(upbeat music) - Hi, I'm Jacqui Tricarico, Senior Correspondent for "One-on-One."

And so pleased to be joined now by two recent Lincoln Tech graduates.

We have Lakina Watson, who's an HVAC specialist, as well as Madison Goehringer, who's a diesel engine technician.

So great to have you both with us.

- Hi, how are you?

- Hey.

- Good, good.

- Thank you for having me.

- Well Lakina, I wanna start with you because I know that your grandfather actually was the one that really inspired you and pushed you to go into the trades.

Tell us about the advice that he gave you and why you wanted to follow in his footsteps.

- Well, he was actually a welder, so that was like something different to see like a Black man doing that back in the day.

So I really didn't grasp, you know, that the trades and the fields and how important it was until I got older.

Just doing retail for so long, I was like, "I have to do something different and what can I do different that I can always have a job?"

And I was like, "The trades."

And I just so happened to go to Lincoln Tech and I went to check out the HVAC program, and I loved it.

- That's awesome.

Madison, I wanna bring you in because when we're talking about these trades, right, where we're talking about construction and plumbers, electricians, it is a male-dominated industry.

I think right here in New Jersey, at least 10% or less are women in these trades.

So what was it that inspired you to wanna go into the trades?

- I actually grew up with three brothers, no sisters at all, and in high school I ended up hanging out with a group of people that were into big trucks, and that's what they drove every day and I just fell in love with it so I decided to go to Lincoln and pursue trucks.

- What were some of the biggest challenges you faced when you were at Lincoln Tech being I'm sure one of the only women in the classroom a lot of the times.

- Yeah, I was the only woman.

At Lincoln in South Plainfield, it was very nice because it was a variety of different ages in my class, and none of the teachers made me ever feel like excluded in any way possible.

And especially, when it came to the heavy lifting, it was really nice to have that help, but especially at Lincoln.

In Nashville it was more difficult because all of us were from all over the country, but it was a little more of my age group, which was nice in that way, but I didn't really find any struggles besides staying self-motivated.

- Well, Lakina, for you, how important was it to have support systems around you?

And I know there's something that you do, it's the Truck Girls, (laughs) tell us about that.

- Well, so definitely it's very important just to stay grounded.

I have like an awesome spouse, family members that just support me.

I do a lot of like outside HVAC work, I do refrigeration as well.

So I try to like do things for the community and community and things like that.

Family members, of course, there's always something, a side project that you have to just try to take on, so that's really basically it.

- Sorry, and the Truck Girls, sorry, that's you, Madison.

Tell us about that support system.

What is that network?

- So actually, when I was in Lincoln, in here in New Jersey, I was actually traveling a lot during the weekends to truck shows all over the US, which was very inspiring between Lacey Blair, Allie Chevy, all these girls on social media that helped me every day get through classes and really motivate me every day to continue to do what I was doing.

- Lakina, behind you we see an award, what is that?

- That's actually my HVAC Woman in Trades Award.

I won this, I was on the Direct Assist actually, and I was surprised from them to actually ask me to like do a speech.

So that was like pretty cool.

I was like, "Oh, I feel like I won a MTV Award up here."

(everyone laughing) So it was exciting.

I really am grateful for the experience for sure.

- Madison, going back to you, what do you think needs to change culturally really to get more women interested in wanting to pursue these careers?

- I'm not gonna lie, I have seen a lot more women pursuing it, especially in my town a lot, I do have a lot of conversations one-on-one with a lot of girls near me, trying to encourage them like to not be scared.

Like I work at a fantastic shop now where I'm not judged based on I'm a woman, there are shops out there, and I tell them all the time there will be shops that aren't, but you will find your place.

So I think that if you just keep pushing and you keep a positive mindset and you're willing to learn, then you'll go as far as you want, even beyond.

- Lakina, what's something that you've learned so far being in your field that you think is important to pass on to the next generation of young women looking to go into these fields?

- Honestly, just don't be scared.

It is male dominated, but we are taking over all the trades.

It doesn't matter if it's HVAC, it's diesel, it's electrician, it's carpentry, like we're not going anywhere and just embrace us.

And don't be scared to like put yourself out there and go the extra mile because you'll definitely be surprised where you're gonna end up.

- We've been hearing a lot about AI and AI kind of impacting so many jobs, so many careers.

Is there, Madison, is there anything that you're worried about when it comes to AI and its presence now in the fields that you and Lakina are in?

- No, I'm not worried at all.

Every day is something new and different.

Every day is something new with social media too.

So today, I was diagnosing a truck and it was completely different.

So with everything moving up in the world, I just see technicians moving up.

I see AI helping a little bit, but not fully taking over so I'm not concerned at all.

- Lakina, for you, do you see any issues for the future when it comes to AI?

- No, I don't.

I definitely agree with her as well.

I mean, I don't see AI doing a compressor.

I don't see, I don't really see that happening.

It's just so many different technical aspects in it and like different refrigerants coming out different days, so it's I don't really see that.

Actually, I'm very happy that I went into the trades for that reason, like I'm not gonna be replaced to by a robot, thank God.

(Jacqui laughing) - Well, Madison, for you, what has been the best part of this experience so far in your job, in your career while you were at Lincoln Tech?

What has really stuck with you?

- It made me get out of my comfort zone.

It made, like, Lincoln in South Plainfield was great.

I would recommend it to everybody, but Lincoln in Nashville, it got me out of New Jersey for three months, it really put my brain to the test because every week I had a test and it was something new.

But also when I went to my new job, they weren't playing around, they gave me an engine rebuild for my first job, so every day is just something new, and that has been the most accomplishing thing for me.

- Lakina, same for you, what has been just the best part of this experience so far for you?

- Definitely the learning aspect.

There's definitely always something new.

Every call is a different call, so you may do a RTU and then you may be doing a case in a supermarket.

So there's so many different things, and that's what I love about it.

It's like I learn, literally I learn something new every day, and I enjoy that.

It just helps me be a better technician.

- Well, both of your passions come through so much, and so nice to hear more about what you're doing in these trades and really paving the path for more women to get involved, so thank you so much both for joining us.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

For Steve Adubato and myself, we'll see you next time.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by RWJBarnabas Health.

Let’s be healthy together.

New Jersey Children’s Foundation.

PSEG Foundation.

The Fund for New Jersey.

Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters.

Operating Engineers, Local 825.

New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

And by New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program.

Promotional support provided by NJBIA.

And by NJ.Com.

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