The Happy Digger: Georgina Williams on Her JCB Career Journey

In this episode, I chat with Georgina Williams — The Happy Digger, a leading voice for women in construction and a skilled machine operator. She shares her journey from drama school to the construction industry, her passion for JCB machinery, and what it’s like succeeding in a male-crowded industry. 

Georgina also talks about career changes during COVID, her love of travel, and her aspirations for the future, including her current home renovation project. 

If you’re interested in construction careers, women in trades, JCB machinery, or stories of bold career change, this episode is packed with insight, motivation, and real-world experience. 

Key Takeaways 

• Georgina is passionate about JCB machinery and its impact. 
• She was the first female on the JCB demonstration team. 
• Georgina emphasizes the importance of women in construction. 
• Social media plays a significant role in her career. 
• Georgina's journey includes overcoming challenges during COVID. 
• She enjoys traveling and exploring new places. 
• Her love for dogs adds a personal touch to her life. 
• Georgina advocates for more women in trades and construction. 
• She is excited about the future of hydrogen-powered machinery. 

Follow me: 

Instagram: @lifeofafemaletradie_ 

Tiktok: @loaftpodcast 

Facebook: Life Of A Female Tradie 

Youtube: @lifeofafemaletradiepodcast 

Follow Guest:

Instagram: the_happydigger

YouTube: the_happydigger

TikTok: the_happydigger

Chapters

00:00 Georgina's Background and Journey to JCB 

06:42 Discovering Passion for Machinery 

12:02 Career Progression and Challenges at JCB 

14:14 Breaking Barriers: Women in Construction 

15:22 Breaking Barriers: Women in Engineering 

17:07 The Graduate Journey: Opportunities at JCB 

18:42 From Salary to Hourly: A Shift in Perspective 

21:14 Global Adventures: Traveling with JCB 

24:57 Empowering Women in Heavy Machinery 

29:28 Navigating Social Media in the Construction Industry 

34:14 The Impact of Social Media in Construction 

34:51 Home Renovation Journey 

36:04 Challenges in Finding Skilled Trades 

38:11 Building Trust with Contractors 

39:29 Exciting Projects Ahead 

39:54 Quickfire Questions: Personal Preferences 

46:22 Future Aspirations in Construction 

50:32 Thank you, goodbye

Transcript

Georgina Williams (00:10)

hello, my name is Georgina Williams, also known as the happy digger on Instagram. I am a machine operator. So I drive lots of different machines. My favorite machine being the backhoe loader.

I work for JCB, the company that manufactures construction equipment and I work for them. do demonstrations and dealer training, product training, and also get the opportunity to get out, drive the machines and meet people on site as well.

Laura (00:36)

Amazing. Well, thank you for coming on the podcast. It's great to have someone in your genre of the construction world on the show. So thank you very much for giving me your time. like to get to know a bit of background on people and where they found their passion for their current role. could you tell us a bit of your background?

Georgina Williams (00:56)

you

Of course, yeah. This is like a really long story and I'll try to keep it shorter. But yeah, I've had a really strange route into this. So I actually, ⁓ I went into drama out of school. So at school I was like fairly studious. Like I quite enjoyed school and was okay at I have a brother and he was encouraged to go and do an apprenticeship. So I'm from Derby and around here we have like Rolls Royce and my dad had worked at Rolls Royce and his dad had worked at

Laura (01:01)

Go for it. No, no, whatever you want to say.

Georgina Williams (01:26)

Rolls Royce. So my brother was sort of his path was you're gonna go and do an apprenticeship and work at Rolls Royce whereas I was sort of encouraged that you're gonna go to university so just decide what you want to do and you should go to university. I wasn't fully sure what I wanted but I really enjoyed drama.

and had a drama teacher who I just I just loved her energy and I loved everything in terms of the confidence she brought out in me. So I ended up deciding that I was going to go into drama wasn't good enough to actually be a famous actress or they would have loved that. So decided I was going to teach. So I went to university and I did a three year degree in drama studies and loved the university experience and I think it really did help to open doors for me, you know, just to have that sort of I have a

Laura (01:59)

Cool.

Ow.

Georgina Williams (02:13)

degree

Laura (02:15)

Okay.

Georgina Williams (02:15)

And

it was just a nice, a nice experience. Some of my closest friends and how the people I met there. And it gave me my independence living on my own and everything. So I did enjoy that experience. But when I came out of university, it wasn't a great time to get into teaching. I went to apply to go do the sort of the next year, which is the sort of teaching bit. So was going to do a GTP route. didn't get onto the course that first year. So I thought, no worries, I'll, you know, maybe get some more work experience, do some volunteering in schools and

and see how I get on. But that's when I moved into events management. So I'd always been the organising friend. Like that's just always been me. So again, I've got this big company, Rolls Royce on my doorstep. People knew people, my dad knew someone, he got me chatting to someone and I ended up working as a visits coordinator at Rolls Royce.

Laura (02:48)

⁓ okay. Cool.

Georgina Williams (03:07)

and just loved it. I loved events management. So I ended up not going into teaching, I in events management. So starting at Rolls-Royce, I was coordinating their sort of product launchers and just visits, customer visits, guest visits and internal events mainly.

And then I was there for a few years, worked in events management for a good few years and just ended up going around the local companies really. Did a bit of work with Jackie Olandrover, did quite a bit of work with pharmaceutical companies as well. So like AstraZeneca, Estellas and traveled a bit with those as well, organizing events. It was great. ⁓ And that's when I ended up at JCB, which is the company I'm at now. So I joined JCB as an events coordinator.

Laura (03:36)

Mmm.

Cool.

Georgina Williams (03:50)

this is kind of like maybe, it was 2018 when I first joined JCB. So I was kind of trying to think, I was out of university. So I've been out of university about six years working in events management. And I thought that was my career, you know, that was what I was gonna do and work my way up. And I was just delighted to work for a big company like JCB. But that's where I got this hook and I was like, wow.

this is a new world, this construction world that I'd had absolutely zero experience in up until this point. They were all just yellow diggers to me, you know, that was a yellow digger, that was a yellow digger, that was a yellow digger. They were all the same. But then when you're on the phone and you're speaking to customers and colleagues and they'd start talking about different types of machinery and they've got different names, they would be like, oh, the 4CX or the 54180 or the 432 or the 220X.

