All right and uh, we are live right now from the Ahr trade show 2023 in Atlanta Georgia today is Tuesday February 7th and next to me I have a social media Superstar Jessica Bannister now Jessica you go by the handle HVAC Jess on social media right? Yes, I do okay and that I do you are from Canada Huh? I am yeah So um Jessica and I have followed each other for a while now on social media and Jessica you? Let's let's start with this. First off, what got you into the trade? So my dad and my brother are actually in the trade? okay and I had an opportunity to work in the office with them in our family business and what I found was two things. One was that I was having trouble with the jargon with my invoicing and quoting and filling and everything and then the second one was they would always come back to the office with these pails of their inches their daily Adventures they've seen cool things and solved problems and met amazing people and I was like why am I sitting behind a computer while you guys are doing all these Adventures So I asked my dad if I could go on some ride-alongs with him and it was doing that more and more and more every day. I started to squirrel away my bookkeeping and stuff like that for the evenings and weekends, which I still do okay, but I found that I enjoyed being out in the field so much that I registered as an apprentice officially and that was about three years ago.

So that's interesting. Um I actually got my start working with my father too. So I started when I was a little kid. that's um I from a long time ago we used to carry maglites big giant flashlights with D batteries and I mean you have a three selfie Maglite for a five-year-old First off, a five-year-old sees something and he's like oh, what's the flashlight and then my dad's working in a refrigerator.

He's like some things would come out of his mouth you know and he's like hey, Focus here you know So I have those memories and then um, Junior High School I started working with them and that's when he started giving me a little bit more work to do. You know because before I was just riding along sitting on this bucket and then um, then he would send me out of the roof. We work at restaurants. That's what we do.

so you know we'd send me on the roof and he'd say hey, go change the the filters and go change the belts you know And that's where I actually found my uh, what I hated about the industry was because I'd go under the roof and he'd be downstairs doing work and I'd be up there for three hours and it's 100 degrees outside and I'm dying and it's like my first real memory like besides holding this flashlight was it's hot and I don't like this and I remember telling him you know I don't want to do this that he's like it's okay, you know and so uh, high school I went into working at a body shop working on cars like auto collision and then it was after high school that I officially came to work for him full-time Uh, it would have been 2002 and uh, here we are now. So we've since. Uh, my dad doesn't really work in the industry anymore. Um, but he taught me everything that I know I have evolved.

You know there's there's good things and bad things. and and I say this quite often on social media. There's nothing wrong with not knowing how to do something right. It's the fact that you know you should have a drive to want to learn.

Absolutely right, you know. And so for me there was a lot of things that it's like Hey Dad how does this work? He's like I don't know how to tell you ask your instructor you know and then I'd go ask my instructor and he'd give me an answer and I didn't understand it and eventually I learned how to put things together and and it evolved and and it's it's a lifelong process. I'm sure you're realizing that it's you're always going to be learning. Oh yeah, you know, but now there's guys like you and there's resources out there for us who are learning to to you know, see these things that you're doing and even if we're not exposed to those types of things in our daily jobs, we can still see them online.

I Mean we can still get that familiarity with that. Yeah, you know when I make my videos, it's still hard like I keep telling people this and I know this is probably I'm sounding like a broken record, but it's hard for me to understand that people watch my videos because I don't really make like of course I know that people watch my videos, but that's not the reason why I started making them, you know, and so it's just confusing to me. but I appreciate it, You know? But when I do you know I try to think like hey, what was difficult for me to learn and then I try to think of a way that I would have understood it before I knew anything about it, right? And then when I try to explain things to people, that's when I go. Okay, you know what? Let's let's think of it like this: I'll use silly analogies that may not even be a hundred percent right, but it gives people the idea.

Oh, that's what's going on okay now and then I'll I'll disclaim her. you know, saying hey, it's not quite the process, but that gets you in the right mindset. And then, okay, let's go a little bit deeper and learn. You know? Yeah, I'm finding that the older I get the more passionate I am about finding out that I was wrong about I actually enjoy it When I find out that I was wrong, it's an opportunity to learn.

Absolutely, You know? Yeah, So okay, let's address the elephant in the room. you are a woman in the trades. Yes, that is different. Oh my goodness, that's horrible.

Oh my gosh, you had an amazing speech the other night. We were together. Well, not together. But we were attended an award show together and you came up and said a few things and you know I I have to say something.

