Catch up with Nikki - What's Coming in Season 6

🎙️ Automation Ladies – Season 5 Kickoff

Solo episode with Nikki Gonzales

Welcome to Season Five of Automation Ladies! It’s just me, Nikki, today — and this is a short solo episode to catch you up on everything happening behind the scenes.

First off: thanks for your patience while we took a little break. We’ve got some big announcements this year, and a lot of exciting things in the works. I wanted to kick off Season 5 by letting you know what we’ve been up to, where to find us, and what’s coming next.

New Job, New Chapter

I started a new job earlier this year as the Business Development Director at Weintek USA — or “Wine Tech,” as I thought it was called before joining the team! They’re based up in Seattle and manufacture HMIs and remote I/O — and they’ve been doing it for over 30 years.

What really drew me in was the team. If you’ve followed me for a while, you know how much I care about culture and working on things that matter. Weintek impressed me with their products, yes, but more importantly with their people and their vision.

I did my homework — reading old forum posts, Reddit threads, LinkedIn reviews — and what I found was a consistent reputation for reliability and openness. Their free development software, EasyBuilder Pro, is a great example of that. It’s powerful, totally free, and available for anyone to download and learn — whether you’re a student, a tech looking to upskill, or just curious about HMI development.

Why It Matters

That kind of open access is something I’m passionate about. We have a lot of gatekeeping in this industry, and tools like this help break down some of those barriers — the same way we try to do with OT SCADA CON and this podcast.

Weintek has also been incredibly supportive of Automation Ladies, and you’ll see some of my content coming out on their LinkedIn page and YouTube channel.

Automation Ladies: What’s New?

A lot! First, Ali moved to Texas — she’s now my across-the-street neighbor, which is wild. The first full episode of the season will feature Ali, Courtney, and me catching up and sharing what we’ve all been working on.

If you’re new to the podcast, we don’t book guests through agencies or PR firms. Our guests are people we meet in the industry who have interesting jobs, unique stories, or just something we’re curious to learn more about. If that sounds like you — reach out!

You can:

• Leave us a voicemail at automationladies.io

• Email us at hello@automationladies.io

• Or message us on LinkedIn

Big Announcement: We’ve Joined Industry Sage Media!

We’re officially joining Industry Sage Media, founded by Trevor Robinson. It’s a creator-led platform focused on authentic, behind-the-scenes conversations in manufacturing and industrial automation.

We’ll be joining a lineup that includes:

• Hey Jack… with Jack Nehlig (former president of Phoenix Contact USA)

• Unplugged with Phil Seboa & Ed Fuentes (IIoT)

• Tomorrow’s Trends with Ira Sharp (automation & manufacturing)

• Marketing Meets Media (Trevor’s own show launching soon)

This partnership comes at the perfect time — especially after our amazing producer Laura had to step away last year (huge shoutout to her ❤️). Industry Sage is helping us handle audio production and content distribution, freeing us up to focus on what we love: the conversations, the community, and the creative side of the show.

LinkedIn Lives & Demos

We’re also continuing with live demos on LinkedIn. Today (April 3 at 3PM CDT), we’re going live with a demo of Asyril’s Eye+ Flexible Feeding System. We visited their team in March and had an absolute blast — their tech is slick, and the demo is something you’ll definitely want to see.

If you have suggestions for live demos you’d like us to host, reach out! We’re aiming to do two each month.

Where to Find Us IRL

We don’t just podcast — we love meeting listeners face-to-face! Here’s where you can find us this spring and summer:

• AHTD Spring Meeting – Atlanta, April 9–12 (Nikki)

• Specialty Coffee Expo – Houston, April 25–27 (Nikki & Ali)

• Robotics Summit & Expo – Boston, May 1–2 (Courtney)

• Automate 2025 – Detroit, May 12–15 (All of us!)

• OT SCADA CON ’25 – July 23–25 (hosted by us!)

If you see us at any of these events, please come say hi! I’ve had a few moments where I’ve been caught up in conversation and didn’t realize someone was waiting to talk — and I feel terrible about it. If that ever happens, message me! I want to connect with you.

OT SCADA CON Is Back!

Our community-led event, OT SCADA CON, is happening again this July. We’re expanding to 100 seats (up from 50 last year), and we’re already 70% sold out. This is not your typical “factory of the future” conference — it’s about real people doing real work in automation and controls.

We’ll have:

• One shared room for all sessions

• Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and after-hours networking

• Raffles, tech giveaways, and yes… karaoke

Get your tickets at otscada.com

That’s a Wrap!

Thanks for listening, and for being part of this amazing community. Everything we do — the podcast, the live content, the events — has grown organically because of your support and curiosity.

This season, we’re adding full-length video episodes to YouTube and sharing more clips and snippets on social. If you enjoy the show, leave a rating, share it, or just drop us a message to say hi.

We’ll see you next week with our first full episode of Season 5!