Laura (04:12)

Yeah

Yeah.

Hahaha.

Georgina Williams (04:42)

and you're like I'm sorry what?

Laura (04:44)

That's

Georgina Williams (04:46)

But that's what I just wanted. Yeah. Yeah.

Laura (04:46)

exactly what I was just thinking.

Georgina Williams (04:49)

And I remember that feeling thinking like, what is everyone on about? And there was different sectors. There was like the agricultural sectors and the customers working in waste and recycling, the customers working in highways and road maintenance. And you start to realize that the different machines with the different numbers are better for those different sectors. And as an events coordinator, I needed to understand that. And I wanted to understand that so that I could better, you know, look after my visitors and

show them the right things and organise the visit in the right way for them. So that's where I got hooked. But then the interest in the products then took another level because I didn't want to just talk about them and look at them. I used to sort of like be like, well, can I have a go?

Laura (05:20)

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (05:34)

So we had a big event around about sort of end of 2018 where we launched a big new excavator. These huge new whole series of excavators, big diggers. And we had customers in every day for about three weeks. And we used to just repeat the same event, bring them in, let them try the digger, then they'd leave. Next group, bring them in, try the digger, then they'd leave. So this huge new launch of this machine. And every day I would stay behind at the end and speak to our demonstration team and say, can I have a go? Because everyone else got to have a go and I want to go.

Laura (05:45)

Yeah.

you

Georgina Williams (06:04)

And that's really where I got hooked with it really, because I just could not, there was nothing comparable to that feeling of sitting in a big digger.

and just feeling on top of the world, feeling so powerful. And we have like a quarry demonstration area and you just sit in this huge dig area. And I would just like run the bucket through the earth. Like it was nothing, like it was like scooping butter with this huge piece of metal. And I've got these little fingertips on the controls and I just love it. I just loved it. So that's where it started. I stayed behind at the end of an event and fantastically the company.

Laura (06:16)

Yeah. ⁓

are wicked.

Amazing.

Georgina Williams (06:42)

I think recognized my enthusiasm, recognized my energy for the products and interest and the fact that I was also building some great relationships with our dealers and our customers. And they said, you know, do you want to, would you be interested in training up and joining the demonstration team and driving machines more often? And I thought they were joking at first, like literally you want me to join the demonstration team and I've never driven a digger before. But I think their point of view was they can, you can teach someone how to

Laura (07:05)

Haha!

Georgina Williams (07:12)

drive a machine, like that's a skill that could be learned. As long as you show sort of the right abilities initially to like work the controls and your brain works in a certain way, then that's the bit they can teach you. But what they can't teach you is, you know, how to be in front of because ultimately as a demonstrator, you're representing your company and they want you to be, you know, great with customers really. So that's where it started for me. And I've never looked back. I love it.

Laura (07:20)

Okay.

Yeah, definitely. Wow. You can tell, you can tell

by the way you talk about it that you're absolutely passionate about it. away. No, carry on.

Georgina Williams (07:43)

Yeah, and I guess I think that's part

of the name as well, the happy digger. It sort of captures it. It captures it well.

Laura (07:49)

⁓

100%, what exactly is it about JCB that you love the most?

Georgina Williams (07:57)

I think...

The equipment is what it stands for and represents. I know there was this real sense of pride when I first started working for the company and that really carries through like one of that sort of one of our core values of the business is really this pride in JCB and in your brand. And I think we do set ourselves, you know, at the premium brand of construction equipment. I mean, there's there's loads of different brands out there and everybody's got their own preferences. But JCB, we're a family business. We still have our original founding chairman. He's 80

years old, it's actually his birthday next week and he was born in the same year that his father founded the business. So his father, Mr Joseph Cyril Bamford, he founded the company 80 years ago at the end of the war and then he had his son in the same year and he ran the business and then handed it over to his son and our chairman now, Lord Anthony Bamford, he is in the office every day and his sort of passion for what his father built and

Laura (08:28)

Wow.

Wow.

Okay.

Georgina Williams (08:56)

and what he has continued to grow just carries through. And I think the reason why the backhoe loader is one of my favorite products is that was our sort of core original products that our chairman invented, our founder invented. So there's a real like soft spot for this product within the company. But yeah, the pride and I think I do like the way the company works as well. There's a real sort of, cause it's a family business. We do just get stuff done. I've worked for big corporates before and sometimes there can just be like loopholes

Laura (09:07)

⁓

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (09:25)

and delays, where we're very much like this kind of sense of urgency. We just go and get things done and it's about innovation. So I think that's what helps make our products as good as they can be. ⁓

But also JCB machines, I'm a little bit biased, but I just think like their cab environment when you get to sit, it's just really, really nice. Like very comfortable, just really nice finishes, the seats, the stitching, the finest little detail that when you sit in there, you're just like, yeah, I could, this could be my office. This is much nicer than sitting at a desk.

Laura (09:44)

Yeah.

Mm.

Nice.

Awesome. think when a business originates as a family business and then starts to build outwards, you hope that it keeps that family vibe, so to speak, and looks after its employees. And it sounds like JCB really does that.

Georgina Williams (10:14)

There's lots of opportunities think, you the fact I joined as an events coordinator, I then became a demonstrator of products, working for the JCB demonstration team. I was training to do the JCB dancing diggers, which is like basically the red arrows, but in digger form. And we do like routines to music. It's really cool. And that was like a real ambition of mine. But actually, my experience in demonstration took a bit of a turn because it was, I'd not long

Laura (10:29)

⁓

Nice.

Wow.

Georgina Williams (10:43)

that team when Covid hit and the business you know we're a big business and we've survived a long time it's because the business does make quite brutal quick decisions and the reason why JCB actually ended up surviving Covid quite well is that they reacted quite quickly and that did mean redundancies. I think as every business kind of had to make these difficult decisions so I ended up I just landed this dream job and about four or five months in I was made redundant from that role.

Laura (10:46)

⁓ yeah.

