Empowering Leaders is a group Michelle Pippin created to help women in auto repair. The goal is to make sure women don’t just have opportunities on paper—they actually get the support and connections to reach them.
Mentorship means having someone more experienced help you grow. It’s not just encouragement—it can include teaching you how to handle real work situations and how to move up.
Workplace dynamics are the “how people act around each other” in a workplace. Sometimes that can lead to unfair treatment—like not taking someone seriously—even when they’re doing great work.
Skilled trades are jobs where you learn a specific craft through training. In auto repair, that means learning how to figure out what’s wrong with a car and how to fix it safely.
If a car shuts off suddenly and there aren’t any warning lights, it can be hard to guess the cause. It often means something critical stopped working—like fuel getting to the engine or an electrical problem—and a mechanic has to test a few systems to find it.
Insurance can help pay for towing after your car breaks down. They’ll usually suggest a nearby drop-off location, but you can sometimes request a different destination.
Towing can be expensive, especially from remote locations, because of distance, time, and logistics. Here the discussion centers on the real-world cost impact—$1,800—after the vehicle needed a tow.
A timing belt is like a timing “sync strap” inside your engine. It keeps the engine’s moving parts working in the correct order. If it snaps, the engine can get out of sync and may need expensive repairs.
Concept
interference vs non-interference engine design
Some engines are built with tight clearance between the pistons and valves. If the timing belt breaks, those parts can collide. Other engines have extra clearance, so the belt breaking might not immediately destroy everything.
A “major repair” is a bigger job than routine maintenance. It usually takes more time and may require taking parts apart to fix the problem and make sure nothing else was damaged.
CV axles are the parts that connect the car’s drivetrain to the wheels. They let the wheels move while still turning smoothly, especially when you go over bumps or turn.
Brakes help your car slow down and stop. When people say they “replaced brakes,” they usually mean replacing worn parts like pads and sometimes the rotors.
Oil keeps the engine’s moving parts from grinding against each other. An oil change is a routine service where old oil is drained and replaced with fresh oil.
Fluid changes are routine maintenance where the car’s important liquids are refreshed. Keeping them clean helps different systems work properly and can prevent expensive problems later.
Moving from “technician” work to the “service side” usually means shifting into roles like service advising, shop management, or coordinating repairs. It’s a different workflow—less hands-on wrenching and more diagnosing customer needs, estimating work, and managing repair processes.
This part is about helping women grow into leaders in auto repair. They talk about bringing people into the industry and supporting them so they can feel confident leading.
This is about encouraging people to lead in their own way, not try to become “less” to fit in. In a shop setting, it can mean speaking up, making decisions, and earning respect through clear communication and professionalism.
This means an environment where most of the people are men. When that happens, the culture can make it harder for others to feel respected or confident, especially in a hands-on field like auto repair.
This idea is basically saying your life is connected to other people’s lives. The people around you—family, coworkers, community—can affect what you do and how far you can grow.
“C-suite” is a fancy way of saying the highest leadership jobs at a company. Think CEO and other top executives who make big decisions for the whole business.
Women Automotive Network is the organization sponsoring/hosting the talk mentioned in this segment. It focuses on supporting women in the automotive industry, including career growth and leadership development.
They mention an event in Detroit with a specific date. It’s connected to a talk about helping women grow into leadership roles in auto.
LIVE
Welcome to Ratchet and Wrench Radio,
produced by Endeavor Business Media,
a division of Endeavor B2B,
bringing you strategies and inspiration
for auto care success.
When Michelle Pippen's car broke down
in the middle of Alaska, she had no idea
the experience would spark a career in automotive
and eventually a mission to change the industry.
In this episode of Ratchet and Wrench Radio,
Michelle shares her unconventional journey
from being hired as the office lady
at a small repair shop,
to rising through the ranks of multi-location growth.
Along the way, she noticed a pattern.
Most women in auto repair didn't plan to be there.
They were invited, or they simply fell into it.
Now, through her organization Empowering Leaders,
Michelle is working to close the gap
between opportunity and access.
She discusses why mentorship must go beyond social circles,
how subtle workplace dynamics can undermine credibility,
and what shop owners, men included,
stand to gain by intentionally developing women leaders.
If you've ever wondered how to strengthen leadership
inside your shop, capture more
of the female consumer market,
or build a culture where talent doesn't quietly shrink,
this conversation is one you don't wanna miss.
