Plumby Mummy’s Inspiring Take on Plumbing, Bias, and ADHD

Discover how Sophie Keepence, “Plumby Mummy” is breaking barriers as a female plumber in a traditionally male-dominated trade. In this inspiring interview, Sophie shares her path into the plumbing industry, from navigating trade college and building confidence to overcome challenges when learning in mid-life, whilst confronting stereotypes about women in skilled trades. 

She talks openly about living with ADHD, highlighting the importance of mental health awareness and the power of a supportive online community. 

Listeners will hear why Sophie loves the variety of plumbing work, her vision for the future, and how representation encourages more women to pursue careers in plumbing and other construction trades. 

Packed with humour, practical insights, and career advice, this episode is a must-listen for anyone interested in plumbing careers, trade apprenticeships, or empowering women in construction. 

👉 Don’t miss a single episode! Subscribe to the podcast on your favourite platform and follow us on social media for more stories that inspire and inform. 

Key Takeaways 

• Sophie decided to pursue plumbing while pregnant with her youngest child. 
• She faced challenges in college, feeling out of place among younger students. 
• Sophie found her passion in plumbing after trying tiling and electrics. 
• The plumbing course included a lot of theory, which surprised her. 
• She struggled to find an apprenticeship due to lack of on-tool experience. 
• Sophie learned practical skills from experienced plumbers she worked with. 
• She enjoys the variety of work in plumbing, as no two jobs are the same. 
• Sophie faces gender bias in the plumbing industry but remains determined. 
• She emphasizes the importance of self-care and managing ADHD in her daily life. 
• Sophie aims to educate homeowners on basic plumbing knowledge to prevent damage. 

Follow Me:

Instagram: @Lifeofafemaletradie_

Facebook: Life Of A Female Tradie

Follow Guest:

Instagram: @plumby.mummy

Chapters 

00:00 Introduction to Plummy Mummy 

08:33 Journey into Plumbing: A New Beginning 

11:31 Navigating College and Trade Skills 

13:01 Challenges of Entering the Plumbing Industry 

14:37 Building Confidence and Skills on the Job 

16:52 The Excitement of a Varied Work Life 

19:41 Facing Gender Bias in the Trade 

22:45 The Importance of Representation in Trades 

24:50 Future Aspirations and Learning Opportunities 

27:18 Basic Plumbing Knowledge for Homeowners 

28:47 Typical Work Week and Learning Experiences 

31:13 Social Media and Community Support 

33:17 Living with ADHD: Challenges and Strategies 

41:36 Mental Health Awareness and Support 

48:39 Quickfire Questions and Fun Insights 

51:03 Advice for Future Tradespeople 

Transcript

Sophie (00:10)
I'm Sophie and I go as Plummy Mummy. It's quite self-explanatory really, so I'm doing plumbing and I'm a mummy, so that's where it all came from.

Laura (00:22)
Amazing. Well, welcome to Life of a Female Tradie Sophie. It's awesome to have you on the show. No worries at all, no worries. Let's just, yeah, let's get straight into learning about you. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into your trade?

Sophie (00:28)
Thanks for having me.

Yeah, so I'm 38 and I've got two kids, big age gap, one's early 18 and one's five. So it's difficult to sort of navigate the two ⁓ and they've got additional needs as well. it can be challenging to say the least. But I decided when I was pregnant with Phoebe, my youngest, to take the plunge and I thought, right, because I...

Laura (00:50)
Yeah.

Okay.

Sophie (01:05)
At that point I was doing, managing student lettings So I was doing some, know, repairs and stuff along with managing them, intra-forest it was. And I thought I can't do this anymore because there's a lot of foreign students, they were phoning all through the night for stuff like changing a light bulb. And I just had the baby and I thought I can't do this. So I always wanted to do plumbing and I thought I could kind of afford to go to college and

Laura (01:08)
Okay.

Sophie (01:30)
you know, not be earning sort of thing. thought I'm just going to now on, it's now or never, I'm not going any younger. So I decided to bit the bullet and went back to college. So sort of it was daunting. I'm just sat there with all, you know, kids, same age as my kid. Just feeling like an absolute fossil. But there was two other people and they were sort of around my age. That was nice. And they dropped out and I think there's one left.

Laura (01:45)
Yeah.

Sophie (01:57)
And he was pretty nice. But, you know, I think it was easier for him to navigate because he didn't have a family. So we could work around and go into college, etc. I found it difficult the first sort of year because it's like, you know, getting to grips with that sort of life again. Yeah, yeah. And it's, you know, it's trying to keep all the stuff in your head, like all the information they're bombarding you with. And I hated school. So I was just like,

Laura (02:03)
Okay.

Learning again, isn't it? Yeah.

⁓

Sophie (02:24)
I

Laura (02:24)
no.

Sophie (02:24)
went and bought my little backpack and my pencil case and off I went. Stationery, I used love stationery, getting my new one for school every September. Yeah, so I started off writing tiling because you had to do one that come along with another, you couldn't just go straight into one trade. So I started off actually, I'm lying, before that.

Laura (02:29)
Best part. ⁓ Me too. Yes. Love that.

Okay.

Sophie (02:51)
Honestly, it was a Saturday course. So I done a touchdown on basic plumbing, tiling and electrics on Saturday courses. And I absolutely hated electrics Hated it. And I think, I think it's so fiddly. And because of my concentration, I'm just like, it just, I got overwhelmed. I just thought I hate it. I wanted to throw it. I was just like, no. So tiling, I loved tiling.

Laura (02:58)
Cool.

Why?

Okay.

Yeah.