So I said this a while back when I was at another trade show or no I was at the Hvacr training Symposium a couple years ago and I said that I have two daughters and I was embarrassed to say that I was afraid for my daughters to get into the trade because I didn't know if the trade was ready for my daughters I know that my daughters are smart girls I know that they can figure out the technical aspect, but the trade is getting better. but I was just afraid that in a male dominated industry that it was going to be hard for a woman to be treated with respect and properly just treated like another person and accept it. Are you having a hard time with that? Actually, No. Okay, and I do think that it's because they have been ladies out there that have paved the way already.

They have been around for about 10 years and it was very different back then. Okay, they had a really hard time and it's surprising and crazy that they just stuck with it and they pushed through it and they are still in HVAC Now Now let me ask you something though. like you know and I was trying to think when I think of things, do you think that that I'm worrying about something that I should have I know that's probably a hard question I would say right now it's still a bit of a worry. Yeah for your daughters.

no matter I don't know how old they are 16 and 13. So so I think they I think you have nothing to worry about with them? Got it? Because you think that the progress and the way the industry is going, that the odds are that it's going to be especially putting ourselves out there on social media? Yeah, we need to be seen and that's I think that's the reason why I never went into HVAC Okay, my brother did right after high school. he followed my dad's footsteps but it was never even a consideration for me and I think it's because I never saw a person that looks like me that did my dad's job, got it and and so the conversation never even happened. I never said hey Dad can I try what you do I've never seen it and he never said hey, do you want to try what I do because he never had that experience.

So now I think if you are a woman in the trade and if you're willing put yourself out there, let us see you. You can't be what you can't see, right? Okay, I see that and so I think for your daughters. by the time that they're ready to choose a career, they are already going to have these ladies out there and it's by that time. Hopefully I think we're a little bit slow, but hopefully we'll just be another face on the job side.

In in no way am I and I don't need to make this just about. you know the fact that you're a woman you know? Obviously we want to talk more too. but my question is, you know, maybe I'm being overprotected because these are my children. But in no way do I not think that my daughters can do this job I mean no, they can do this I'm just worried about the fact that I'm a man and and sometimes I have to correct myself because it it's something that we've done for a long time.

in the way that we talk in the way that we interact and it's wrong. The way that that that you know we need to change our mindset, The way that men talk to each other and different things. Yes, I Think that ball has started to grow and I agree that it has and again I think I'm just afraid because they're my daughters and I want to protect them with every aspect that I have you know? but I Honestly so that same uh HVAC Hvacs are School trainings it was I'm not tripping right there. um what the point when I got up on stage? What I was saying is we have a skills Gap In this industry we are lacking technicians.

We have a lot of people that don't want to be in this industry anymore when it comes and we have a lot of people that are retiring from the industry and the conversation that I was having on stage was I think that the answer is women I Think that women can help to solve the problem because there's plenty of women out there that do want to do more than what. The Stereotype is right and I think that that will help I just was more or less saying I'm a little bit worried about this, but I do think that you know I think that women can help in the street because I know that you guys are physically I know that you guys are mentally capable. obviously like right? You know I mean it's just a matter of getting past the the stigma that we have in our heads. Exactly Yeah, now in the industry, uh, what kind of work does your family do like? What do you guys work on like I work on restaurant refrigeration and air conditioning.

That's what I do. So we see a lot of varieties so we do primarily commercial and like Israel refrigeration and Asia HVAC Okay so I get to see yeah, summer, uh some restaurant stuff. uh we work on a lot of mobile catering trucks, lots of rooftop units and then a few air dryers, industrial air dryers so it doesn't sound too different from what I'm doing. You know I've come across some of like air dryers and stuff I usually don't I'm limited.

How do I say this carefully I run a business and I have to be careful the work that I take on because I have employees and I want to make sure that I don't overwhelm them with the kind of work that we take on. so you kind of stick stay in our lane and deal with it. but like I've come across things. but I find that like I started doing Hospital work for a while where we got into kind of scientific stuff and I found that the liability was just a little bit too high and it was like man, you know if you really mess up this refrigerator that's literally two foot by two foot but it has a million dollars worth of product in it, it's like man, you know.

So I step back from that kind of stuff. it just went back to kind of the restaurant refrigeration and air conditioning. It was a little bit more forgiving that you know it wasn't as risky to work on. Yeah, but um I do enjoy that.

