0:00

From NASA sending astronauts to the moon

0:02

to billionaires launching themselves into space,

0:04

there's something about the cosmos that inspires

0:06

people to attempt the impossible. None of this

0:09

would be possible if it weren't for a group of engineers

0:11

who risked it all for the sake of blowing

0:13

stuff up. From LAS Studios,

0:16

listen to LA Made, Blood, Sweat, and Rockets,

0:18

available now wherever you get your podcasts. So

0:24

I went to jail 18 times between the

0:26

ages of like 18 and 21. I think 21

0:29

was the last time I went to jail. People

0:39

thought, you know, I should have been dead

0:41

by now,

0:42

honestly, you know, because of the way

0:44

I was like running around on the streets. But

0:48

somehow, you know, I was able

0:50

to pull through and get it together. I

0:52

mean, I never in my life

0:54

thought that this was something I was going to do, you know,

0:58

and started this journey when I was turned 40.

1:01

So, you know, it's kind of crazy.

1:07

This is Where the Internet Lives, a show

1:09

about the unseen world of data centers. I'm

1:11

Stephanie Wong, and I'm your guide to the people

1:13

and places that make up the internet. This

1:16

season, we're exploring how data centers

1:18

change the world around them in surprising and

1:20

transformative ways. In this episode,

1:22

how one woman's personal transformation

1:24

led to a dream career in the trades.

1:31

I am Sarah Hess. I

1:34

am a union laborer. I've been

1:38

doing it for about a year and a half.

1:41

I'm getting ready to be third term tomorrow,

1:44

which

1:45

means more money.

1:47

Sarah is one of just over a million union

1:49

workers in the US construction industry. It's

1:51

a nearly $2 trillion sector responsible

1:54

for our homes, schools, roads, offices,

1:56

and our data centers. About 90% of the construction

1:59

work is done by union workers.

1:59

is male, a number that hasn't

2:02

changed much over the past three decades.

2:04

You know, even when I was a kid, you didn't see women

2:06

on a job site, and if you did, it was, you know,

2:08

they were cleaning or, you know,

2:12

standing outside. Sarah is one

2:14

of the women changing that dynamic.

2:16

As a union laborer who graduated from the

2:18

Oregon Trades Women Apprenticeship Program, she

2:20

spent the last year and a half learning the ins

2:23

and outs of the construction trade in hopes of becoming

2:25

an experienced tradesperson. It's

2:27

a long way from the path she started on.

2:29

Well, I mean, I

2:32

was a street kid.

2:33

I, you know, hustled people for

2:35

money. You know, I was a drug addict,

2:38

so I started using drugs when I was 13, and,

2:40

you know, drank alcohol, used drugs, you know,

2:42

the whole, like, street life, you

2:44

know, ripping people off. You know,

2:47

I caught charges when I was 19. I

2:49

caught a burglary charge, because

2:52

I broke into somebody's house and stole nine

2:54

guns. And I was

2:56

like, oh, I'm gonna get a gun. I'm gonna get somebody's house and stole nine

2:58

guns. Sarah went to jail more than

3:00

a dozen times over the course of a few years.

3:03

In the midst of it all, she got pregnant,

3:05

but lost the child in almost a full term. And

3:08

she couldn't stay clean. She began to think

3:10

that she had no other options. If

3:12

you would ask me at one point in time in my life, oh,

3:15

you know, are you ever gonna do anything? And it's like,

3:17

no. I'm gonna be a

3:19

drug addict. You know, that's it.

3:21

It took another trip to jail to set

3:23

her on a different course. The last

3:26

time I got... The last time I went to jail, they

3:29

gave me early release to treatment.

3:31

And I was like, no, I can find... I can do

3:33

it on my own. No, and I was gonna go get high again,

3:36

you know? And they rolled me up and put

3:38

me in treatment anyways. And then

3:40

when I got to treatment, I started to

3:42

learn, like, how to love myself and how to be,

3:45

you know, a good person. You

3:48

know, and then was clean for a couple years. And

3:50

then got

3:53

pregnant with my son. And I

3:55

was like, no, I'm not messing around

3:57

anymore, you know? And then when I got my GED

3:59

through...

3:59

probation and parole and

4:04

then

4:05

went to college like my kid

4:07

was like six months old.

4:09

It was a massive shift for Sarah. In

4:11

just a few years, she had gone from being an addict

4:14

living on the streets to studying social

4:16

work and parenting her young son. She

4:18

spent the next six years putting her studies and

4:21

life experience into practice. I

4:23

worked with at-risk youth, like,

4:27

you know, hard to place foster kids. I

4:30

worked with men that were schizoaffective,

4:32

meaning they were bipolar and schizophrenic,

4:36

coming out of prison. I

4:39

worked in a detox facility.

