IN WOMEN THE INDUSTRY Welcome to our second inaugural Women’s Issue where we place the well-deserved spotlight on the talented women of the motorsports world and the automotive industry.
LEAH PRUETT KRYSTEN ANDERSON CRISTY LEE Whether they work in a shop, race on the dirt or the track, help our many manufacturers create new products, or entertain and educate professionals and enthusiasts alike, we want to share their stories.
It’s been long overdue that we devote more pages to the many women of this ANGELA RUCH ASHLEY CORZINE NIKOLE DURBIN great industry, and we’re glad we have created a way to recognize these ladies.
They all have great stories to tell about their road into this industry and more information on all of this year’s featured women can be found on our website – enginebuildermag.com – and on our podcast channel. Enjoy! JENNIFER JENKINS LOXLEY BROWNE DIANA GILL
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23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 23 8/7/20 8:29 AM LOXLEY BROWNE CEO, ATHENA RACING
Loxley Browne moved to San Diego, CA three years ago and immediately got involved high school age, and a majority are Lwith the STEM ecosystem there. She wanted to get more young girls involved in science, between 12 and 14. technology, engineering and math, and what better way to do that than to pair those skills “ e majority of them, 75%, are with transportation, automotive and motorsports. Loxley started Athena Racing in April 2019 based here in Southern California,” with the goal of inspiring girls to see a future in automotive. It’s not just for the boys after all. she says. “We also have about 10% from the East coast. We also have “ ey’re nally starting to push girls in and I took Athena Racing from it just students in India, Nepal and Mexico that direction and realizing how much being a team of ve with the gradual calling in for the Zoom meeting. girls love it,” Loxley Browne says. “I expansion that I was going to do, and We’re getting girls from all over the came up with this idea for Athena and I took what I had planned on doing place. It’s amazing.” pitched to a whole bunch of my race two years from now and brought that Looking ahead to Athena Racing’s car driving friends over lunch one day, to the forefront very quickly,” she future, Loxley says expansion and and then I just went into hyper mode says. “We’re doing a lot of teaching getting in front of more young girls and made it happen.” online now. We just nished up our across the U.S. is the key. Athena Racing is career rst online camps in July. e girls are “For me right now, it’s a lot of development, essential life skills going bonkers over it.” raising awareness and getting in front training and that peek behind the A typical Athena Racing camp of as many of these students as we can curtain into all of the di erent is ve weeks long and covers 10 possibly talk to,” Loxley says. types of careers that are available in di erent education tracks. Each Girls who are in middle school the automotive, motorsports and week, the girls cover two of those 10 and high school and are interested in transportation sectors. tracks and are at the camp for a 5-6 participating in the camps can go to “I made it seem really cool by hour day. Girls attending Athena the Athena Racing website and get adding a race car to it, but what it Racing camps are middle school and veri ed. EB really does for the girls is shows them what’s available out there,” she says. “A lot of them just never think beyond being Danica Patrick. is was my way of just pulling that curtain back like the Wizard of Oz and saying, ‘Here’s everything you can possibly do.’” Since Loxley herself has been around racing and the auto industry for many years, she knows how important it is for young girls to have the kind of support Athena Racing is providing. “I’ve always been the only woman in a room in every career that I’ve had,” she says. “I understand how you need to have that cheerleader that really helps you boost your con dence at a young age.” Only a year into her new endeavor, COVID-19 changed the entire landscape of how Athena Racing’s camps function. Fortunately, Loxley was ready. “We did a really big pivot in March like a whole lot of people have,
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23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 31 8/7/20 8:29 AM LEAH PRUETT DRIVER, DON SCHUMACHER RACING
and Dodge, speci cally,” Pruett says. “I was focused on relationship building. I’d proven myself on the race track and won championships. My rst big break-in point was getting a call from Don Schumacher Racing asking if I’d be interested in driving Nitro.” is year marks Leah’s fourth year racing for Don Schumacher Racing. She won the World Championship in Factory Stock in 2018 and is looking to regain that top spot. “We’re really trying to shove it down their throat, and in racing, because it’s such a competitive sport, that’s how you need to drive,” Pruett says. “ at’s how you need to tune. at’s how you need to race. From a driver’s standpoint, I feel like I’ve always had to prove myself more as a female. “One, my dad told me I would never be as good as the boys, so I focused on being better than the boys. To further prove my worth, I said I ll it takes is 3.6 seconds for Leah Pruett to cover the length of the dragstrip at 335 mph. would never want to be a helmet back AHer road to becoming an NHRA Top Fuel race driver – a whole heck of lot longer than that. driver, much less a