Sophie (03:18)
I really enjoyed the tiling and I was um, in our in whether to continue with the tiling. Um, but I felt like there's only so far you can sort of go with tiling. And I just thought there was more scope if I went into the plumbing side of things. And that's why I went there for them in the first place anyway. Um, obviously I could look, I could live in a lot more than tiling, but I think I could do that hand in hand as I go along with the plumbing sort of thing. So.

Laura (03:18)
Yep.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah, I can.

Yeah, definitely.

Sophie (03:47)
I went on to year two, a second year in plumbing and heating

And that was a lot of theory. A lot, a lot of theory. Yeah. And I was surprised because I thought people were more hands on. There was a lot of theory and it wasn't just plumbing related, it's all construction based stuff. So it could be doing with foundations of houses, know, how they demolish buildings, except it went into everything. ⁓ So it was interesting. I don't think it was what I

Laura (03:55)
Was it? Okay.

Mm.

wow.

Yeah.

Sophie (04:17)
originally thought the course was going to be like. And when I was nearing the end of that year two they told us, well, there's actually not a progression for level three in college. And I was like, what? What do you mean? So I was in like level two progression, like you can't go into your third year. And I sort of felt a bit like in limbo then because I thought, have I wasted my time?

Laura (04:20)
Okay.

Sophie (04:42)
doing this last couple of years and they said, well, the only way you can progress now is by doing an apprenticeship.

Laura (04:42)
Yeah, what-

Okay. Wow.

Sophie (04:52)
So

I thought, right. So I looked into it, but a lot of them were like, well, you'll have to do four years of an apprenticeship. And I thought, yeah, I'll be on a walking frame by the time I finish that. So I thought, no, just can't. it's not just that. If I hadn't done the two years in college, I'd still be doing four years. So was like those two years were pointless, like done in college. And I think it's really difficult for...

Laura (04:58)
It's a long time, isn't it?

Yeah, I can see.

Sophie (05:18)
progression from college then to sort of get into the industry. Because I found personally, I messaged about 500 plumbers and I mean I phoned them, I emailed, I messaged on socials and because I had no on-tool experience they didn't want to know, they weren't interested. Yeah and I was thinking yeah but I've done my thing and now I've had some on-tool experience I realize that

Laura (05:37)
That's the problem, isn't it? Yeah.

Sophie (05:46)
I've got a lot to learn now, but I really didn't have a clue. Like I really didn't. You know, I left college with the basics of pipe bending, you know, how to use everything. But in college, they don't, you know, I left there not knowing how to change a tap, not knowing how to change a radiator. They don't teach you the everyday stuff that people need you to do. So I understand.

Laura (05:49)
Okay.

Okay.

Wow.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You'd ex- you'd definitely expect

that, wouldn't you?

Sophie (06:13)
Yeah, so I completely understand and I think maybe on the level three, you'd learn if you think that would be the bare basics of stuff, you know, that people are going to phone you for on a regular thing for. So I was lucky, you know, I was lucky enough to have a couple of plumbers that have let me go and work with them, you know, taught me all different ways of doing things. And now I'm confident at changing taps and, you know, doing radios and stuff. And it's building my confidence up as I go along.

Laura (06:24)
Exactly.

Okay.

Awesome. Brilliant.

Sophie (06:42)
I'm just like, yes, I'm doing it, I'm doing it. I don't need an apprenticeship yet. So that's,

yeah, so that's sort of how I got into it and how I sort of navigated up to this point. I've still got a long way to go, but.

Laura (06:53)
Okay.

Well, you you've got to start somewhere and you know, it is, I think with trades, any trade, maybe not so much electrics because you have to have the safety certificates, et cetera, to handle electrics. But I think with a lot of trades, the best way to learn is on the tools. you know, the fact that you...

Sophie (07:00)
of course.

Mm.

definitely.

Laura (07:25)
pushed and pushed and pushed and messaged so many people credit to you because it's like applying for jobs, isn't it really? It's a numbers game. Someone will. Yeah.

Sophie (07:33)
Yeah, and they just ignore you, most of them, they just they don't even reply and you just it's

so disheartening and because like this is the outlook that they give out and a lot of women may think this, females in any trades, that we need you, we need females in the trades and try and make it sound like you can just sort of slip into a trade but it's just it's that is not the case, it's really not and

Laura (07:41)
Yeah.

No.

Sophie (08:01)
Just because you're a female doesn't make it any easier. If anything, it makes it harder because they think, oh, you don't need, you haven't got a clue what you're doing. Like what do you know sort of thing. But we do, we know. We know. And the thing is, women are good at multitasking as well. you know, I'm so, very thing my organization, you know, when I work with them, I'm like, you know, what about this? Don't worry about it. I a screenshot and I found where to get that from. So we all, when we're going, and they're like.

Laura (08:08)
Absolutely. Yeah.

We do.

Absolutely. Exactly.

Sophie (08:29)
You're amazing, you're organizing, you keep us all on track!

Laura (08:33)
I love that. Brilliant. Always one step ahead.

Sophie (08:36)
Exactly that.

Laura (08:38)
Awesome. Amazing. And what would you say you enjoy most about plumbing on your journey so far?

Sophie (08:46)
I just love that everything is different. Everything's different. Nothing's ever the same. Even if it's a leak, it's never going to be the same leak or the same problem or the same result. Every single time is different. And I get so bored with mundane stuff. Even when I'm folding the washing I have to be watching something on my phone or listening to something. I can't stand it. So it keeps me on my toes. I'm constantly learning. And I just feel like

Laura (09:04)
Yeah. Okay.

Sophie (09:10)
I don't think I'll ever learn everything in my lifetime about plumbing because there's so many different things you can branch out to.

Laura (09:17)
That's true, yeah. Is

there an typically attracts you in that way, with there being so many branches? Is there one that you think, I quite like that?

