Paving the Way

Raised in The Trades

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Before reading from experts, I want to start with personal experience being raised in the asphalt industry. My admiration for blue-collar trades started at the time when sitting in the backseat of a pick-up on jobsites was a socially acceptable form of childcare during the hot Florida summers.

I watched the important superintendents and project managers pace around jobsites rolling these unicycle-looking things that sprayed paint, taking measurements, and writing their notes in red bounded-notebooks with the year embossed in gold on the side. At the time I was clueless we were witnessing avenues for commerce and entertainment being made from scratch.....I just wanted one of those red notebooks.

Highways, Runways, Speedways... Oh

My

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We watched as runways, highways and

speedways were being laid from base course to friction course from the inside of a F-150.

My Dad took great pride in the work he did, often pointing out, "Look at that road we paved, Ami." I never understood how the crews laid hot mix under the Florida sun, however, I did know and could appreciate why he was exhausted after work most evenings.

A community is truly what it was..

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My Dad, Uncles, cousins...neighbors at times... all worked at a company called Community Asphalt; a community is truly what it was. It was our second home and family most summers and became my first job later in high school. Growing up surrounded by such diversity, talent, sense of belonging, pride in work has framed my strong belief in the effects of company culture. As Maya Angelou said perfectly, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

Being raised in a trade-centric family, I have always been someone who had to know why everything worked and the concepts behind it. I would have considered pursuing a career in the trades much earlier had I understood the impact skilled-tradespeople have to critical infrastructure and the overall economy, which led to the purpose of Raised in The Trades...

A Trades Ecosystem

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The mission of this blog is to connect people back to skilled-trades by sharing topics written and shared by industry leaders. The overall goal is to create a value driven trades-ecosystem and a platform for employment, education, marketing and networking opportunities.

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