ARC MAGAZINE

For Sarah Matthews, welding was once just a weekend class during her teenage years that she dreaded and nearly dropped. Now it’s a passion, and the solid foundation for a thriving career as a structural ironworker. Along the way, she has built a large and loyal army of followers on social media and Youtube.

“I’ve always been [a] super competitive, super driven and super goal-oriented person,” she says. “That’s just how I am. Everything I do is a chance for me to get better, no matter what it is. Everything is a competition with myself to do better than I did last time. I’m always trying to move forward.”

If you come across any of the “weld with me” posts on her Instagram page (sarahwelds_), you’ll understand her passion for the trade. The tagline on her profile reads: “Ironworker is my job, welder is my aesthetic.” Self-assured and enthusiastic, she posts captions to videos that offer a glimpse into her day.

“And this is what gets me through my hard days, the sense of pride and accomplishment that comes from ‘I built that,” according to one Instagram post. “And for those boot-wearing dreamers who come after me, my best piece of advice is… stay gritty, work hard, and keep chasing that fire. ‘Cause in the Ironworking world, where sweat and steel are your bread and butter, there’s nothing sweeter than seeing your handiwork rise high against the skyline!”

Matthews clearly loves her work and is equally happy to share it with online fans. To better understand this 21-year-old welder’s passion, it’s important to look back at her childhood.

Before Matthews graduated top in her technical high school’s welding classes in New Castle, Colorado – about 40 miles from Aspen – she enjoyed hands-on learning outdoors. The nearby mountains and creek that ran behind her house became a home-school classroom where adventure and exploration were the assignments.

Matthews’ parents encouraged their three children – she’s the middle child, with an older brother and a younger brother – to find an interest and explore.

“Being homeschooled, you have so much freedom,” she says. “My entire childhood was outdoors. I was outside living at the creek and on the mountain all day, every day. Most of our teaching style – it wasn’t online school. They taught us to teach ourselves.”

Matthews’ father is an architect and woodworker. Her mother managed the household. They both encouraged her and her brothers to focus on independence and self-reliance. Everything she knows is “stuff that I’ve taught myself,” she says. “I was able to teach myself what I wanted to learn. That was such a great thing.”

Matthews discovered a variety of talents, including animal care and handling, which inspired her to compete in 4-H poultry competitions. She also followed in her father’s footsteps and learned carpentry. While other middle school students may have been playing videos games or meeting up at the mall, Matthews was helping manage her family’s small woodworking business.

The business, Handcrafted by Little Hands, began organically. “When I was seven years old, my older brother made a cutting board,” she recalls. The enterprise took off, and the siblings crafted and sold cutting boards and wooden games, with help and direction from their parents. The business offered Matthews an education not only in crafting wood, but also customer service, sales, project management and productivity.

Once Matthews discovered she was good at building things, she pivoted from wood to metal.

“I was never into the woodworking side of things,” she says. “That’s why I turned to metal.” Initially, she wanted to develop the skills to become a ranch hand or veterinary technician after high school. Ranching was popular in her community, and she wanted in on the action.

“I wanted to become a vet tech because I wanted to work on a ranch,” she says. “I wanted to be a cowgirl, live that life. I decided to start welding just as a skill to have.”

So at age 15, she signed up for that fateful weekend metal art class.

“At the time I didn’t enjoy it,” she confesses. But as her skills improved, she realized it could be a path to a lucrative and exciting profession. Later, Matthews enrolled in a high school shop class, and her interest in welding flourished.

“I learned to love it,” she says, “and that’s what I wanted to pursue as a career.”

The skills and habits Matthews developed as a teen have transferred to her vocation today. In particular, the 4-H contests taught her that hard work drives results.

“I did really well, and that’s where my work ethic got on point,” she says. “I was super driven because I was winning a lot and wanted to keep that going. So, I would study hard and really work with my birds.” Poultry showing gave way to BMX racing, which Matthews also poured her heart into for three years, competing on a national level.

After high school, Matthews accepted a job as an ironworker and rigger – an environment where welding has become an integral part of her day-to day duties. Naturally, she applies her laser focus and determination to her job. She often puts in ten-hour days, waking up at 3 a.m. to hit the gym before getting to work around 6 a.m.

“I love going to the gym,” she says. The workouts are a passion, but they are also an essential part of her job preparation.

In fact, that’s the first thing Matthews tells young women who want to pursue ironworking and welding: “You need to be strong. That’s my biggest piece of advice. It definitely takes a lot of strength – mentally and physically. Everything we touch is metal. It weighs a lot.”

