work in progress

Funeral directors help people during what are often the lowest moments in their lives. However, for some pretty obvious reasons, it is not a common career path. 

Stateside's Work in Progress series features conversations between someone just starting out in a career and someone who is reaching the end of their professional life.

Today, we introduce you to two funeral directors on either end of that spectrum.

Women make up just around nine percent of the workers in the skilled trades, according to 2016 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

So, if you’re a woman just getting started, it can feel like you’re the odd one out on the construction site.

For our Work in Progress series, we brought together two women in the field — one just starting out, one 25 years in — to talk about why they decided to pursue careers as electricians, and what it takes to thrive as a woman in the skilled trades. 

When you bring two people from opposite ends of the same career path together, chances are they’ll have plenty to talk about.

Stateside's ongoing Work in Progress series aims to do just that by featuring conversations between someone just starting out in a particular field and someone who is reaching the end of their professional career. 

Leonard Slatkin is Music Director Laureate of the Detroit Symphony, and conductor Chelsea Gallo is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at the University of Michigan. 

Taking that first step down a career path can be daunting, like stepping into a world completely unknown. On the flip side, if you’ve been walking that road a long time, chances are you’ve learned a thing or two.

Father Jim Houbeck, a newly ordained Catholic priest, sat down with Father Ed Prus, who has recently retired, to discuss their lives in this vocation. Their conversation is part of Stateside's Work in Progress series, where we bring together two people to talk about what it's like to be at opposite ends of the same career path. 

Taking that first step down a career path can be daunting, like stepping into a world completely unknown.

On the flip side, if you've been walking that path a while, odds are you've learned a thing or two.

Taking that first step down a career path can be daunting. It's like stepping into a world completely unknown. On the flip side, if you’ve been walking that road a long time, chances are you’ve learned a thing or two. 

“Work in Progress” is a new Stateside series about what it's like to be at opposite ends of the same career path. You'll hear conversations between two people —one who's just starting out in a job and one who's been working in the field for a long time.

Throughout the series we’ll feature conversations between people who have chosen a variety of career paths ranging from conductors, to priests, nurses, and millwrights.

But first, we turn the spotlight on two farmers.