Transcription

• Speaker #0

  Hello and welcome to the Skilled AF podcast, a podcast elevating the voices that are shifting the face and future of the skilled trades. I'm your host, Amanda Lucchetti, founder of The Skilled Project, a platform shaping how skilled trades and construction careers are seen, accessed, and experienced. You can learn more at theskilledproject.com. Today's guest is Misha Homara, CEO of Tricor Panels, a construction company specializing in architectural paneling systems for both commercial and residential projects. She's one of the youngest CEOs in the industry and makes up the 1% of female CEOs in construction in the United States. In this episode, we talk about Misha's unexpected path into construction from cosmetology, how she's modernized and stepped into leadership of a family-run business, and the work she's doing advocating for women in construction. Wherever you're at in the world, we hope you enjoy. Welcome to another episode of the Skilled AF podcast. I'm so excited about today's guest, Misha Hamara. She is CEO of Tricor Panels here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Misha is part of this new wave of leadership. in construction, and she's already leaving her mark on the industry. Misha, I'm so excited to have you. Thank you so much for joining me today.

• Speaker #1

  Thanks so much for having me, Amanda. I'm really excited to be here.

• Speaker #0

  We're going to have a good conversation.

• Speaker #1

  Oh yeah, we are.

• Speaker #0

  I would love to start with your journey, how you found yourself as a CEO of a construction company. What was that journey? And what is your role now? What do you do?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, it was totally not the plan. So let's start with that. Growing up, I actually thought I was going to be a pediatrician like way long ago. I saw that was a lot of blood and a lot of school. So I said, I don't know if that's for me. I ended up actually starting off in the cosmetology world. So I ended up getting my cosmetology degree my senior year of high school and thought that that was going to be my plan. I was going to school for business and thought that's going to be kind of my career path. But life kind of lifed and I actually got into a series of car accidents in 2014, which kind of changed everything for me. I was really independent. I had moved out. I had a lot of bills, all these things, but didn't really have a way of working anymore. I wasn't able to really stand up properly for a long time. It was really, really intense time. And that point, my parents had actually started this company about two years in. And so they offered, hey, if you need some money, you can come and work for us. And I said, okay, this will be a cool like temporary thing where I figure out what's next. And I really was trying to figure out how to get back into like that beauty space. But I realized like really quickly being in the business with my parents that I could really help out in different ways that I didn't even know that I could help out in essentially. And so that's kind of like how I got into construction. And I'll share a little bit more about the details of like how we got to where we are now, but it was total accident, like wasn't the plan at all. And I think growing up too, I never even thought that construction would be an opportunity or like a space to even like consider looking back.

• Speaker #0

  So with your family, so they were in it for two years. Where were they? What were they doing before?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. So my dad actually had a car dealership before. And so he had started that. He was selling like pre-owned cars. Very entrepreneurial family. Mom also had a behavioral day program specializing with mentally disabled adults, which is also teaching. So I kind of grew up with like a lot of entrepreneurial experience around me. My dad transitioned his career from the car business to the construction world. They did a renovation on the building and the architect had called for some aluminum panels. And he saw these quotes and he's like, I think I'm in the wrong business. And so he really decided to get his contractor's license. And that was kind of like the start of the construction world for us.

• Speaker #0

  So Tricor Panels, just real quick, what does Tricor do? Yeah. What do you guys sell?

• Speaker #1

  Tricor Panels, we specialize in all kinds of exterior facades. I like to say we make buildings look pretty. So a lot of commercial projects that we focus on. If you're familiar with like San Jose Airport, the silver panels that you kind of see on that. We do a lot of apartment complexes, hotels. We did a bunch of the fire stations in San Francisco. So a lot of like exterior skin, siding and cladding for those that know construction. For those that don't, we just really make the buildings look pretty. Fabricate in-house too in Santa Clara. And so we're kind of the whole nine yards.

• Speaker #0

  So it's completely vertically integrated. Exactly.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. fabrication. We have one of the largest CNC machines in the Bay Area and Santa Clara, and so we can actually cut and route up to 100 panels a day. And we do like aluminum panels, wood composite panels, high pressure laminate panels, all kinds of different materials. And then we work all over the Bay Area. And something really cool about us too is that we actually own a lot of our own aerial equipment. And so when you said vertically integrated, we're like really vertically integrated in a lot of ways where it comes to the design, I think in construction, the more collaborative you can be and the more supportive you can be, the better the project goes, the better relationships go, just the better like the community thrives, we think. And so that's something that we just really hold near and dear to.

• Speaker #0

  So then you've hired out all of these different roles. And within Tricor, what are some of the roles? Yeah. I'm assuming CNC. Yeah,

• Speaker #1

  yeah. So when I started there was like seven or eight of us and now there's about 30 of us. So we have all different kinds of roles. We have CNC operators. We have extrusion cutting that happens in our shop. And then we have fabricators as well. And then we have installers on the field. We have helpers. We have installers, lead installers, foremen. and superintendents. And then our office team as well, we have a lot of estimating, sales, project management, safety. So it's been really fun to kind of build it all out. Is your dad still involved? He's more so like a mentor. Yeah, I'm really grateful. And I think he is too that he's been able to kind of step back a little bit more and really kind of enjoy the fruits of his labor. I think especially as immigrants and coming within like an immigrant family, it's always kind of like the hustle and like you can't really stop. So I'm really grateful that I've been able to kind of take that smaller family business to be more of like a corporate structure to kind of allow him to step back and just have visibility into the company. I think that's something really key. And especially when you're a smaller business and when you are an immigrant, you don't necessarily have all the tools and steps to get that all set up. So I think we had a really unique kind of situation here with my dad and my parents kind of starting this business, getting the kind of roots in and then me kind of helping fertilize this and kind of... build it up to getting us to where we are now with more of like the structure and the systems and just visibility into kind of all aspects of the company.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. And like, I'm trying to think about your perspective. Like you came in, you're helping out as an office assistant. What did you start to see where you're like, oh, we could do this different dad? Like, is there anything in particular?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, I kind of was like thrown into the thick of it really quick. Our office five or six weeks after I came. And I knew absolutely nothing about construction. So she's like, here's how to do progress billing.

