Heather Miller
Elevate your design and manufacturing processes with Autodesk Fusion
Explore how Girl Gang Garage is empowering women to pursue careers in the automotive industry with the help of Autodesk Fusion 360.
Using “female” as a gender identifier before traditionally male-dominated job titles is a common yet unnecessary practice that speaks to the barriers women continue to face across many trade-oriented industries. Female plumber, female pilot, female race car driver, and female mechanic, just to name a few.
Women working in automotive trades are still especially few and far between. According to the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than 3% percent of auto service technicians and mechanics identify as women.
Phoenix, Arizona-based teaching and learning space Girl Gang Garage is working to increase that percentage and bring about true gender diversity in the industry.
Girl Gang Garage is focused on changing perceptions around female mechanics, empowering more women to enter the automotive space, and acknowledging the women who are already working within it.
They offer classes and events for women looking to learn more about the industry and even facilitate all-female car builds. Each build is a year-long process of hands-on learning. Women of all ages, any experience level, and any location (even internationally) can register and participate in Girl Gang Garage’s all-female builds — for free.
“Girl Gang Garage came around kind of organically,” explains Bogi Lateiner, owner, Girl Gang Garage. “It originally started as my desire to connect with other women in the industry, push my skill set, and learn new things. We make up about 2.5% of the industry, but there are tons of amazing women out there. I wanted to create a project that would bring a bunch of women together and create opportunities for more women to explore the trades.”
First all-female build with Fusion 360
Girl Gang Garage’s first all-female build was a “Chevy Montage.” The project included 90 women from 23 states, ranging in experience level from 20-plus years to beginners who needed to learn how to use a ratchet. In their current build of “The Iron Maven,” they identified major skills gaps and barriers to entry with 3D modeling and 3D printing.
As a member of Autodesk Outsight Network, Fusion 360 and Autodesk Research held a three-day Fusion 360 workshop at Girl Gang Garage’s garage. Fusion 360 and its minimal learning curve enabled the Girl Gang Garage team to achieve a faster path to closing the skills gaps they were facing. Thanks to cloud product development, they were able to expand their reach and teach these skills internationally to their wider team.
“Once Fusion 360 showed up, I said, ‘Yes, I’m in. I’m in,’ because I want to learn more about how to model parts I can’t get anymore,” says Sky Watson, workshop student, Girl Gang Garage. “I was a little bit intimidated, but then I started looking at the software a little bit more, and it’s incredibly user-friendly.”
“I think anything that you can do to step outside of your comfort zone and take a chance on learning something new is the best thing that you can do.”
— Bogi Lateiner, Owner, Girl Gang Garage
