Patrice Banks from Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, started an all-female auto repair shop that also offers manicures while customers wait for their cars.
With changing times, we claim that things have improved and gender plays no significant role in any profession.
However, there are still some professions managed by one gender, and automobile repair is one of them.
In an industry largely managed by men, one businesswoman was unhappy with the situation and decided to make a change.
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Instead of relying on men who might take advantage of her, Patrice Banks from Pennsylvania left her six-figure engineering job at DuPont to start volunteering at a local mechanic shop.
Unable to find a female mechanic, she decided to become one herself.
Banks enrolled in a night school for mechanics, where, at 31, she was the only female student in a class of 18 to 19-year-old boys.
After successfully completing her training, she started Girls Auto Clinic in 2013.
As one of the oldest all-female auto repair shops in the U.S., it has also become one of the most trusted brands for car repairs.
Being a female, she understood how much women hated going to the garage for something as simple as an oil change.
To make visits more interesting and enjoyable, Banks began offering her clients free manicures and pedicures at her in-house salon, ‘Clutch Beauty Clinic.’
Most of her clients, who are women, also have access to free Wi-Fi, television, snacks, beverages, and books while they wait for their cars.
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Not only does she repair vehicles, but she also educates her customers about what is wrong in an honest way.
Being in this profession has helped Banks develop a keen sense of sight, hearing, touch, and smell, to identify what is wrong with the vehicle.
She has also formed a community of women whom she fondly refers to as “Shecanics.”
By offering workshops on car repairs, she has helped these women understand their vehicles and gradually transform the auto repair industry.
With the pandemic looming in 2020, many women felt the need to become self-reliant and learn how to fix cars.
As a result of these changes, the number of women in the auto repair industry increased from 4,000 in 2019 to 19,000 by the end of 2022 in the United States.
Thanks to strong and independent women like Banks, more and more women are being inspired to become automobile mechanics.