• Speaker #0

  That's the way to learn. Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  She's like, here's how to do progress billing. Here's how you do your payroll. Here's how to do all these things. I was like, oh my God. All right. Thank God for Google. And honestly, thank God that I was not scared to pick up the phone and talk to people. And I think that's really where I learned a lot because I knew nothing. I absolutely knew nothing classes that I had taken because my plan, I thought, was work in the trades in the beauty world, open a salon. So that's kind of all I really knew business-wise. But I really threw myself into learning and getting exposed to things and just being vulnerable and saying, hey, man, I totally have never done this billing with your company before. But if you can walk me through it this time, like, I swear I won't bug you next time it comes around. And I think something that I've also really learned in this industry is people are so willing to help as long as you you know, speak up. People are willing to help. And I think that's where I learned like, hey, we should maybe implement like a different kind of safety program that may be online that we can get more insight as to like what's happening, who's learning this, how are they taking it versus a paper form that everyone had to sign. For example, it's like one thing where I learned at like, I don't know, a webinar I sat in, I think one day just learning about like construction safety or I exposed myself to like the world of NAWIC and WCOE. YOps and just kind of listening to like what other people have done. I don't have to reinvent the wheel, which was really great. I wasn't the first person that, you know, had to do this. I think just being able to be okay with accepting that I don't know these things and then asking like, hey, how'd you do this? How'd you do this? And then kind of piece together for us what made the most sense. Yeah. And I got so much pushback. I'm not saying it was like a piece of cake, but I think that's really like what worked for me.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. Well, the vulnerability piece is so big isn't probably good at being vulnerable. So being able to own that and be like, I have something to learn. Can you teach me? It's huge. And then in regard to pushback, what is there specific pushbacks where you're just like, oh my God, that was like a struggle for you, but you got it through?

• Speaker #1

  I remember when I was first trying to implement the online safety plans and using the iPads and using like the Procore forms. I think it was like six or seven months of every week at these meetings. I just sound like a broken record. I was like... we need to do this. This is the why, like this and this. And there was so many weeks where like, oh, we didn't do it or, you know, just like was kind of brushing on the rug. And again, like I had many layers that I was kind of fighting. I was super young as my dad's daughter. I didn't know much about construction. And then I'm trying to have this team do these things when they're like, what is she saying or why? Right. But it took some time. But now it's like very respected and it's like really appreciated. Like why we have these systems or why we, you know, need to submit these weekly forms. when it comes to safety or the acknowledgement of things, just all that kind of stuff. I think within time with the respect and with understanding, it's like now it's loved, but it took a lot of time. Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  And I mean, you're trying to modernize at the end of the day.

• Speaker #1

  So people are really resistant to change. Even if it's good change, change is hard for people. And I'm someone that I'm like, oh, okay, this is cool. We're going to do this tomorrow. And it's just, it's hard to kind of get everyone to see those things and

• Speaker #0

  Was there something that you found worked in aligning? Like you pointed it out, people are hard to change. What was it specifically if you're like, oh, I found success in this method of maybe communication or...

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. So we run our business on EOS now. It's called the Entrepreneurial Operating System. And I think this really changed my life. There's a book written by Gino Wickman. It's called Traction. I like to say that's almost like a blueprint for small businesses anywhere But it really teaches you how to communicate these things with your employees. I feel like if you're starting out your business, it's the best time to do it then. But for us, it was kind of like we had an established business and now we're trying to go backwards and be like, hey, like these are the values. These are the missions. Like this is why we're doing what we're doing. This is like the importance of it. There's a book called What the Heck is EOS? And we had everyone read it the first time. It was like, why do we need to read this book? Like this doesn't make sense. Like this has nothing to do with construction, right? But I think having that buy-in from like the leadership team and then having that team kind of share the importance of like we meet once a week to talk about like what's working, what's not working and give everyone an opportunity to share like their opinions, voice their concerns and really come to the table and use their voice. And it's so important because then you feel that you're a part of this bigger pie, right? adding the ingredients to bake this pie versus you're not just eating the pie. So I think like that's made a big difference. And once people see like the impact that them sharing something has created or like help systemize something or, you know, just giving us ideas that like we may not have thought of and now it's implemented because they brought it to the table. I think it took time for that to kind of come to fruition, but now checkup on our organization and they wanted to score around 80%. We hit an 82. So it made me happy to see that, okay, like it's working, it's systemized. People kind of understand, you know, where they play into it and how important it is that they share their ideas. And I think in construction, we're still stuck a little bit in like two decades in the past. And so like in order to be innovative, in order to kind of be better and do better, to kind of hear what everyone has to say. And so I think creating that space and encouraging our team to, you know, be open, be vulnerable and talk about the things that didn't work and let us all learn from it, I think has created that kind of environment to allow for these things.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, it sounds like very collaborative. I mean, you point out it's so important. People probably feel seen, heard. There is that stake. Oh, I'm a part of something bigger than just myself. I'm helping build something. part of this is so important and that their voice is heard in this process you're doing things very differently thanks i love it people take note so you mentioned nawick you're involved in i would say a bunch of organizations nawick is national association of women in construction yeah and then women construction owners and executives did you start or you're president of that i'm the president co-president of the california chapter yeah that one's been around for 40 years over 40 years really a voice of like policy change and advocacy for

