VOA – CONNECT 
EPISODE #171   
AIR DATE 04 23 2021   
TRANSCRIPT   

OPEN  ((VO/NAT)) 
((Banner)) 
Girls Skater, Olympic Hopeful 
((SOT)) 
((Video Courtesy: Bombette Martin))  
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
Because there’s fewer of us, you’ll notice more people are 
shocked. I love to see the girls skateboarding community to 
grow because it’s becoming more normal. 
((NATS)) 
((Animation Transition)) 
((Banner)) 
Men Who Sew 
((SOT)) 
((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer)) 
I'm just a simple old guy. I don't have the so-called American 
dream or the Mexican dream or the Russian dream. I kind of 
like what happened to me.  
((Banner)) 
Women Who Build 
((SOT)) 
((Kelly Kupcak, Executive Director, Oregon 
Tradeswomen)) 
A lot of girls and women, even though we're in the 21st 
century, are like, ‘Oh, I don't see myself as that.’ So, they 
don't think that's an opportunity for them. 
((Animation Transition)) 
((Open Animation)) 
 

BLOCK A 

((PKG))  SKATEBOARDER  
((TRT: 08:56)) 
((Topic Banner: Bombette))    
((Reporter/Camera: Aaron Fedor))  
((2nd Camera: Lachlan McClellan))   
((Producer: Kathleen McLaughlin))  
((Editor: Kyle Dubiel)) 
((Map: New York City, New York)) 
((Main characters: 1 female))  
((Sub characters: 2 female; 3 male))  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
My name is Bombette Martin. I'm 14 years old and I'm a 
skateboarder. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
My parents do not skate. They cannot stand on a skateboard 
for their life. My little brother, he is a really talented 
skateboarder. He's 11. His name is Kayo and he also 
competes a lot. 
((Kayo Martin, Bombette’s Brother)) 
I'm way better. I’m totally better. 
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
No, you're not. 
((Kayo Martin, Bombette’s Brother)) 
I'm way better all around. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Courtesy:  Bombette Martin)) 
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
Well, I was nine years old when I started skateboarding. So, 
that was like almost six years ago now. And we're really 
lucky to have a world-class skate park right down the street. 
So, actually like when we were really little, me and my 
brother, we'd go watch the skaters through the fence. And 
one day, we decided to go in and I just fell in love with it. So, 
here I am. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Mary Apple, Bombette’s Mother))  
Just for your warmup, can you do back and forth on the five-
foot hip? Just, just really work on frontside, backside ollies 
on the five-foot hip and then also try to include...just try, try 
because you might need to do this in England. Just try to 
make it a backside air with a grab. 
((Mary Apple, Bombette’s Mother))  
You know we live local. So, the kids used to come and like 
we would just be playing in that park over there. And we 
used to come kind of hang on to this fence and like watch 
the guys through and, you know, cheer them on. But it just 
looked so intimidating. I don't know about for the kids, but for 
me. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
When I was really little, I used to be like obsessed with 
monkey bars [playground climbing frame]. Like I would go 
around like to all different parks around the city and just like, 
you know, do monkey bars and I would do like all different 
like tricks and stuff. And so, I used to think that one day, I'm 
going to go to the Olympics for monkey bars, even though 
there is no such thing. 
((Andrew Gelles, Owner - Substance Skatepark; 
Bombette’s first teacher)) 
When I first saw Bombette and her brother, they were 
pushing the wrong way, couldn't go down a three-foot ramp.  
I started teaching them because I thought they were 
hilarious. They were really funny kids who would like make 
weird voices and amp each other up. But after those first six 
months had passed between her and Kayo, it was clear that 
these people were long-haul kids. They were in it for the 
right reasons and they were going to make this work. 
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
There's like competitions that gain you points, the Olympic 
Qualifiers. They were all supposed to be last year for the 
2020 Olympics in Tokyo, but obviously that all got postponed 