female helmet Despite the challenges of becoming a driver at the highest levels of motorsport, that has back driver. at has pushed me to never deterred Leah from going after what she wants to achieve on the track. work on the cars, build them from a chassis standpoint with the Funny “I grew up around motorsports, but about Nitro. Car crew, perform clutch work, etc. not drag racing,” Leah Pruett says. “We would be in the stands all “I don’t think that the guys like it “My father was a land speed racer at day,” she says. “We would tape o too much when the female portion Bonneville and El Mirage, so all I ever blankets to mark our spot. I loved the gets super, super played up, but at knew was scraping salt o the car and cars, the Pedal Fest, the $18 hotdogs, the end of the day, take Brittany or making dirt clumps.” waiting for John Force and Tony I or Erica out of it and the fact that Before long, Leah and her older Schumacher’s autograph – all of that. we’re female, the stats are still freaking sister were encouraged by their dad I wanted to become a professional amazing because of the people that to race in the Junior Drag Racing race car driver.” make that job happen. Unfortunately League and the journey to the NHRA e big question in Leah’s mind for everybody else, our will as females had begun. – how to do that? Leah kept racing, to prove everybody wrong has become “ at’s the rst form of drag started nding small sponsors, started extremely empowering for other racing I ever saw was somebody in a to elevate her racing status and people who want to be behind it. 20 second 1/8th mile – the slowest focused on someday representing the “I’m looking to win a national thing in the world,” she laughs. world’s largest and most reputable championship. I’m not satis ed with After attending a national event brands. not being number one. I want to put at Pomona when she was 12 years “I would attend the SEMA Show Don Schumacher Racing back on old, Leah fell in love with everything and try and talk to Shell, Pennzoil top.” EB
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23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 24 8/7/20 8:29 AM KRYSTEN ANDERSON DRIVER, MONSTER JAM | GRAVE DIGGER
s a professional athlete, you’re always under the microscope. There’s pressure from your team, the fans, and typically, the athletes Athemselves are their own biggest critics. That’s plenty of pressure to perform at a high level. However, Krysten Anderson is in a league all her own.
Krysten is the only daughter of monster truck, Monster amount of time as the males doing the sport. I think that’s Jam and Grave Digger legend, Dennis Anderson. She’s awesome because it’s all an equal playing eld. the sibling of Adam and Ryan Anderson, both of whom “One of the main goals that I’d like to accomplish is are Monster Jam World Champions, along with their dad. to retire with at least one world championship under my And, she was also the rst female driver for the Grave belt. It would also be really cool if before I retired, I could Digger team. To top it all o , she had never been behind have an opportunity to drive my own truck. I’d like to the wheel of a monster truck until she was 18. create some Krysten Anderson fans and fans of me and my “I had a very rough rst year, I’m not going to lie,” truck.” EB Anderson says. “I was a rookie. I was driving Grave Digger, which is basically the most iconic truck in Monster Jam history. I had the pressure of being an Anderson and my dad and my brothers had always brought the show home all the time. ey were always some of the top competitors. I was like, ‘Man, I’ve got to be good because I’m an Anderson. I’ve got to be good because I’m driving Grave Digger and everybody wants Grave Digger to do good. I’m also out here representing all of the girls.’” Krysten, now 23, has been driving the Grave Digger monster truck for four years. She got her opportunity right out of high school at 18 years old. “ ey were going to add another arena tour to the Monster Jam eet and to our circuit,” she says. “ ey needed a Grave Digger driver. ey had never, ever had a female drive Grave Digger before and they thought who better than Dennis’ only daughter Krysten. I realized this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a lot of people. I would be so stupid not to reap the bene ts of this path my dad had paved for me. I didn’t want to look back at and say, ‘Dang, I should have done that.’” Krysten auditioned with Monster Jam and tested the truck, which was the rst time she’d ever driven one. From there, she had to master the di cult stunts on the y. “We have no choice but to learn on the y and learn these tricks, because if you’re not honing these skills in and learning these tricks and doing this or that, then you don’t have a dog in the ght,” she says. “You’re not a competitor. I had to learn at a very aggressive rate.” Now that Krysten has become a more well-rounded driver, she has her eyes on becoming one of the top women in the sport, and one of the top drivers in Monster Jam in On top of being a talented monster truck driver, Krysten general. “Within Monster Jam, we’re not men and women in Anderson is also a talented artist and graphic designer. She the sport, we’re drivers and we’re competitors and that’s it,” even created the graphics on her brother Weston’s and dad’s she says. “ e females compete on the same platform, in the same competition, in the same trucks, with the same mega trucks, Bog Hog and King Sling, respectively.