• Speaker #1

  women in small underrepresented businesses in construction. What I think is really cool about that group is that everyone in that organization is either an owner or an executive or in some sort of leadership space where you can really share like what's going on and bounce ideas off of each other. And the amount of people are willing to help too is, again, it's this industry, I think, right? It's like as long as you're open and can share what's going on, people are really willing to help. And I've built some really, really great connections and honestly great friends too. within these organizations.

• Speaker #0

  I mean, these organizations are a part of, you mentioned the advocacy, getting more women into construction. How long have you been a part of last decade?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. So I think at least like five, six years for each of them. Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  Have you seen like some shifts from when you started out, like being a part of these organizations to like today over the last like five years before pandemic to, you know?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. I mean, there was like almost 7%. Women in construction when I joined and now we're closer to 11%. Oh, that's pretty big. Definitely shifting. A short time, yeah. Yeah, I think it's definitely picking up and shifting. But I think we need to do more, honestly. I think it's really up to the folks that are in the space now and in our industry now. to share. Because I think something I mentioned in the beginning too, is I had no idea construction could have been a possibility because it just wasn't exposed to me early enough and shared with me. Even though my parents ended up having a construction business, even prior to that, it wasn't something that was really thought of or shared. And so I really think it's up to us and like our industry now to share what's going on and also talk to like parents. Because I think construction in general. But there's so many realms that you can be in construction, whether that's in the trades, whether that's behind the scenes in the office, whether that's managing a project, whether that's selling for a company or helping with like legality and HR. I mean, there's so many different ways that you can be involved with construction. I really admire Build California. I don't know if you've heard of them, but I love being an ambassador for them and going and talking to the different kids and sharing the different get exposed, I think like in, especially with internships, like that's something that we do at Tricor now is we offer internships for both high school and college students through high school through ACE. It's the architectural construction engineering mentorship program nationwide. And so we let them come and see maybe they love it or maybe they hate it. They're like, I definitely don't want to do this. Or they're like, this is so rad. Like how do I get more involved? I think it's really kind of. putting like the light back onto us is like, are we doing enough to share like the opportunities, share the risks, share the good things, the bad things, just kind of all of it to the next generation. Because that's, I mean, we're all facing this shortage. I think talk to anyone in construction, it's like the labor force. Like what are we going to do? Like how are we going to build these projects at the end of the day?

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. I think about how are we getting to even kids earlier, right, than high school. And your more influential than anything because parents, caretakers, they're going to be steering the kid in a direction as that young. They may be exposing them to different opportunities. And so being able to meet them and be like, oh, this is an opportunity for your kid. But also it's like, how can we work with earlier than high school to get some of these kids exposed? And if they go into the industry, fantastic. Yeah. And if not, oh well, but at least they're some sort of skill sets and knowledge base. And we will have a way better chance of more people coming into the industry.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, there was a study. I can't remember who conducted it, but they had kids like age of four to five draw different folks in like it was firefighting, police academy, doctors, and then construction folks. And I think 95% were like men figures that were drawn by these little kids. And so you're right. It's much earlier than middle school, high school and

• Speaker #0

  Going back to women in construction and getting more women in, we need to drive women in. We need to drive more people in, in general. How do we also keep women in the industry? Like there is like some culture stuff that has to shift in regard to like how do we retain women? How do we help them grow? How do we advocate for them to, I guess, grow in their careers and succeed? And so what is your perspective on what you've seen in the last decade plus?

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, I think it's so important to have someone in your corner. And like, maybe it's not going to be in your company all the time. But I feel really blessed because I felt like I was surrounded by a lot of women that may necessarily not have had like the title of mentor, but like they really did mentor me. And like they were my cheerleaders like in the times that I needed. And I think it's so important that like we find those people. And I like messaged like 100 people on LinkedIn and I was like, can I buy you virtual coffee? Like, can we just chat? Because I just needed to talk to someone. we need to do as women that are already in the industry, like for the next generation. And then it's not like a once a week thing you have to do, right? And I think that's what kind of like maybe steers some people away of becoming a mentor. It's like the time commitment, all those things. But you don't know like what difference like one phone call, maybe every 90 days to someone, you know, has an impact on their career growth. And I mean, for me, again, I feel really lucky because I had those women in my life this really shitty thing just happened. Sorry, but like, what do I do? Yeah. Or like, just how did you navigate when like, you know, you were maybe seen as like not the right person because you're a girl to lead the safety talks, for example. Right. And being able to kind of express that, I think a lot of times we hold things in and then it becomes too hard to push through and then kind of let go of the career. Right. You say, OK, I'm not going to do construction be in our corner because it is going to get hard. It's not easy. Like I'm, I'm not going to lie. I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It's hard. There's definitely moments where. It's like, holy shit. Like, am I meant to do this? But like, you know, we're human and like that's going to happen. And I think especially in male dominated spaces when that energy is like very machismo and masculine. And like you also like I feel like as women we try to fit into something that like we're necessarily not.

