We recently had the chance to connect with Lia Lamela and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lia, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Lately, what’s been bringing me the most joy is spending time with my dog, Kado — my 5-year-old Dogo Argentino. We’ve been doing a lot of training and play sessions together, and it’s become one of the best parts of my day. When the weather is warm, we’ve been taking trips to the lake, and he absolutely loves it. We swim together, practice commands in the water, and just enjoy the sunshine. It’s peaceful, grounding, and honestly the perfect reset outside of work.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Becoming an electrician changed everything. It gave me financial independence, problem-solving skills, and most importantly, restored my confidence.
Today, I have a successful career in Commercial Fire Alarm Systems and BIM (Building Information Modeling). As a Construction Manager Consultant and CEO of Sparky Life Solutions, I work with the finest professionals in the world—tradespeople who build the backbone of our civilization.
But as I advanced in my career, I realized something troubling:
Too many people, especially women, don’t know these opportunities exist.
Schools and the media downplay or ignore the trades.
Misconceptions hold people back from exploring life-changing careers.
I knew this had to change.
At Sparky Life Solutions, we believe that the skilled trades change lives, build futures, and create lasting impact. As a construction manager consultant, I take pride in serving the construction industry, mentoring skilled trades professionals, and helping businesses thrive.
I launched The Sparky Life Podcast to challenge the narrative and share the untold stories of skilled tradespeople. Through engaging conversations and real-life experiences, we highlight the opportunities, struggles, and victories of working in the trades.
The lessons from Sparky Life aren’t just for tradespeople—they’re for everyone. Whether you work with physical tools or metaphorical ones, the principles of discipline, problem-solving, and resilience apply to all aspects of life.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
Almost Seven years ago, I was living in a women’s shelter with nothing but the clothes on my back and
bruises I was ashamed of. Today, I make over six figures as a licensed electrician. I am the CEO of Sparky Life Solutions
and host of the Sparky Life Podcast. But here’s the plot twist nobody saw coming: the worst thing that ever happened to me became the best thing that ever happened to me. I want to share not just my story of survival, but how I went from merely surviving… to thriving. Because if it can happen to me, it can happen for anyone. The more we create awareness and
speak out the more potential to protect others. Now, before I talk about the women’s shelter, let me paint you a picture of the years leading up to it. I call it my “career journey,” but honestly—it looked more like a pinball machine. And I was the
ball. Seven careers, people. Seven! I used to think this made me a failure. Like I couldn’t commit, couldn’t find my passion, couldn’t stick with one thing. Spoiler alert: I was wrong. In fact, most people change their careers seven times in their lifetime. Turns out, I was just… normal. My career path had variety—vet tech, teaching assistant, working for the FDIC. And then, the one I stuck with the longest: a decade in medical aesthetics as a skincare director and
aesthetician. One of my proudest projects in that field? Helping remove tattoos from ex-gang members —so
they could start over, walk into a job interview without their past written on their skin. It was meaningful work. But the state laws changed, and suddenly I was told I needed a medical degree to continue practicing. It was like being told you needed a driver’s license to drive the car you’d been driving for over a decade. And it was at that crossroads when I reconnected with an old high school sweetheart. You know the story. Facebook suggests someone from your past. You start messaging. Suddenly, you’re convinced it’s fate. At the time, I thought I was being smart. I told him exactly what I wanted: marriage, family, stability. He was charismatic and wanted to know all about me. I gave him the play book to what I envisioned my perfect partner to be. And that, my friends, was a mistake. Because predators don’t see transparency as honesty. They see it as an opportunity. He lived in New Jersey, I was in Boston. That long-distance dance hides a lot. And there is an
air of romance traveling back and forth to visit one another. And when he proposed, I said yes.
I moved back to New Jersey. I couldn’t find work in my esthetician field, so I looked for new
opportunities. He was a commercial fisherman, so I built a business around specialty rods and
rigs. With just $10,000, I built it into $75,000 in profit in less than a year. I thought I was living the American Dream. Engaged. Successful. Pinterest boards full of wedding plans. But dreams started to crumble. After love bombing, and as a self admitted recovering people pleaser, this horrible routined dance began of push and pull, he would alternate between
periods of abuse and remorse, creating a roller coaster of emotions. (I now understand it
as trauma bonding). The good days became less and less. I want to pause here and be very clear: domestic violence can happen to anyone. I used to watch those true crime shows and wonder, why don’t those women just leave?
Naively, I thought, I would never let that happen to me. But abuse doesn’t start with fists flying, not at first. It starts with control disguised as love. It starts with a raised voice, a slammed door, a hole in the wall. It escalates to a shove. And then, one day, he hits you. By then, you’re isolated. Your friends are gone. Your family is distant. Your money, your ID, your
car keys—everything in his control. And when you finally do get brave enough—or scared enough—to call the police, and he’s released the same night after you have been attacked, you learn something: you are only as
safe as the time it takes the police to arrive. And let me tell you… that is too long. I know with certainty why most women don’t get out. The key to preventing domestic violence from ever happening is to identify the signs of a predator early, and educate yourself on what to look out for. I knew with certainty: if I didn’t leave, I would be killed. The first women’s shelter I went to he found me. I had toI flee the state for my safety. With my pets, the clothes on my back, and nothing else. I landed in a women’s shelter out of state. And that’s when my story truly began. Living in the shelter, I started peeling back the lies.The lies he told me. The lies I told myself. And the lies society tells women about worth, love, and strength.
I was beaten, broken, and broke. But I made a promise to myself: I will figure out how this happened, and I will make sure it never happens again. The counselors at the shelter helped me see something important. Rock bottom is not the end.