Okay.

Georgina Williams (11:12)

and was gonna have to leave the business. I basically refused to go, but not quite in the fact that I was like, no, I'm not going. There was just, they restructured some areas of the business and there were a number of roles that had opened up as part of the sort of a restructure and they were combining multiple roles into one. So everybody had the opportunity if they'd been made redundant to apply for any of these positions. Well, I applied for every single one. I was like, like.

Laura (11:12)

no.

Brilliant!

Ahhh

Nice. Why not? Smash

Georgina Williams (11:42)

like,

Laura (11:42)

it. Yep.

Georgina Williams (11:43)

there was like, yeah, there was working on the switchboard, answering the phones. Yeah, I can do that. There was a health and safety advisor. I was like, I can work that out. There was, and then there was these like personal assistants, like PAs working for someone. They used to look after like individual people, whereas now they were combining it, you're going to look after a department. So I was like, brilliant, I can, I'm organizing. I can do, I can do PA work. That's what I ended up doing. I became ⁓ a PA for our purchasing manager.

Laura (12:02)

Okay.

Georgina Williams (12:11)

And yeah, I don't know, was a different thing to do within the business. It kept my foot in the door.

I learned lots about purchasing, which actually during a global pandemic is a very interesting and quite fast paced part of the business. So it was, it was an interesting, I was a bit bored because I'd gone from sitting in diggers to sitting back at a desk and answering phones. But then again, because as the business recovered out of COVID, there was new opportunities open up. So that's when I ended up going over to where the research and development part of the business where I

Laura (12:26)

I can imagine, yeah, definitely.

Georgina Williams (12:46)

test driving of new product, which is as great as it sounds. We have a big digger play area. We've got our own quarry facility and the idea is just to drive the machines, put hours on them, test out new features or just a whole new product in general, dig, repeat, dig, repeat all day long, try and break it, write some notes down, engineers fix it and that's how we end up with the products that we have today. that, yeah, so in a way like this all worked out at the time it was

Laura (12:48)

yes.

Hahaha!

Awesome.

Wow.

Georgina Williams (13:16)

like the worst thing in my life losing that dream job but I wouldn't I actually wouldn't change it now.

Laura (13:21)

Amazing. It was quick and clever thinking to just apply, apply, apply for all those roles. Absolutely genius because you recognise that you love the company and that was just, yeah, ⁓ like I say, a genius way of keeping your foot in the door for when the company did come back to normal circumstances of the world operating again. So, yeah, fair play.

Georgina Williams (13:33)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, I

don't know, didn't really fully think about that but I think, yeah, I think I did just, I just love the company and I think they saw that as well. I think there was people that were like, okay, you know, this girl really doesn't want to go.

Laura (14:00)

Amazing. I love that. are there many females in your kind of circle from demonstration side of things rather than the office side of things? It's a...

Georgina Williams (14:13)

Yeah, not

really. So I was the first female on the JCB demonstration team. There was a lady before me who had done some of the dancing diggers before. She sort of runs the garage side of the business, but she was sort of kind of the first that I'd heard of. But I was the first person to get a sort of full-time role as a JCB demonstrator. And that was a team of like 12 blokes that had been traveling the world, representing our products and showing our customers what our products could do. And the JCB demonstration

team, you know, they are really well respected and quite well recognized around the world. So within sort of like JCB circles anyway, so it was really proud for me to be part of that team.

And actually since I've left that team, they have now recruited a female as well. So they now have got a female represented on that team, which is nice. And I know it gets commented on. It's nice to see. And then when I joined the test driving team, so we've got a whole team of test drivers at JCB. They work days, nights and weekends. So there's three shifts just to keep hours running on the machines at all times. And that was a team. There's about 10 people on each shift. So team of 30. And again, I was the first

Laura (15:00)

Yeah.

well.

Okay.

Georgina Williams (15:22)

the first female they've ever had as a JCB test driver. So yeah, in a business that's been going for 75, 80 years, and I was the first female in both of those roles. We do see more female engineers and on the production line as well. So in our production facility, I remember when I first joined the company, I would do tours with my visits that I was looking after. And if you're walking down the line and you saw a couple of females in the production line, we'd be like, oh, and look, we have females, look how good we

Laura (15:25)

Wow.

Yeah

Georgina Williams (15:52)

we are as a business, but it was like this token female that you'd occasionally see. And then I remember walking down the line about two years ago, doing a similar thing, hosting some customers for a tour. And it just didn't feel like that. There was just a lot of women represented throughout different sections of the manufacturing process, the production line.

And it just wasn't a big deal. And it didn't even need to be pointed out. I think naturally there's more men about. But yeah, we do see far more women and our apprentice, we rely heavily on apprentices and graduates at JCB. We've got huge intakes every year. And we work them really hard. It's fantastic opportunity for them. You they really get stuck into the business. And now we see a far greater split, you know, not far off like 50-50 intake on our apprenticeship and graduate schemes

Laura (16:25)

wow.

Georgina Williams (16:37)

think because JCB is where lot of people who've worked here sort of stay here and work their way up for years. Even our board of directors, like a lot of them, the exec, have been apprentices once themselves and then have worked their way up to the top. So it might be that we see slow change within the business because there's still more they need to do in terms of representing females in more senior roles. But it's nice to see at the bottom, we're trying to make that change and hopefully those people stick around and become the managers of the future.

Laura (16:49)

Okay.

Gotcha.

Definitely.

Georgina Williams (17:06)

think the graduate scheme you can either do a business degree or an engineering degree and you get that at JCB over

a four or five year period. It's fantastic really, because they get to rotate around different areas of the business. The business graduates anyway, they get to go around marketing, sales, purchasing, events. You know, they get a full taste of six months placements at a time. The engineering degrees, I'm not quite sure, but I imagine it's similar that they move around different product groups, so they get really like broad.

Laura (17:14)

Gotcha. Yeah.

Wow.

Georgina Williams (17:35)

seems like a far better choice. I wish I'd done that. I'm still paying off my student loan now and they're just getting it for free whilst being paid as well. Like why did no one tell me this?