• Speaker #0

  stay true to yourselves. And that's what I really talk about in the Misha Method, which we'll talk about shortly. But it's staying true to yourself and bringing that uniqueness to the table. And if that table isn't accepting of that, there's another table.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  And I think oftentimes we may need that little push to kind of say, you know what? Maybe that's not the right space for you, but there's a lot of space that would accept you for you. And just being able to find that. And I think earlier on in our careers, we really let go of that because we role. We want that title. We want that project.

• Speaker #1

  It makes it easy. Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  But I think it's like the most important thing is like, don't change who you are and find those people that are going to lift you up just as you are.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. You be you. And own that. That's super important. Well, I mean, we can transition to Misha Method because I would love to talk about Misha Method and what you're doing there. I mean, explain what that is. You also have a podcast. You're doing a lot. And it's in this realm of leadership, right? Like in developing people. I've written down because I want to share it. You have this purpose and I love it. It's like to become the fullest, most badass version of myself in this industry and to help you do the same.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, absolutely.

• Speaker #1

  So yeah, tell me about that and how that came about.

• Speaker #0

  So the Misha Method started about a year ago. And some of the things I was explaining about, Definitely like lost my own self during that decade of like building the company and just trying to figure it all out and navigate through life. And so every time I went back and like rerouted myself and like found Misha again, I was like, oh, I'm thriving. And everything around me was thriving. And as soon as I kind of let go of that, I realized, interesting, like all the other buckets are like kind of fading and like struggling. like meant for you and kind of bringing that into all the different other buckets of your life that come in and really staying true to yourself. I think I could keep repeating that, but it's so, so important to really own that. And like for you, the amount of times people told me, oh, you look like that, you're never going to make it in construction. Or I always have my nails and they're like, oh, like how do you like do work like that? Just things like that, that I was like, you know what? Like I could change. I could really like shift myself. But And like, this is really who I am and like my energy and like the excitement that I bring is just like Misha. Right. And so like the purpose of the Misha method is through these retreats, through these podcasts, through coaching, we design this life that's built for ourselves with like our touch, with our uniqueness, with our architectural design, and then bring it into the rest of the world. And so we have two retreats coming up. One is going to be in Napa in May, May 15th to the 17th. And then the South of France, September 20th to the 26th. Yes. I know it's hard to kind of step away. So similar stuff happening in both retreats. The two night one, we're going to give you the tools basically of how you can set this up for yourself. Then we have check-in calls and ensure you're staying on track. But the six night one, we actually dive deep and figure out like, what is it Amanda that like you actually want from your life? And we write it down. We have workshops, Like, especially like living in the Bay Area, we're at like 1001 miles an hour, like multitasking, like all the things. How do I order this? How can this arrive on time? But like slowing down and actually taking a moment to be present and really think about what is it that's like really resonating with us and is what we're doing now, like aligning with that. I think we do it a lot for business. I'm sure you have weekly meetings to check in on your quarterly goals that are making sure you hit your annual goals. that are making sure that you hit like, you know, your three-year, 10-year targets. But as humans, we don't do that. And we're constantly evolving and we're constantly changing. And we need to make sure like what we're doing is still aligning with what I wanted, let's say, 10 years ago and what I want 10 years from now. And it's going to be totally different. But unless we have those like self check-ins and ways of holding ourselves accountable with, you know, it's like a weekly goal for ourselves. Then maybe we have an accountability partner that we say, I crushed it this month. This is what I did or actually, I kind of fell off like, but this is my plan to get back on track. Yeah, I think we have that outward, right? We hold each other accountable. But with ourselves, the hardest promises and commitments are the ones we make to ourselves and when no one's watching. And so like, that's really the purpose of the Misha method. And my goal is to kind of hold that mirror up for you and fix your crown and let you shine because I think that's really the key in life.

• Speaker #1

  Shine on baby. I love it. People that are doing primarily people within construction or is it just anyone?

• Speaker #0

  So it's an interesting question you've asked me. I first focused on construction, but I've noticed a lot of other women in male-dominated spaces have just been kind of coming towards this and being interested in the space. So it's definitely for construction, but I would say like anyone in a male-dominated space can definitely be a part of it.

• Speaker #1

  Well, and then I'm thinking about the, like you're building also this in the next few years or?

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, I think like this rest and slowing down part is so key. So I do like the longer kind of retreats. I know it's hard to go international sometimes, but I think just being able to create that space and encourage folks to take that time off. I think especially where we are now, it's like, oh, I have surgery and I'll be online available, right? But I just want to shift that kind of culture of like, hey, like let's take time. Let's slow down. Let's chill and let's build on what we want. being able to create and curate that atmosphere for the week, but then also being able to have you take that back with you and kind of like continue curating that for yourself.

