welcome to bets on the future where we highlight the various career paths in the electrifying Metals World from the vehicle you ride in to the bridge holding it up metals are everywhere why not in your career too I’m Jennifer Betts a medals industry veteran with almost 20 years experience here to highlight these incredible career paths As Told by the women who are living them we have two remarkable guests and they are both from the association of women in the Metal Industries but on their own they have had two incredible careers Anna Tomkins is the nonfer commercial director for the Mid-Atlantic for Sims she has 20 years experience in the metal industry and started her career as a scrap buyer for Montgomery scrap Corporation after a 2007 merger with United Iron and Metal Atlantic Recycling Group was formed with Anna serving in a variety of roles from marketing director to vice president in 2022 ARG was acquired by metal Anna is an active member of the association of women in the metals industry awmi currently serving a 2-year term as vice president she previously served as the international marketing chair and as the

president of the Baltimore chapter in 2020 she was recognized as awmi member of the year she received her BS in journalism from West Virginia University Anna resides with her family in Baltimore Maryland in addition to Anna Tomkins we have Jill Donahue she is the senior Regional sales manager at Commercial Metal forming with more than 30 years of experience in the steel and steel fabrication sector her professional Journey commenced in 1989 as an account representative at Commercial Metal forming Orange County Metal Works throughout her tenure Jill has actively participated in the California chapter of the association of women in the metal industry holding various leadership positions such as secretary marketing chair vice president and president within the local chapter furthermore she extended her Knowledge and Skills to the awmi western region board as Vice chair Jill is deeply committed to mentoring and coaching prioritizing continuous Learning and Development for both her and her team a huge welcome to these two distinguished guests and a huge thank you for them coming on to bets on the future today this week on bets on the future we actually have two guests joining us and I would dare

to say we actually probably have thousands joining us at this point because we have the association of women in the Metal Industries joining us and we have two Representatives that are representing them in the association we have Anna Tomkins who is the nonfer commercial director for the Mid-Atlantic region for Sims medal who is also the awmi international vice president but she will also soon be in 202 the international president for all of awmi for the international awmi organization and then we also have Jill Donahue who is the senior Regional sales manager at Commercial Metal forming who is near to me in California and she is the awmi California chapter social media and marketing chair and I just have to say a huge thank you for for both of you uh coordinating your schedules I know you’re both very busy so thank you so much for for hopping on here and telling us a little bit about you know your your history your backgrounds how you found the metals industry and uh a little bit about awmi because it’s got uh a pretty unique history yeah well thank you for having us absolutely um

and I I want to start with you first because um we let we’ve traveled a little bit in the same circles because we come from um more of the raw material side of the industry um you know spoiler alert before we started recording we may or may not um have bonded over um a mutual poster we have in our uh offices the scrap side of things I’m kind of curious how did you find the metals industry well they found me and I was completely suckered into it is what I tell people um I had graduated from college and had my first real job I was in marketing and sales working with an occupational health company the scrapyard was one of our clients so I was making the rounds to meet all of our clients and I was just really fascinated by it even though it was it was like cold it was dead of winter I asked for a chore and they asked me back and I thought oh great I’m going to get the upsale and what I didn’t realize with that they were actually interviewing me I was like too young to

know um and then they asked me to come back again and I thought well that’s interesting but I think I’m going to go and they made me an offer that I couldn’t refuse and they tell me then what I still tell people to this day you know you’ll know in six to nine months if the recycling industry is for you and um and it was for me and it’s in my blood I Had A Five-Year Plan I thought I would be in and out but 22 years later here I am um so it’s been great I love this industry it’s been really good to me I’ve um made a lot of great connections I’ve made a lot of great friends um and it’s I feel like I’ve had a very healthy successful career it’s it’s a pretty uh unique industry uh and I agree with you you uh you say six months to two years and uh not so much and if you do leave you tend to quickly come back migrate back yes um Jill I’m kind of curious for you um we met probably a couple years ago I want to

say I moved out to California a few years ago and then joined the awmi California chapter when I came out here and you’ve been heavily involved in this particular chapter how did you find the metals industry uh by the same as everybody else by accident um unless you’re born into it and I’ve actually quizzed a room full of 30 40 women anybody here purposely get into the metals industry and with the exception of two people whose family came from the metals industry everybody it was it just sort of happened I was working in retail sales and I decided I wanted to move on to something else and I wanted to do anything but sales I loved customer service I didn’t like the sales pitch part of it and the Head Hunter that I was talking to now you got to try this out it’s industrial I think you’ll like it it’s different and she obviously was right um I’ve been started in 1989 with it was Orange County Metal Works back then it’s now commercial metal forming we’ve grown over the years and I wouldn’t want to do anything else and we do fabrication