4:42

I've worked in residential treatment. So yeah, I've had

4:45

a wide variety of

4:46

different experiences in social

4:48

work and it did help me, you know,

4:51

but it was really rewarding to see that I

4:53

was like helping other people. The

4:55

only problem is is that social work doesn't pay

4:57

enough money.

4:59

Sarah wanted more. She wanted

5:01

to buy a house for her and her son. She

5:03

wanted to travel. And getting there on

5:05

her social worker salary seemed impossible.

5:09

But scrolling through social media one day, something caught

5:11

her eye. A post from people she knew who

5:13

had trained with Oregon Tradeswomen. And

5:15

I kept seeing people, you know,

5:17

I'm going on this trip and I'm doing this.

5:20

And these are people that I've known that have went

5:22

through Oregon Tradeswomen. And

5:25

now they're launching their careers and everything.

5:27

They're going on trips. I'm like, I could barely pay my

5:29

rent.

5:29

You're

5:31

going to go on trips and everything. So it was

5:34

like, okay, well, what do I need to

5:36

do? Sign me up for that. So

5:38

I

5:39

mean, I never in my life

5:41

thought that this was something I was going to do, you know,

5:45

and started this journey when I was turned 40. The

5:48

eight week pre-apprenticeship program run

5:50

by the nonprofit Oregon Tradeswomen prepares

5:52

women from different backgrounds to enter the trades.

5:55

Last year, Google gave $150,000 to the organization to diversify.

5:59

the construction industry. It's

6:02

a part of a multi-state effort at Google to

6:04

support programs that elevate tradeswomen,

6:06

some of whom will eventually build data centers. Sarah

6:09

signed up for Oregon Tradeswomen. Soon,

6:12

she transitioned from emotionally taxing social

6:14

work into physically demanding construction

6:16

work.

6:17

Well, I mean, physically I feel

6:19

born, you know, and come home and I'm like, I

6:21

take an Epsom salt bath every day. So

6:24

what made you decide to take that leap? Well, I was

6:26

like, man, I can't pay my bills. It's like I'm

6:28

taking care of three people and, you

6:31

know, I'm barely making it. And

6:33

I was

6:34

like, screw it. Let me, you

6:36

know, why do I try it? What does your typical

6:38

day look like? I could push broom,

6:41

I could help pour concrete. I'm

6:43

asbestos certified so I can go

6:45

into a building and clear asbestos.

6:49

I can order concrete at this point in time if

6:51

I needed to. I mean, it's just a wide variety

6:53

of different things like labors.

6:56

It's like we do everything. We start

6:58

the job and we finish the job. So

7:01

we get there before any of the other contractors

7:04

get there, you know, set up everything,

7:06

get everything ready for everybody. And then

7:09

when the job's over, you still got labors

7:11

there like cleaning up and finishing up

7:13

the rest of the job. So we

7:16

do a lot of everything really. As

7:17

Sarah's physical stamina grew, so

7:20

did her resolve to build a career in the trades.

7:22

Sarah liked the work and the training, but

7:25

then everything came to a screeching

7:27

halt.

7:28

And I was seven weeks in, I

7:30

was a week away from graduation and then

7:32

found out I had brain cancer.

7:37

So I was

7:37

at the carpenters union and

7:40

lifting like 16 feet, two by

7:42

fours on my shoulder. And then the

7:44

next day, like half of my body went

7:47

numb. And

7:48

I'm like, you know, I've got arthritis and

7:50

everything else going on in my body already.

7:52

So I just pinched a nerve. I

7:55

went to the hospital because I'm diabetic and I'm

7:57

like, well, maybe I could be having a stroke, but I doubt

7:59

it.

8:00

And, you know, they did an MRI and they

8:02

came back and was like, you have a brain

8:04

tumor. What was your reaction in the room

8:06

when you found out you had a brain tumor?

8:09

It was scary. Um,

8:11

I

8:12

was like, there's no way this could be happening to

8:15

me. But,

8:16

you know, like I've ever overcome a lot

8:18

of things. Like I overcame drug addiction

8:20

and I've overcome, you know,

8:23

being a street kid and, you know, I've

8:25

overcome a lot of things in my life. So

8:27

I was like, okay, I can do this. I

8:29

can overcome this. Sarah was

8:32

just one week from graduating from the Oregon

8:34

Trades Women Program when she got her cancer

8:36

diagnosis. It had completely

8:39

derailed her. But the whole time she was battling

8:41

cancer, the only thing she could think about

8:43

was getting back to work. She felt like

8:45

she'd found her

8:46

calling in the trades. And she wasn't done

8:48

yet. So like six months after I

8:50

found out I had brain cancer, I went through

8:52

Oregon Trades Women again. And

8:55

did the eight week class again and graduated.