Laura (17:39)

yeah, Wow. Well, this is it. Like I

always think this as well. And especially from speaking to other trades people or people in construction, it's quite clear that the opportunities are quite vast now compared to when a lot of us started in the education route.

I mean, that sounds insane. That would definitely be something I would consider if I was of the sort of age range to go into something like that. Wow.

Georgina Williams (18:09)

Yeah. Yeah.

This is something that baffled me like when I came out of university and maybe it was a long time ago. I don't know. I'm older than I think I am. I went to university in 2009. So I would have finished in like 2021. think. Yeah. 2011, 2012 actually I think it was when I finished university and I came out of university and my first job I was being paid £17,000 and I just thought this is amazing. Like I've got this big girl job. I thought it

Laura (18:23)

I'm older than you by

Okay.

You do though, don't ya? Yeah.

Georgina Williams (18:42)

was

so good. And then for like the next few years in events management, I went to like 18,000 then 19,000. And then, you know, when I first got my job at JCB and I was like, I got 24,000 pounds a year and I was like, wow, this is amazing. Like I want all this money. But also I was trying to buy a house and I was like, hang on, the numbers aren't adding up here. I've got this student loan to pay off. I'm trying to buy a house. can't, I mean, my first house was 110,000 pounds. So it wasn't even like,

like, had they're even the same as what they are now. And I guess like probably what people go into now off out of universities, perhaps a little bit higher, but I just couldn't I was working so hard in events management, you work really long hours. You know, and I was on this salary, but I loved what I did. And I just couldn't the numbers just weren't quite adding up for me as I've been at university now for five or six, seven years, you know, my mid 20s. And I'm struggling like I bought this house and I cannot

Laura (19:15)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mmm.

Georgina Williams (19:42)

afford to do anything. Like if my colleague said, do you want to go out for food tonight? I'd like, oh no, I'm busy. Because God forbid they would say, let's split the bill. And I'd ordered the cheapest thing on the menu. I actually had the most amazing colleagues right then and they were just so good to me and they could see that I was trying to build, you know, this, this life for myself and that I really wanted to have my own home. They were so good to me. They really looked after me. But it was then that I got a taste of like how much you could earn driving diggers. It was when I went to work at test site and I was

Laura (19:52)

Uh-huh.

you

Georgina Williams (20:12)

hourly paid and I started working a weekend shift so I could work like double time on a Sunday and I was paid for my hours and this was like a whole new concept to me like the fact that what I worked I got paid for and I was like wow who's been keeping this secret from me like the in construction if you want to work hard

Laura (20:16)

Okay.

Okay.

Hahaha!

Georgina Williams (20:36)

you will get paid well for it and if you want to earn a little bit more money you go work some extra hours you take on an extra job and I was like this is like this is like a secret that everybody's kept from me just I look like it's just it was the whole new concept to me that you could like earn all this money not not without hard work and commitment and dedication but you know that that was an option

Laura (20:41)

Yeah.

yeah.

Yeah, I can see how coming from a background of salary work, that that is such a revelation, like you say,

Georgina Williams (21:10)

Hmm.

Laura (21:10)

Especially when you've got a life goal of building a home,

Georgina Williams (21:11)

Yeah.

Yeah, it was. I honestly I just really enjoyed it. But actually, I have taken another turn in my career since then I was working there driving machines for a couple of years. And then I did end up back in the office. So yeah, I'm now back on the salary actually, but I've like, worked my way up and go back to what I said earlier, like, ⁓ JCB is just so many different routes and options to take. So I actually now work in one of the product teams. So I deal with like product marketing. But that also still includes a little bit of

of doing demonstrations and it's nice because I'm back in front of customers, which as much as I loved my digger driving weekend shift, it was great for a period of time, but it got a little bit monotonous after a while. And I think I was ready to sort of try something different and that's why I ended up back in the office, still out and about visiting customers. I've got the best of both worlds now. So yeah, it's nice. I often get to travel quite a bit and go and visit customers and do training.

Laura (21:49)

You

Okay.

⁓ amazing.

Georgina Williams (22:11)

different places I've been to South Africa, Turkey, ⁓ America so yeah I went to was in Kazakhstan like the most crazy places yeah and I'm going out there to show people it is yeah really beautiful I was very surprised it's not at all what you'd expect

Laura (22:15)

Wow.

No way, wow. I've heard it's beautiful there.

Georgina Williams (22:30)

You know, actually quite like a modern city, really like lovely hospitality you get very well looked after wherever you go. They're just really, yeah, they're proud of their country and they want to, when people visit, they want to give you, know, show you what a great place it is and how good they can look after people.

Laura (22:47)

I was actually going to ask you about the travel because obviously I've done a bit of Instagram stalking as I do and I've noticed you've been to some really awesome countries. What was your favourite place to go and what were you doing there?

Georgina Williams (22:49)

huh. Yes.

I think I did really enjoy when I went over to Savannah in America. just yeah, America is just something for me. I don't know what it is. It's just this big kind of the great the great place. And I've always just thought maybe one day I would have like career options to move out there. It's part of the reason why you know, I stay working for a big company like JCB is that you have got options for global mobility. You know, there's people at JCB who've moved their entire families and lives out to another country. And that's all been

Laura (23:16)

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (23:33)

you know whether that be a short-term basis or a permanent basis you've got them opportunities with with a big company like this and I did yeah I loved it out in Savannah I think what I loved about that was just the actual place like Savannah is such a beautiful city I love the like it's so like kind of historic but like so many beautiful the trees I'm gonna sound really sad now but I just love the trees in Savannah they're just like

Laura (23:39)

Yeah.

I'd say something like that.

I do love a good tree. Yeah, you know, yeah. No, I get it.

Georgina Williams (24:01)

really nice trees. But it was really

nice. I will say as well, actually, I just got back from Turkey. And I absolutely loved out there because they have got these backhoe loaders everywhere. And the backhoe loader being like my favorite product. You don't see them as much out in the UK now. So if I see the odd one when I'm driving about, I'm you know, that's a nice machine. In Turkey, they are everywhere. So I drove absolutely everybody mad. Because wherever we drove anywhere, was like, there's one, there's a backhoe, there's a backhoe.