because of COVID. Now it changed from five competitions to 
like what, three now. That gains you points and that goes 
towards the rankings for the Olympics and I have to be in the 
top 20 to go. 
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
Yeah, style comes into it a lot and the difficulty of tricks. So, 
like it’s, I mean, it's really confusing. You have to like really 
know skateboarding. Even like I still don't know. We like try 
to ask people like oh, what scores better, like this trick or that 
trick? And, you know, people, they can't give us a like a 
straight answer, but like it’s all based on, a lot of it's based 
on opinion, like oh, this judge thinks that looks better than 
that or whatever, that's more difficult. But yeah, it’s, you 
know, based on difficulty mainly. 
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
Our lifestyle is pretty much changed so much just because of 
skateboarding. And I mean, it's all over the place but it's fun. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
When I first started skateboarding, just something I mean 
super simple that would be like such a big accomplishment 
for me. But now that I’ve like grown so much, something like, 
there’s, I learned a trick like a couple months ago that only a 
few girls in the world can do and so that was a very big 
breakthrough for me. The big trick was kickflip Indy. 
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Courtesy: Bombette Martin))  
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
I've been trying it for like a couple of years now, and then the 
one day, I just got like super close and I was just going over 
and over and over, falling and falling again for about like four 
hours and then I finally landed it. 
((NATS))  
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
And it was, it was really cool. 
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Jiro Platt, Skater and friend)) 
I’ve always like skated with her at contests a lot. She’s 
always been really good at vert [vertical] skating. 
((NATS/MUSIC))  
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
Well, I actually enjoy being a girl skateboarder because you 
honestly, when you're a high-level girl skateboarder, you 
tend to get more praise. You’re just, I guess, you're noticed 
more because boys, there's just so many of them and there's 
fewer of us. So, they’re like, people are shocked, honestly. I 
love to see the girl skateboarding community grow because 
it's becoming more normal. There's, I mean, so many of my 
friends, they've started skateboarding and I mean it's nice to 
see. 
((Lucinda Jacobson, Skater and friend))  
I mean, Bombette's obviously an amazing skater. The first 
time that I met her, she did like a kickflip front-rock, which is 
like a really hard trick. And, I don't know, seeing another girl 
skating at Substance, it was really cool. I think it's cool that 
skating is going to be an Olympic sport because I think 
people are starting to take it a little bit more seriously. They 
don't just think it's like a thing that burnouts do. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Bombette Martin, Olympic Hopeful)) 
It's like a drug. It's so addicting. When you're just learning 
something new or just accomplishing something that you've 
been working so hard for, like that feeling is just the best 
feeling ever. And I'm sure it's like that for other sports, but I 
just feel that skateboarding, unlike other sports, is just so 
welcoming and everyone's so encouraging. You'll rarely 
meet someone that's like an ass to you because there’s just, 
everyone just loves to see others progress. And that's really 
nice. 
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Popup Banner:  On April 11th, Bombette Martin, a dual 
US/British citizen, won the UK National Championships, 
taking her one step closer to her Olympic dream.)) 
 
 
TEASE  ((VO/NAT)) 
Coming up 
((Banner)) 
Craftsmanship 
((SOT)) 
((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer)) 
To me, God created a most perfect world. All of us, are 
different. All my suits are different.

BREAK ONE                                                                    
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))                          