Sophie (09:28)
Yeah, think once, you know, at some point I would, I was thinking about doing my gas. Now that would come with an apprenticeship ordinarily. But again, that comes with a, you know, you've got to work full time. I did apply for a couple, you've got to work full time. You know, I need to be on site at like 7am. Impossible with the kids, it's not going to happen. And it could be, you know, here, there and everywhere.

Laura (09:35)
Mmm.

Yeah.

Sophie (09:53)
which I understand that's what they need. And it's like six pounds an hour. I thought I can't physically be neglected. I feel like I'm neglecting my children for that. I just thought that's just, it's not the right route for me. Like a lot of people that is, know, if they're younger or some people, even if they are, you know, bit more mature students, it fits their life. But it just doesn't for me personally.

Laura (09:54)
Okay.

Mm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Sophie (10:21)
So that's

not a route I could go down, but I have looked at air source heat pumps and I am interested in that and I'm maybe going to see if there's something that the government could fund because I know the government do fund some courses. So in the future, maybe I could sort of extend into that. Here's the future after all. Yeah.

Laura (10:27)
Mmm.

Yes.

That's a good idea. Well, this is it. Yeah, sustainability. Absolutely.

Definitely a good idea that keep your eye on that for sure.

Sophie (10:47)
Yeah,

I would like to look into that at some point. at the moment, I don't want to go into that and not know the bare basics of plumbing. I want to have like, you know, the nitty gritty of it. I don't want be able to change a heat pump and then I can't change something, you know, simple in a house I should be able to do as a plumber. I feel stupid.

Laura (11:00)
Yeah.

Yeah

Sophie (11:11)
So I want to know for myself, I want to know through him even in my own house. So.

Laura (11:15)
Absolutely,

Everything you learn, you can apply in your own home. So I can understand that for sure.

Sophie (11:19)
Yeah, yeah exactly.

And like, you know, I started, you know, doing things in my own house, like I just sort a radiator for my bathroom, I'm going to rip that off and I'm going to do that and then I'm going to do the piping into the floor, which I haven't done before on my own. So I'm going to do it in my own house because if i leave a mess who cares? And then I'm going to tile the floor. So I thought that would have saved me a lot of money by doing it myself.

Laura (11:35)
⁓ loads,

yeah. ⁓ yeah definitely, and it gives you a sense of accomplishment as well when you can do it in your own home, doesn't it?

Sophie (11:43)
So things like that, it does help.

Definitely, definitely.

Every time you sit on my throne, you're like, I did all this.

Laura (11:53)
Absolutely. Definitely. Why not? Sure. Incredible. So throughout your journey so far, have you faced any difficulties being a female in the plumbing industry yet?

Sophie (11:55)
It's my new artwork.

Exactly.

I don't think in general people take you seriously, personally. I haven't had really bad experiences. But even if you go and knock the door, they'll say, so go over to that job and I'll meet you there in half an hour, just drain down the system, blah, blah, blah. And I'll knock the door. I've had quite a few times and they're like, what are you doing here? And I'm like, I'm the plumber and they're like, what? And it's like...

Laura (12:15)
Mm.

really?

Sophie (12:38)
they're not expecting you, especially I think the older generation because they, which is understandable, they're not used to it. For the same time, I'm just like, oh, yes, me, I'm here. Yeah, so you have that, they don't expect you to, they don't expect a female to show up on the job to do stuff. And I also get people ask, and they'll say, oh, what do you do? And I'm like, I do plumbing. And they just look at me like,

Laura (12:45)
It is. Yeah.

You

Yeah.

Sophie (13:08)
And they think, why? Why would you want to do that? And I think, but why would you want to do what you're doing? It's the same with anything. You wouldn't ask a hairdresser, why would you want to be a hairdresser?

Laura (13:13)
Thank

Exactly. Exactly. Why not? It's... Yep.

Sophie (13:20)
You know, and it's because I do. I just I just do. Yeah, exactly. Why not? Why

not? So, you know, and I think it's so nice because originally when I wanted to do I was only like 17 and it just wasn't it wasn't out there like it is now. And I think, you know, there is a lot more opportunity now. There's still nowhere near enough opportunity. There's really not.

Laura (13:45)
Yeah.

Sophie (13:45)
but it's getting better than it was. It is getting better. I'm gutted. I wish that this opportunity could have been there when I was 17 and I would have been flying by now.

Laura (13:47)
It is. It is.

I know, I know. We're actually the same age. So I 100 % understand what you're saying about education back when we were at secondary school. I don't ever recall a trade being mentioned to my class, nevermind me as an individual. We obviously did the technologies and the design technology and all that woodwork, et cetera, but.

Sophie (14:02)
Yeah.

no.

now.

Laura (14:25)
even when you were in those classes, I don't think there was ever a career mention going forward from it, there?

Sophie (14:31)
No. Like a career

path? Absolutely not. And I've said this and it has been spoken about on some forums that, you know, I would happily do it. I would happily go to our local schools and speak to the children's select trainer when they decide what to do when they leave and say, look girls, you can do it. Like this is an option. It is an option. Like, you know, I don't think they see it as an option. A lot of things are just sort of

Laura (14:50)
Yeah.

Sophie (14:59)
beauty in here and just go and do that and they didn't even want to do that most of them. So I think it would be nice to bring it into the schools and more in sort of the curriculum as they sort, know, I, you know, I said to my daughter, I was like, why don't you come and do plumbing? And she was like, she's got very hands on and stuff like that. But, know, little and she loves it. She's like, I want to be a plumber like you, mum.

Laura (15:01)
Yeah.

Definitely.

to see.

Sophie (15:25)
Yeah, and we got little matching t-shirts.

