appreciate you taking time out of your schedule and just really enjoyed this, and we’re looking forward to talking with you again, more and more in the future.
Judaline Cassidy: Yes, I’m looking forward to it. And I’m looking forward to seeing the book in so many different languages. That would be the dream come true and I love signing it and I love to see that kids and grownups want the book, so that’s awesome.
Christoph Lohr: Excellent.
