Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Thank you! [Applause] [Music] Thank you! [Applause] [Music] Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you are in the world. It’s Dr. Jan Fortman with Relationship Matters TV. I hope everyone is having a beautifully blessed morning, afternoon, or evening. We are here in Chicago and we are so happy. You know why? Because we have some decent weather. It’s 71 degrees and it’s sunny. And wait a minute, we had turned the heat off, but then a couple of days ago we had to turn the heat back on because it went down to 40-something.

So, oh, and guess what happened with us? You wonder why I’m doing all this talking? Well, because my guest is having trouble getting in. Now, I always say technology is wonderful when it works, but sometimes it does not work. But anyway, we had a huge blackout and my guest is a master electrician. Hopefully, she can get in. All of a sudden, everything went dark. We were watching TV and boom, everything went out. It was like, what is going on?

Fortunately, I had my little phone and we found a couple of flashlights. Then we found out that it was an outage and it was the whole down the street on the other side of the street behind us. But let me tell you what really got to me: a thought that can happen at any time where you have no electricity, which means you cannot charge your phone. We panicked because my phone only had 11% as far as my battery was concerned, and my husband only had 33%. We were scrambling to find their flashlights.

So I said, you know what? This is a lesson. Oh, here she comes! This is a lesson. Oh, bloody, oh my goodness gracious! Hey, wait a minute! I was giving them the story about the power outage and the lesson was to always have your cell phone charged to a hundred percent or have a battery charger because I panicked. Just think if it was zero and we had put them on the charger and we would have been cut off, you know? It was just like a lesson. I told him, number one, we’re going to have a flashlight in every room. That’s number one. And number two, always if we’re not using our cell phones, to have them on the charger just in case.

So anyway, so happy you got here, Robin! What I was saying is that we have an electrician coming on, a master electrician. So let me introduce you. I’m so glad you got here. I was saying technology works when it’s wonderful, you know, when it works. It’s wonderful when it doesn’t work. So anyway, let me tell them all about you a little bit before we get into our conversation.

Robin Tasco
Thank you, Dr. Jan, for having me! I’m just so happy you are here. I know you were having computer issues, and it happens all the time.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, I was just looking at texting close to Texas. So first question: why did you decide to become an electrician?

Robin Tasco
I wish I could say that it was something that I thought of as a kid that I wanted to do because I actually have four brothers, but it wasn’t. It really wasn’t until after I had a child and my stepfather, who was a master carpenter, said basically, “You got to learn how to be able to fend for you and your son.” So really, that was my why. I didn’t really give a whole lot of thought to it. It was an idea that was presented to me. Actually, let me back up because as a master carpenter, my dad was actually trying to get me in a carpenter’s union. He introduced me to other women who were already in the industry.

When one of them called me one day and told me that an opportunity had opened up for electricians, I just jumped at the opportunity. I got blessed because I got in the first time.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
What do you mean you got in the first time?

Robin Tasco
Well, what happens is in Philadelphia, their apprenticeship program for electricians only opens up applications once a year, the first two weeks in April. If you miss that window, you have to wait until the next year. You also have qualifications. You have to have one year of passing algebra, you had to be at least 18 years of age. At the time when I got in, they had an age limit of 18 to 24. Once you reached the age of 24, which a lot of people did, you could no longer apply.

So I go back to the late 80s when I got in. When we got a new business representative in 1992, they changed the laws here in Philadelphia. So I applied, and you know, the way I was raised, when you go for an interview, you get dressed in a suit. So of course, I got my nails done, I’m in a suit. I am not what they’re looking for, and I’m small. I’m only five foot two and I was much smaller than the others. But that’s what I mean when I say that I applied the first time, passed the test, and when I got to the interview process, I had already met a lot of guys who sat on that committee. So I already had a reputation of showing up for work and doing the work.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So what’s the difference between a regular electrician and a master electrician?

Robin Tasco
Okay, so I’m a certified electrician. I went through the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which is a union here in the city of Philadelphia. I went through a five-year college accredited program through that apprenticeship program. So that’s what makes me a certified electrician, meaning that if you had, unfortunately, a fire or something that happened in your home, most cases the firefighter will tell you to get a certified electrician to do it.

