When Ambition Fails: Redirecting Youth from Hopelessness to the Trades

About This Episode

In this episode of First Shift, host Graeme Bryks sits down with Nicole Davis, founder of Fortitude Careers, a nonprofit that takes young adults facing systemic barriers and transforms them into job-ready construction professionals in just eight weeks. Nicole spent 30 years in corporate America at companies like LexisNexis and Dow Jones before walking away from her executive career to pursue what she calls her true north: helping young people find their place in the trades. Her personal connection to construction runs deep, having grown up on job sites while her parents ran a construction company. That foundation, combined with her experience in cognitive behavioral therapy and youth coaching, became the blueprint for Fortitude. The Fortitude program goes far beyond teaching young adults how to swing a hammer. Nicole and her team deliver a full Life Mastery curriculum that covers financial literacy, emotional regulation, professional communication, interview skills, and career development. Students build a shed from foundation to roof, learning framing, plumbing, and electrical along the way. But the real product, as Nicole puts it, is confidence. When a student who has never held a tool stands back and says "I built that," something shifts inside them. That confidence carries into their careers, their relationships, and their futures. One graduate went from working at a cannabis dispensary to becoming a plumber, then found her true calling and applied to the San Francisco Police Department. For contractors and trades businesses in the Bay Area, Fortitude represents a direct pipeline to motivated, trained entry-level talent. Since 2022, the program has graduated 96 students, with 70 of them now working in construction. The organization partners with major contractors like Webcor and local high school districts to recruit participants through their Exploring Construction Careers events. They have grown roughly 400% since launching, expanding from one cohort per year to three cohorts plus an adult night course in 2026. Nicole holds her students to high standards, including a pushup penalty for showing up late, because she knows their future employers will expect the same discipline. The conversation also touches on the growing labor shortage in construction and how programs like Fortitude provide a real solution for contractors who struggle to find reliable, job-ready workers. Nicole shares her vision for expanding Fortitude into every major U.S. city where the tech industry has displaced blue collar career pathways. With AI now reshaping the tech workforce, she sees an even greater opportunity to redirect displaced workers toward construction careers. For general contractors looking for trained, supported hires, or for anyone interested in supporting workforce development in the trades, Fortitude Careers offers a model worth paying attention to.

Key Takeaways

• 1Fortitude Careers transforms young adults (ages 18 to 24) into job-ready construction workers in an eight-week program that includes both hands-on trade skills and Life Mastery training covering financial literacy, communication, and emotional regulation.
• 2Since 2022, the program has graduated 96 students, with 70 placed directly into construction jobs in the Bay Area, giving contractors access to a vetted talent pipeline.
• 3Nicole spent 30 years in corporate leadership at companies like LexisNexis and Dow Jones before founding Fortitude, bringing executive-level systems thinking into workforce development for the trades.
• 4The program partners with Webcor, one of California's largest general contractors, to provide real job site exposure through their Exploring Construction Careers (ECC) half-day events for high school students.
• 5Fortitude has grown roughly 400% since launching, expanding from one cohort per year to three cohorts plus an adult night course in 2026, with plans to replicate the model in cities across the U.S.
• 6Students receive a full year of post-graduation coaching and support, meaning contractors who hire Fortitude graduates also get a support team invested in that employee's success.
• 7Nicole sees the AI-driven displacement of tech workers as an opportunity to redirect people toward construction careers, where demand continues to outpace supply.

Watch This Episode

Listen on Spotify