welcome to bets on the future where we highlight the various career paths and 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 Metals industry veteran with almost 20 years experience here to highlight these incredible career paths As Told by the women who are living them please give a warm welcome to Karina ceballos Regional sales manager for Coastal wire company a wire manufacturer and distributor of bailing wire which is used in the process of recycled materials Corey brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table get ready for an enlightening conversation about another fascinating role within the recycling and metals industry Our Guest today is Corey ceballos she is the regional sales manager for Coastal wire company and we just want to learn a little bit more about you your experiences what Drew you to metals and maybe have a laugh or two along the way today well I want to thank you for inviting me because when I saw glad that you were interested in inviting people to join to be on the

podcast I immediately volunteered because I’ve never been which we’ll explain a lot later um but also that I think it’s such an important topic the metals industry and the recycling industry and the awareness to the industry because it’s all around us and there’s not many of us that all right oh absolutely I mean I was not aware of this entire industry before a career fair in college so I’m always curious to know how did you find this like how how did this pop up on your radar as a career that’s a very good question and it’s a question to answer every day for people and I love talking about it because I’m actually fourth generation scrap yard I was born and raised in Buffalo New York where I um come from a processing plant that we process corrugated and Plastics and non-ferrous Metals as well as books and various other things that were there to meet them processed and refurbished and I’ve always known this industry as a backbone and um I I am so happy that I’ve come back into this industry now because I laughed for quite a long time and

when covet had I opened the door back up and said I think recycling will have me so back at it well I think it’s a very interesting background that most people are just not aware of at all so it’s very unique that you had that family connection to at least even be aware of what’s available out there I was thinking when I was getting ready for this podcast about I mean if you’re in this if you’re in this industry I can just say like I’m fourth generation yep but if you’re new to this industry I like to explain what I do for a living by saying I work for a company a steel wire company that manufactures steel wire directly through the steel rod that draws it down and creates the wire that holds the material together to transport it to the next phase of its life which would be repurposing it into paper plastic aluminum and into new products absolutely and that product is probably not seen by a lot of people because you’re typically once those Bales are made and the wire goes around them they’re getting loaded into van trailers warehouses

it the public really doesn’t see that side of the recycling industry it’s pretty fun explaining to other parents like at soccer like oh what do you do and Recycling and I get to explain it often but then it opens this conversation for you know people that start asking you questions which I’m so glad they do about you know why we don’t recycle them my particular place that I live uh yes well okay so speaking of clam shells what is one of the most interesting sticks in your mind always your go-to party story to help you describe what you do or in an interesting event that you’ve seen in this industry growing up I think one of my Fondest Memories is watching my mother dabble with Peddlers about material and listening to her kind of talk about where it was going and you know one of my Fondest Memories I had a friend that used to be into well you know metal work and should we build these like beautiful bowls and she would always looking for copper and other materials to to repurpose so she can always come to the yard and my

mother would walk her through and then prepare the materials and like putting two and two together was fun because we could go out and she’d always go oh you know the junkyard with your mom I’m gonna be like really puts in perspective that’s what we do for fun and go to hang out with each other well to be fair there have been many things that I’ve seen in my career where I technically haven’t worked in it in a metal recycling facility before minus some training in that perspective but in my visits just seeing it on a random day that I came into a yard there have been some incredible things that have been in the yard I mean I can only imagine when you’re there every day and over decades that your family has some pretty good stories from that perspective I mean recently I was in a scrap yard in the last couple years and I walked in and there was like a mermaid like copper Mermaid statue in the middle of the office it was amazing it was like as large as a human shaped like a mermaid out of bed and

it’s like so good they couldn’t recycle it they just had it there I can’t there’s so many good big fines is when you would say fines is a good way to put it absolutely yeah and part of the job that I love now um is that I work with recyclers metal recyclers and other recyclers that are in the murfs which is a municipal recycling facility um and I get to go to those places every day and have like see that stuff and have those stories it always makes you think I’ll let you see later you know a mermaid in the middle of the office there definitely is and well you are joining me uh in person if anybody could pick up from our backgrounds these podcasts are typically going to be virtual because we are all over the country we’re around the world but you just happen to be in the LA area visiting a Murph or a few of them um on that trip so tell me a little bit more about kind of your day-to-day what your job entails for Coastal wire well I should first mention I feel really