Rock bottom is a foundation. I remember telling my counselor will I ever stop being afraid, I just wish I wasn’t still so afraid. I’ll never forget her wise words, she said, “No Lia, you will never stop being afraid, in life there will always be something scary whether it’s this or something else. However if we are never afraid, we then never have the opportunity to be brave. I decided at that moment I was going to build something new. But I needed more than therapy. I needed a career. And let’s be real—minimum wage wasn’t going to pay the bills. My family relationship was strained, they blamed me for involving myself with this predator and the shame was immense. Like they say if you’re in a room full of shit you eventually stop
smelling the shit. This abusive relationship unveiled my family dynamic and gave me a clear understanding why my behaviors made me an obvious target for predators. I don’t want people to misunderstand, I am not placing blame. I feel this is really important to protect ourselves. There was a study done in 2013 where they showed violent offenders video of people walking on the street, no audio. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) publication,”Psychopathy and
victim selection: the use of gait as a cue to vulnerability”. This research involved inmates from an Ontario, Canada prison viewing video clips of pedestrians and judging their vulnerability to victimization based on their gait. What this taught me was there were behaviors that attracted predators and if I taught myself what behaviors I exhibited which attracted their attention I could change these behaviors and better protect myself. Here is what the research shows: Here’s
what that research (and related studies) has consistently shown about the behaviors and body language predators cue in on:
1. Gait / Walking Patterns: Short, uneven strides – shuffling, dragging, or inconsistent steps signal low confidence
or impaired awareness.
Lack of arm swing – stiff arms or minimal movement can suggest tension, fear, or lack of
vitality.
Asymmetry – limping, injury, or imbalance can mark someone as physically easier to
overpower.
Slow reaction to surroundings – delayed or absent head movement when something
changes nearby.
2. Posture & Body Language
Slouched shoulders / head down – conveys submissiveness or low self-esteem. Closed body posture – arms crossed tightly, inward-turned feet, or shrinking movements signal vulnerability. Avoiding eye contact entirely – predators often see this as “easy to dominate.
Distracted walking – looking at your phone, wearing loud headphones, or being mentally
“elsewhere” shows you’re not alert. Unclear destination – wandering or hesitating without purpose signals uncertainty and
lack of control.
Protective Counter-Behaviors
The good news — as your own life shows — is that these behaviors are learnable and
changeable. Research and self-defense experts recommend:
Walk with purpose – head up, shoulders back, steady pace.
Make brief eye contact – calm acknowledgment tells a potential predator “I see you.
”
Scan your environment – subtle head movement, awareness of exits, and people nearby. Project calm confidence – even if you don’t feel it yet, practicing confident posture changes how you’re perceived. Assert your boundaries verbally – practice firm “No” or “Stop” in a clear voice. At this point I was trying to find substantial work when my brother-in-law mentioned he heard on a podcast of an all women’s trade program offering scholarship. I enjoyed working with my hands and had nothing to lose so I applied. And that decision changed everything. I was introduced to the skilled trades: carpentry, plumbing, electrical. And something lit up inside me. I threw myself into it with discipline and grit. And in just three years, I went from pre-apprentice to apprentice to journeywoman electrician—a path that normally takes four to five years. Becoming an electrician didn’t just give me a job. It gave me independence. Confidence. Purpose.Today, I make six figures working as a Construction Consultant and Fire Alarm Systems Specialist. I consult with top professionals who are literally building the backbone of our civilization. And I created freedom for myself. But here’s the bigger lesson: I didn’t just survive. I rebuilt. I thrived.The worst thing that ever happened to me became the best thing that ever happened to me—because it stripped me down to my foundation and forced me to rebuild stronger. I share this not to say it was easy. It wasn’t. I had days where I wanted to quit. But every time, I remembered: I had already survived, just by surviving I had won. Everything else was just
building blocks.
The skilled trades gave me a career. Counseling gave me clarity. But courage—the decision to leave, to start over—that gave me my life back. The skilled trades don’t just build buildings. They build lives. And I am living proof.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Living in the women’s shelter, I started peeling back the lies.The lies he told me. The lies I told myself. And the lies society tells women about worth, love, and strength. I was beaten, broken, and broke. I asked my counselor why was I collapsing now, why not well I was being beaten, fighting for my life. She responded, “you were too busy trying to survive, now that you our out of that life or death situation your feeling the impact of the event.”
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
Yes, I don’t know another way to be. It’s funny, I have no poker face and this can hurt me at times in business, but it can also help me. Some of my most successful business relationships have been because I am so transparent.
Okay, so before we go, let’s tackle one more area. Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days.
I’ve definitely had periods in my career where I was “tap dancing to work.” Early on, I was actually given the nickname “Tiger” because of my constant positive energy. That attitude became one of the biggest accelerators in my career. I never participated in gossip or fed into negativity on the job site. In fact, people would say, “If Lia isn’t commenting, that should tell you everything you need to know,” because I never spoke poorly about anyone. That consistency built trust. It created a space where people felt safe, motivated, and genuinely excited to work together. My enthusiasm often rubbed off on the guys I worked with — it encouraged collaboration, boosted morale, and made even tough days feel accomplishable. One of the most joyful chapters was my time at Hanley Energy working with the Building Automation Team. We built panels from the ground up, performed quality control testing, and shipped them out to job sites. The work was hands-on, technical, and deeply rewarding. I loved seeing a project come to life, knowing every wire and component was assembled with purpose.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sparkylifesolutionsllc.com
- Instagram: sparkylifeoflia
- Linkedin: Lia Lamela
- Facebook: Lia Lamela
- Youtube: sparkylifeoflia
Image Credits
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