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23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 25 8/7/20 8:29 AM CRISTY LEE CO-HOST, ALL GIRLS GARAGE | GARAGE SQUAD | BARRETT-JACKSON
Squad have been her focus of late. However, her busy schedule nally caught up to her and in a move for self-preservation, Cristy decided 2020 was the year to step away from All Girls Garage. “I was hosting All Girls Garage, Barrett-Jackson and Garage Squad last season,” she says. “Barrett-Jackson is no longer on MotorTrend this season, and All Girls Garage, I decided to take a step back from that. Last year was my last year as a co-host of that show. Honestly, that was mostly for personal reasons. Last year was insane with traveling and scheduling and TV production. I was on the road constantly and living out of a suitcase in hotels and on and o airplanes – I was exhausted.” hat seems like a lifetime ago in 2011, Cristy Lee was working the Auto Show circuit for For 2020, prior to the pandemic, WChrysler/Dodge/Jeep as a narrator. It was there that a tv producer saw her doing her which nobody saw coming, Cristy’s thing and liked what he saw and heard . goal was to take a little more time for herself and not travel as much. at “He asked if I would be interested Cristy has also lent her talents and didn’t turn out to be the case. in All Girls Garage,” Cristy Lee says. automotive knowledge to another “I am still hosting Garage Squad “You always take o ers like that with MotorTrend car show called Garage this season and that was the plan,” a grain of salt, but six months later Squad where the “squad” helps people she says. “I’m on the road every single they had me come down to the set nish up restorations of long-overdue week. I’ve been on the road since June and audition and I became the third project cars in the span of one week. 1st and I’m on the road every single cast member on an all-female, how-to e show recently nished up its sixth week from June until mid-October automotive show.” season. and weekends. It’s like a repeat of last Fast forward to 2020, and Cristy “Something that is really important year, but I’m really excited about a Lee has become a household name about Garage Squad is that it is all new season of Garage Squad.” among automotive enthusiasts and about the story,” she says. “ e vehicle No matter how Cristy’s TV professionals alike. All Girls Garage is important, we want to see cool cars, persona has grown over the years, she recently wrapped up its ninth season but it’s more about the story of that has remained humble and an advocate on the MotorTrend Network. ride and the owner and that’s what of the industry and of women being a “It’s been a lot of fun,” Lee says. really sets this show apart.” big part of it. “In-studio hosting is very di erent Over the years, Cristy has made the “I’m an enthusiast and passionate than in- eld reporting, but what most of all of her opportunities in and about the industry and I hope that I love about it the most is we have around the automotive industry. From my industry experience and my the opportunity to showcase our her early days with motorcycles, AMA knowledge can shed some light on personalities and make the job fun. Racing and Motocross, to covering the fact that there are many women It’s not just about building cars and O -Road Truck Racing, Supercross, in the industry,” Lee says. “I’m a big cool projects and showcasing products, Monster Jam, Flat Track Racing, and advocate of women and anything but it’s also a chance to showcase what even the X Games, Cristy has kept within motorsports. One thing that we’re about and what we love and what plenty busy. Hosting All Girls Garage, will never change is my addiction to we know.” Barrett-Jackson auctions and Garage adrenaline – I can’t get enough!” EB
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23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 26 8/7/20 8:29 AM CRISTY LEE ANGELA RUCH DRIVER, NASCAR GANDER RV & OUTDOORS TRUCK SERIES
had a driver’s license. From there, she had an opportunity at the age of 21 to move to North Carolina with her uncle to pursue her shot at NASCAR. Angela started o in ARCA and did some testing in the X nity series. However, she only ran a handful of races before funding became scarce. After that, she took a few years o , but kept dreaming about getting an opportunity in NASCAR. Two years later, her shot at the big time came in 2019 when she ran for Joe Nemecheck. “Running for Joe Nemecheck was probably the biggest highlight of my career,” she says. “Getting the opportunity with Front Row Joe and learning from one of the best drivers in the world was a dream in itself. I obviously always have my uncle by my side as well, but it’s nice hearing from other drivers and getting input and their take on things.” For 2020, Angela got her chance at a full race season driving for Josh Reaume. Her e orts over the years have culminated in her realizing her dreams and breaking barriers within the sport ngela Ruch is a top female driver in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. She’s of NASCAR. Athe niece of former Daytona 500 Champion, Derrike Cope, and the only woman in NASCAR “Women are more accepted into who is a mother. She made history in 2019 by becoming the first female in the NASCAR Truck the sport today than ever,” Ruch says. “Danica opened up the doors and series to lead laps at Daytona International Speedway, and she also became the star of her opportunities for younger girls to come own reality docuseries, The Ruch Life, which can be seen on Facebook Watch. into the