Let's listen in.
Welcome to Ratchet and Wrench Radio.
I am joined today by Michelle Pippen,
founder and CEO of Empowering Leaders.
Michelle, thanks for joining us.
Thanks for having me.
I'm super excited to get to talk to you.
Yes, so am I.
I feel like we have so much to talk about.
Yeah.
Tell me a little bit about,
so you've got this great nonprofit
that you've started.
Before we dip our toe into that pun,
tell me a little bit about your journey in this industry
because you didn't have the most conventional
working your way through the ranks kind of a thing.
How'd you get into the automotive industry?
No, but you know, I mean, my doctoral studies,
I'll get into that a little bit later,
but have shown me that most women follow similar paths.
So I had never had any intention
of joining the automotive industry.
It wasn't even on my radar.
I mean, we don't talk to girls
about joining the skilled trades at all in school.
And we certainly didn't back when I was in school.
So I was taking my daughter on a trip to the mall
when we lived in Alaska.
Okay.
Going to the mall, when you live in Fairbanks, Alaska
means you're either going to take a flight
or you're gonna take a very long, very scenic drive.
And so we chose the drive and we drove to Anchorage
and we had a wonderful time.
She got everything she wanted.
We stayed in a really cute little Airbnb
and we made our way through Anchorage, had a great time.
And then on the way back,
maybe two hours outside of Anchorage,
suddenly my car stops.
There's no, it didn't make any noises.
It didn't, no alarms came on the dash.
There was nothing obvious.
It just died.
And so I scooched over to the shoulder
and tried to restart it, nothing.
At this point, I'm a little worried.
I've got just my kiddo and me
and we're in the middle of nowhere.
There's mountains in front of us.
I can see mountains in the rear view mirror.
There's forest on the left and forest on the right
and we are just stuck.
I waited a while, kind of lost my mind a little bit
and this nice gentleman pulled up in a pickup truck
and said, do you need some help ma'am?
And I told him what had happened.
And he drove ahead and called for a tow truck.
I, meanwhile, I'm walking up and down this little
strip of road, I finally get a cell phone signal.
I call my insurance company and they said,
we can tow you to Wasilla,
which was the nearest kind of city.
And I said, that doesn't work for me.
I'm here, I'm with my daughter.
We have to get back home, which is Fairbanks.
How much is this gonna cost me?
Well, I think it was $1,800 later.
We were in Fairbanks.
My car was at my mechanics shop.
And it was the weekend.
So I just anxiously awaited his call
to figure out what was wrong with my car.
I heard nothing, I heard nothing, I heard nothing.
Eventually I went into the shop to ask for an update.
And he told me that, well, luckily,
you don't seem to have destroyed your engine,
but your timing belt broke.
And you've gotten, he used all kinds of words.
I had no idea he was talking about.
I just knew I was probably looking
at a very expensive repair belt.
So I gave him the go ahead to do the work.
And I said, just give me a call.
Let me know how it's going.
And I'll come pick it up when it's done.
Well, you know, a week, two weeks would go by
and I wouldn't hear anything.
Two weeks?
Yeah.
So I'd have to go, and granted it was a major repair,
but I'd have to go begging for a ride
to my mechanic shop, which was in North Pole, Alaska.
Yeah, real place.
And I would go in and ask for an update.
And I said, well, you're looking for somebody
to run your office because it's really, you know,
I'm not hearing anything from you.
It's kind of worrying, I'm worrying like,
how much is this costing me?
Because it's taking more and more time, right?
And I told him I'd like to throw my name in the hat.
Like to, those are the words I use.
I cringe now, but I'm like,
I'd like to throw my name in the hat.
I did this little bow.
He texted me a little while later and he was like,
how long are you going to be living in Alaska?
And I tell him, well, we're going to be living here
for at least three more years.
And he started to ask me questions.
And I'm like, oh, this text thread is a job interview.
This man is interviewing me for his position
in the office through text messages.
And then he told me I could come aboard
for like one day a week and see if I liked it.
And I said, I don't do anything small.
I just want to go full-time.
And so I started in the automotive industry
and it all goes down from there or up actually.
You didn't stay in the office.
You actually got out there in the bay.
You learned top to bottom what a car does.