fortunate to be able to come back to this industry in this role because I’m an hour bounding sales person that gets to meet face to face with operators and maintenance managers at these facilities and um the intention is to get them to get interested in coastal wire and use our product which is a great product by a company that’s been open for 44 years check out their website yes so but I I came back to this industry and coming into this role I get to meet those people and I feel really fortunate that I got to come back because I took a long time away and now to come back and um have the experiences to meet with people again and walk through the scrap yards again and mercy again is it’s been great been really really fun and eye-opening and I never thought I would never put them back but I’m so happy that I did well you have the opportunity and I think covet has played uh a part in this in terms of getting more companies in our industry to accept the remote work aspect of it for instance where’s

your where are you based out of and where’s your company based out that’s a great that’s that is a great question so um I’m actually based in Bend Oregon which is an adult playground which is beautiful um lovely tongues to do and I really enjoy living in Bend Oregon and I work for a company based in South Carolina that is where the mill is based and I’m periodically travel back to South Carolina and visit others and visit the mill um but I am based on the west coast and South to the West Coast so it’s been so cool I was never a remote worker with it you know I was in sales previously but never a remote worker so then I I have to say like I really enjoy it like it’s pretty awesome it’s like the time change yes it’s pretty nice it’s uh the west coast is a little bit of a best kept secret when it comes to that your emails typically wind down by two or three o’clock because your East Coast folks have already gotten home for the day this is true and um I’m a parent so a

little alone time with 6 a.m to get through my emails always a nice day 100 absolutely yeah so you had a knowledge of the industry prior to coming into the industry but what was that Catalyst moment what what caused you or what drove you to seek a career the first time and then the second time in this industry that’s a really good question um so I think the federal movement is I was working in a Hospitality in prior to covid and when covet hit and I was in sales for fancy beautiful properties all over the West not bad adventure travel all right yeah it was just like over uh temporarily and I was you know I’m a I’m a my salary accounts in my family so getting back to work was important do a furlough so I started like combing through Linkedin which is a great resource to look there to try to find jobs and I saw a job posting for a regional sales manager for Coastal wire company someone that has previous experienced with bailing wire and recycling industry and I looked at it and was like you know not only

do I build this company because of you know previous work for my family’s business am I ready like am I ready to come back to the recycling industry and kind of leave behind your hospitality industry and um I took a leap of faith and I’m so glad I did because like this sense of humor the like the kindness the the feel-good part of it the part that you know you’re actually helping in a conscious way feels great at the end of the day and making that choice like was one of the best decisions I ever made I think you bring up a really good point that most people don’t think about you can change careers you don’t have to get started in one area and continue going down that path you mentioned that you were in Hospitality before this what was your education what did you did you go to college did you major anything like sure where was that path yeah I definitely was raised in the scrap yard so my parents were like as soon as possible get a job and like the Four Seasons or like the Ritz Carlton so

we can visit you because that is ideal I think that’s for all of it you’re kind of interesting genius parenting yeah it was um and I immediately you know took that advice and moved to Las Vegas after Hospitality school um and worked in Vegas like did it like check it off the list decided you know that was a great starting point and moved all over the West for regional properties doing that but the the thing that I never got from it and I mean it was fun to save the fiance Hotel Dallas no that’s pretty it’s pretty nice but the thing I never got for it was like a fulfillment and it’s interesting that going back to from the fancy industry to maybe something that’s a little more blue collar I felt like it was gonna be weird at first and then it all of a sudden like suited me and suited my personality and student you know actually like you might my personal goals and like how I kind of viewed myself as a business person did you see a lot of the skills that you had gained in the hospitality World transfer

over into Metals a hundred percent like I think I still daily people are like oh notice that you really care about the little things and I do because a lot of my job is you know making sure that my customers that I would have been have what they need and organizing and the way to to align to ordering and getting them what they need because there’s Logistics but they’re nowhere as scary as as Hospitality so I know that those tools that I you know built throughout the years in my toolbox to deal with the deal with customers and deal with Brides which will be honest um really got me in this industry because it is like it makes me laugh at the end of the day it makes me happy part of why we’re doing this is to raise awareness about the metals industry and just the variety of careers that are in this space what would you tell someone that’s even considering going into the medals World from a completely you know we’re going to say unrelated but let’s be honest everything’s pretty much related to the mouse industry but unrelated field um