Laura (24:15)

Really?

Ha

Georgina Williams (24:31)

you know and I'm like pointing out the spec and the design I'm like oh you know there's there's a 3C a 3C mark too I can tell because it hadn't got the door so it's in the distance like absolute beauty look at that machine over there from 1990 like okay Georgina you can stop now oh yeah fantastic

Laura (24:39)

Brilliant! ⁓

Yeah.

in your element by the sounds of it.

Amazing

Georgina Williams (24:57)

And it's

great, know, it's quite empowering. You know, I travel out to these countries, you know, South Africa, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and I'm going out there to train people on our product. So I'm going out there and I've got sort of a team of you. I mean, in those destinations, I haven't actually come across a female sales rep. So all the times I've been out and done training, I've been training a room full of maybe 30, 40 blokes.

Laura (25:17)

Okay.

Georgina Williams (25:27)

who are out and these guys are the sales guys. So they're selling the machine, but they also will demonstrate the machine and show customers what it can do. So I'll go out there and show them. And they were sort of always like sort of looking like wide eyes. And I will say I've always been treated with like the most respect from these people.

Laura (25:36)

Wow.

Georgina Williams (25:43)

⁓ You know, in Kazakhstan, South Africa, Turkey, they're actually just delighted to meet somebody who's as passionate about the product as they are. And that's all that really matters. So I've always had great experiences training them. They're always really receptive. I've never had any challenges. You know, I thought sometimes that might be the case. Like, then are they going to listen to me? Are they going to, you know, are they going to be, I don't know, they're perhaps just not used to having a female showing them how to work.

Laura (25:44)

Good.

⁓

Georgina Williams (26:12)

know, heavy equipment, whether they might be like, ⁓ I don't need to listen to this, but I've never had that. So it's really just more in my own head that I thought that might be the case. But it perhaps helps that we all work for the same brand. So there's that sort of element of pre-respect there anyway.

Laura (26:13)

Yeah.

Wow.

Gotcha, yeah, because I mean, that was something that I was gonna ask if you'd had any bad experiences because you are a female in such an industry. It's really good to hear that you've had such good reception. And I think part and parcel of that is possibly because like you say, you are so passionate about it and...

if they can see that you know what you're talking about, guess that they can be more accepting if we're gonna say that,

Georgina Williams (26:58)

yeah, yeah.

I think the only thing I really get, which is just the surprise and the shock, they get their phones out and start taking pictures and there's a real sort of amazement, that it's like, wow, you know, but there's no sort of real offence taken from that at all. is genuine from them and that they're like, they just haven't seen it before. And there's an element of like, was like, oh wow, you know.

Laura (27:04)

Okay.

Wow.

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (27:27)

It's like they didn't expect me to be able to do it. But that just is what it is. It's just the naivety. It's just the world they live in. They haven't seen it. But yeah, it's surprising. I hadn't ever faced that. And I always thought that I would struggle with it, that maybe that would be the case. And it's kind of not. I guess it's just reinforced this thing that sometimes you just got to put yourself out there and go for something and don't ever think it too much because sometimes people surprise you. And yeah, it's maybe not as bad.

Laura (27:31)

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (27:57)

I do recognise, I think because I work for this sort of like corporate brand, there is an element of sort of respect and maybe safety that comes through that, that, you know, I know I'm going to be like looked after and respected by, you know, essentially my colleagues. So that probably helps me.

Laura (28:07)

Okay.

Mm.

Okay. Interesting angle that definitely. Yeah. Cause obviously a lot of people typically in the trades work for in small teams. So it can take years to build up that national or even just regional reputation. So I can totally understand having

such a big brand name behind you can feel that little bit safer in that respect, being a woman in the industry, yeah.

Georgina Williams (28:44)

Yeah, it does. Yeah.

Yeah, sometimes I feel like empowered to I think, you know what, I'm just going to go and buy a digger and quit my job and go be self employed and just live, my best life driving around in a machine. But yeah, it puts me off for that reason, because I'm aware that there are potential challenges that I would face out there. And it would be different if I didn't have that brand behind me. And I do I could see that.

Laura (28:53)

Hahaha

Yeah.

Do you find that you have to incorporate social media much within your role? Do you have much to do with social media? Because obviously when speaking to other tradies that's quite a large part of promoting themselves. Within your role, do you have much to do with that?

Georgina Williams (29:28)

Yeah, so I set my social media page up when I first started driving the machines just because I wanted to share what I was doing. I thought it was really cool and I wanted other people to know that this was, you know, something that you can do. Mainly it's like just to sort of like put the word out there that women can drive construction machinery. So that's why I set it up. But I ended up meeting some fantastic people through it. So I'm always glad that I set it up. But there has been a little bit of I have to be very careful because ultimately JCB have got their own.

Laura (29:40)

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (29:58)

promotional channels and it's not really part of my role to do that so initially I'd have to be very careful to keep the two things separate.

My social media was a personal thing and my work was my work. Now, naturally, I did occasionally post about things at work, but I would have to just make sure I was quite conscientious of what I was talking about and just being considerate for the brands that I work for. And I sort of like tried to build a relationship with the social team at JCB. And as the page grew, I've had to be even more careful of that as well, because, you know, they have their own content that they post and ⁓ I wouldn't ever want to sort

Laura (30:11)

Okay.

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (30:35)

step on their toes. But I think in more recent years, my role has, because my job now is to, I've essentially working like sort of a marketing sales product growth role. Naturally, I have got the unique ability to be able to promote the product. And yeah, I don't know, like JCB must think actually, I'm just like free advertising because I genuinely love what I do and genuinely love

Laura (31:00)

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (31:05)

shouting about it so I think it's reasonably authentic I suppose some people might not think it's authentic because it's the company I work for and I'm paid by them ⁓ but it's I guess it's it's not really paid promotion is it

Laura (31:18)

No, I don't think it is. Because like you say, it's not officially part of your role, but you're just so

passionate about it. You want to share it with everybody. And yeah, I can totally understand that you've got to be careful that you may post something that the socials team may not have posted yet. yeah.