8:57

And I was set on being a carpenter. I was like, I'm going

9:00

to be a carpenter. I love building with stuff.

9:02

I like cutting wood. I love everything about

9:04

it. And then I went to the labors

9:07

hall and they let me drive around on the forklift

9:09

and this gets here a bunch of other

9:11

things. And I was like, oh man, this is fun. I

9:14

want to do this.

9:21

The Oregon Trades Women Program has an 87% placement

9:24

rate for its graduates. Many of the women who

9:26

go through the program have stories similar to Sarah's.

9:29

And most of the women are placed in well-paying

9:31

positions with health benefits and retirement

9:33

programs. It's the kind of job security

9:36

Sarah needed.

9:37

I've only been out of work for like

9:39

a month once. And ever

9:41

since then, it's like I've constantly

9:43

been working. So that's

9:46

been really good. Nice, you know.

9:48

And at one point you worked on a data center, right? What

9:50

were you doing there?

9:51

So like I had to clean the server

9:53

towers, like make sure that there was like it was

9:55

like white glove

9:57

clean and like making

9:59

sure. that all the walls and everything were

10:02

spotless, so that

10:04

was hard. Cleaning servers wasn't

10:06

quite her thing. Sarah much prefers the buzz

10:08

of big construction sites, places where

10:11

she feels like she's a part of a team and getting dirty. But

10:13

even on those job sites, the team dynamic

10:15

is different for a woman.

10:17

What is it like being one of the few females on the

10:19

job site? You know, I've dealt

10:21

with some different kinds of stuff. Most of the guys are

10:24

pretty cool. They're nice to me, you know, but

10:26

there's been some times where it's been like, oh, what are

10:29

you even doing here? There's some old timers

10:31

that are still

10:32

in the state of mind of, like,

10:36

why is a woman even on the job site? You

10:38

know, I just like, I have to brush

10:40

it off because it's like, if I let that

10:42

get to me all day, I'd be screwed, basically,

10:45

you know? Like, yeah,

10:47

well, we're women and we're here, so deal

10:50

with it. You know?

10:52

Sarah is naturally resilient. She

10:54

also attributes some of her strength to the women she

10:56

met through last year's Trades Women Build Nations

10:58

Conference in Las Vegas. It was her first

11:01

time attending the annual gathering of more than 3,000 women

11:04

in the trades, and she built a strong

11:06

support network.

11:07

Really, that conference changed my life in

11:09

ways I can't even explain because it's like

11:12

just the energy and knowing that

11:14

there's people out there that are like you,

11:16

that are here to support you, like,

11:19

almost makes you want to cry because it was just

11:22

so, like, amazing. You

11:24

know, it's kind of like a family, you know what I mean? I

11:27

met really cool people that I still

11:29

talk to, you know, that I have

11:31

friends that I made in my first time around

11:33

in Oregon Trades Women that are out

11:35

there, you know, in their different trades. People

11:39

that checked on me when I had cancer,

11:42

and then people from Oregon Trades Women, they sent

11:44

me

11:45

flowers when I came home from the hospital,

11:47

you know? It's like a family, you start

11:49

to gain like a family. Those

11:51

bonds meant everything to Sarah.

11:54

She no longer feels like that lost, addicted

11:56

teenager living on the streets, bouncing in

11:58

and out of jail. To help with the Oregon

12:00

Trades Women Program, she built a strong,

12:02

stable career and she wants to pass

12:05

it on.

12:11

My ultimate goal is I would like to be an apprentice

12:13

coordinator at my hall. Like

12:16

I want to help new apprentices through their

12:18

process. Many people who have

12:20

gone through addiction or illness or

12:22

struggle come out of it with this deep

12:25

sense of gratitude. So how did

12:27

your tough experiences shape your perspective? I

12:29

feel like I'm just constantly learning.

12:32

Because I've gone through these things, like it

12:34

does help me to help other

12:37

people or to, you

12:39

know, be a little bit more centered

12:41

in some ways because like I've

12:44

struggled. I noticed like through

12:46

the worst parts of her life, Sarah always

12:48

found a way to push forward. It's a

12:50

quality that hasn't changed since her teens and

12:52

it's now guiding her career.

12:54

So I've always been kind of tough in different ways.

12:57

Whether it be I gotta be tough

13:00

on the streets

13:00

or I gotta be tough on the job site, you

13:02

know. I just wish I would have gotten it together,

13:05

you know, earlier on. It's

13:07

never too late to start. Nope. That's

13:09

what I tell people too. I'm like, man, if I can do this, you

13:11

can do it too. Like it's, I'm

13:14

changing career paths at 40. It doesn't

13:16

matter. You can change anytime you want.

13:19

Just have to want to do it.

13:21

It's a leap.