However, the mastering of electrician comes in when you have to pass a state test for whatever city you’re in. So I went beyond being a master so that I could have my own business. To be a business owner as an electrician, I had to take a test to be a master electrician. So I took that and got my master’s so that I could do the work in the city of Philadelphia as a licensed electrician.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Oh, so I looked up some statistics. Yes ma’am, and there are over 327 million 547 thousand master electricians currently employed in the United States. Only 5.7 percent of all master electricians are women, while 94.3 percent are men. Why do you think that?

Robin Tasco
Well, I know that it’s a non-traditional trade, and in most cases, it’s more mental than anything. The work is not hard, especially if someone is training you properly to do the work. It’s a very easy job being an electrician once you get the proper training and know what you’re doing. But I came along at a time where men would walk right up to you and say, “You’re taking the job of a man,” and have a problem telling you that.

I also found out over the years, just life experience will show up, and you’ll find out. I actually was working outside of an electrical closet and I heard a white man and a black man. The black guy was talking about me, and I could hear what he was saying. Their concept is that you’re going to have children and you’re going to leave the business, so why train them?

So a lot of women don’t get in because of the harassment that you have to go through in order to just stay. Most of the time, they don’t want to deal with that, you know, the harassment of not being able to get trained properly. It’s really a mental game that they play on you that weakens you.

Now for me, I grew up with four brothers, and they were my first mentors. They never told me I couldn’t do anything. So when my mother told them that I had to go with them, they didn’t say, “Oh, you know, why?” They showed me what to do.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so a question came in here from Jacqueline Rogers. She says, “Do you see more young people in general going into the trades?”

Robin Tasco
I don’t see that, but I think that the information is still not getting out there in the masses the way that we need for it to happen. I have four sons, and right now I have two in the trade. One is not in the electrical trade, but he’s in the trade, and my youngest son is in the apprenticeship program right now here in the city of Philadelphia. So women really, we are the future of the trades.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So now you started your own business?

Robin Tasco
Yes. So before, I was working for an electrical company. This is something that I tell my sons: my electrical business and my electrical job, when I work for the union, because I’m a union electrician, when I put that hat on, that’s my investor to be able to do the other things that I need to do.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so when you go on a job, they know that you’re in the union, so they have to pay you the same.

Robin Tasco
Yes, unless, of course, you’re your own business, and then you’re the one who decides what it is that you’re doing, you know, how much you charge.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so can you do jobs in other states, or is it just Philadelphia?

Robin Tasco
I’m licensed in the city of Philadelphia. If I want to do a job in Chicago, I have to be licensed in Chicago as a master electrician there. So I can, but I have to take a test and reapply all over again.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, got a text in here. It says, “As a master electrician, what is the most difficult part of your job?”

Robin Tasco
For me, it’s the back office stuff, and that’s where I have a problem with growing because I know how to be an electrician. I know how to show up and do the work. I know how to facilitate my workers, but the back office stuff, you know, the estimates that come in, the different stuff that I would have to do in order to get a bigger job, I call back office stuff.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so can you give us some tips?

Robin Tasco
Absolutely! So first thing I want to say is I’m going to give out a free ebook that will give you some safety tips that you can use around your house.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wow, that sounds great!

Robin Tasco
So here’s my disclaimer: the stuff that I tell you about, I would say that if you’re not comfortable or if you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t do it. Get a certified electrician to do the work for you.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so what are some of the tips?

Robin Tasco
Your panel box has circuit breakers in it. Your breaker will trip if you have too much stuff on this line that your wire is coming through. It’s an overcurrent safety device designed to trip to save you from fires or anything dangerous.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
So how do you reset it?

Robin Tasco
You never stand in front of it when resetting it. You should stand to the side of your breaker and switch it all the way to the off position and then switch it back.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Okay, so what else?

Robin Tasco
You can also check your receptacles and switches. Here’s a 15 amp receptacle and a 20 amp receptacle. The difference is one has a slot that looks like it’s winking at you.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wow, this is great information!

Robin Tasco
Yes, and I have a free ebook for you, Doc. The link is www.tascoart.com/backslash/book. You go there and I have some more safety tips for you.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Thank you so very much, Robin! You have given so much value to us.

Robin Tasco
Thank you! I’m so glad it helped.

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
I want you to have a beautiful, blessed rest of your evening.

Robin Tasco
You too! Bye-bye!

Dr. Janice Hooker Fortman
Wow, this has been great! Thank you all for being with me today. I really appreciate it. I want you to be with me next week when I have another amazing guest on the show. Have a beautiful, blessed rest of your morning, afternoon, or evening. Bye-bye!