Georgina Williams (31:27)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Laura (31:37)

Again, it's putting an option of a career out there from a personal perspective as opposed to a corporate perspective of socials. you kind of get what I mean, yeah.

Georgina Williams (31:37)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.

But it has also allowed me to be like connected with customers and people that I meet. You know, if I go to visit a customer site and we're talking about product, I can connect with them on social media. And actually I've had some really nice moments where I've, you know, been working with a dealer or a customer and we've shared some posts together. And that's enabled us to sort of work together and strengthen the relationship between, you know, customer and JCB through kind of a more personal way. And I like that we can

Laura (31:56)

yeah.

Georgina Williams (32:19)

follow and keep in touch with what we're getting up to. So there's that advantage to it as well. It naturally is a way that people communicate and share activities now.

Laura (32:22)

Yeah.

Well, this is it. that's exactly,

exactly. Yeah. And that's exactly why I ask this question to everybody because social media is such a huge part of everyday life for everyone now. I just like to understand how is incorporated with them and their business. yeah, it's definitely...

Georgina Williams (32:42)

Mm-hmm.

Laura (32:52)

50-50 for a lot of people as a good and a bad thing.

Georgina Williams (32:56)

It's hard work though, isn't it? It's really time consuming. I I ever fully appreciate that. I always wanted it just to be like something I did on the side. but then yeah, the pressure, if you want to keep something going, you have to post every day. And then I'm always super conscious as well. Like I have my job and I do my job and on the side, you know, I'll post on social media, but I would never allow my sort of like content creation time to merge into my work time.

Laura (32:58)

⁓ yes, absolutely.

Georgina Williams (33:24)

So I might capture a few snaps when I'm out and about doing things but then I need to go and edit that in my own time and and you know schedule that to post at a time and I'm always conscious of you know I don't ever want anyone to look at me in my job and be like ⁓ all Georgina does is just take photos of social media. Some of them probably think that but I also try I you know I think I work really hard so hopefully they don't just think that's all I do.

Laura (33:29)

Yeah.

That's it.

I'm sure they don't. I'm sure they don't.

Georgina Williams (33:51)

And, I found like social media now is also a huge part of my job in terms of what else is going on in the world. You know, I'll be, I'll be scrolling through, you know, maybe a competitor has launched a new product and I want to learn about it. So I'm watching, I'm watching their YouTube channel to find out about it. And then reading the comments of what other people are saying about

Laura (33:58)

⁓ okay.

Georgina Williams (34:10)

it

or there's a lot now there's forums online where

⁓ machine operators will talk about what's going on and they might have had something really positive to say about a machine and then everyone else jumps in the comments section being like, yeah, I love this about this or I'm reading it then. And it never stops. I especially think because I have my social media circle in the construction industry and then naturally all my channels, when I'm scrolling through the algorithms are just feeding me all the construction stuff. So I do never switch off from it.

Laura (34:25)

Okay.

So are there any big announcements or big projects that you've got coming up that you can share with us? you travelling anywhere new?

Georgina Williams (34:51)

⁓ Nothing majorly exciting. I suppose my big thing at the moment, which might be sort of feeding into my social media a little bit, is that I've just about to start a big extension on my home. So I'm actually on my third house now. So the first one, bought it, flipped it, sold it. Second one, bought it, flipped it, sold it. And then I overdid it with this one. Yeah, bought it, half flipped it.

Laura (35:05)

Ooh!

Nice!

Georgina Williams (35:17)

lived in it, got planning permission and now yeah, we're going for it.

Laura (35:21)

Sweet.

Georgina Williams (35:22)

Yeah, I would love to say I'm like going to do it all myself and learn on the job and see how it goes. But I just don't have the time for it. And my job now is like very demanding and I love what I do. But it does mean that I don't have the brain space to project manager extension. And so yeah, I am regrettably handing over my money to somebody else to do it. But I'm such a control freak. just like.

Laura (35:42)

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (35:52)

I'm like, can, I mean, I can go on a course and learn to lay bricks. And then, you know, I'll just do do it that way. Like it's like my toxic tray is that I could do that.

Laura (36:04)

yeah feel your pain

Georgina Williams (36:04)

Do you know what

frustrates me though? It's like when I'm trying to find somebody to come and do the job and trying to find somebody is a nightmare. I just, and this is another thing, like I'm

Laura (36:13)

Yeah?

Georgina Williams (36:16)

to young people as they go out there and go and be an electrician or a plumber, go and learn a trade because I cannot find them. There are not enough of them around. And, you know, they're all so busy that you can never find someone that's available. You know, they don't answer the phone. They don't get back to you. It just frustrates me so much, I think, because I come from a customer service background. And, you know, I'll give credit to these people. They're so busy that they actually don't need to, you know, I think sometimes maybe I do see that

Laura (36:29)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (36:46)

customer service levels drop because they just don't have time to get back to everybody and then I get frustrated when I've rang around four different people and then I get this ridiculous yeah love will sort that out for you darling don't worry that's gonna cost you about 600 quid I'm at 600 quid I could do it myself any day you know I think sometimes they come on

am I being mugged off here? You know, because you think I don't know what I'm on about, but when I ask around and then I'll get another quote for £400 and I'm just like, okay, so he's just tried to take advantage of me there. So, you know, you get regarded like who you let in to do these things.

Laura (37:11)

Yeah.

You do definitely.

I think unfortunately there's been a bit of an, I want to say maybe an era of like rogue traders that have been in front of us through TV shows and social media exposing them, et cetera. So I think naturally after seeing that, a lot of people are cautious about who they employ to do these sorts of jobs around their properties.

Georgina Williams (37:47)

Yeah.

Laura (37:52)

And unfortunately that can make it very difficult for those of us that are reliable and do the job correctly, So from a customer point of view, it is very, very hard to trust someone effectively. Cause that's the main thing, isn't it? When you're employing someone like that.

Georgina Williams (37:59)

Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

But then when you find them,

you just cling onto them and don't let them go. And I think I've now found those people. Yeah, I'm really, yeah, I've got really just good relationship with my new builder that's about to start. yeah, trust him. I'm gonna try not be a control freak and let them crack on. Yeah, I would love to be doing my own groundworks, but I just, I'm just gonna slow them down. And they're starting before Christmas. So know they just wanna get in here and blast it out. So yeah.

