#63 Alex McNamara | How the Trades Saved Her Life

Alex McNamara is a technical director, welder, rigger, and Yale School of Drama graduate who installed the turntable for the original Hamilton production, led 600 workers on a $300 million Soundstorm build in Saudi Arabia, and built her career one job site at a time as one of the only women in the room. She's also the founder of Built Pretty — which she started a year ago on a forklift at an LA art fair and has since grown to 350k+ followers.This episode covers the tools she keeps on her belt at every festival (including the Klein 11-in-1 and a tape measure trick most people don't know), the recovery story that led her to the trades, what it actually looks like to be a woman in carpentry and rigging, and why she left Juilliard and a one-bedroom on the Upper West Side to go back to freelance.What you'll learn:The tools worth having on your belt at any live event or job siteHow recovery led Alex to the trades — and why working with her hands changed everythingWhat Hamilton taught her about building simple, effective setsHow she led 600 workers in Saudi Arabia on the $300M Soundstorm build — and learned construction Arabic to do itThe honest reality of being a woman in carpentry and riggingHow a forklift video turned into a 350k-person audience in under a yearWhy the trades are dying in America — and what Built Pretty is doing about itBuilt Pretty on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/built.pretty/ Alex's full tool list: https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-81ff6575Sponsor:MOC is looking for new volunteers to help share the joys of live music. Volunteer Guides are the friendly faces who host the programs as volunteer musicians perform hopeful songs to put a smile on the faces of hospital patients, families, and caregivers. To learn more about becoming a Musicians On Call volunteer, visit https://www.musiciansoncall.org.Alex McNamara bio:Alex McNamara is a technical director, welder, rigger, and construction educator based in Nashville, Tennessee. She is a Yale School of Drama graduate and has worked across Broadway, large-scale music festivals, and live entertainment builds around the world.She is also the founder of Built Pretty, where she teaches the language of the trades through construction storytelling, tool history, and jobsite education to a growing audience across social media.Find your next Gigg and join the #1 community for the live events industry: https://www.giggs.live/Stay up to date:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/giggs.liveYoutube: https://youtube.com/@giggs-liveLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/giggs-llc/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@giggs.liveHost: Nikki Sanz