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
I mean, I took any opportunity to learn that I could.
As a matter of fact, I'd come in on the weekends
with some of my technicians
and we would do repairs together.
I can't do everything now,
but I've replaced CV axles, brakes, oil,
basic fluid changes and things like that.
I had a penchant for learning.
And so I learned I did.
And how long have you been in the automotive industry
that was when?
It's been roughly a decade, just about a decade now.
Okay.
And you started as a technician
and then moved over to the service side.
I started as an office lady.
I stand corrected.
I was never a technician.
Just played technician on the weekends.
Okay.
Seriously, he called me office lady.
That was my title.
And so that's where I started.
And then I became manager.
And then I became district manager.
And it just, we kept growing.
We grew from, we had this tiny little shop
that had one stall in the front
and then a couple of stalls in the back.
And then we doubled that
and then we got another building and we doubled it.
And then we got another property and we doubled it.
And then we got another property.
So we just kept growing.
And then along comes empowering leaders,
which for those who don't know,
empowering lead hers, H-E-R-S.
That's right.
What sparked the creation of this organization?
Hurt.
Was there a specific pattern
or something you saw in the industry
that made you realize that something needed to change?
Yeah, a couple of things.
Number one is that, you know,
I was seen as this rarity in this industry.
And I know that I'm a hard worker
and I'm determined and I'm smart,
but I know that I can't be a rarity.
I know that other people can do this too.
And I felt compelled to fill some gaps.
So number one,
I wanted to make sure that we were inviting women
into the automotive industry intentionally.
Because like I said earlier,
my doctoral research has demonstrated
that every single one of my participants
came into the automotive industry either
just because they were given an invitation
by a family member
or they had a spouse that was running a repair shop
and said, I really need your help.
I need you to quit your job
and come and help me because I'm drowning
or it just happened for them.
They just kind of fell into it like me.
And there's a gap in between our education system
and this moment's decision to join an industry
that wasn't really built for them.
So at its core,
what is the mission of empowering leaders?
Who's it designed to serve?
It's designed to serve women leaders
in the automotive industry.
But we can't make them leaders
until we invite them to join.
And so I, it's still a work in progress
but I envision outreach opportunities
and mentorship and apprenticeship programs
partnering with repair facilities
to invite young women into the industry,
grow them into leaders,
set them up with professional mentors,
educational resources and support,
particularly for managers.
And you talk about encouraging women to lead
but you use a key phrase on your website.
You say that you encourage them to lead with confidence
rather than shrink, soften or assimilate.
Why was that message in particular so important
in these male dominated spaces like automotive?
If you're not used to the male dominated space
of automotive repair,
some of the things that you hear
can come across as hurtful.
And what I've learned throughout my career
and my research is that
there's this psychological phenomenon called
sociolinguistics.
And basically what it means is
you absorb the language of what you hear around you,
you internalize it and it becomes yours.
And what I'm hearing is women repeat negative phrases
about themselves saying things like I'm just a woman
or I'm emotional, I can't be logical
or I don't understand cars or things like that.
And these are women that are in my industry.
That's crazy.
Of course they're logical.
They're a leader.
Of course they understand cars.
They've been around it for years and years
but they're still repeating these things.
So how does empowering leaders differ
from a more traditional leadership program
or a woman in business program?
So in a lot of ways, firstly,
because I'm targeting primarily women managers
in the automotive industry,
they seem to be a small section of the industry
that has been left out of most of the coaching programs
that are readily available.
Secondly, the generic coaching programs just don't get it.
Our world is such a different world
and to try to use tools
that you learn in a traditional coaching program,
you might be laughed at in some ways
because they're just not quite, they don't quite fit.
They're a little bit too mainstream corporate America.
You've gotta be a little gritty
to be a leader in this industry.
And so I want to, I'm sorry,
I want to empower women to be gritty.
Give me an example of something that,
the most common challenges women have shared with you
that maybe another industry might not relate to.
Let's talk about it from a customer side.
Women here frequently, can I talk to the technician?
Can I talk to, is there someone else I can talk to
and they'll be peeking around you at the service counter?
They're looking for a man
and having experienced this myself, I can tell you,
they're not just wanting to talk to a technician.
I, at my last shop that I worked at,
the customers would actually,
if a man came up to the counter
while I was speaking to a customer,
the customer would stop talking to me mid-sentence
and talk directly to the man, almost without fail.
