People of Carrier Drive

A faculty member, small-business owner and full-time student advocator: Jocelyn (Jody) Fisher reflects on the challenges of her own journey and of her students.

“Sometimes information isn’t always communicated to the people who are just learning and a lot of things can happen concerning their learning curves and safety,” said Jody. Her passion for teaching comes from her desire to share her experiences and interests with her students, and to help them find their own career path.

For Jody, it was not a direct path when it comes to choosing to be a plumber and a plumbing instructor. She was exposed to the trades through being born into a family who owned a hardware store. She spent her spare time at the back of the store and learned the physical aspects of running the store. She started to understand the items’ usage when assisting the customers in middle school and she always gravitated to the plumbing materials.

After graduating with a BA in political science from York University, Jody pursued a degree in engineering but after two years she discovered that this was not her path. She worked as a bartender and did contracting work in a variety of construction and plumbing repairs.

Jody applied for the plumbing apprenticeship at the United Association Local 46 because she got tired of bartending after 10 years and wanted to pursue her drive to build. Working as a journeyman and taking in apprentices inspired her to reach out to Steve Anderson, a plumbing instructor at Humber, for an opportunity to be a plumbing instructor. Jody wanted to infuse her experiences into her teaching to prepare her students for their job sites.

For example, the experience of falling through the roof at Mount Sinai Hospital when she was two months pregnant was scary but memorable. It taught her to be vigilant of her surroundings, and she wanted to pass on that knowledge in her teaching.

Now a part-time Humber FAST apprentice instructor and owner of Plumbing the Depths, her advice to future tradespeople is not that everyone can be a tradesman. “You have to be physically and mentally tough” to survive on a job site, Jody added.