     BLOCK B   

((PKG))  THE CLOTHIER  
((TRT: 04:37)) 
((Topic Banner: Rhinestone Rembrandt))  
((Reporter: Marsha James))
((Camera/Editor: Kaveh Rezaei))  
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou)) 
((Map: Nashville, Tennessee)) 
((Main character: 1 male))
     ((NATS/MUSIC))
     ((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer))
I'm just a simple old guy. I don't have the so-called American 
dream or the Mexican dream or the Russian dream. I kind of 
like what happened to me. I decided since I was 12 years old 
that I would make dresses for young ladies. That's kind of 
the start of a real tailoring career.  
((NATS/MUSIC))
     ((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer))
My name is Manuel Cuevas and I am the king of sewing.  
((NATS/MUSIC))
     ((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer))
This little town where I was born, Coalcoman, Michoacan in 
Mexico, I was born a very alert child and I had a lot of 
retention for everything that surrounded me or things that I 
talked about. My mom, my dad, my brothers and sisters 
would be talking and I would be catching up with the news, 
whatever they were talking about. When I was seven, I had 
already jumped to 3rd grade, 4th grade, I think.  
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer)) 
I had kind of a feeling that they weren’t as advanced as I 
was and that was kind of my big secret.   
((NATS/MUSIC))
     ((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer))
I never had needs of any kind.  
((NATS/MUSIC))
     ((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer))
Well, my parents took care of my needs. And then I took 
care of my needs when I was eight-and-a-half years old. I 
wish that all the kids had parents like mine. 
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer)) 
I grew up believing in two books. One was The Iliad and the 
other was The Odyssey of Homer. I reconciled with his 
stories so much that I thought if a blind man could write this, 
then I can be better than him.  
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer)) 
Oh, I love life. Standing up in front of my brother who's 
playing with tailoring and I said, “How is that pant-making 
business doing?” And he looked at me, “It’ll be doing so well 
if you just stop looking pretty standing in front of me. Get on 
one sewing machine and help me.” I never felt so much a 
challenge, you know. I said, “Why don't I?” So, I sat down 
sewing pants. My God, I'm still sitting on that machine today.
     ((NATS/MUSIC))
((Text over video: Manuel moved to the United States in 
1952.))  
((Courtesy: AP)) 
((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer))
I had a beautiful girlfriend, forced me almost to go to the 
Pasadena Rose Parade. I saw the parade and I fell in love 
with it. People’s dress up. You know, the way they 
flamboyance the thing, I said, “I can do better than that.”  
To this day actually, I started dressing all the singers, the 
models, the governors, mayors, the presidents of this 
country. You're fashionably dressed when you're a 
soldier. It’s the uniform.
     ((NATS/MUSIC))
     ((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer))
Whether it's poor or it’s rich or it’s the best, that’s your 
style. And to me, that's what I put in people. I put style in 
them. I love the French people because they dress first and 
they eat later. I mean, come on. I love that. That's the style.  
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer)) 
Make them different. So, my suits are different. All my shirts 
are different. People say, “Well, how is that possible?” Well, 
it is. I mean, we're all different anyway.  
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer)) 
I'm just a regular human being walking around with a fool’s 
flag. To me, God created a most perfect world where 
everybody, all of us, are different.  
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Manuel Cuevas, Fashion Designer)) 
All my suits are different.
You know, you got to get to the mountain. The mountain is 
never going to get to you. Some of my students, really 
with the greatest ambition of becoming designers say, “How 
do you get to a place like where you are?” I said, “Well, with 
the same ruler that you measure your dream, measure your 
working hours. Maybe that will take you somewhere.”
     ((NATS/MUSIC))
 
 
TEASE  ((VO/NAT)) 
Coming up     
((Banner)) 
On the Job 
((SOT)) 
((Jenna, Construction Worker)) 
You don't see very many women out there but more women 
need to be in the trade for sure. 

BREAK TWO                                                                   
BUMP IN  ((ANIM))                          
 