So if you don't mind one thing I do want to say since you are new in the industry, some advice that I give you Yes please. I'll take it I wish that I got my hands on more variety of equipment at a younger time. or you know when I was first in the industry because now I get to this position where I have a business, I have employees and I have to think like I don't know that my company can handle that kind of work. but I kind of wish I knew more about supermarkets I kind of wish that I knew more about Vrf.

but I knew about all these different things. so if I and you didn't ask for this but if I could give you any advice as absorb as much as you can but also still remember your family and still remember yourself and don't get caught in the rat race where you're trying to impress other people. because here I am later in life wishing like man I wish I would have paid more attention and thought about myself more and thought about. you know the fact that I need to get out and stop working for a while and enjoy life too at the same time.

So I know you didn't ask for that advice, but I'd give it to you. just live in the moment, absorb what you can, but at the same time enjoy it and and learn a variety of everything because this industry is awesome and the options the future like it's mind-blowing. I can't even imagine where this industry is going to be in 20 years. It's amazing.

Like even at the show that some of the Innovations you see like yeah, mind-blowing Yeah, it absolutely is mind-blowing and the technology is changing and I envy younger people getting into the trade because I struggle with learning a lot of the new stuff right? I have to ironically I run a social media thing right and I run a business and all this different stuff. but I struggle with the social media side and I envy you know, younger people I ask my daughter hey, can you help me with this and she's like yeah here, let's do this and let's do that. I'm like oh my gosh, I had that moment I Remember looking at my dad and being able to do that stuff for him? Yeah and then now my daughters are doing the stuff for me, you know? So it's definitely definitely full circle for sure. So um, as far as The Show Goes uh, is this your actual first Ahr? it is.

Okay, so there was a story about the last ahr though, because you were supposed to be at the last ASR and then long story short, you weren't able to make a thousand dollars. it was. It was heartbreaking. I actually made it to the gate at the airport like waiting for the flight and I got an email with a notification saying that I actually had covered because I had to get tested before we flew down.

Yeah and I had no idea. So I had to go home like heartbroken. Yeah, that was a that was a chore. Yeah, we were actually at the Ahr in Orlando and that was the year that all the craziness started.

Pretty sure a lot of us went over there. Yeah, so it's so nice to be here. like when we landed in Atlanta I'm like, okay, finally we can stop stressing. So as far as walking the show I want to ask your opinion? Overwhelming? Amazing.

Absolutely overwhelming. That could be amazing. Like and you know it's so cool. Use every day like you know, steel piece of suit and all these little uh, pressure sensors that you use every day.

you don't think about it. if you grab the package and you open her up and you put her in and right and now you get to see them and it's it's really cool. Okay, uh, awkward question. but have have you been walking around and people recognized you from your social media and stuff? How does that feel? Because like I know how it felt for me.

So I'm curious It's it's it's fun. Okay, yeah it's fun but it's very strange because a lot of people will come up to me and say Jess and I don't know who they are and then I feel bad and I'm like or even worse like a fellow influencer will come up and I'm like and then they'll tell me their handle I'm like oh okay, it's you. Perfect. So no, it's been a great great time.

It's it's awesome. Um, it's still a little weird when people come up and recognize me too, but you know what the whole thing is? Is that the reason why I make the videos is just to try to share knowledge, right? Um, obviously I started for a reason and it's evolving and change it into something else. But I love sharing knowledge I love trying to help the next person so hopefully they don't make the same mistakes as myself you know and that aspire to be like you. I mean when I was I'm I've just finished my level three of refrigeration.

School I've got another level to go but during school I find a lot, watch a lot of YouTube videos. Like a lot a lot and I want to be the woman on those videos. Good? Yeah! and and I mean I I Don't doubt that you can be I mean you're already making a name. You're already have a presence.

You're already inspiring other people, men and women you know. And it's not just we don't just have to focus on the fact that you're a woman and you're only inspiring women no vice versa, right? Both sides, everybody can Inspire anybody. The idea is that this trade is for everybody. We we need your help if you're interested in getting into the trade.

I Was just talking with someone a few minutes ago that was sitting down with me and we had a 20-minute conversation about how he wants to get in the industry and I'm like he's like well do you think I you know I you know and I don't want to share too much information but it's like do you think that that I have a chance and I go absolutely if you are interested. If you are a passionate, skilled Hands-On type person and you think that Hvacr and some iteration is for you, there are so many different facets of this trade you know. Like for instance, I've talked to people that were older, you know that were wanting to get into trade. There's a place for you people that are younger that want to get into trade.