Laura (38:15)

yeah. great.

Amazing.

Hahaha.

Ha ha!

Georgina Williams (38:39)

hopefully there'll be some digger driving going on in my back garden and I'll be here with a camera. I can't promise it'll all be JCB branded though, I don't know what will turn up. well, a digger's a digger, I'll have some fun on it. No doubt, yeah, the builders will go home at sort of five o'clock and they'll come back the next day and the footings will be dug. Well, sorry, I couldn't help myself.

Laura (38:42)

Yeah. Amazing.

Damn.

That's it.

Been done under spotlight at 11 at night.

Georgina Williams (39:06)

So yeah, that's really exciting for me. And then at work, yeah, I don't know, there's always bits and bobs that come up. I've not got any travel planned immediately right now, but loads of exciting projects that we're working. There's always something going on at JCB, always something, something new that's come in or something big that we're working on. So you just, yeah, you never know what's coming around the corner. And that's what I love about it.

Laura (39:29)

Cool, exciting. We're now at a point where I like to do a quick fire question round if you're up for it. ⁓ Wicked. So feel free to elaborate on any of your answers and they're a mix of like personal and work related just so the listeners can get to know little bits about you. Driver or passenger?

Georgina Williams (39:36)

Yes. ⁓ huh. Yeah, absolutely.

Okay.

Okay.

Ooh, er, driver. Yeah, I like to be in control.

Laura (39:59)

This is probably going to be an easy one, but I'm going to put it in there. Bobcat or JCB? No brain her.

Georgina Williams (40:04)

JCB, don't offend me. Yeah, I'm sorry,

I couldn't say anything different. I get sacked.

Laura (40:11)

Tea or coffee?

Georgina Williams (40:14)

tea ⁓ i'm turning into a coffee person i love a flat white right now yeah so i'll go for coffee

Laura (40:18)

I am.

Sweet. Traveling America or Europe.

Georgina Williams (40:25)

America. Yeah, I do want to travel more of Europe, but yeah, America's where I would probably choose for like a personal holiday destination. And yeah, Colorado is next on my list. Not booked it, but I just, yeah, I want to go and explore Colorado is my next one.

Laura (40:38)

Ooh.

Okay.

Have you been to many of the states in America?

Georgina Williams (40:47)

Yeah, I've done quite a bit of like holidays around America. So I've done quite a lot of like New York and Boston, New England. My partner was working out in North Carolina for a while. So I've done all of that. I once flew into New York and then drove down to him in North Carolina. But I took the Blue Ridge Highway through the mountains and drove all of that. That was such a good trip. Like I fully recommend going on a solo road trip.

Laura (41:16)

Yeah?

Georgina Williams (41:16)

It's

so empowering. you know, you get in a car and you just drive and you stop when you want to stop. You go where you want to go. So yeah, I've done a so, yeah, I think I need to go and explore more of America and do more road trips.

Laura (41:23)

That sounds awesome!

Next one, dogs or cats?

Georgina Williams (41:32)

Dogs.

Yeah, I love my dogs. I've actually, had four dogs the other day. only, two of them on my own, but I just, I just take them in as well. I can't help myself. So if someone's going on holiday, I'm like, ⁓ I'll have your dog. I'll have your dog. So I had four last week. was, four was a lot. It's a lot of paws. ⁓ And when you're about to have a renovation project start and your garden's becoming a mud pit and the weather's turning, it's a lot. It's a lot of paws, a lot of muddy footprints, but.

Laura (41:47)

Wow.

You

⁓ Mm-hmm.

Georgina Williams (42:01)

oh i love it they're great they're just great yeah

Laura (42:03)

Aren't they awesome?

Monster trucks or musicals?

Georgina Williams (42:09)

Oh, oh no, that's the hardest question in the world. So I'm going to go with musicals because that's been around since day one, like even when I was younger with my mom being in the local pantomime and singing the songs and then, you know, throughout all of my life musicals has been a thing. Whereas Monster Trucks has just come around in the last few years since JCB decided to sponsor our own Monster Truck. And now we have Diggatron, which is the greatest thing ever.

Laura (42:12)

Ha

Okay.

DIGATRON?! WHAT?!

Georgina Williams (42:38)

Diggertron. Yeah, he's as

cool as it sounds. It's got like a little digger at the back and it's got teeth at the front and it's unbelievable. It's so loud and it does backflips and spins. Yeah, Monster Trucks is the coolest things ever. I saw somebody with a t-shirt as well. It said girls like Monster Trucks too and now I need it. But yeah, musicals has been around since day one. Yeah, you will if I'm ever sort of alone in the machine and I've got the music blasted out.

Laura (42:50)

Wow.

are wicked!

Okay.

Georgina Williams (43:05)

I've probably got like Hamilton blasting out in the background singing my little heart out.

Laura (43:09)

Okay, what's your

favorite one?

Georgina Williams (43:14)

⁓ Probably Hamilton. ⁓ Big fan of that. Really nice. Good music. But there's some other really nice ones as well. I'm a big fan of Waitress, Dear Evan Hansen, others loads. I love them all.

Laura (43:16)

Is it?

Yeah.

Okay.

I am a fan of musicals myself, yeah. I've seen Les Mis down in London and Phantom of the Opera I went to see as well. That was insane. So yeah, yeah. ⁓

Georgina Williams (43:35)

huh. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, all the classics. Yeah.

I like some of newer stuff that's coming out. The music from Six is very good. That's about, it's about Henry VIII's Wives. It is so good.

Laura (43:50)

think I'm going to see that

I'm sure I've got tickets. I'm sure my sister bought tickets for us.

Georgina Williams (43:56)

Yeah, definitely. It's like

a pop musical as well. It's like going to watch like a girl band and they're just so good. Yeah, like powerful women as well. Like the story of the six wives and what and who they are. You get to dig into it rather than them just being the, you know, the classic rhyme, rhyme, divorce, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. That's all we know about those six women. But now they get to tell their stories and it's ace. It's really good. Yeah. Really good.

