Beth Brusveen Conley

I attribute my success to hard work. A lot of people say they're lucky, and I used to say that too, but now I realize you're not lucky - you worked hard to get yourself to the position that you're in. That's basically what it is - it's hard work. I've always been willing to take on new challenges and learn new things. Whenever there was a seminar, a class, or something I could take along the way like safety seminars, I was always open to taking those classes and furthering myself. All the stuff you learn along the way helps you in your position because you have a much fuller picture of the company as a whole, so it makes it easier to do your job.

The best career advice I've ever received is to always keep learning. And it's not the mistakes that you make - everyone expects you to make a mistake - it's how you fix the mistakes that are made and how you react to them. Everybody knows you're going to make a mistake. If you make a mistake and you panic and you can't fix it, or you can't make a decision and you freeze, then people know that you're not good under pressure. But if you make a mistake and you're like, okay, yep, I was wrong about that, you admit you're wrong, you make a decision, and you move forward - that's what matters. Some people are paralyzed and can't even make decisions. I've always been told to be confident in the decision that you make, and if you make a mistake, fix it.

I work with so many different young women through my organization and we're constantly trying to help on every level, so everyone has different needs. Some people need to know how to walk onto a construction site, how to dress for work, how to address their boss, or how to ask for a raise - everyone has different things. It's hard to put it into one sentence. But I would say, as a woman, you should always take advantage of an opportunity, and you should always be your best self. As long as you do that, people will always accept you and they will help you move forward. Right now there are so many open positions in the field and in the office for women that they can definitely jump into right away, whether you're going to be a laborer, an operator, or work in quality control. A lot of them don't require college, so you could get a very good paying job without paying $150,000 in student loans.

The biggest challenge right now is that everybody is understaffed on both the union sides and the office sides. A lot of people right now are going to college to find an office job that's 40 hours a week, 5 days a week, or 20 hours a week if they can get away with it, or work from home. But this creates a huge opportunity - there are so many open positions right now in the field and in the office for women that they can definitely jump into right away. Whether you're going to be a laborer, an operator, or work in quality control, there are opportunities throughout. A lot of them don't require college, so you could get a very good paying job without paying $150,000 in student loans.

The values most important to me are honesty, respect, and treating people how you want to be treated. Pretty much all the old school values - honesty, respect, treat people how you want to be treated. It's not hard to be kind. All the important stuff.