which is really cool and I’m just I’m a curious person so and I’m learning something constantly and I love it just love being in metals love the people I’ve met some great people all over the country throughout the world by doing this job so it’s pretty interesting and we’re gonna we’re working on that that um sentiment of accidentally or only family you are and I love that yeah we’re we’re definitely working on that I want people to seek this out because for variety of reasons it it there’s you know kind of a combination of EC iCal environmental there’s a lot of reasons especially for Gen Z and Jen Alpha for for them to to seek out the the metals industry um you know so hopefully in you know five 10 years we start to hear some of those stories of no no no I wanted to get into I I decided to get into the metals industry yeah and it’s when I tell people what I do for a living I get one of two reactions I get glazed over oh okay or somebody else that happens to be in the metals industry is

excited about it I’ve never met anybody else in the metals industry that isn’t excited about what they do and Jennifer I think that things like your podcast and groups like awmi are really going to help further right that um the progress in drawing more women to this industry naturally versus by accident by accident yeah yes well I want to know a little bit more about the awmi history in particular um in terms of it’s growth when did it get started I’m personally well obviously a little biased towards it but in terms of the associations that exist out there in our industry in particular I really like the awmi association because it’s one of really if only the only fully vertically integrated Association that exists out there I mean you can meet individuals from the mining raw materials scrap or recycled materials side of things all the way fully through the Mills the manufacturers to you know the oems like the full supply chain exists within this Association and it’s a really great educational networking opportunity from that perspective you you really understand every single piece throughout the the full the full system agreed yeah

I mean the um the variety of companies that are members of awmi or or participate you know is wide again from all the way from trucking companies you know to Mills um and it’s one of the reasons that I really enjoy being a part of it I mean Jill has been a member just a little longer than I have um and awmi actually was founded in California in 1981 Jill do you want to talk a little bit about awm’s origin story and its Mission a little bit sure yeah they founded in 1981 by a group of women who got together together and they thought that there needed to be something and my I did get a story from the first president of aw I we interviewed her uh I think it was Marge Corwin and she de I asked her well how did you become president Marge and she said well I was late for the dinner so I was volunteered and they started in Northern California in the Bay Area 1981 eventually grew in the southern California and it has just taken off I mean we’re across the country we’re in Canada now

um so it’s now an international organization and it’s just grown Leaps and Bounds I personally was approached I started in ‘ 89 with commercial Orange County I was approached in 1991 by a mail sales rep that came in and said you got to join join this group that started you know it’s for women in the metals industry I’m like yeah I’m going to be here five years same plan as Anna five years stent and 35 years later and it wasn’t until 2006 that I actually joined awmi and I regret that I didn’t join it sooner but I didn’t realize how much I would love this job so and how much you would love this Association I mean to to Jill’s Point J it really has grown exponentially currently we’re at 19 chapters but we have two provisional chapters who will get full chapter status in November at our conference in Nashville um so that’ll take us up to 21 and then we have two more areas where we think that there is know that there is interest and growth potential um we have over 70 corporate companies who Support awmi over 1300 individual members

so yes what started as a small group of strong women in California who said we really need to find a way to Network and and help each other and you know have have a professional Sisterhood has just really blown up and shown how um how on the nose they were that there really was a need for this sort of organization whose sole mission was to promote the development of women and to get them into leadership roles right it’s we know for a number of reasons that it’s really important for there to be people in a role you know to help inspire you and so again I think full circle back to that comment of intentional versus accidental in women finding this industry you know the more women that are in leadership position I think it bodess really well for attrac Recruitment and retaining you women leaders in this industry it’s something that I wish I knew about a little bit earlier on in my career when I started off in the industry I didn’t really know any um uh groups like this that existed um it’s only been kind of later on in my

career that I’ve discovered these types of um chapters these types of groups and it’s been really wonderful getting to know some of these individuals and it’s also been really educational for me because again from you know i’ I’ve had um a few jobs that have placed me in situations where I’ve learned more along the supply chain but meeting individuals through this organization has really helped me understand a little bit better for my own uh jobs and understand how I can do something a little bit better but then also have that support because sometimes you are um perhaps the only woman in your position and sometimes you can feel a little bit alone in that regards but then you do business with individuals that are outside your company and then you realize oh wait a second there are more I’m not the only one yes exactly the organization women in manufacturing estimate that there is roughly 30% of women make up manufacturing which I would put Metals underneath um and so it’s obviously growing um from that perspective so it’s cool to hear that you’ve got two possibly up to four new chapters coming online