There's a place for you. stationary. Engineers I mean you could do all kinds of stuff. We have room for everybody.

and what's cool too is that it'll involve with your career as well. So as you get older, maybe you don't want to be on the tools as much. There's so many options for Are you still in the industry again? This industry is hurting for technicians just as much as technicians are retiring. so are Engineers So our technical support: Personnel Customer Service Personnel You mentioned that you started working in the office.

so our office personnel. There are so many different facets and another thing too. Just because, as in Jessica's case, just because you're in an office doesn't mean you have to be in an office for the rest of your life. If you, if you want to be, so be it.

But it also doesn't hurt for someone who's a dispatcher male or female or anything that wants to learn a little bit more that wants to go through an apprenticeship. Hey, maybe you don't want to work in the trade for a while. you know, forever. But going through an apprenticeship and just getting an understanding before you become a dispatcher or before I become a CSR or a salesperson, it's always good to understand the trade that you're selling.

Um, operating, listening to phone calls for dispatching for it's always good to understand and trade. so there is so much room. Sorry, and I guarantee that if you do that If you take your apprenticeship, as a dispatcher or a salesperson or anything like that, you will have such a deeper appreciation for the trade. you know I will say that there's a common.

You know, we're active on social media, right? So there's there's different groups whether you're in Facebook or there's different pages that people follow. Instagram You know all the different social media places and you know there's common stuff that happens in the groups and people. And one of the things is is you know people always talk bad about engineers, people always talk bad about dispatchers, installers and you know insert game of whatever someone always talks about about someone else and some of the times there might be valid arguments, but a good majority of the time it's just a misunderstanding or you not understanding the situation that that person's in or this person's in. and it's all about communication.

You know if you don't understand that the dispatcher is under pressure because they have to clear the board and they have to get these calls dispatched out to someone. Yes, I Understand that you're out working and maybe it feels like they're calling you and they're saying I need you here I Need you here. These are conversations to have. You don't have to have an argument, you can go to the office and you can just say hey, something's got to give.

like in a nice way. Let's not have a conversation about this. Talk to the dispatcher Say you know a lot of us are afraid to talk. A lot of us are afraid to set our ego aside and have a conversation and say like why does it seem like you're always upset at the end of the day we have to work together.

Yes, but we want to or not. Yes, we have to. and if we don't then what happens is we just learn to be apprehensive and be angry all the time and there's no need for that. You know, Why is it that certain people on the trade think Engineers are always a problem? Well, maybe they don't understand that this job was specked to do something like this and maybe they don't understand quite the equipment they're working on and so it's easier to blame an engineer because maybe he they think he designed it.

But what they don't know is an installer came in after the engineer and installed the system and it's possible that maybe a mistake was made in installation and it's easy for someone not to completely understand airflow which I have. I'm barely learning a little bit about airflow right now. my mind's being blown. Yeah, and it's like so there's so many different different areas that mistakes can happen and it's really easy for us to blame someone else when in fact, we could just learn more if we just communicate and talk with her work and everything.

But now manufacturers and brands have the opportunity to reach out to us directly. yes, and have that conversation with us. And now it's not like, oh, you got a phone, a hotline, speak to your surrounded like now you've got a friend who you've been chatting with on Instagram for the last six months. You know what I mean I was walking the floor and I'm not going to save me but I walked over to a manufacturer and I was having a conversation with them and I was talking about a certain product and I was like hey, you know we have problems with this product and they're like what do you mean and I explain the problems and then they're like huh really and I go I said you know I'm gonna be a little blunt here I go why am I telling you about the problem with your product and it was.

It was. It was clear in days and I said I mean I don't mean to sound rude but like you need to hear this. why is it me a technician they you know I didn't know my influence or badge out or anything like that I'm just walking up as a normal person and they didn't recognize me so it was a genuine conversation and I wasn't I wasn't a jerk I was just kind of blunt and just said like why is it that I'm telling you this and they said you know that's a valid question Hey and guess what? I can guarantee that the advice that I gave them they're gonna correct and that's something that I've learned over time. and you don't have to be an influencer you don't have.

You could just be a normal service technician. You don't have to be rude. You don't have to be a jerk. But communicate.

Let people know that hey, this isn't working and don't just go up and say it doesn't work, it's gone. No, go up and say it doesn't work. Because of this. It's all about communication.

You know. same thing with social media. It's really easy to be a keyboard Warrior and get on there and just type all kinds of crazy things. but it's like when you really break it down you can just have a conversation exactly.