Laura (44:01)

Wicked

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

⁓ is it? I can't wait. Now, I really hope I remembered that correctly.

I hope we have got tickets. Yes. Last one for you, and this might be difficult. JCB hydrogen engine or diesel powered.

Georgina Williams (44:27)

Yeah, well if you haven't go get tickets.

Hydrogen is really exciting. Yeah, hydrogen is really exciting. So I think that has to be the future. There's a little part of me that when I'm around some of the older machines and you smell that like old diesel engine, like, there's some about that smell that is really nice. So I would say that that is.

Laura (44:40)

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (44:58)

exciting when you sort of you get to like relive that history but the future of hydrogen is really exciting ⁓ and actually you know they're they're no different the the stuff that JCB is running now these hydrogen machines the hydrogen backhoe loader it looks the same sounds the same ⁓ you know all your daily checks that you go around do around the machine everything's all in the same place so they've done a really good job of it that you don't really notice the difference so

Laura (45:06)

Mm.

Is it?

Wow.

Georgina Williams (45:25)

So I think there's still quite a lot of...

infrastructure that needs to be put in place to make this more accessible for more people. But it's really exciting the way that's going to go. you know, we will see this change over, know, over my career at JCB as I continue, you know, hopefully we'll have a long career here and eventually it may just become the norm. So that's exciting. You know, I wasn't around when all these sort of like vintage machines were driving around because I didn't really grow up into construction equipment. I meet a lot of people

Laura (45:40)

Okay.

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (45:57)

they're

like I grew up sitting on my dad's toolbox watching him dig all day and like it just wasn't me I didn't grow up around it so I suppose for me let's look to the future ⁓ and hydrogen power and see where that takes us ⁓

Laura (46:10)

Hmm, exciting, awesome.

Right, well that's the end of the questions for you on the quickfire round. I do like to end also with three main questions. if you could choose a different position in construction or a trade, what would you choose and why?

Georgina Williams (46:31)

Ooh, I think I would love to be a builder. One, because it would save me so much money. yeah, think, yeah, plumber, plumber I couldn't do, I haven't got the patience for it. Electrician, that scares me. But yeah, like the tradie roles. Yeah, I think.

Laura (46:37)

Yeah.

Georgina Williams (46:53)

yeah, I'd love to be a builder because I think you get a little bit of a taste of everything. I'd actually love to just like, if I'd have gone into it at a younger age, and it's never too late now, but I do love what I do. So yeah, I don't necessarily need that career change, but if I'd have sort of grown up in a family where they had a sort of like a property development business and were doing that kind of work, I've really been at my happiest when I've been like mid house project.

Laura (47:05)

Yeah.

Okay.

Georgina Williams (47:19)

and

loads going on living in you know the absolute mess of it all but I suppose maybe it's like the project managing and the planning side of it that I also really enjoy but learning new skills, problem solving, yeah and just designing things seeing what they look like at the end and then taking pride in it like I just think yeah this is what really nice about then seeing the finished product I could see myself going into to that kind of thing if I wasn't doing what I do now.

Laura (47:40)

Yeah.

Cool, I don't think I've had anyone say builder. So yeah, that's good one.

Georgina Williams (47:51)

Yeah, I mean what is a builder? They just do

Laura (47:54)

Who do you think I should have on the show next or what trade do you think?

Georgina Williams (48:01)

do you know what I'm really interested in at moment? It's people like, like stone people.

Laura (48:06)

stonemasons? Yeah.

Georgina Williams (48:06)

Yeah, yeah,

like stone masons. I know a couple of people like you've got, there's a girl, there's the ginger stone mason that works on the cathedrals and everything and that looks amazing. Like what a skill. But also there's another girl from around Derbyshire way that builds like stone walls and just, you know, cuts the rocks to size and build stone walls. And I find, yeah, I find that really, you know, when you go to like an agricultural trade show or something like that, you always see the people doing the stone masonry. And I think that's really cool.

Laura (48:14)

Yes.

Yeah.

Yes.

Georgina Williams (48:36)

Yeah, maybe that's something different.

Laura (48:38)

Well, whilst I find another one, because I have already had Rosie on, she's a stonemason. So I had had my eye on the ginger stonemason. So maybe I'll get in touch with her. Does, doesn't it? Yeah. And I believe she works, over at Lincoln Cathedral. Yeah. And I lived in Lincoln for a while. So.

Georgina Williams (48:44)

⁓ yes. Yes, yeah.

yeah her job looks really cool

I was just about to say that, yeah, I think she's over at Lincoln Cathedral, that's what I saw last, so...

Laura (49:07)

I've walked around that cathedral many a time and it is nearly always under renovation. There's always scaffolding around it. So maybe I've seen her up there and not really realised. Who knows? Definitely. So where can people find you Georgina on social media, et cetera?

Georgina Williams (49:13)

Yeah.

Yeah, maybe. Yeah, really, really cool work that, yeah.

Yeah, so I'm mainly on my Instagram. I am the underscore happy digger on Instagram. ⁓ I am branching out into ⁓ YouTube as well. So I'm on there as well under the same name. I'm trying to do the TikTok thing as well. But I'm most consistent on Instagram. That's why you'll see me most of the time. And my YouTube tends to have some like longer videos of things that I'm up to. So yeah, definitely worth having a look at that as well. Although don't post as regularly but

get a little bit more of what I'm working on when you go over there.

Laura (49:54)

Yeah.

Awesome, love it. All right, brilliant. Well, I will make sure all your handles and links are clickable in the show notes for people to jump on and follow you and see your content. And yeah, I really enjoyed getting to know you today and different angle in construction. So thank you very much for giving me your time.

Georgina Williams (50:05)

Thank you.

Mm-hmm. thank you. Yeah.

Thank you for letting me. Yeah. Thank you for letting me talk. just, yeah, I do like talking. So I'm passionate about what I do. So it's nice to share it with other people.

Laura (50:27)

I loved it and it

definitely came across. So yeah, thank you very much.

Georgina Williams (50:30)

God, yeah, thanks

for having me. Thanks very much.