 
BLOCK C  
 
 
((PKG))  TOOLBELT TRAINING   
((TRT: 03:20)) 
((Filmed before the pandemic)) 
((Topic Banner: Training for Toolbelts))  
((Reporter: Karina Bafradzhian)) 
((Camera: Artyom Kokhan)) 
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest)) 
((Map: Portland, Oregon)) 
((Main characters: 1 female)) 
((Sub characters: 1 female)) 
((NATS)) 
((Kelly Kupcak, Executive Director, Oregon 
Tradeswomen)) 
At first, everyone was like, ‘That's crazy. You don't know 
anything about construction.’ And it was a whole new world 
and it was really, really hard and really physically exhausting 
but really interesting and really exciting and I loved it. 
((NATS)) 
((Text over video: Oregon Tradeswomen offers free, 8-
week basic construction training for women.)) 
((Kelly Kupcak, Executive Director, Oregon 
Tradeswomen)) 
You know, just helping so many women come through our 
program and go out and after, you know, one year, two 
years from when they graduated four or five years. They 
became an electrician, a carpenter, a plumber, a pipe fitter, 
(or) a heavy equipment operator, like myself. They were able 
to no longer have to survive on benefits from the government 
and they could have pride in a job that was not just a job but 
really a career pathway. And they could buy a car. They 
were buying their first home and they had economic 
independence. 
((NATS: Construction)) 
((Kelly Kupcak, Executive Director, Oregon 
Tradeswomen)) 
In the construction industry, you're making really good 
wages and if it's a union job, you're also getting a pension, 
you're also getting health care. So, I saw the difference right, 
of what was happening and what we also know is that a lot 
of girls and women, even though we're in the 21st century, 
folks still are like, ‘Oh, I don't see myself as that. I don't see 
myself doing that.’ Or you know, they drive down the road 
and they just see men working on a highway job. So, they 
don't think that's an opportunity for them. 
((NATS 
Woman 1: And you take the bottom, so see that here? Take 
that and turn this this way.  
Woman 2: I was thinking it wouldn’t even be able to reach.)) 
((Jenna, Construction Worker)) 
It's definitely an old stereotype that I think we definitely need 
to lean away from. It’s, for sure, a very physically demanding 
job. You have to be in shape. You have to be willing to work 
hard. As long as you're willing to put in the work and to work 
for it, I don't see why women can't be in it. I don't see why 
the stereotype was made in the first place. So, you don't see 
very many women out there but more women need to be in 
the trade for sure. 
((NATS  
Woman: So now, we’ve got to move this over a way, so we 
can afford to…)) 
((Kelly Kupcak, Executive Director, Oregon 
Tradeswomen)) 
I think the women that come through our doors, some of 
them are women who have, you know, a master's degree in 
engineering. And they don't want to sit behind a desk all day 
anymore, and they want to do something more dynamic, and 
they want to be outdoors, and they want to use their bodies 
and their brains. Those women come through our doors.  
Women in the community who are coming out of 
incarceration, so, you know, leaving prison. We are in the 
prison system. We talk to women there as well. They say, 
‘Have you thought about this pathway?’ So, we work really 
hard to make sure that the folks that want to do this, can do 
it, and we give them the tools they need, the training they 
need and the support they need. And I think that piece is 
really important to underscore because while you're also 
learning all the skills that you need, we're helping you get rid 
of the barriers. 
((NATS))