• Speaker #1

  Well, I'm thinking about the construction industry right now. And it's like, how is that sustained? Right. Because it's been so you go, go, go. You work your ass off and like rest. It hasn't been a thing. So it's like it needs to be a thing. People need to heal. People need to reflect. People need to spend time with their family. And so how you're thinking about personal and like how that plays into leadership, the fact that you're seated in a construction company. I mean, you're a CEO of a construction company and this is the mentality that you have. It's incredible. And then the fact that the people that are working with you get to be a part of that, right? That's like a ripple effect.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. Right? Actually, there was a Harvard business study that was done on the productivity of your team. And it was like, if you take two more days, I think it was like eight days versus 10 days off. The people that took the extra two days, their productivity was 8% higher. than the people that took less days. So I know maybe those that are listening, they're like, oh, now everyone's going to come and ask me for time off. But it's like makes such a big difference on the output that your team is going to be able to contribute and yourself too. I mean, think about like your phone when it's at like that less than 10% battery, it's like inoperable. You try to open something, it's frozen, right? You try to close the apps, it like freezes. You try to make a call, it doesn't go through. I mean, humans are kind of the same and think about it. in this industry, that's like safety is huge. So if we're not well rested or if we're not like fully mentally there and like present, like it's a really dangerous space to be in. Totally.

• Speaker #1

  It is. This wasn't even, I haven't even talked to you about this stuff yet, but like I'm thinking about like some of the mental health issues that the industry is facing and like how critical this plays into that really. It really does.

• Speaker #0

  Literally checking in with each other. This industry is a little bit like behind, I feel, in a lot of this. aspect. And it's interesting too, because we're like one of the only industries that I feel like has the human aspect of it. Like you see people, you touch hands, like it's very interactive.

• Speaker #1

  You're building for humans. Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  But yet like everyone's still so alone feeling, I feel like in this industry and so isolated and separated. So I agree. I think like it's really up to like some of our leaders in this industry, in this space to kind of create those cultures and the conversations and it's not going to happen overnight. course. And like, there's some people that are going to be, again, more adaptable to these changes a lot quicker. And some people may just be, you're going to have a conversation and they're going to understand what you're explaining. So I think we can't expect it to change overnight. But I do think it's really important that we initiate these conversations and it's weird and it's uncomfortable. And sometimes I'm like, oh, maybe I shouldn't have said that. But like, I mean, it has to be said, you know?

• Speaker #1

  Well, yeah, you're doing something differently. But I think there's a lot to that because, I mean, you're pushing the style of leadership. You've developed the Misha method, right? And you're doing this for male-dominated industries. You're seeing those people come to you for support. I'm just thinking about how it's an example. Because I think companies are like, it's not possible to change. This is just how it's been done and blah, But if you're able to be like, no, look, I'm case study number one or whatever. it is possible. And like, we have to change, especially this next generation that's coming in. Like, this is what's going to make the industry more attractive. It's going to help people stay in these careers.

• Speaker #0

  And I think like no is like a funny word because for me, I feel like when I hear no, I'm like, okay, like, how do I figure out like the turnaround?

• Speaker #1

  All right. Usually it's like, let's go. You're not like, all right.

• Speaker #0

  I'm like, next opportunity, right? Okay. How do we figure it out? But I think especially too, if like maybe you're a smaller company or just starting out, like a lot of times, I remember like I got a lot of pushback of like, oh, we can't host this kind of thing because we're too small. We don't have the funds or, oh, we can't do this because, you know, we're just a little speck. But back to like that power of collaboration, I'm going to share something really cool that we do at Tricor that I think is, again, something small, but like something that I think makes an impact and with collaboration, even a bigger impact. So we host an annual event every year called Plant and Play. And what this is, it's a day where we open the doors to the community. We usually do it at the end of Women in Construction Week on that Saturday. It's kind of like a celebration of how far we've come, but also like what more we can do together. Four years ago, we only had, I think, maybe 20 attendees. The last year we had about 100. And so what we do is we get to teach you design on CAD. We have our team show you how to design a little planter box and then you see the CNC machine in action and then you hands-on get to build a little box. And then we can't do this alone. As I said, we're a small company, right? And so we can't do it alone. But last year we had 20 sponsors and we were able to have 100 people there. We had the mayor there. We had 25 kids there. They got to be exposed, right? To see like what exists. And also something that is like, it sticks in my brain and under my heart. One of our CNC fabricators, I remember his daughters like watching him teach how the in that space, that I think showed her like small, small moment, big impact, right? Of like, hey, like this is a really cool career. This is an opportunity and like seeing her dad as an immigrant, like shine and like, you know, be presenting to 100 people is huge. And so again, we're small, right? But like, we're still able to do something that's impactful on a smaller scale. But I think like, this is just like my challenge to some folks that maybe don't have the means to all make it happen by themselves. Like this collaboration and this community that you mentioned is huge because we lean on each other, we make things happen together and you can't do it alone. Like I don't care what anyone says, like they have help. It's not possible to do things alone, maybe using AI or something behind the scenes. But like I swear the more we can collaborate, I think the stronger and further we can get in this industry and reach share like these are the things that are working, what's not working and bring in the newer generation and learning from them. There's honestly so much that we can learn in this industry from the new technology wave and just how their minds work. It's so different.

• Speaker #1

  It totally is. And I think that that's huge too of like we need to be listening to the students that are listening. Like what do they want to learn about? How do they want to learn? Like have we ever asked that question? Yeah. Well, that's what I was wondering when you brought up that and plant and play i love that so much i was curious like your role i know you're on the all these organizations and but was wanting to hear about your involvement in developing this workforce the companies obviously tricor is playing a part in like this event which i think is an incredible event just because you get to see so many different facets and then you have a project at the end do those yeah where do those planners go they take them home they take them home yeah so

• Speaker #0

  I hope you can join us actually. It'll be March 7th. We'll share the details with you all too. But yeah, you get to actually take home your little planter box. And we partner with a nonprofit that focuses on advocacy for farm workers in the Latino community. They come in and teach you about sustainability of food. They bring you soil, seeds, plants. One of actually our high school interns told me that she had tomatoes for six months from that little seed This is so cool, right?