what would you say to them about coming in I I actually just recently tried to recruit two people into the recycling industry um I’ve been sharing your your LinkedIn post often because I think it’s awesome and I I tell them this I tell them you know in this industry it’s it’s small and it’s mighty and it’s completely undetected and if you want an opportunity to really make more money or get it you know High have a higher position or challenge yourself in a new way we’re green and we’re looking for people to grow with us um I can’t think of another industry where you could step into the room and learn like within a couple years on where you need to be and really grow your potential like salary your potential awareness and your potential like customer service skills because in all rooms oh absolutely it’s something that’s been so eye-opening to me over the years is that you can get experience in this industry and then you can go wherever if we ever have to move to a different state a different town a different country I know based on my experience

I will find a job under a person like there is scrap metal everywhere there is recycling centers everywhere and there’s no lack of awareness that needs to be built around the issue absolutely and something else along those lines is the metal recycling world is kind of the OG when it comes to sustainable practices I was actually looking this up like the recycling industry as old as the United States yes um like from a business that that closed at 120 years old people would drive by the door and say in 1912 like a business started in 1912 and like we’re not even unique that’s so many other companies as well um it’s crazy how the things that people didn’t want to have now I mean there’s so much history within this industry that’s probably yeah it could be a whole series whole series but just you know turning like Opera speaking turning opportunities into value like jumping into the industry is opening new opportunities and you know getting what you can with those opportunities because the other thing about this industry is that if you work hard you can you can definitely go really far

oh absolutely the networking in this industry is fascinating to me for as large of an industry in terms of affecting everyday life that it is it’s relatively small in terms of the networking here because people come into this industry and then they stay in this industry and so there’s a lot of history and a lot of relationships between people so you can do the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon so easily in this industry because so-and-so used to work at this company and then they moved to this company and then they you know their cousin works over here and one of their college buddies is over here or you know I used to you know work with this person now they’re the president of this company and it’s just it’s fascinating to see people’s careers over the years really grow in this industry I don’t think I’ve ever been to a trade show is rare or voice Expo within this industry that I haven’t walked away that was so fun I got friends I got people yes I hung out with women in Recycling Group which is like a newly important you know

um for injury which maybe a whole other podcast there’s there’s so much there’s so fun they’re so fun yes they open bar every event like sure I recently went to St Louis for a metal recycling event um for those who are in the industry it was Israel’s consumers night put on by the Mid-America chapter for those outside of that Israel stands for The Institute of the scrap recycling Industries and it is essentially the association that helps us run all the recycling facilities you know help them from a lobbying standpoint safety education all that anyway I’m trying to increase the uh participation the awareness of the metals industry and so I decided I’m going to bring a friend and I’m out in La we’re in the chief L.A Clubhouse currently we can get in a minute that’s amazing yes uh 10 out of 10 recommend and uh I brought one of my friends who’s completely in a different field to this event and she’s like well what are we going to learn what’s what’s uh what’s on the agenda what conference what um what session who’s speaking I just was like this is

a networking event this is straight up fifteen hundred two thousand of your closest friends at a bar basically trying to connect the dots who does business with what you know have dinner establish the relationships because in this industry it’s it’s really all relationship based right and we more or less get to be paid to befriend each other it’s kind of an amazing opportunity along those lines and it it’s led to some great friendships it’s it’s really been a wonderful experience yeah it’s it’s welcoming I mean it’s based in family-run businesses and like it’s so many years ago that way that you show up and needs a show up at events and you’re like seeing third generation especially you know up in the Pacific Northwest where where I’m based with Israeli and I’m looking at so many generations it’s so heartwarming to see it it’s great it’s so fun it really is and to put the metals industry in perspective you have essentially the the start of it is in the mining the ore and the raw materials which is where you know the scrap metal the metal recycling facilities come into play then