in the next year or two and that seems like that’s initiatives from the members doing that that’s it’s not necessarily National that’s doing that well I would say that you know there are some companies in these areas that are really interested in bringing awmi to that to those different regions right they’ve got experience with us uh in other areas of the nation and so they see the value in awmi and so they’ve you know committed to supporting and posting events and and providing volunteers because we are a volunteer organization right so it’s really important that we have volunteers in place but yeah they um it is largely driven by members in that area or member companies in that area now obviously just like every other business we have a strategic growth plan um you know we do want to grow it’s the best way to give back to our members is to be able to have the best events in as many places as possible um but I do think the word strategic is really key which is why we’ve chosen to just do two chapters at a time we want to make sure

that these chapters um and members and volunteers have the support that they need but we’re really excited um and very excited to talk about it again at our annual conference in Nashville in November so and I do want to also Al point out that this uh event or these events um or this organization I should say in general um is not just open to women um these these events correct um are open to to males and females um actually one of my first events that I ever attended was a golf outing in Cincinnati um and I did not realize at the time that it was open to both males and females and so when I showed up and saw um quite a bit of support um from both sides um it was actually quite amazing to see that um you know and also to to Network and and see who was there so it was it’s been pretty cool to see over the years um who shown up to those types of events and um you know get to talk to them about their reasons why they’re they’re at those events yes we love

men and we would never want anyone to think anything right you know 25% of our membership is actually is ma and we encourage them to participate on every level except hold a board position right we feel very strongly that part of running a chapter and holding a board position uh is the experience that it gives women who may not be given those sorts of leadership opportunities within their own company that this gives you you know a chance to learn how to manage and delegate and run a p&l and plan events and things of that nature we think that experience is critical so that’s that’s about the only thing that the guys can’t do but I think that um you know we need men as allies um and so we want them to come and we want them to participate as a matter of fact Jen our mutual friend Tim who I has tried to get us together many times and are just we’ve not been able to coordinate but you know he was a member of um his chapter he was their events I think or their membership chair for several years and

did a really great job so men play a very important role in making sure that the mission of awmi gets carried out so gets carried and to your point Anna being on a board I mean I I was on the California chapter board I’ve been the secretary I’ve been the vice president president past president I’m back to the social media marketing because that’s what I like but there are so many opportunities on a board for women to learn these management skills that they may not be provided by their companies so if anybody out there has any any thought of joining a board throw your hat in the ring and you’ll learn something in a very safe environment and that’s really what’s key with awm I think it’s really pushed some women into I’ve got some examples on our board women that have been pushed into management roles that they otherwise would not have felt confident enough to take on that’s a pretty cool success story from from that regard um to be able to say from that board experience you’ve gotten the ex that you know kind of that checklist and that confidence to

be able to use that in your your your you know your your day-to-day work life and to your point Anna earlier about some of the chapters being expanded by some of the existing companies they’re obviously seeing the return on on the investment of their that their employees are having with this organization absolutely and so we’re thrilled that they think that investing resources meaning their folks and sometimes their money right into awmi that they feel like that’s a good business decision and that it pays dividends you know I think that Jill is absolutely right in that you know this gives people an opportunity to learn skills that they might not have had before I mean that really is the purpose of awmi is to you know put you in a room with people who can teach you something put you in room with people who can connect you to someone right you know give you an opportunity to have experiences and do portions of your job that you may not be able to do right now in your own company so that when those opportunities present themselves um women feel prepared and they

they have you know experience to draw on I mean I think we all know the statistic that you know women won’t apply for a job unless they’ve got like 100% of qualifications and I just talked to a friend literally today who had interviewed for a job on Friday and he was like yeah I’m about like 60% what they’re looking for and I’m thinking wow you know we want to give women that uh that kind of confidence that they can walk into a job interview um and and feel qualified have and get some additional experience and just one more thing that I’d like to add um you know I go to a lot of trade shows for awmi and I get to talk to a lot of people and I think that um this is a Association that lends itself really well also to new people into the industry so whether you’re young and female or male or just new to the industry um it’s a great place to learn and meet people and so that Joel that safe uh comment I think is really important um because some of us are lucky enough to