• Speaker #1

  Well, it's so full circle. It's like, it's so, yeah, there's just so much there. Yeah. Doesn't stop with construction, right? Yeah. Like,

• Speaker #0

  I think just like the power of community and like being able to build that around you and like the importance of that. Like we would not have been able to host 100 people without the community that believes in the mission that we're, you know, pushing forward.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, that's so great. In regard to training, I read somewhere, it was an article that you were in, I think last genders, your company is, I believe, 30% women. You're trying to get to 50.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  50-50. What are you implementing in order to make that happen?

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, I think it's definitely a challenge, especially with what we kind of mentioned earlier with like the labor shortage and just women not being exposed to the industry. So I think one is being there and exposing ourselves and sharing like the opportunities that exist, whether that's through Build California or just through conversations. I think exposing like our team to some of those opportunities has been really cool. excited they get to want to be a part of that. It's definitely not an overnight thing again, but I think it's just like taking that time to make it happen. And then I think when it comes to recruiting, you can't just put an ad out there and then expect it to come to fruition. I think it's really working with different trade organizations like Rising Sun or Tradeswoman Inc or Build California and share like, hey, these are the roles that we have. Do you have anyone Right. But is that opportunity being shared to the right space necessarily? I think that's kind of where I challenge people to just take one step further and not only post it on LinkedIn or...

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. In regard to like, I'm thinking about the representation aspect of it. Like how do we get it more in front of women that this, you can work here. This is an opportunity here for you.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. Yeah. And I think just the kind of thing outside the box, right? Like starting to like share the opportunities with the local high schools, local community colleges. posting on like different websites that like the youth are like using and going on sharing that, hey, like this exists. There's opportunities that exist. I know, for example, like NAWIC also has job boards that you can post on the local chambers for a big part of the Silicon Valley Central Chamber of Commerce. So it do a little bit of work with like women in business there. But I really think it's kind of making sure you're putting it out there where it's reachable by

• Speaker #1

  like Tricor itself, for your current workforce, do you have, is it financial literacy classes? Like, do you do?

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. So we offer a couple of different resources in general. Like we really believe that like we should be growing like personally and professionally together. And so a lot of times with work, you get a lot of professional development, but may not see the personal development side of it. And so for example, a lot of our foremen now actually started helpers in the field for us and eventually got to become installers, lead installers. And then we realized there was a barrier for them to take the next step to being a foreman, which was English. And so we offered ESL classes for them and it's if they want it, right? Also like something to really think about as leaders, like you can't always encourage people to do maybe what we want, even though it may look like it's the right next step. So I really think like putting out there and letting people accept it or reject it on their own. We do that with like the ESL courses. We have a lot of trainings that we offer with like leadership, management, development, financial literacy class we had where they actually built like a financial plan for a year. And so there's a lot of things that we offer because what I mentioned, I think it's like a hole that you develop as a person. And I think too, like on the leadership side of things, the better they are for you and the more marketable they're going to be for their next role, which is you're developing them in general.

• Speaker #1

  If only everyone thought like that, Ausha.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, I mean, it's true though because you can either invest in your team and then you have the best team around you or you can kind of have more of that mentality of a little bit scarcity, I think, and not giving them the resources, tools, trainings that they need to be the best version of themselves. kind of ties into the Misha method, I guess. It all kind of comes full circle. But yeah, and I think too, like we're so lucky because we're living in a time that we have everything at our fingertips. LinkedIn learning, master classes, like there's so much that is out there. Procore trainings. There's so much that's out there. I think sometimes people just need a little bit of help navigating like what do we do? How do we make it happen? I think that's where like the good leaders and management comes into play where they can help kind of develop that plan with you.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, I mean, it's overwhelming. It can be very overwhelming and you're like, where do I even start? Oh, I love all that you're doing and how you're supporting your own people within your company.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  I think that's really critical. The English, the financial literacy stuff, any course to grow people.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  I guess, is there a project that you've been a part of or something in particular that you are just so proud of during your time at Tricor?

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, I would say like plan play is one of my actual like favorite like events that we host because it really shows like the full company of like what we're doing, our capabilities and like how important the community is for us. Because the community is something that's so, so near and dear to us. Being an immigrant family, like just having that kind of support and acceptance in a community that like you weren't really part of is huge. replicate that and showcase that and then kind of see these kids come in and get exposed to it, seeing our team's family like see how they're shining. It's really cool to see that for me. I just I love it so much personally. There's like, of course, fun projects that we've done, like we did like a rehab center. for homeless women and children that the projects that make an impact to the community, like for me are probably my favorite. But I would say like that sense of this day is like our celebratory day of like, this is what we've done is how far we've come and seeing what an impact it's made not only for us, but like, I hear about it all year like, oh my God, we can't wait for this or you know, we still have that box that we look at and it's really cool to see that we've been able to make that kind of like footprint in the industry. Yeah, I can't wait to go. Yeah, it's so fun. It's really, really cool. Honestly, like the last couple of years, we've had a lot of support from the city and I hope that we can make it even bigger, right? Like I hope that we can have 100 kids maybe at the next one where we can make even a bigger impact. And I see a vision in the future of like, you know, we have support to do this like maybe for a week kind of like the camp that, you know, you would host like stuff like that is I think what makes a big difference because I'm sure, I mean, you can speak on this, but like is huge. So I feel like if we can replicate that and make it bigger and have support from, you know, more people that can help like the city or things like that.

