In this episode of The Fabricator Podcast, she shares how she built EH Metalworks in Enid, Okla., from scratch, starting at 18 with no formal plan, just a passion for metalworking and lessons from her grandfather’s 50-year career. She breaks down the early projects that shaped her small business, how she taught herself design and plasma cutting, and what it’s like managing employees, quoting work, and leading a modern shop. Hughes also talks candidly about hiring challenges, earning respect as a young owner, and finding work beyond a small local market, plus why mentorship and relationships have been critical to her growth.

From Lummi waters to ironwork and large-scale steel art, Cyaltsa Finkbonner’s work connects craft, culture, and salmon. On most days, Cyaltsa Finkbonner is under the hood in a Bremerton, Washington, shipyard. She’s a journeyman ironworker by trade with decades of experience behind her. But there’s another place you’ll find her, too—mentally, creatively, and sometimes literally—posted up by the water. For Cyaltsa, welding isn’t just a skill. It’s a language. And the water is where that language starts to flow.