work in organizations where we do feel like we can try and fail and other people do not necessarily feel like they have that um safety net sure or that ability that ability yeah I am relatively late to the party by the way on realizing that y’all have a National Conference um I think I only really realized that a couple two or three years ago to be honest like two years I invited you yes yeah which like I’ve always been aware that you had chapters um and chapter events and I’ve participated in those but it I I guess I just I missed the emails I missed the the memos on on the national event and so I started following Along on it um and you’ll sell out every year like quickly by the way um so very quickly every year which is incredible to see um and I have to imagine Nashville is going to be probably even quicker just because of the location the the momentum that you’ve been building the increase in membership base um it I yes it’s just been really cool to see from you know from somebody that hasn’t participated

yet would like to go but from the outside looking in yeah I mean Joe can attest to this I think we are we are way above pre-co levels I think when covid happened you know we had to cancel one conference and I’m sure many people and many organizations were not sure if conferences would ever be a thing again um but uh our conferences just continue to grow every year um we have great speakers great uh Educational Tours are typically tie to the to the conference um and this year it is in Nashville in November I should have the dates in front of me but I don’t I’m at a horrible horrible mistake maybe we can fix that um but it it’s going to be a great event and yes we do anticipate that things like hotel rooms uh will go quickly um so if you go to ww ww. ai.org uh there’s a calendar there and you can get more information on all of our events but specifically uh the conference as well conference the register Y what the schedule looks like um Jen you you should come you’d have a great

time you would love it yes yeah the dates are November 6 through the 8th okay I only know that because they always like to have it around my birthday that’s not it’s not a bad birthday present though like no it’s not Scorpio I spent my birthday in a lot of interesting locations not it’s not terrible yeah and I’ve I’ve known some of the um attendees and the speakers that have gone and it’s been incredible positive feedback for for the conferences and um from emotional um intelligence speakers to you know technical Metals speakers like everything you know across the board from leadership to you know the you know the more Metals career focused obviously um speakers it’s it’s been quite interesting to see the lineup that you put on on stage there it’s it’s very well done yeah we try to have something for just about everybody and and the networking is Bar None I with the number of people in attendance from the Loc that they’re at I mean you can everybody’s there yeah only one place it’s great yes well the people that can get in early that the people that can get

there yeah they they get there on time right now good to note too it’s open to all awmi members or even non-members if they’re interested in attending too it’s not just for boards it’s for awmi members well and and on that note um um if your company does not um you know if they’re not like a corporate member I do have to say you are one of the more affordable um associations um you know I joined uh I want to say two years ago two three years ago for the California chapter and I did the the two-year you know deal the two-year sign up and what was it it was 300 bucks yeah yeah for two years for an IND for an individual member right it I mean you can’t even get around to golf sometimes for for for that and so not in California right yes not not at all so if anybody has any you know uh if they’re on the fence about it I mean it it gives you access there’s there’s a there’s even a a a job board that you can if your company is looking

to hire people and you’re trying to recruit more people there’s like another Avenue for you to be able to to find other individuals on there right there’s just so many resources for relatively minimal cost right a lot of bang for your buck and one thing to mention too is our student memberships uh if you are a student full-time in school you can join in the membership price Anna I think is $75 is that right I I think that’s correct yeah yeah we are really interested in in seeing more young people you know join and and Jenifer the price point is really strategic I mean again we’re a nonprofit and we want to be accessible right we’re in this to serve our members we are not necessarily in this to make money right um we we want to be something that company you know is willing to take a chance onc that it’s just one less barrier to entry with that low price point um and Jill you’re right you do get a lot of bang for your buck not only the job uh postings but you know we’ve got a great mentoring program

where you can be paired up with a mentor I mean many women who join this Association are looking for things like mentorship um and so that’s just another benefit of being a member of awmi and there’s there’s probably a million huh there’s a million I I I’ve got a whole spreadsheet on well I do have to say Jill’s been um jel and the California chapter because that’s obviously the one that I’ve had most recent interactions with um has been doing a phenomenal job in terms of Tours um uh we actually you know spoiler alert for when this comes out but um we just relatively recently went to a metal recycling facility um and uh it was the a recycling facility um forly ecology down in Colton California um and so it was really well done tour but like previously to that it was um a new core facility right we had a new core tour yeah and then we had a couple up north we had a a Laboratory Testing we do metal testing we did that we have another one coming up up in Northern California the education part of it we’re really

