Steel Nation: The Fabrication Industry Podcast

Candace didn't grow up planning to run a fab shop. She spent nine years teaching middle school ELA and math. Then her father called and said he was going to sell the family business... the one built with his brother thirty years earlier, the one her older brother was supposed to inherit before he died of a heart attack.She said yes.What followed was a year and a half on the shop floor learning to fit and weld from the men who'd been there since before she was born.. one of whom told her she'd never amount to anything, and another who looked at her painted nails and said he wasn't sure this was for her. She proved both of them wrong. She also cried in her car most of the way home for the better part of a year.In this episode, Candace talks about walking into plants where engineers assume she's decoration, the outage in Louisiana where a mechanic went over her head about a welding rod and got publicly humiliated by the results, the day she and her dad screamed at each other in front of the whole crew, and the afternoon her quiet 18-year-old son walked into his grandparents' office and told them they weren't going to ruin what his mother had built.It's a conversation about the legacy you didn't ask for, proving yourself in a room that already decided about you, and how badly a grown woman can still need to hear her father say he's proud.

The steel industry has a workforce problem... but is the real issue that it forgot how to tell its own story?In this episode of the Steel Nation Podcast, Myke Wilkerson sits down with the publisher behind Modern Metals and FFJournal to discuss more than three decades of change across steel, manufacturing, publishing, and business. They explore the rise of automation and AI, the generational transition happening inside family-owned companies, and why the industry continues to struggle to attract its next generation of skilled workers.The conversation also examines why companies that continue marketing during difficult economic periods often emerge stronger, why relationships still matter in an increasingly digital world, and what younger leaders must understand as they inherit the future of manufacturing.From carrying on a family legacy to adapting when “the old way” no longer works, this episode is a reminder that technology may transform the industry... but it can never replace the human element.

In this episode, Kyle Bentley shares the story of how a 17-year-old welder’s helper turned into a business owner willing to bet everything on himself.From working overtime at McDonald’s, to practicing welds on lunch breaks, to launching Bentley Welding with only $3,000 in the bank and $70,000 due by Friday, Kyle’s story is a raw look at risk, grit, faith, and the cost of building something real.But this conversation goes beyond business. Kyle opens up about divorce, rebuilding his purpose, serving his community, sitting on the school board, leading nonprofit work, and learning that legacy is less about having your name remembered — and more about leaving people better than you found them.This is a blue-collar story about pressure, progress, and what happens when “grow or die” becomes more than a business strategy.

In this episode, we sit down with metal artist and former firefighter Codie Aljets, whose life changed after a stage four cancer diagnosis at just 39 years old. After losing his career, his strength, and nearly his life, Codie found a new mission through metal art... Creating legacy pieces filled with grit, meaning, and personal story.From the emotional story behind “Strong Like a Bull” to raising nearly $100,000 for cancer support organizations, Codie shares what it means to turn pain into purpose, why tomorrow is never guaranteed, and how art became his way of leaving something lasting behind.This conversation is about cancer, family, masculinity, legacy, faith, grit, and the kind of purpose that only comes from walking through fire and choosing to build something beautiful on the other side.Listen if you’ve ever wondered what it looks like to rebuild your life after everything changes.

In this episode, Barbie the Welder tells how a scene from a movie changed the course of her life, how welding became far more than a craft, and why the art she creates is really a reflection of what she has lived through. From grief, anger, and self-doubt to purpose, craftsmanship, and building a life on her own terms, this conversation goes far beyond metal. It’s about turning pain into fuel, finding identity through creation, and learning how the things we build can ultimately build us.