Laura (15:28)
love

that! That's incredible!

Sophie (15:31)
So yeah, she loves it. She does like to help and she'll try and like pass things out my bag to me. I'm trying to teach her what things are called, teach them young. I think, you know, that's what needs to happen. It needs to be brought as a normality from when they're younger in school. That it's okay to do a so-called male trade, as they say. and it's just to be more open than narrowing things down to females.

Laura (15:39)
That's it.

Absolutely, definitely.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

Yeah, I think, like you say, the good thing is, is that it is gradually getting better and more widely known that women are going into trades, any of them, at any stage of life as well. think I've had a really good mix of chats with women our age and of the younger generation, like early, early mid 20s. So it's.

Sophie (16:22)
Yeah.

Laura (16:24)
It would be nice to see some of the late teens now, you know, because then you know it's working from education level, isn't it? For sure.

Sophie (16:28)
Yeah, definitely. Yeah, yeah. think they get scared

as well, because, you know, it's daunting I suppose then you leave in school, say all your friends are going to whatever they've gone to in college, and then you're in a class of all boys. I think for a girl, it's a bit like, I think we're painting and decorating those more females.

Laura (16:46)
Yeah.

Yeah, I think so. Yeah.

Sophie (16:53)
There's a lot more

females in the painting decorating. With plumbing there was just me and one other female, Bronwyn, she was fab. And we'd gone great all the way through. And she's a lot younger than me. So she's going into doing apprenticeship now. And I'm buzzing for her to do that. I can't wait to see her journey and how that goes for her.

Laura (17:09)
Okay.

Sophie (17:16)
⁓ But this is what I mean, obviously different paths are right for different people at different stages in their life how things work. So, yeah, I think I'm just going to knuckle down and just keep doing what I'm doing at the moment. know, little one's going into proper year one of school now, so she's a bit more settled. So I'm hoping I can try and get, you know, learn some more while she's in school.

Laura (17:16)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, I think you've got an exciting road ahead of you for sure. It's when you find something that you really enjoy and I guess you have a passion for it for sure, because you wouldn't if you weren't interested in it, you wouldn't have a passion for it. the fact that it brings you variety every day, it's like

Sophie (17:52)
Hmm.

Laura (18:05)
the excitement what's today gonna bring. So for sure, I'm... ⁓ Yeah.

Sophie (18:07)
Yeah, scary as well. And you need that

sort of my god, how am gonna sort this out, you know?

Laura (18:15)
Out your comfort zone, it makes you grow, doesn't it?

Sophie (18:18)
Especially when people phone me, literally just before I logged on, my phone was ringing. She was like, Sophie, I need your help. I'm looking after someone's house. They're on holiday and there is water pooling through the ceiling. I had a bath and this has happened. And I was like, oh, so FaceTime, I like, I got to go. I literally, I got to be on in four minutes. So was like, the water, where's the stop? I turn it this way, do this, do. And amount this has happened.

Laura (18:32)
No!

Sophie (18:47)
Three times in the last eight days, nine days, people have found me that unknown and they don't know how to turn their water off.

Laura (18:52)
Really?

There you go.

Sophie (18:57)
And I think, so I'm thinking what I might do is do a couple of videos on the basics for everybody that's not plumbers So be like, right, if this happens, this is how you turn your water off. This is an isolation valve. This is how to stop it from that section. And the very basics, you know, try and minimize the damage before a plumber or whoever you can get to come out to help you.

Laura (19:07)
Yeah.

Sophie (19:24)
So I think that would be

Laura (19:24)
Absolutely.

Sophie (19:25)
a good port of call because it is surprising people you know, before I became a plumber, I knew when I stopped, I knew when I stop tap was I knew how to work it. But a lot of people don't. They really, really really don't.

Laura (19:29)
Yeah.

No, really don't.

And I think through my personal experience, I only know because my dad told me from a young age and showed me where it was. So every time I've moved, I've been like, right, I need to know where the stop tap is to start with, because I am not dealing with a flood right now, you know. And like you say, it's a simple thing to know that can save you thousands of pounds through water damage.

Sophie (19:48)
Where is it? ⁓ Yeah.

Because when

that ceiling is bulging, you know, and I think, because I had one, I put it on my story on my Instagram and the water level, was just, this was like, it was like seven o'clock in the night and we FaceTimed and I like, ⁓ my God. So I pipe a boost into this thing and I was like, please tell me you haven't got a tank in your loft because it's just gonna keep coming.

Laura (20:12)
I saw that.

Sophie (20:27)
We managed to stop it, but the damage was so bad. They had have all new electrics, new ceiling, new floor, everything. Yeah, and I said, said, this is one for the insurance company, I think, because it's so extensive. It's not a case of me just popping out and helping you, You need the full works going on. And I can't do that,

Laura (20:33)
Ugh... No...

Yeah.

Yeah.

Sophie (20:54)
No, but they didn't know how to turn the water off. And this was another thing. And I mean, the water in the end was like an inch all of the living room and the ceiling was starting to cave.

Laura (21:01)
Jesus. ⁓

Sophie (21:03)
in the end I was like you're have to go onto the street and turn it off of the mains to be a house and I was telling them how to do it and you know and eventually it stopped so they are getting that sorted but this is what I mean if people can know the basics when something's happening before they can get the help I think it's a good thing that everyone needs to know.

Laura (21:20)
Definitely, I agree. I like that idea. it. Keep your eyes peeled everybody. love it. So at the moment, obviously you still kind of picking bits and pieces up along your journey. what does a typical work week look like for you but.

Sophie (21:23)
Watch out now for my next video!

Laura (21:39)
Maybe there isn't a typical work week for you.