trying to drive that as much as we can out infor California and all the chapters are so like if you’ve never been able to you know go to a scrapyard or been able to go to like um a you know a a structure Structural Buildings systems you know uh facility before or like the non-destructive testing location or right like that’s not exactly you know a common place for certain people to to go into but it’s it’s it’s been very interesting and beneficial to to see those tours yeah it definitely opens the door for you I know we went on a tour with my company of a mill back east and of our group of salespeople they asked how many people had been on a mill tour and I was the only one who raised my hand and they were all through awmi had already been on three and it’s important enough that they took all of our salespeople and and held a tour for us and I been on several of them I was first time at that location but uh the education is phenomenal and the ability to get your foot into

places like that and be able to see that you can’t you can’t just walk in and ask for a tour so and some things you really can’t fully understand until you see it and that’s why I love the tours I mean I’m a dork like I love Machinery I love a manufacturing line you know give me you know I just love it and but I I really do think and then you know sometimes you know in in very legitimate ways it gives you ideas that you can bring back to your own companies whether it’s traffic control safety you know it really just helps you understand um you know what others are doing best practices um you know sometimes you might have an opportunity to go toward a consumer that maybe you sell to or someone that you buy from right and you typically wouldn’t have that opportunity so it just really helps Bridge some of those those knowledge gaps and strengthens those bonds and Jill I love your example because yeah to be able to say oh yeah I’ve been on a mil tour you know um you know and everybody else in the

room hasn’t you know I think it’s a it’s a pretty good feather in your cap it’s it is and that’s all that’s because of awmi and uh for anybody that’s listening that has not been on a mill tour if you’ve ever get a chance to go to a Metals manufacturing facility where they are physically melting down medals and you have that opportunity do it just do it it is phenomenal uh it’s it’s just an experience that you will never forget and again a little biased I used to work at those facilities but but and preferably in December and not July yes oh yes oh um there is um there is an event where uh uh in Mobile Alabama that’s coming up for um Rema and uh it’s in August and they were looking at a mill tour in um in that region and so I I I wish them well and hydration during time yes so we need a Hydration Station sorry that’s for all those fans who might be watching yeah uh for those that are interested in um you know learning more about awmi um what’s the best way to do a

little research to find out the nearest chapter or to you know get more information about the organization as a whole that’ be straight off our website right Anna yeah I think that um again www.i.org is a great resource it shows you the regions the chapters the leadership uh are history events that are coming up it’s a great place to do the research um and it’s how I found them I had been working for my company for a couple years and was the only female scrap buyer only female in management and while I worked for a really great company I knew that I needed more and so I just Google searched like women scrap metal associations in awmi popped up up um and and I and I joined just from looking at the website I was just confident again the price point was right there were events in my area and it just seemed like it was worth a try so the website is a great resource and then I would just encourage people to you know if there is an event near you or maybe somewhere where you’re traveling to go um

really don’t be afraid sign up as a non-member um and check it out because I think that you’ll be very pleased with whatever you see whether it’s a networking event or an educational event I feel confident that you will U make some great cont contacts and learn more about the association and probably want to join and learn more about your own business the same time yes very much so um before we wrap up I wanted to give um anel an opportunity to see if there were any other points or topics that we may not have covered in the in the 30 minutes that we were uh chatting today has it been 30 minutes already is yes I know right it goes quickly goes so fast I I’m just GNA drive home because we’re really pushing out in California we’ve we’re pushing student membership so if there’s any students watching and you have any interest or think you might be look at the student memberships come to some events uh we’ve got scholarship programs at a lot of chapters for those students as well so this has been such a great chat I mean

the organization really does a a wide variety of events meetings um webinars uh everything from online in person which by the way so speaking of which if you want to get a hold of Anna or Jill you can find them online on LinkedIn probably the best way to get a hold of them so again that’s Jill Donna hu from commercial metal forming and that is Anna Tomkins at SIMS medal um again best way to get a hold of them is on LinkedIn and you can reach the awmi the association of women in the Metal Industries at awmi.net it learned some things learned about the history all the things that you’re working on at ad ofmi so thank you so much for for taking the time and and sharing a little bit about your background as well thank you thank you for having yes Jennifer thanks Jen we really appreciate all that you do to help move women forward in this industry you’ve got a fantastic platform you’re using it responsibly and gracefully and we’re just so glad you’re here so thanks for having us thank you and hopefully I can see you in

Nashville this uh this November here’s open let’s hope thank you