sport. But in the end, we do “ ere are only three female drivers in Go Kart series at the age of nine. need a female to win when it’s all said NASCAR right now and to know that “I didn’t know the gas from the and done. We need that W – one of us I’m one of them is pretty amazing,” brake, but that’s when my passion for it does – to really prove that we do have a Angela Ruch says. “Racing has been in started,” she says. “We raced all over the presence.” my family for three generations. My Northwest. We kept moving up through Of course, being the competitor grandfather drag raced, my dad raced the ranks because we were dominating Angela is, she won’t rest until she’s the and my uncle, Derrike Cope, won the the series so much. When we started one celebrating in Victory Lane, but Daytona 500 in 1990, so racing has beating grown men that made us think, outside of racing, Angela’s life has gotten been in my family. My grandfather also maybe we do have something. Maybe a lot more rewarding as well. In 2019, owned Cope Brothers Machine Shop in we can be just as good as they are. at Angela and her husband Mike adopted Spanaway, WA and it’s currently owned motivated us to keep moving the needle two children, King and Lord, and and run by my dad. I’ve grown up further and further.” agreed to a docuseries following Angela’s around motors my whole entire life.” With the Go Kart series behind her, racing career and the changes their Angela’s rst taste of racing came Angela stepped up to racing Super Late family experienced as they prepared to when she and her twin sister joined a Models at the age of 15, before she even be parents. EB
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23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 27 8/7/20 8:29 AM ASHLEY CORZINE DRIVER, CORZINE MOTORSPORTS
don’t remember a time in my life that we weren’t involved in tractor pulling,” says Ashley time, he can’t get me out of the seat,” “ICorzine, the daughter of the late, great Larry Koester. “My dad has been in the sport of Corzine says. “It’s an adrenaline rush. tractor pulling since my very early years of childhood.” e competition is so much fun.” Ashley admits that her rst season In fact, Ashley was just three years our family, we decided it was time to was a little bit of a learning curve, but old when her dad lost both his legs in do something as well. In 2012, [we it didn’t take her long to adjust and a tractor mowing accident, and the started Corzine Motorsports] and we her second season was a di erent story. trajectory of the Koester family would built a two-wheel-drive truck for Craig She won Bowling Green, Louisville, forever change. to drive. the National Farm Machinery Show “In the process of healing, one of “We had our last daughter in Championship, and the Enderle Pull his friends wanted to get him into 2014, and 13 months later, Craig O . motorsports as a kind of pick me up,” looked at me and said, we’re building “I was on top of my game,” she Corzine says. “ ey rigged up the a second truck and you’re going to says. “ e next year, we pulled again tractor so that it would work for his drive it. I was like, ‘What? Excuse with three trucks. We gured out that amputee situation. From then on, he me? How are we going to do this was just way too much to try to do. and mom took us kids everywhere with four children?’ But we did, and is past year, 2019, we switched gears with them. I don’t remember a time in in 2015, I started driving my own all together, sold all three trucks and my life when I wasn’t pulling.” truck.” built what is called a light unlimited. Fittingly, Ashley met her husband While Ashley wasn’t quite sure “It’s called a light unlimited because Craig at a tractor pull in Tomah, WI how the juggling act of competition we are unlimited on setup. e only and the seeds of what is now Corzine and family would ultimately turn speci cations are the measurements of Motorsports were planted. out, she admits she’s glad to be in the the actual tractor itself. It has to have “We have four daughters, so we’ve driver’s seat. two automotive-style engines on it. It kind of had our hands full, but both “Once I had my real life in order can be any type of supercharger – we of us love tractor pulling,” she says. enough to be able to compete and be run screw chargers. Besides that, it just “Since both of us have a love for it and a driver, now I tell my husband all the has to weigh 6,000 lbs., including the driver. Again, I was on a huge learning curve trying to learn how to drive that tractor.” For someone juggling four kids and winning tractor pulls, Ashley has never been afraid of the challenges she faces as a woman in motorsports. “I know that I can go out there and compete with the guys,” Corzine says. “ ere’s no level of arrogance there, because the moment that you do try to be, you get knocked right back down just like any of the guys. I would say the hardest part for me is learning how to manage motherhood with four daughters and being a driver, because I have to turn that switch o when I go to the track so I can concentrate and do my job on the track as well.” For 2020, Ashley is once again looking to win in the light unlimited division. EB
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23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 28 8/7/20 8:29 AM NIKOLE DURBIN PRO CAR ASSOCIATES
ou’d be hard-pressed to find someone as passionate about cars, Yracing and engine building than Nikole Durbin. You might think she’s been in this industry her whole life and never knew anything else, but you’d be wrong in assuming that.