Sophie (21:40)
There isn't, there is not,

there's not. It just depends on everything. And ⁓ the problem I've got is with my little Lin, she'll only go with my mum. And my mum can only have her one day a week. So I'm very limited to when I can jump on and learn things. ⁓ When she's in the school, I can go for like four hours. Les is great, I go and work with him. He's like, yeah, you can come along with me today.

Laura (21:52)
Okay.

Yeah.

Sophie (22:08)
especially if you've got a different variety of stuff. He's like, oh, what about this day? Because I've got this job and you can come along to that. So I'm learning a lot. And he does carpentry as well. So I'm learning some of that. So that's cool. But yeah, we've, at the moment, it's summer holidays. I'm doing one day a week. Now I have got friends and family are like, oh, do you think you could do this? I'm like, do you what? I'm just, you know, build my confidence up. so I'm starting to do.

Laura (22:14)
great.

Ooooo!

Sophie (22:36)
bits of friends and family, in terms of like changing sinks, radiators taps, that sort of thing. So stuff that I'm more confident with. then I suppose I'll just sort of go from there. Me and Les do bad things, like the ripouts, I love a ripout. So he's like, right, so get your teeth into that, rip that bathroom out. And I'm like, yes, I'm sweating. It's such hard work, but.

Laura (22:43)
Yeah.

I think that's a good.

Hahaha.

It is.

Sophie (23:01)
I love it, I do love it. I come home, I'm exhausted, I'm absolutely bogging, but I enjoy it, smashing things up.

Laura (23:07)
Brilliant.

It's good in it, Brilliant.

Sophie (23:09)
Yeah, I

do enjoy a rip-out. I've done quite a few of those now, so I'm quite confident, you know, ripping out, capping everything off and making it safe and stuff. yeah, that's another good thing I've been doing. So at the moment, it's one day, whether it be with Les or if someone has asked me to do something, I'm just doing that one day at the moment.

Laura (23:11)
Awesome. Okay.

Yep.

Yeah, well,

you got to start somewhere. And I think a lot of people would probably say the beginning of their journeys would have been doing jobs for friends and family. I know I started that way. And then they you do that job, you take your pictures or you share it on your social media. And then they tell their friends and then all of a sudden they're ringing you and then it just snowballs, you know, what a perfect way word of mouth.

Sophie (23:43)
Mmm.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, cool.

Yeah.

Laura (23:59)
and showing your work best way, I think, to get yourself out there. you just gotta keep going, haven't you? You just gotta keep plowing through and opportunities will arise, you know? Absolutely.

Sophie (24:02)
Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

you know, I do like social media because you can meet so many different people from different trades and their experiences and watch how they grow and evolve as well. And I just, I think it's a nice, like I only started mine about five months ago, something like that. And I just went on there because I was intrigued to see, you know, other people's work.

Laura (24:16)
Yeah.

Sophie (24:31)
and the females, how many of the females and I find a new ones all the time, you know, all across the world and I love it because I'm just like going through all this stuff and I'm just like, yes girl! I'm a proper girl power person and I just like love it. I just love it. I love it. I love it.

Laura (24:35)
You do, don't you?

Come on.

Yep,

it's great, it's great. And seeing different trades in different countries also is really interesting, isn't it? To see everything, yeah, different tools, different products, only ever so slightly, but there will be something that you think, wow, we haven't got that over here, you know? So yeah, it's...

Sophie (24:54)
Yeah.

It is because they have different ways of how you do it in different countries.

Yeah.

Yeah. And then you've got something

and you're like, oh my god, why are you doing it? Like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Like,

Laura (25:15)
Stop, stop. ⁓

⁓

Sophie (25:18)
wild. It is wild. Yeah,

it is interesting. But you know, you can get stuck in the whole doom scrolling thing, can't you? And you sat there and I'm just like, I was in the of the kids like, yeah, yeah, I'm coming. I'm coming. ⁓

Laura (25:32)
At least you've got someone to interrupt you. I'm like just there stuck for a couple of hours and then all of a sudden it's half 11, 12 o'clock, I better go to bed.

Sophie (25:40)
⁓ well, to

be fair, I'm normally stood up because I can't sit down for two minutes without being nagged.

And I got no chance, no rest for the wicked

Laura (25:46)
bless you. So I like to speak about, people on a personal level as well as their tradie background. So obviously beforehand, we briefly spoke about you being quite open about being on the ADHD spectrum.

Do you mind just telling us a bit more about that and how that affects you day to day and how does it manifest for you?

Sophie (26:06)
Yeah.

So everyone have always told me all my life, yeah, you're ADHD someone, don't be so silly. And as I get older, struggle. I realize I'm struggling with day to day things. Like I mentioned earlier, even I'm folding the washing, I have to have something to keep me on that. So whether it be, I've always got one air pod in and I can have a podcast on or I can have...

an audiobook, whatever it may be, to keep me focused on, so I'm focusing on listening, not what I'm actually, task I'm doing sort of thing. Especially boring stuff. I folding washing like I can't. There's just so much of it. So yeah, so I realized I was struggling more. And then a few of my friends said, maybe you should go to the doctors. So I thought, okay, yeah, I will. So I went to the doctors. They gave me this big form to fill out.

Laura (26:45)
Okay.

Sophie (27:05)
They sent it off to the ADHD clinic and they decided they were going to take me on for an assessment. So I had to wait 18 months and had my first assessment a couple of months ago now and they decided I did have ADHD so they confirmed it. But they're now looking so I have to wait another three months. it's actually this coming week now I think I've got my second assessment so that'll be to see

Laura (27:12)
Okay.

Okay.

Sophie (27:35)
how much

Laura (27:37)
Okay.

