Meet Darla & Josh
Skilled trades have been central to the lives of Josh and Darla Welton. Their passion for the blue-collar world fuels their mission to raise awareness about the value and viability of trade careers for the next generation of Americans.
Josh is a welder, fabricator, teacher, artist, writer, skilled trades advocate, and automotive enthusiast. He contributes regularly to TheFabricator.com, The Welder Magazine (FMA Publications), and co-hosts multiple podcasts—including The Still Building America Podcast, The Fabricator Podcast, and Playing With Fire. In 2018, he received the WEMCO/AWS Foundation Excellence in Welding Award (Media category) for his work promoting welding. Known for his bold voice and adventurous spirit, Josh has welded and written around the globe. Josh is a fierce defender of the American shop floor worker and challenges any person or organization claiming that there is a skills gap instead of the actual wage gap within welding and other trades industries.
Darla comes from a long line of tradespeople. Her grandmother worked as an industrial sewer, her grandfather and uncle worked as industrial union plumbers, her great-grandfather was a machinist, her father retired as a millwright and apprenticeship instructor, her older brother is a millwright, and of course, her husband Josh is a millwright and welder. While Darla holds a B.A., her academic thesis highlighted labor literature from the Industrial Revolution and the Luddite movement, emphasizing workers’ rights during the rise of automation. She firmly believes that improved technology should equate to improved quality of human life. Darla has loved learning to weld from Josh, running their CNC plasma table, and hosting welding workshops in their Detroit metal shop. Darla is also a contributing writer, content creator, and podcast co-host for TheFabricator.com and The WELDER Magazine (FMA Publications).
In 2014, Josh launched the Still Building America column on TheFabricator.com, spotlighting young, driven tradespeople nationwide. In 2018, Darla joined him in interviewing subjects, and the two expanded it into a broader project promoting skilled trades, particularly to the next generation of welders and tradespeople. By 2024, Still Building America evolved into a podcast under the FMA Podcast Network, co-hosted by Josh and Darla and continuing to spotlight rising voices in the trades.
In 2025, Josh and Darla were invited to meet with representatives of the President’s Executive Office in Washington, D.C., to advocate for skilled trades workers and fair wages.
The couple has served as industry partners and judges for Skills USA Michigan’s welding sculpture competition since the state first included the category in 2023.
Through Still Building America, Josh and Darla continue using their shared passion to educate, inspire, and fight for the future of blue-collar workers.