Developing careers in welding and a sisterhood with Desirée Guzmán

Desirée Guzmán, a welding instructor with Chicago Women in Trades (CWIT), joins us to talk about her full-circle career as welder. She talks about how she was inspired by a metal artist she met during a trip to Puerto Rico to start her own jewelry-making business. She also explains how that piqued her interest in learning how to weld. Desirée discusses how after enrolling in CWIT's welding program, it led to her working at number of Chicago-area fab shops. The after a few years of working in industry, her career came full circle when she accepted an open welding instructor position at CWIT. She also talks about the mission behind CWIT and its work to not only get more women to work in the trades, but empowering them with confidence and a community. At the top, we call back to a conversation in an episode with Michael Bennett about a toy plastic welder. We compare and contrast Mattel's Spin Welder and Mindware's Spin-Gineer. Email us at [email protected] with any comments, questions, or suggestions.