Nikole actually went to college to pursue a nursing degree. Unfortunately, when the school raised its out-of-state tuition, Nikole had no choice but to return home. At the age of 17, her dad was worried Nikole would nd trouble or become unfocused. To keep her occupied, he thought she might enjoy getting involved in racing. “My dad knew a guy named DJ Jans, who had a local race team,” Nikole Durbin says. “I went to one of his track days and I never left his side. I was DJ’s little helper for about 15 years. His bucket list was to run the Trans-Am road racing series, so we did that in 2011. “From there, I joined a team in Elgin, IL called ECC Motorsports. I was there for about ve years when I met Chuck and Chris Wright. ey were our tuner for the TA2 cars.” As it turned out, ECC was starting to change direction away from competing, but Nikole was in her prime and starving for more. “Chuck [Wright] actually o ered me a job to be his engine building apprentice,” Durbin says. “I left ECC and moved to Akron, OH to be with Chuck.” “I’m a Ford nut born and raised. I actually have a ‘69 Mustang Unfortunately, Chuck Wright passed away in 2018, but I’m doing a full resto on. My dream car though – the sexiest car his son, Chris, stepped up and took Nikole under his wing to teach her everything about engine building at Pro Car ever built – is a ‘71 Hemi Cuda. I would do anything for one Associates. “I want to do everything,” she says. “I want to be the of those.” ultimate Jack of this industry. I know race cars. I know tube-frame chassis. I know how to x a berglass body in want to know it all. I want to be able to talk on behalf of my sleep, but understanding the ins and outs of all these all technicians and mechanics and my fellow shop females street cars has been a learning experience. Pro Car, Chris and let everybody know that it doesn’t matter what I’ve got and all the guys I work with are just amazing and I feel under my clothes. I still have a brain. unstoppable with them.” “I enjoy this industry. I love the smell of race gas. I love With nearly two years under her belt at Pro Car, Nikole the smell of burning rubber. I don’t know how to explain has set her sights on learning to drag race and is building it. at’s what I love. I will work harder than any man and an LS-powered Camaro to compete in NMCA. When it that’s because I want to show you that I can do it. I know I comes to proving herself in the male-dominated world of t in this industry.” engine building and racing, Nikole stays focused on herself Nikole has been more than holding her own at Pro Car and her abilities. Associates and is ready to get back on the track once racing “ ere’s always the skeptics… but I like proving them resumes. wrong,” Durbin says. “I’m my hardest critic. I know I “Some girls like to eat chocolate, which I do, but going got started late. I know I don’t have any formal training. to the track was always my pick me up,” Durbin says. I know there’s 1,000,001 things that I don’t know. But if “ ere’s a presence there that you can’t get anywhere else. I you could see my house, I have stacks of automotive books couldn’t ask for anything else in this life and I can’t wait for that I’m working up the motivation to read, because I what’s in front of me.” EB
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23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 29 8/7/20 8:29 AM JENNIFER JENKINS GENERAL MANAGER, CALICO COATINGS
a woman in manufacturing was rare. Only four females worked at Calico at that time, none of which were in leadership roles. However, times have changed and there are currently 11 women employed at Calico, ve of whom are in leadership positions, including Jennifer. In 2011, she started working in shipping and receiving where she learned a broader range of the manufactured parts that Calico was coating, the processes required, the coatings themselves, and the beginnings of the customer service side of the business. By 2012, Jennifer was a customer service and sales support representative where she quickly learned the tendencies of Calico’s customers’ business needs. Jennifer had the privilege of working from the back end to the front end of the company, gaining valuable insight along the way that would aid in her current role as general manager. However, becoming general manager wasn’t Jennifer’s plan. She didn’t initially see the potential that others working around her saw, but midway through her career, she started to recognize her success as she had gradually chosen to take on more responsibility and leadership. General manager then became a personal objective for her. “ e biggest thing I have learned working at Calico, with the help of my colleagues, is my own potential,” Jenkins says. “I am blessed and I am grateful for the opportunity Gary gave me in 2006 to join the Calico team, and for the leadership role Tracy (Calico’s owner) has trusted me with today.” e greatest challenge Jennifer has faced in the manufacturing environment has been her gender. She learned early on that she needed to be over-prepared for every circumstance. is involved learning from those around her and from previous circumstances as well as doing further research