you go into the actual producers of the metals like the steel mills the aluminum smelters Etc and then you go into the service centers aspect of it which is those are the ones that are taking the metal that’s either in coil or other forms and then converting them into usable material that’s either going to be painted or processed on the line and ultimately wind up in a car on your roof an aluminum can to drink out of whatever it is it’s the full spectrum and once you learn Metals you can essentially hop anywhere along that supply chain right and Coastal wire is full circle on that because they’re also purchasing raw materials as well 100 and producing an end product exactly that also then in turn goes back into the raw materials Market exactly we’re we’re in addition producing equipment these days to tie wire um and it’s all based I mean all of our pricing is based on the steel industry um actually the wire industry is still interesting in the sense that when the end user isn’t looking to purchase new material they’re still getting quotes and bids every day which is

something that we’re not really used to in like our everyday common world like I need to get a price on that because the price changed but in the government in these worlds and in the world of the scrap industry of the of metals that’s just a really fun daily encouragement hotels 100 most folks probably are not aware that metals are a commodity that trade every single day every hour in some regards that you constantly have to either be aware of what the Market’s doing or plan and purchase accordingly to be able to mitigate those ups and downs coven was a real eye opener but all I have to say really is like you know during covet there was a lot of jobs that were being lost and you know what was booming the metals industry the recycling industry there was not enough material to keep up with the demands yep for anyone because of people you know having a need to reinvest and buy new things and just start with human nature to consume this is this is the foolproof industry that has been proven to be successful so anyone that wants that feels

like they just need an opportunity they should really come aboard all over your local government like yes yes absolutely you can start off the Murph um your local scrap yard metal recycling facility I mean look up a mill in your area I mean these these companies are on LinkedIn you’re talking about family-run businesses there are publicly traded companies that have 30 40 50 000 employees I mean it’s the full gamut if you want to work for um a smaller business those options exist if you want to work for a publicly traded company by all means get on board get some stock I’d go that direction it was just is women from Israel and recycling about another woman who was in the hospitality industry and having her you know looking to move move forward and I just like kind of put a feeler out there at one of our meeting like do you recommend a woman getting into this industry like it was no experience like after they’ve been over or after they’ve been us around here then they get the initial like like out of the way yes and they were all like

oh I mean just send them my email because always hiring it’s like let’s look like a mountain it is and it’s something that they’re always hiring for because they’re growing the population in the United States is growing our demand for goods is growing anytime that you build a building you buy a car you replace the faucet on your your kitchen sink it’s metal it’s it’s everywhere and we as consumers keep growing that demand yeah and so you’re ultimately always going to have a demand for your job if you’re in the metals industry it’s it’s just straight up always going to be there I think skills in a translated over really well too besides just like customer service skills and sales based skills are like commodity sales like learning you know something it always is great that I’m like no I now know terminology of what people what the recital industry calls certain things which is different terminology you should look up scrap University for that yes um but it’s so fun to learn and like you said you can kind of work anywhere like you know not only could you probably do my job

in the back of a sprinter van when you’re traveling all around the West into the recycling centers you could also do it um all over the world because like you said in this industry is all over the world it it really is there have been folks that have reached out on LinkedIn that have been from outside North America the business dealings that I’ve had throughout my career have been a good chunk outside the United States were there anything from your your research that you wanted to research at this button yes uh yeah from from something like not important like something about your main goals and objectives gotcha which were your you were basically understanding too yes but um and I thought about that and I think of a good objective for anyone in this industry is just to learn and like I want to learn every day and be exposed to new experiences every day and hear from new customers and new people every day about what they need because the one small Joy from my job that I really love and when someone is like hey um I don’t know if I need

your product but I’m looking for this other product which this pretty much happens every day at a scrap yard in The Meadows industry too and even being dealt with salesman it’s like I have this list on my wall of things people would like to find who need and every time I cross name something about this because I found someone else that had it there’s like this very real driving that happens and it’s it’s something that is very satisfying right it’s it’s great right finding them like wire hangers like big someone’s day right we’re so we’re sitting in the LA Chief Clubhouse currently we’re in one of the uh the meeting rooms in here um fantastic we’re actually um technically on the corner of Melrose Place which I couldn’t even believe the address this is this is probably the most Ally thing I’ve done uh to date um but Chief is an organization for professional women and I have been participating in it for almost about a year now and the woman that I’ve met in this in this organization have been incredible and what I’ve noticed though and it could just be a regional

