BARRIO LOGAN (KGTV) — Two women veterans are breaking barriers in male-dominated manufacturing industries through a San Diego nonprofit that provides training and career opportunities for veterans, transitioning service members, and wounded warriors.
Workshops for Warriors offers hands-on training in machining and welding, fields where women remain underrepresented. Two women connected to the program are working to change that.
Lisette Lopez, a Marine Corps veteran of 9 years, is currently the only woman in her machining class at the nonprofit.
"As long as you focus on what you're there to do, then it'll be fine. Um, everyone's learning over here, so I think as long as you don't concentrate on like being the only one, you won't feel like the only one," Lopez said.
Lopez has her sights set on a future in manufacturing engineering, combining her academic background with the hands-on skills she is building through the program.
"I'd actually like to go into manufacturing engineering. Um, so I already have that engineering background through school, and then learning this process, I think you kind of see the end result of manufacturing, so kind of combining both things together, I think manufacturing engineering would be the best suit for me," Lopez said.
She eventually hopes to work in the defense and aerospace industry.
Bethany Prescott, a U.S. Navy veteran, is an alumna of Workshops for Warriors who now serves as an instructor in the welding program. She currently specializes in tungsten inert gas welding, a technique used in the aerospace and automotive industries and in motorsports.
Prescott said her journey as one of the few women in the welding program has come with challenges, but that she has earned respect by speaking up.
"It feels less of a challenge now, I think, because I've overcome it, uh, so often, but a lot of times just maybe my voice not being heard or maybe not being, um, fully considered, uh, but again through, through speaking up and, and through choosing to make my voice be heard, um, I've, I've gained a lot of respect here at Workshops for Warriors," Prescott said.
She also offered advice to other women considering a path in manufacturing.
"I just felt like at that time in my life, there was no better time than that. It's very important that you listen to that voice inside that's telling you to do it and do it, um, just make that decision, don't be afraid, don't be scared, um, all those fears you will overcome. Find yourself a mentor, someone to, uh, look up to, someone to ask advice," Prescott said.
Prescott will compete in the 2026 Ironwoman Welding Competition in May, where she will weld underwater.
I spoke with both women at the Workshops for Warriors facility in Barrio Logan.
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