Sophie (27:42)
And then I'll go into the bathroom to put it away and I'll start cleaning the bathroom. And then I'll get called for something and I'm going to come down and I'm half a minute through making a sandwich and like, I've got to the washing machine And my mind is racing constantly, constantly. you know, sometimes that can be difficult, you know, with working as well. So I struggle more at home and with daily life than when I'm in work. I feel like

Laura (27:55)
Yeah.

Mmm.

Okay.

Sophie (28:10)
When I've got a project, I can't wait to get that project sort of started, start to finish, done. And when I do sort of feel like I'm struggling, I just have to take myself away and have five. I do some breathing and like, sort of regulate myself and then go back to it then. I sort of refocus, re-shift my mindset and like refocus. But yeah, I'm hoping the medication will help to sort of...

Laura (28:14)
Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. Okay.

Okay, so

you would go down the medication route, because some people wouldn't for whatever reason, you know?

Sophie (28:36)
I would, yeah. Yeah, I would. No, I know. like, you know,

well, you've this far, but I feel like now it's affecting me as I'm getting older. ⁓ I don't know if it's just as you get old, you've got more pressures in life, it's harder to juggle while dealing with that. I'm not sure. But I'll give anything a go if it's gonna help. Because I'm kind of all for like, in the evening, I find it really difficult to sort of...

Laura (28:47)
Okay.

Mmm.

Yeah.

Sophie (29:03)
slow myself down and shut my mind off. And so I always have a glass of wine. Wine like, it works and I can go to bed and I can sleep. But if I don't, I'm wired all night. can, I, yeah, I'll think of stuff like, I'm like, right, I've got a skateboard downstairs, a bit limpy and I need to sort of shave it down. And I'm like, I start all these thoughts of racing and I get up and I'm lists and lists.

Laura (29:06)
Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Really?

Sophie (29:29)
If I can get it all off my brain, I live off lists anyway, I have to. And if it's not on the calendar, it doesn't exist. And that's fact. It's my Bible.

Laura (29:29)
Love a list.

Yeah.

I don't, I know, I literally,

if I haven't put something on my calendar, I'll forget. Like last week, I was meant to go and pick up a key for a job after I'd been to the gym. I didn't put it in my calendar and I totally forgot. I got home and the customer messaged me and said, are you on your way? I was like, oh my God, I'm so, so sorry. Literally, no, I'm in my PJs. Sorry.

Sophie (30:02)
not on my way.

Laura (30:08)
Now, luckily, I was able to get it on the Monday before they went away. So crisis averted, but yeah.

Sophie (30:14)
Yeah,

I'm still assorted. But yeah, it's like Bible and I like to be organised, like everything to be organised all the time more. I feel like my brain is even more chaotic. And it's chaotic anyway, let me tell you. I feel like it's like a constant tab, an open tab, just constantly whizzing round in my head. And I find it really exhausting sometimes. Like sometimes it's exhausting and...

Laura (30:16)
I know.

Yeah.

Okay. Yeah, I was gonna say.

Sophie (30:42)
Sometimes I'm just like, I can't do this. I've got to bin everything off that I'm doing and be like, I need today to like, just rest. and calmness, because I'm just running around like a lunatic all the time. And it is everything. And I give myself stupid expectations as well. I'll write a list of stuff that I know I'm not going to be able to finish that day.

Laura (30:51)
Yeah, just be calm.

trying to do everything that you think about, yeah.

Okay.

Okay.

Sophie (31:11)
And it's wild.

I'm like, why do I do it to myself? And then the stuff I don't, I'll go on to the next day's list with other added stuff. And it's like, I constantly take takes of my own tail to keep myself busy, to try and my mind focused. But it's exhausting. It's just wild.

Laura (31:27)
And do you ever get that feeling of when you do slow down, you feel guilty that you're having to slow down?

Sophie (31:32)
Yeah.

Yeah, I was at a kids birthday party the other day and I was sat there hating my life and just kids screaming everywhere. And I was thinking, I could do so much in this two hours. And I'm just sat here like, I'm just like, right, what can I do with my phone then? Can I look things up? Can I look at products? Can I look at new tools? And I'm constantly trying to like find things to do, writing lists on my phone.

Laura (31:41)
You

that you feel is productive. Yeah.

Sophie (32:03)
Yeah, yeah, I feel

like I'm doing because I can't cope with not. I really struggle with not. can't.

Laura (32:11)
Yeah.

Sophie (32:12)
I just feel like it's a waste.

Laura (32:14)
It's hard, isn't it? I feel you on the, when you slow down, you feel guilty aspect. And when you are someone that likes to push and just feel productive constantly and like you're achieving, when you stop, you almost have to force yourself to believe that you're stopping because you need to.

Like your body and your mind need you to just slow down, isn't it? Because effectively when you slow down and sleep, et cetera, your body heals and you know, it's, yeah, yeah.

Sophie (32:36)
Mm. It's telling you. Mm.

You're just going to burn out otherwise, don't you? And then you just make yourself

unwell. And I think, you know, I think I can't afford to be unwell because everyone relies on me. you know, I really is essential to take that time for self care and look after yourself as well. And I think I'm learning that more as I'm getting older and I force myself. Ah, my mum says, I'll still be there tomorrow. I said exactly. And then I'll have to go on to another list.

Laura (33:05)
Definitely.

Don't you know about my lists? ⁓ goodness me. Wow. Yeah.

Sophie (33:21)
Yeah, and it'll be double I'll never be able to get through it.

Yeah, it's not

ideal, but you know.

It is what it is.

Laura (33:30)
Everybody works in different ways and if it works for you, then that's how it is. Everybody's different and that's what's beautiful about it. And everybody has their own quirks and differences and only you know how to move forward in life with them so that they don't control you. So I hope that this next week.

Sophie (33:37)
Yeah.