• Speaker #1

  It's like a public private. It's like takes partnership from all aspects of public private. And so I'll share one story, the camp, which you got to be a part of and participate was Future Construction Leaders Silicon Valley. But we had a girl, it was a three day camp and One of the girls had just made cheerleading. Yeah. And she was like, I think 13 or 14. And she was supposed to go to her first practice. She was going to have to leave early and she decided not to leave early. And she was getting kicked out.

• Speaker #0

  We made it. I love that.

• Speaker #1

  And the dad could not believe it. He was like, you guys, that like hit me.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  Because I'm like, oh my God, I'm making impact here on a kid that isn't, I don't know. I don't know.

• Speaker #0

  And that wasn't exposed to that probably before. I didn't even know it existed. It's really badass.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah.

• Speaker #0

  Keep doing it.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah, well, and then like it takes different partners to collaborate on all these things because there's so many resources. It's like, well, how do we collaborate and bring what you got to here and, you know, and make this thing happen? Going back to your point earlier of like reinventing the wheel. Like, yeah, there's a lot we don't need to reinvent on. We just need to come together on.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. I think too, like everyone's just so focused on like finishing what they're doing, finishing to be part of the community. I keep seeing this, like everyone wants a village, but they don't want to be a villager. And I feel like it's so true because like everyone wants that sense of community and you know, these resources, but it takes time to kind of put it together. So like, I think again, living in such a fast society, everything is instant one click away, like taking a few steps back to be like, Oh, how can we like do this together? I think that takes effort. And oftentimes it's hard to get that from people.

• Speaker #1

  Totally. Well, we're going to wrap up here enough with a few questions, but looking back at your younger self, younger Misha, what piece of advice would you have given her?

• Speaker #0

  I think for younger Misha, I would have told her to not doubt herself so much. I still struggle with this today a lot, but I think a lot of times I doubted the decisions I was making because I didn't really know what to compare it to. Again, Didn't really know much about business other than what I learned in classes. But my gut was really strong. And like sometimes I questioned that. And every time I did, it was the wrong move. So I think like not doubting yourself and like really like having that confidence. I think for me, my confidence is like really on the outside. But internally, like I struggled a lot with like, oh, am I making the right decision? Is this the right move? Am I going to piss this person off? Okay, like... a lot of that kind of internalizing. And I think the younger I was, the harder it was, the older I'm getting. I guess it's true.

• Speaker #1

  You don't care as much. Yeah. But I think that like looking back, just like trusting my gut and not doubting myself. I love that. And then future of construction. What is your vision for the future? Future of construction? It could be women in construction with the future looks like probably this whole episode is the vision. But is there this is where I'd like to leave my mark. Yeah, I think just to be normalized, to be like anyone you are in the space.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. I think I wanted to be normal for women to be in the field and look a certain way and be a certain way and be true themselves, right? And I think same with men. I think men also have this ego that they're feeling and trying to be this person. I think who you are on all levels of the playing field and just have like peace. I think like that's really, really important. I think construction is a long way to go to get there. But if I can make an impact and like help pave a little bit of the road to make it easier for the ones that come after me, that's really like my goal and having people continue it after. I think it's an ongoing kind of circle. Like I think I mentioned, I had a lot of people hold my hand and show me the ropes and help navigate through tough times. And I kind of want to create that same legacy moving forward.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. Do you have any questions for me before we close out?

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, I'd love to kind of hear like what your vision of the future in construction looks like too.

• Speaker #1

  I think about the collaboration aspect. How do we develop a culture where, I mean, you pointed to it, like where people feel seen or they can be themselves, be the most unique version or be who they are. I think about though, how do we create a culture where people want to come into the industry and they want to stay and then it becomes also this just area to grow. personally, professionally. So I think about that a lot. I think about education a ton and how can we... And it's more like a longer game, the long game, I'm playing the long game of if we can reach kids younger. I think that's...

• Speaker #0

  I think that is so critical in regard to developing confidence and self-worth and just building skill sets that you can go in the industry and use or you go off and you do something else. But it's so, I think, huge to start that as early as possible and get them exposed as early as possible. And then like the mental health aspect is like construction has horrible suicide rates. And we're all talking about that and it's like an awareness phase right now. support people. So we don't have that happen. Like I've loved that where that's not the case, right? And so there, I mean, there's a lot of aspects that impact, I guess, this recruitment all the way to retention of what I would like to see. I think the industry, there's so much opportunity in the industry and there's a lot of economic mobility and there is going to be with whole AI stuff happening, there's going to be so much opportunity here. coming from even a different place financially and want a better life, like this is such a huge opportunity for them. Yeah,

• Speaker #1

  honestly, like the pay scale, it's like 98 cents to dollar for like women and men, if I'm not mistaken.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  In regards to like financial...

• Speaker #0

  The pay per comparison. And I think the general is like 88 cents per dollar, 82 cents a dollar. Yeah.

• Speaker #1

  And then you said something like really interesting and important too is how do we get this collaborative date? But everything is so like... tech central right now. And I think like the youth are learning a lot of like doing things on their own, but I think having that collaborative approach to things is so key. And I think that in itself will also help with like this sense of not feeling so alone in our industry because we're doing things more together and like it's hard, it's harder to tell someone that's asking you like if you're doing okay and checking in on you versus just like staying quiet. Yeah. just normalize that and like it's okay to not be okay.