when needed. “You have to learn early on that it’s a struggle to gain ast May, Calico Coatings, a developer of technologically advanced trust and the respect of your customers and colleagues,” Lcoatings for the industry, introduced Jennifer Jenkins as its new Jenkins says. “You gain that respect and trust when you general manager. Being an employee of Calico Coatings for more continually ful ll your promises and make it your goal to successfully solve their problems. Spend the time learning than 14 years, Jennifer has obtained the needed knowledge to truly from others around you, have mentors, read materials understand the ins and outs of the manufacturing processes at related to your industry, know your environment, know Calico.. the applications and the process. If you have knowledge, For Jennifer, Calico has always been about the people. e you will succeed. Before you try and change the game, you relationships that she has built at work have become so have to know the game.” close they are her second family. Jennifer began working Jennifer plans to continue growing within Calico as at Calico part time as a bearing technician in 2006. ere, a leader and to promote growth opportunities for other with the help of Annette Lunsford, her rst supervisor, she personnel. She also plans to work closely with the sales learned how to work in a high-performance environment team and customers as Calico continues to transition from as a team member, quality inspector and order processor. a small to a large business, now in its 20th year. EB When Jennifer rst started working at Calico, being
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23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 30 8/7/20 8:29 AM DIANA GILL NATIONAL SALES MANAGER, SPECIALTY AUTO PARTS | PROFORM
it and their parents had a company and that’s the path they took to follow in the family business and stu like that. It was really, really di erent for me because I didn’t have a passion for automotive. I wasn’t into cars, but I do enjoy the job. I think it’s a perfect t for me and my personality. “I’m proud to be a woman in the industry because it is male dominated. I think you de nitely need a strong personality and you need to be able to dish it out and you’ve got to take it too. For me personally, it’s been a really good experience.” Having had the experience of di erent roles within Specialty Auto Parts has helped Diana truly grasp what the automotive industry is all about, and how large it actually is. “What helped me was having that institutional knowledge in the o ce for so many years,” she says. “Listening to my tech guys on the phone about product and even my role in purchasing and knowing what products sell and what don’t sell has helped. When I got iana Gill got into the automotive industry a li le bit di erently than most other folks. She wasn’t the national sales manager role, it was totally di erent than what I was used to born into it. She didn’t follow in her family’s footsteps. She didn’t even grow up with a passion for D in the o ce. It’s been a good learning cars. Rather, she needed a job and Special Auto Parts was the company that o ered her one. experience and I’ve learned a lot.” “A lot of women in this industry are into teaching full time. It was one of Despite the current pandemic passionate about vehicles and cars and those things where I just stayed. I really changing many aspects of the industry maybe their dad got them wrenching liked it. I liked the company. I liked the in 2020, Diana says Specialty Auto at a young age or maybe they were owner and I moved up.” Parts has remained busy. in a family business – that wasn’t an Move up she did. Diana has “I think a lot of our end users advantage for me,” Gill says. “But you now been with Specialty Auto Parts are staying home and they’ve been learn as you go.” and Proform for 17 years. She went working on their hobbies or xing up Diana attended college with the from customer service to inventory their project cars,” she says. “We’ve objective of becoming a school teacher. management to purchasing manager, been really fortunate this year to stay When only part time and substitute and today she is the company’s national as busy as we have been. We have had teaching positions were available after sales manager – a role she assumed four a lot of exciting new products come she graduated, Diana began to look for years ago. out this year. We’re a Chevrolet, Ford other options to tie her over until the “I have a lot of institutional and Mopar licensee. Our newest line right teaching job rolled around. knowledge and we’re a pretty tight knit has been the Mopar stu and we’ll be “I wanted something full time,” Gill group,” she says. “We’ve all worked coming out with some more engine says. “Specialty Auto Parts was hiring together a long time within our building tools as well.” for customer service. I gured I’ll just company. Everyone in this industry In all, Proform has 1,000 SKUs do this for six months until I can get has a passion for it. ey’re born into across roughly 15 product categories. EB
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23-32 eb.aug20 Women in the Industry.indd 32 8/7/20 8:29 AM