((PKG))  KNIFE MAKER   
((Previously aired October 2020)) 
((Banner:  Work as Art))  
((Reporter/Camera:  Gabrielle Weiss)) 
((Map:  Wilmot, New Hampshire))   
((Main characters:  1 male))   
((NATS))   
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith; Owner, Jonas Blade 
and Metalwork))  
I don’t think there’s any real art without craft and I don’t think 
there’s any real craft without art.  But I had a debate with an 
art professor at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and 
this was a nice guy.  I really liked him.  I liked his class.  He 
was a drawing teacher.  And I was working on a knife during 
the course of a semester, and then he wrapped his hand 
around the blade, covering the blade and he looked at the 
handle and he goes, “This is really beautiful.  I love what 
you’ve done with the materials and texture, you know, colors 
and all of that.  If it didn’t have a blade, then it would be art.  
Then it would be beautiful.”  And I was like, “Come on”.  I just 
rolled my eyes at him.   
((NATS)) 
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith; Owner, Jonas Blade 
and Metalwork))  
My name is Zack Jonas and I’m a Master Bladesmith 
working out of New Hampshire.  I make custom knives in all 
shapes and sizes, anything from hunting knives to cooking 
knives to samurai swords.  
I studied philosophy and I enjoyed critical thinking and 
debating and all of that.  So, after college, I went, I got a job 
at a corporate law firm in Boston.  And the idea of having to 
pay your dues for 15 years before life becomes anything 
other than a professional misery. You know, you’re a 
paralegal, you’re filing, you’re doing whatever you’re doing, 
which was a good test for me to realize that that field was 
not going to be my passion.  Then I found my way into this 
class for bladesmithing and fell in love with it.  So, nothing 
linear about the path but that’s how I ended up here.   
((NATS)) 
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith; Owner, Jonas Blade 
and Metalwork))  
This is one of my favorite knives I’ve ever made and this 
sword is kind of its spiritual big brother. There’s a lot of 
similarity to the shape and the flow of it.  And this is a really 
complicated piece and I got a lot of the ideas from this.  
((NATS)) 
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith; Owner, Jonas Blade 
and Metalwork))  
In theory, the title of Master Smith means that I have the 
skills to do almost literally anything that someone can come 
up with or at least to learn how to do it.  So, I do a lot of 
kitchen knives.  I do a lot of hunting knives.  Desk knives, 
things like that, letter openers.  And more elaborate projects, 
like swords and daggers and art pieces, you know, pieces 
that are built to be functional but have enough time put into 
the appearance that they are meant more for a display 
purpose.  
((NATS/SOT:  Zack Jones 
There’s yours coming up.))  
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith; Owner, Jonas Blade 
and Metalwork))  
Once I realized that bladesmithing could be a career, I, that 
became very appealing to me pretty quickly.  But there’s a 
lot more that goes into being a professional knifemaker than 
just making the knives.  I generally work seven days a week.  
I’m usually in the studio by seven o’clock in the morning.  I 
don’t resent that.  I love it.  I love doing it and when I’m not in 
the studio, I’m usually thinking about the studio.  But if you 
want to make this a business, well, you have to run it as a 
business.  Well, I could quite happily be in the shop ten 
hours a day, seven days a week.  And then, there’s also 
paying the bills for the studio and communicating with 
customers and keeping my order books, you know, tidy, and 
shipping and going to shows and applying to shows and all 
of those things that it’s just, there’s so much more to it than 
just doing the work.   
There was a funny moment early on after I built the studio.  I 
woke up on a Tuesday or something like that and I just didn’t 
feel great.  And I said to my wife, “I don’t feel great”.  And 
she said, “Don’t go to work”.  And I said, “What do you 
mean, don’t go to work?  It’s a Tuesday.”  And she looked at 
me like I was crazy.  She goes, “You work for yourself.”  And 
I went, “Oh yeah, I don’t have to go to work today.”  
((NATS)) 
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith; Owner, Jonas Blade 
and Metalwork))  
Obviously, that’s dangerous, that’s a slippery slope and you 
can just decide not to go in and then nothing gets done.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 
((Zack Jonas, Master Bladesmith; Owner, Jonas Blade 
and Metalwork))  
One of the things that I love about knives is their connection 
to the ancient past and I mean truly ancient past.  I mean, 
just imagine life today, out in the woods.  If you had to go out 
in the woods and survive for a week and you couldn’t cut 
anything, that would be tricky.  So, the amount of power that 
mankind gained by adding the cutting edge to his, you know, 
arsenal is huge.  One of the things that appeals to me so 
strongly about bladesmithing is that I’m taking these raw 
materials, a bar of steel, a block of wood, maybe a sheet of 
metal, and you shape those from, you know, essentially 
nothing into these objects that are not only beautiful but also 
powerful and useful tools and have a deep connection to 
history and culture.  So, I really enjoy that aspect of it.  But 
it’s hard, it’s hard work and it’s pretty dangerous.  You know, 
just about every tool in my studio can hurt me or worse, 
quickly or slowly.  But I feel really fortunate to be able to do 
what I do and to have my life set up the way that it is.  I get 
to do what I love.  I get to do it as much as I want, pretty 
much, which is a real, I mean, it’s a good place to be.  
((NATS/MUSIC)) 

CLOSING  BUMPER  ((ANIM)) 
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SHOW ENDS