You know what? as I'm getting older I may have already said this I repeat myself a lot, but as I'm getting older I look forward to the opportunity to learn that I was wrong because it's an opportunity to learn how to correct that you know and I think it's awesome. So so as far as being in the trade, as far as your apprenticeship goes, setting the women thing apart not discounting that, but let's set that apart. Let's just ask how is your apprenticeship going in general like how are now you are from Canada So you guys have some pretty stringent apprenticeship programs which I wish the entire world had I agree And you know what? So in my Province I've got to do four levels of Technical Training they're about 10 weeks each. Okay, um and the wait time between them is about a year and a half.

about a year. So I just I Just actually finished my level three I wrote my final exam on Friday February 3rd. Um, it's hard. Yeah, it's hard.

it's hard. um I've seen some of your posts where you know you'll post about a certain test or a certain thing you have to read and like and it's like yeah, I hear you I hear you. But so during my first and second levels I'm like this is so intense. like why do we have to know everything and now coming out of level three I have such a deeper understanding and appreciation for my trade.

Even knowing you know the the components that make up the components that we use right? Like the pieces of the Txt, we know how they work, why they work, what they do. um, you know. and so it just gives me such a better appreciation. And I've heard that some apprenticeships are not like that at all.

You kind of get thrown in the deep end like you get thrown right into the field and that's I Think terrible for the technician trying to learn the company that's paying them and the customer at the end of the day. So we're we're all over the United States Apprenticeships vary from place to place. Uh, rules vary from place to place. Some areas you have to have a license to be a technician, some areas you don't I Wish that we had a more across the board apprenticeship program because it would only better the industry.

Now talking about education and learning for me, you know. Another thing that I'll say too is when you go to school when I was going to school, there were certain things that I learned and I could pass the tests on but I didn't quite understand they didn't you know? But advice that I'm going to give to everybody out there that's in school. and I've said this a couple times throughout the trade show is that: Listen, pay attention and trust me, you don't even know. but you're learning because it in my career.

There were certain points that like I can remember my dad teaching me something. it's like okay I get it then I can remember my senior mechanic who was a mentor of mine teaching me something. it's like okay I kind of understand a little bit more and I remember one day I was sitting in school and we were learning about motor control specifically overload protection on three-phase Motors mag starters if you want. Okay, now we deal with more different types of motor starters but I remember I never understood them but I was sitting in class and it was hard for me to understand the teacher too and he was talking.

but then all of a sudden I heard my dad, I heard my senior mechanic and I heard the teacher and all three came together and it clicked and those aha moments. Yeah, you get those. So again, if you're in school, if you're learning, just listen I Know it seems like oh my Gosh I'm never going to need this. do you know how many times in school I remember telling my in regular you know High School I remember thinking I never gonna need math in my life Oh My Gosh I was the worst Honestly, I don't know how and I don't think they can take my diploma back from me but I only took like one full year of math and then I took architectural drafting all four years of high school and for some reason those counted towards math credits.

Okay, so I never took all the required math and I somehow graduated. Okay, but the whole point of the story. Hopefully they don't take stuff back because I just ruined my career but just cancel it out. But um, the whole point that I'm saying is now I do the most complex math calculations in my head that I never imagined and it's like, you know, yeah, we have digital gauges and we have a few superheating stuff, but you still got to know when that's wrong.

You still got to recognize I'm looking at this and it says I have 53 degrees of superheat but my suction line is freezing cold like something's not adding up here. So you got to do some math and realize oh, I don't have my gauge clamped on the right thing. You still got to be able to look in the calculations that I do in my head and these like I don't even get crazy. But you can get crazy with the math industry too when you started getting into the building science side of the engineering side.

but it's amazing. It's intense. It's intense. It's the stuff that we do so it is awesome.

Um, well I'm gonna go ahead and wrap this up Jessica Uh well. first and foremost, um, thank you very much for coming on with me. Thank you so much for having me obviously Parker spoiling we're at the Zoo block Max uh Booth right here We're at their booth at the Ahr in 2023. This is an awesome platform for us to have You can get the show for the next couple days.

Yeah, I'll be here and then tomorrow I'm on a panel I'm speaking with a bunch of influencers tomorrow I think it's 10 a.m and I think I'm on that same panel with you. Oh perfect. Yeah, yeah, but we are going to be doing that at 10am. so I panel and then I have a podcast with Trevor Matthews after that I think we can attend to all the webinar.

so I don't know, whatever something like that I have to look at my schedule it's amazing. So I look forward to talking with you a little bit more. Thank you very much thanks for having me! Yeah this has been awesome and we're gonna wrap this up.