Mm.

Laura (33:54)
with your ADHD assessment, comes to a conclusion of something that will definitely help you work through those difficulties going forward. Because yeah, we need more plummy mummy on the social media for sure.

Sophie (34:00)
Yeah.

She's not going anywhere. I find that hard as well because I'll take photos and things of work that doing throughout the day and then it's like you've got to sit down and go through it all to sort of, and then I get bored and I put it down and I'm like, yeah, no, that's not happening today. And then I'll try and do it again and I just wreck it all and I'm just like, yeah, get on there because I just find it exhausting just trying to navigate myself.

Laura (34:11)
Yes. Awesome.

I know.

Sophie (34:37)
through and I am improving. I didn't know how to even send a message on Instagram a year ago. So I'm getting there with sort of trying to navigate the tools and stuff on there that you can use to edit and stuff, but I'm still very basic on there. And it just is what it is.

Laura (34:44)
It is difficult, yeah.

Yeah. Don't worry about it. That's

it. Don't worry about it. getting it on there is the main thing. You will get better with learning how to do the other bits and bobs and the overlays and the transitions of reels and stuff. Don't panic about it. Everybody has to start somewhere and...

Sophie (35:01)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Laura (35:12)
I'm still learning with my social media posts. mean, with my decorating page, sometimes I forget to post for a week or two and then I think, bugger, I should have put that job on or I'll be doing a job and I've not even took starter pictures and it's like, well, I can't do anything about it now. It's half bloody painted.

Sophie (35:28)
I can't do it now and I know people say, but you should be in

there doing it more. I'm like, yeah, but I don't really want to take a whole set of little ring lights to go and change a tap, to be honest. It's just me and my phone. And it is what it is. And I try and keep it very real on there because I think there's so many accounts that try and make this something that it's not.

Laura (35:40)
Exactly, yeah, absolutely.

Sophie (35:57)
I'm a real person, I like real life and just I'll say it how it is. Sometimes I do offend people, I don't mean to. But because I'm very honest with my approach to things and I won't say, I wouldn't take a picture of something and say, I did this when I blatantly haven't done it or, you

Laura (36:15)
Yeah,

Sophie (36:17)
try and make up like assuming,

Laura (36:17)
exactly.

Sophie (36:18)
know, yeah, that is great. It had a great day at work. I really didn't. So I hated every second of it because it was an absolute mare. But at the end, I was happy because I accomplished what I needed to do. And then, you you're proud of that. But I think it's nice to touch base with people. And I get people from, you know, all over the world, especially, you know, they'll say, if I post something about say mental health, I have done before.

Laura (36:23)
Yeah.

Sophie (36:44)
because mental health has been a massive part of my life, unfortunately. and I feel like some people just put it on there, like, oh, mental health, just because it's not a trend, like, jumps on it, just to try and make it look like they care, and they actually don't care. They don't care, and they don't understand. But I do, you know, I do understand, and yeah, exactly, I'm living it. My father passed from mental health, and

Laura (36:47)
Yeah.

Mm.

You're living it.

Okay.

Sophie (37:13)
You know, I've got multiple members of family that, you know, have had really bad mental health and, you know, they've ended up disabled because of it, physically disabled, et cetera. And I think when you know, you really know how difficult it is, you you want to help, you want to help make a difference and help and you're not just saying it for the sake of it, you know. I think, you know, and people say, you know, I like the sort of

Laura (37:34)
Yeah, yeah.

Sophie (37:39)
say it how it is and you know with you know a couple of months ago my yeah real with it and a couple of months ago you know i'm very upbeat i try to be upbeat and i am on the whole and my cousin and he took his own life a couple of months ago and it was awful and i did a little post of him singing and we were like raising some money and stuff and

Laura (37:43)
real with it.

I'm sorry.

Sophie (38:05)
Normally I'm upset. I know. I thought, you know what? No, I'm going to go on my story and I'm going to cry on there and I'm going to be upset because this is exactly how I'm feeling. I can't pretend that I'm not. you know, I think sometimes it's real life. can't pretend to be something that you're not or something's not happening when it is. you know, I think you can't put everything on social media. I wouldn't be like, ⁓ you know, I'm feeling Wednesday because of this or...

Laura (38:24)
Absolutely.

Sophie (38:32)
you know, little things which happen every day, you know, but I think, you with the big things, when you're struggling, you should reach out. You know, people are there to listen. And because some people know this, I have spoken to people in America that have messaged me saying, I'm struggling. And, you know, I've spoken to them and said, right, I think, you know, maybe you could do this for support or what about this? And I think it's You know, especially they don't know you, so it's easier for them to talk.

Laura (38:49)
Okay.

That's it.

Definitely, definitely. Yeah, because like you say, sometimes it is easier to speak to somebody that you don't have that link with, whether it be family or friend, because it can come with a whole load of assumptions. you assume that they then take on a burden of yours or they, you don't want to.

Sophie (39:03)
as you feel judged.

Yeah.

Laura (39:25)
put it onto them, I think is an initial thought, isn't it? Whereas you may not feel that pressure if you don't really know the person. spoken to a couple of other decorators along probably the last, where are we now? Yeah, eight to 12 months, I've spoken to a few other decorators that have struggled with overload of work in,

Sophie (39:27)
Yeah, of course. Yeah.

Yeah.

Laura (39:50)
in times of the year and they've been brave enough to post themselves in tears, like you just said, raw, like real. Exactly. And when people are brave enough to do that, it's commendable and it makes people want to connect with them because they have shown their true colours. And I think,

Sophie (39:58)
Yeah, real.

Yeah, yeah definitely. I think more people definitely need to.