13:26

Sarah Hess is a union laborer and a graduate

13:28

of the Oregon Tradeswomen. If you want to learn

13:30

more about the Oregon Tradeswomen program, click

13:33

through the link in the show notes. Where the internet

13:35

lives is produced by PostScript Media in collaboration

13:38

with Google. Our theme music was written by Echo

13:40

Finch. Additional music came from Epidemic

13:42

Sounds, Blue Dot Sessions, and Echo Finch. You

13:44

can subscribe to the show on Google Podcasts, Spotify,

13:47

Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else you access your

13:49

shows. And please give us a rating if you like the

13:51

series. I'm Stephanie Wong. Thank you

13:53

for listening.

14:02

I've been wondering something lately. Why

14:04

does it seem like once you become a billionaire,

14:07

when you're one of those disruptor CEO

14:10

Mavericks, the only thing

14:12

left to do to test your genius

14:14

is to build yourself a rocket

14:17

ship. And

14:23

I speak for all of us here at SpaceX

14:26

when I say we could not be more excited

14:28

to finally be sending humans to International

14:31

Space Station. There's Elon Musk.

14:32

I cannot emphasize this enough. We

14:35

must make life sustainably multiplanetary.

14:37

There's Jeff Bezos, who stepped down

14:39

as CEO of Amazon to focus on

14:41

Blue Origin, his rocket company,

14:44

and sent William Shatner to the edge of space,

14:47

not to mention

14:48

Richard Branson and Virgin Galactic.

14:51

So what is it with these guys? Why

14:53

the middle-aged pivot to rocketry?

14:56

I think there's something about outer space, the

14:58

cosmos, that inspires people

15:01

to attempt the impossible. But

15:03

here's what most people don't know. None

15:06

of this would have happened. No billionaires

15:09

launching themselves into the wild blue

15:11

yonder. No moon landing

15:13

either. If it weren't for a group of

15:15

men in Pasadena, California,

15:18

back in the 1930s, they risked

15:20

it all for the sake

15:23

of blowing shit up and changing

15:25

the world. They

15:31

would come to be known as the

15:33

Suicide Squad. Allow

15:36

me to introduce them. Chen

15:39

Shu-Shen, the mathematician.

15:41

And he would come to the classroom. He would just,

15:44

there were students obviously, ask questions,

15:47

and Chen would say, I would suggest you

15:50

to drop off my class. That's

15:52

it, simple. Frank Molina,

15:54

the mastermind. I would say

15:56

it was kind of his dream. to

16:00

establish unmanned exploration

16:02

of space. And lastly, Jack

16:04

Parsons, the one about whom I have

16:07

reservations. Parsons was

16:09

perhaps the most, I

16:11

would say, unusual one. Jack

16:14

always wanted to set off

16:16

rockets and explosions. He wanted to be out there

16:18

in the field and making things happen. That's

16:21

the crew. They were the perfect

16:23

storm.

16:33

In the 1930s, if you said

16:35

you wanted to work on rockets, colleagues

16:38

would ostracize you, financiers

16:40

would laugh in your face, and everyone

16:43

would assume you were going to accidentally

16:45

blow yourself up. Which was

16:47

a fair assumption. Frequent explosions

16:50

at Caltech are actually how this team

16:52

earned its name, the Suicide Squad.

16:55

And far from being a joke, the Squad's

16:58

achievements led to the founding

17:00

of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory

17:03

in Southern California,

17:03

which has landed rovers

17:06

on Mars. So

17:08

let me say this. If you think Branson

17:11

and Musk have earned their reputation

17:14

as eccentric wildcards, just

17:17

wait till you hear the Suicide

17:19

Squad story. There

17:21

will be satanic ceremonies and

17:24

some practices known as sex

17:26

magic.

17:27

Which is using sexual intercourse

17:29

and orgasm in rituals

17:32

to harness energy towards

17:34

a specific goal.

17:35

There will also be historical

17:38

figures who get screwed over and

17:40

unfairly forgotten. Women

17:42

have been a part of every major milestone

17:44

and every mundane task in the history

17:46

of aerospace, and their

17:49

stories are not often told or remembered.

17:51

There will be a corrosive and widespread

17:54

communist

17:54

scare. The then director

17:57

of JPL, Louis Dunn, walked

17:59

into an FBI office. and said,

18:01

I think this is spiring at

18:03

JPL. And ultimately, there

18:06

will be a suspicious death.

18:08

There were actually two explosions, one right after another,

18:11

because it shook the city with shockwaves.

18:14

Test, telephone switch going on, online,

18:17

on. Pressing command

18:19

to internal. I'm

18:24

MG Lord, discover the mad

18:26

origins of aerospace. One,

18:29

two, three, one, zero. Blood,

18:32

Sweat and Rockets, the first season

18:34

of L.A. Made, a new podcast

18:37

coming soon from LAist Studios.