• Speaker #0

  And the vulnerability aspect of it,

• Speaker #1

  yeah. It's a really hard industry to shift that breakthrough.

• Speaker #0

  But I feel like it would have huge impact, massive impact, not just on the people but also on families and all the people that are connected with that specific person.

• Speaker #1

  Joshua Vitale, Project Built. I don't know if you've heard of him.

• Speaker #0

  That's how to call it. Okay,

• Speaker #1

  yeah.

• Speaker #0

  He's incredible. Him and his wife, Amy. excited to collaborate with them.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. So I think like they're doing a lot of that work in regards to like how it impacts the families too. Because I think like you also said something really key. It's not only like who's in the industry, but it's everyone that's kind of like around them and supporting them too. Like it's huge.

• Speaker #0

  You can do a lot, right? For not just that one person. It just like has impact across the board and people just don't always realize that.

• Speaker #1

  I think there's like a lot of companies that are doing things right too. Like I know Dome collaborate with their subcontractors. You come in and there's a huge sticky paper and you're moving post-it notes and talking and collaborating with your other sub trade partners. And I thought that's so interesting, right? Because it's almost like you're taking a couple of steps back, which people are like, I don't have time for this. Oh, I don't want to do this. But it makes the project flow so much better. And you just have such a better understanding of each other Amanda's toes because you know, you know her and like, you know, you're going to work with her. Okay. Hey, you need to use this section. Okay. We'll work on, you know, this other side. It doesn't need to be hard. It's just little small things like that, that like turn into something so much bigger. And I love what they're doing by saying, hey, we're going to slow down a bit and like, let's make a plan together. Right. Which I think is really cool.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah. It's like the communication aspect of like, I think is a gap in the industry, the calm side.

• Speaker #1

  So I think like there's a lot of people doing it differently. I'm not saying it's like right way, wrong way. But I think construction has been the same way for so long that like people are maybe not accepting to the different ways. But you never know like what's going to be until you try. And I think we're like in the trial phase right now. Oh, yeah.

• Speaker #0

  But I think it's so important to talk about what those companies are looking. I have no dome, but I would love to learn more about what they're doing on that stuff. Yeah. their subs or how are they working in general and what they're doing differently there. But you're doing it differently. And a big part of my goal is to highlight the people that are doing things differently because there's an opportunity to learn from each other. And also, that can bleed out into the world where other companies are like, I don't have to continue doing what I've been doing for so long. And with this next gen, we are facing a massive retirement. That's just happening. That's just And so we are going to get a lot of new lead into these careers. And so there really is this changing of hands or changing of the guard that's going to happen. And so what does that... the new leadership coming in, there is an opportunity to do things differently.

• Speaker #1

  A hundred percent. And we have to do it differently. It's like, it's not going to work.

• Speaker #0

  We can't have the same results.

• Speaker #1

  Yeah. It's like the definition of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting different results. And like, we just can't do that anymore.

• Speaker #0

  Is there, I ask this in all of my interviews, but a person to thank, moment of gratitude, person to thank for where you are today?

• Speaker #1

  I should say my parents. I think they've instilled a lot in me with the importance of doing things the right way and standing up for yourself. I think just like trying things. I think growing up, I've always had them sitting down and we would do like talent shows and this and that. And in a weird way, I think that really instilled like the importance of like trying things and putting yourself out there and like it's okay that like it may not work. So I think that has been really something that's like stayed true to me. And I think being immigrants, like working figuring it out no matter what. There's a saying, there's always a solution. I think like just seeing how they operated, coming here, figuring it out for us, knowing nothing, having nobody just taught me a lot of like resilience and you can do it. It's totally possible. There's a lot of excuses and you know, you can always have those things. But I think like at the end of the day, like you're really powerful and do it.

• Speaker #0

  Cheers to Misha's parents. Yeah,

• Speaker #1

  honestly, they're really cool and they're really fun. Like I like have so much fun with them. It's like a really interesting thing, like working with your family, I think, because there's so many times of like clash. But then there's so many times of like, oh, like my dad like did that or my mom did that. And it's cool to be able to kind of push it forward and kind of add to that legacy now. Yeah, I don't think it's possible without EOS. So if there's any family business, like I swear it's like a game changer. Because it seems you have like three circles in one, like business, ownership and family all trifecta into one. And you're supposed to separate them somehow, but challenging and like very rewarding at the same time.

• Speaker #0

  Yeah, we'll be putting all these links to all these resources into the show notes. Well, Misha, thank you so much for being on the podcast. You are skilled AF. You are such a badass and you're doing so much. There's just so much impact you are already leaving on this industry, on the people that you work with, on the young women that are looking to go into this, on the women that are already in the field. I mean, construction is so freaking lucky to have you in it. Oh,

• Speaker #1

  thank you.

• Speaker #0

  And I can't wait to see what you do and hopefully be a part of like any of these programs that you're working on and some more to come. But thank you so much. Thanks.

• Speaker #1

  Thanks for having me. Thanks for creating this space. I think what you're doing is really powerful and being able to share the stories and share what we're doing is so, so key. So thank you for creating this space and thanks for having me as a guest.

• Speaker #0

  Thank you. Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the skilled AF podcast. If you enjoyed it, please rate review, subscribe to it wherever you're listening. And if you want to stay connected partner, you name it, head over to the skilled project.com or follow us on social media at the skilled project until next time stay skilled AF.