She leads with grit and determination, and she promotes those qualities to young welders and ironworkers through her YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram pages. She says it’s part of a work ethic that gains her respect at the jobsite: “Working with the crane, sending all the iron, rigging up everything. There’s a lot more responsibility there. Just because of my work ethic and trying to make myself better, I get a lot of respect.”

Being a young woman in this trade can also have its challenges, she says. Scrutiny comes with the job.

“When I’m off doing my own thing welding, it’s fine,” she says. “But sometimes when you get together at an all-jobsite safety meeting, the entire jobsite is gathered. We stand in a big circle. I’m the only girl. That can be uncomfortable and intimidating. I get stared at a lot.”

But a healthy level of confidence is what keeps her grounded. “Being a girl working in a man’s world is about how you carry yourself,” she says. “That’s so important.”

In her view, welding is gaining traction among young people. Employers are looking for skilled welders and technicians, which leads to lucrative job offers.

“I started at 18 years old,” she says. “It was my very first real job, and I was making thirty dollars an hour – as an 18-year-old. You’re not going to get that anywhere else. That’s the beauty of the trades. If you’ve got the skill, they are going to pay you for your skill. The trades are one place where money follows the skill,” rather than age or gender.

Matthews faces her share of critics – especially on the internet, which has long been a breeding ground for critics. But she isn’t rattled.

“You’ll never get a hater who’s doing better than you,” she says. “Not ever. I get a comment from somebody who doesn’t even weld, telling me how to weld or how my weld should look. And that just can’t bother you, because they have no idea what they are talking about. The amount of ignorance – it doesn’t bother me."

Her counter to the critics is to just dig in and do the work. “Just put the blinders on and knock it out,” she says. “Don’t let it hold you back. I know how good I am. If you want to hate on it, then that’s on you. That’s just motivation for me to do better. I always strive to do better.”

Matthews is glad that her high school offered skilled classes and that her first welding teacher “put in the time and effort to teach me,” she says. But she believes a mentor isn’t necessary to find success in this field. Being resourceful is key.

“[A mentor] is not that important,” she says. “It can maybe help you get started. If you can’t find one, you certainly shouldn’t spend all your time looking for one. You need to spend your time getting better. And being your own mentor.”

That said, she has become a mentor in her own right for anyone who dials into her various platforms. She’s paying it forward, inspired to bring awareness to ironworking and welding through her online channels. When she first started filming her welds, she just went for it.

“I’d set my phone down and film something until I was done,” she says. After work, she would spend time editing and posting. She quickly found a community.

“I want to show people this is an actual job that exists for other young people,” she says. She also wants to share, through her videos, what it takes to succeed. “You have to be really driven. If you want to be successful in anything, you can’t just show up for the paycheck.”

Matthews’ fans outnumber the critics. Within a few weeks of posting her first video, she pulled in 5,000 followers. A couple of months later, the number increased to 20,000. “It grew pretty fast,” she says. As of the fall of 2026, she has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and Facebook.

In her free time, when she’s not welding – or editing videos about welding – Matthews hits the trail for a run and reads business and self-improvement books. Her personal mantra is a reflection of the life she lives every day:

“Be a sponge. If you want to be a master at anything, you have to learn. You have to be willing to learn. I’ve seen that a lot of [people who] are older than me but still in their twenties. They come in and want to do their own thing. They don’t want to listen to the boss. They never get very far. So you’ve got to be willing to learn.”

It’s no surprise that Matthews wants to enhance her current skills and continue to develop new ones. She loves working with cranes and may pursue more rigging roles. Or she may pivot again and fulfill a personal goal of building her own business, either in welding or fitness.

Either way, she wants to “keep an open mind to everything,” she says. She offers the same advice to anyone looking to try something new.

“Don’t be afraid of pursuing something you don’t like. I didn’t like welding. I pursued that, and it opened up other doors and opportunities. I love ironworking. I wouldn’t have known that unless I had pursued welding first,” she says. “I didn’t like welding school, but I still finished it. I’m glad I did. That started a whole career for me.”

While many people her age are still taking their first steps toward finding a career path, Matthews has already set her sights on the next adventure. “There is so much out there that I want to try,” she says. “Maybe even different trades. With two or three years of welding, I’m always going to have that skill and knowledge.”

Whatever the path, Matthews is bullish about her future. She plans to approach new ventures with self-reliance and curiosity, much like she did as a child exploring the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in her backyard.

“That’s the beauty of being driven,” she says. “You’ll go so far in life.”