Laura (40:17)
All the trades I feel are so supportive of each other. It's such a great community to be part of. ⁓

Sophie (40:21)
Yeah.

Yeah, it is. there's

some really good companies out there as well. Like, you know, some of them reached out to me and they, send me stuff and you know, I can't afford to go in. It's cost a lot of money to get all your tools together. And I'm building it. I'm on, you know, I'm slowly getting, getting there, but it's expensive. it was, there's some really supportive companies and they're like, right, Soph we'll send you this or, and it really helps, you know, to, get you started and then.

Laura (40:36)
⁓ yeah.

Absolutely.

Sophie (40:52)
And also then I suppose you build a relationship with that company then you're more likely to use them if they're nice You want to use companies like that more as well for future buying of stuff. yeah, there's definitely some great people around like Matt.

Laura (41:05)
Definitely.

For sure.

Yeah, that's really, really good. Let's it continues with everything, for sure. We've come to the stage where I like to do a little bit of a fun quickfire question round ⁓ of this or that. Just a bit of fun, don't panic.

Sophie (41:16)
Yes.

of gosh

Laura (41:28)
⁓ Feel free to elaborate on any of them as to why you've said the answer. If you don't, it's fine, we can keep shooting. okay, first one is driver or passenger.

Sophie (41:38)
Driver.

Laura (41:40)
Definitely. Tea or coffee?

Sophie (41:44)
tea.

Laura (41:44)
Copper pipe or plastic pipe?

Sophie (41:47)
copper.

Laura (41:47)
Cats or dogs?

Sophie (41:50)
You haven't got to walk them

Laura (41:52)
Controversial question that is, you Of one of the most simple things, it's one of the most controversial for sure. dear. Early bird or night owl?

Sophie (41:53)
Thank

Night Owl.

Laura (42:01)
Block toilet or burst pipe.

Sophie (42:04)
Burst Pipe

Nobody wants to dig out a big duggy out of the toilet if they can help it. You can avoid it, you do.

Laura (42:11)
Absolutely.

⁓ my gosh. A voice message or text.

Sophie (42:16)
message. Can't sit down long enough to text a long message. ⁓

Peace.

Laura (42:22)
A

sunrise or a sunset?

Sophie (42:26)
Sunset, don't think i've ever seen sunrise, i dont get up early enough

Laura (42:29)
And finally, eighties music or nineties music.

Sophie (42:33)
Ooh, I'm one into 80s at the moment. I'm really into absolute 80s at the moment. It really gets me through my day. I'm loving it.

Laura (42:41)
I've seen.

Amazing. I love it. Brilliant. So I like to end the show with three main questions. First one is, if you could be any other trade, what would you choose and why?

Sophie (42:59)
I think the Carpenter, ⁓ because I find it nearly as equally as interesting as plumbing and the thought of working with wood My dad used to work with wood, actually. ⁓ He has a place called Allwoods and he's an antique dealer. yeah, so he used to like strip all the antiques back to the original.

Laura (43:03)
Yeah.

Okay.

Sophie (43:24)
knife towards and stuff and you just like make things and stuff so yeah I think carpentry would be my go-to if I was going to do something else.

Laura (43:24)
nice.

That'd be mine. It's a popular choice as well, I think. Yeah. So on that note, what trade or who do you think I should have on the show next?

Sophie (43:35)
Mmm,

Laura (43:42)
put you on the spot, I know, sorry.

Sophie (43:45)
I think Diamond decorating, she's cracking. Yeah, she's... We actually used to work together in a restaurant and she was the chef and I was the assistant manager. She is good as... Yeah, she's... now she's... And when she went into it, it sort of gives me that, yeah, if she can do it, I can do it. And she went to college and...

Laura (43:50)
Yeah? Diamond decorating. Okay.

Wow.

Sophie (44:14)
sort of give me the boost and we speak all the time and she's great, she's great fun.

Laura (44:19)
Awesome. I will have to look her up for sure. So Sophie, where can people find you on social media? What are your social media handles?

Sophie (44:28)
So on my Instagram, I am Plumby.mummy I mainly use my Instagram account. ⁓ I don't tend to use, I've got a private account on Facebook, but I don't really even use that. And I do have a TikTok, Plumby.mummy TikTok, but I don't use that very often. I think I find it difficult to manage my time.

Laura (44:35)
Okay.

Sophie (44:51)
And social media is so time consuming, I can't do all the platforms. It's just exhausting. So I tend to just stick with Instagram as I feel my TikTok is more of a range of a lot of, you know, they're great. A lot of people follow me and the people on there, they're not as many trades on my Instagram seems to be mainly trades.

Laura (44:51)
Yeah.

It is.

Yeah.

Sophie (45:17)
that I've

got on there as my TikTok seems to be a variation of people. it's when I sort of first started on there and I was just doing stuff in my house and whatever as I'm sort of more plumbing focused on my Instagram account.

Laura (45:33)
Cool. Awesome.

Sophie (45:33)
And you'll

probably get a message back if you reply, if you message me on Instagram, as anything else, you'll be waiting a long time.

Laura (45:42)
Perfect. Well, I'll make sure that your link is on the bottom of the show notes for this episode so people can follow you and find you and follow your work. So that would be awesome.

Sophie (45:42)
Okay.

me, Senya. You're all welcome. the more the merrier

Laura (45:55)
That's it. Let's get following for

sure. Let's see some more eighties dancing for sure. Love it. Cool. Well, thank you again for sharing your time with me, Sophie. It's been really cool getting to know you and I wish you all the best going forward.

Sophie (46:02)
you

Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. Me and my erratic self.

Laura (46:15)
No problem. Love it, love it.

Well, enjoy the rest of your day. Thanks, Sophie.

Sophie (46:21)
Okay, thank you, bye.