thing because La is not exactly your manufacturing Hub right not not to say that there isn’t Metals companies here there are they’re just not to the scale of if you were in the South Midwest East Coast right that’s really where the majority of our Manufacturing in the United States is but I’m at a happy hour here the other night and I go to show up Metals industry night right or excuse me industry nine and they they want me to look at a list of 20 Industries and I’m supposed to like fit into that bucket and I was I was like okay medals okay not on the list Manufacturing not on the list I went down I was like industrial I’m like what I even looked up Recycling and Recycling and you know that sustainability none of that none of what we do was included in that list of Industry that being said we are in the LA area so it’s probably Tech it’s probably entertainment it’s it okay it’s probably that but what was interesting is that when I started meeting some of these one here if I started off with leading with mouse

blank stairs didn’t know how to fall out of jewelry no no no nothing yeah uh manufacturing nothing got got blank stairs the moment I started changing how I phrased it and started including sustainability recycling circular economy everything that we work on in our industry it was like a light bulb went off and it became the Hot Topic industry and the recycling industry to join 100 it’s absolutely it’s really cool that you’re bringing your experience of this industry to these other Industries because you know honestly you’ve seen what they do when they tear down sets in movie studios like didn’t even think about that I mean that that could be some money making business right there I feel like my history yes I feel like we need to start a mobile scrap yard that follows the entertainment industry around their various sets and or maybe we can just be the experts of oh you’re you’re going to do that in Birmingham Alabama I know a few yards in that area or you’re going to go up to Vancouver I know a few yards up in that area even just providing that type of service to

the industry absolutely my twin sister who is in advertising um for a very long time um would always say like Oh weird you should see at South by Southwest like what happens and stuff like I wish they could recycle this one way because she author from the scrap yard and she like see that like starts calculating and like maybe that’s why because maybe that’s the next few business strategy just yes and if you’re listening to this podcast feel free to Loop Us in on that idea appreciate it if somebody has the bandwidth out there to launch this new business you’re welcome and enjoy that but that’s that’s another example of when somebody talks about Metals it’s not necessarily you know a blue collar job it’s not necessarily a white collar or a no-caller right there are services that surround our industry that people have the skills today to utilize yeah especially now I mean in this digital age like can you think of a better student industry that needs more awareness than recycling then there’s all this there’s information out there saying that you know things don’t get recycled that’s that’s not true

things that recycled every single day and you know I think we’re scared of the logisticals and the way that he looks to show those images you know like I recently watched her repurpose um produced by Sierra which was awesome and it was like the first time we’re watching a video of what it looks like inside a processing plan what it looks like there and if we can just build more awareness then maybe we could kind of get over that fear of saying like it is it’s not perfect it’s it’s very clean I have to say these days it’s cleaner than it’s ever been in the body but it’s it’s not perfect looking but it is what it is and we’re doing our best and we’re the ones cleaning it up yes we’re the ones working to really keep it in this cycle and keep it in the Stream absolutely if you want to make an impact on the environment on the climate if you want to get into that world the metals industry is doors wide open there are a lot of career tracks in this industry that you can make a difference in

apps that you would be shocked at how just little awareness and for instance at our local school we have a we have a um person who oversees all of the like green and ESG if you will happenings throughout the school programs um which is great because it’s like kind of posting and it’s like all these things well I mean what happens to Deaths and the chairs and the buildings and why are we not teaching about the Demolition and how demolition is recyclable materials so yes concrete would talking about metals and building foundations and how those get broken down and go to a local I mean those are also sustainable things that no one talks about but happen every single day and should be taught absolutely and on that note I hope people have listened to us heard us right learned a little bit from today in terms of what’s available out there it’s so exciting to like get invited and be in Chief like the chief Clubhouse obviously the game friends but it is right yeah and thank you so much Corey for for coming out I appreciate it I know that you have

a long day ahead of you you’re on your way back so I really appreciate you uh uh trying to get through the LA traffic over here pleasure truly appreciate it uh and if you’ve got any questions for Corey we’ll put up her contact information on the YouTube aspect of it and uh for now you know keep your eyes and ears open I think you’re going to see a lot more metal in your life now