And this is women to women?
Yeah.
That's interesting.
Yeah.
I don't know what to say to that.
How do you combat that?
Culture shift.
So I had to ask my team,
hey, if I'm talking to a customer,
please just don't come up to the counter.
I know, they were service advisors.
I was the manager.
They wanted to take the burden, so to speak,
off of me and do their job.
And I got that.
But it's so disarming and disempowering
to take over the conversation
when a woman is already battling
to feel credible, to feel empowered
to talk to that customer.
And did your, were your technicians receptive
and were they perceptive to the fact
that it was happening?
Some of them were, some of them weren't.
And it took some conversation to say,
hey, do you see this happening?
And after bringing their attention to it,
then they would say, I can see how that, yeah, I get that.
Yeah, that has to be frustrating.
It is, it is frustrating.
You talked about mentorship
being a big part of empowering leaders.
What does meaningful mentorship actually look like?
How is it structured within your initiatives?
Let me tell you,
let me start by telling you what it's not.
And a lot of times what we do with our women
in the automotive industry in particular
is we set them up with peers
that it becomes more like a social circle.
We go do fun things together.
We go zip lining together.
We go for afternoon tea and that's great.
We need that.
We need that camaraderie.
We need those social circles.
But we also need people to show us how to show up
and what success looks like
in what ways you may be holding yourself back
and what you can do about that.
And we need not just like across the table mentors,
we need mentors that are a few steps above
where our managers find themselves.
That way they can see the path forward
because if you can't see the path,
how are you supposed to take the road?
Can you think of any transformational
or success stories where, you know,
kind of captures the impact of what you're saying?
About, you know, like mentoring up?
Yeah, as far as women mentoring women.
Yeah, I've got several examples of just,
I mean, I have mentored women
and I really reach out to those that are just starting
that had kind of an accidental start like me.
One of them I was able to very successfully set her up
with some people in her area
because she said there's nobody
within a two hour radius of me.
I work with all men.
I don't have any women to talk to.
You know, I can call somebody up,
but if I need somebody, it's an emergency
and I've got to figure this out
and I need some help right away.
I don't have anywhere to turn.
And I said, I don't think that that's true.
I think there's more of us than we know
and we just keep quiet.
And so I set her up with some folks
and at first she thought it was just gonna be,
she's like, I don't have time for friends.
And I said, this is not a friendship.
I hope you form a friendship,
but this is just to show you how to find success.
And so that means these are the books
that I want you to read.
Let's read this book together.
We'll go cover to cover chapter by chapter.
We'll discuss and we'll dissect
and we'll apply it to your daily life.
Or, hey, this is a really great conference
that's happening.
Let's have a talk with your shop owner
and see if we can get you these two days off
to go to this conference and build your skills.
Those are the kind of things that really empower women.
It's finding the resources
and giving ourselves permission to ask for what we need.
So how's it going?
Do you know how many women are involved
and can you give us more information, more figures?
Sure, it's going slow
because I'm just in little testing stages, right?
So I've currently got five women
that are set up with five mentors
and they're all doing great.
It was a little bit of a slow start
and I'm doing them intentionally
because I don't want this to go
in the direction that women support groups
have gone in our industry
and I don't want it to turn into just social circles.
It's very important to me that their time,
their very limited, valuable time is well spent.
And so we're just kind of going back and forth.
It's a lot of open dialogue
talking about what's working, what's not.
And I'm so appreciative to them
for being these test runs, these guinea pigs
and letting me know what's working for them,
what they're seeing
and it's empowering them, right?
Because of asking them to speak up for what they need
and that is the bottom line here.
App owners and industry leaders, including men,
care about supporting these kinds of initiatives.
There's a statistic out there that says
that 70% of automotive decision making
in the spending area is made by women.
All of my study participants mentioned
that when they get women customers,
they seem to feel more comfortable
with a woman service advisor.
So why would we not want to capture that power?
You know, that you've got this, this is amazing.
Women, women and men are different, okay?
I don't care what anybody says.
We do things different.
We process different.
We react different.
Women are not lesser, they're different.
It's a powerhouse that you've got there.
And you can either choose to crush that powerhouse
and turn her into a silent, subservient employee
that's gonna run away.
Or you can build her up.
You can empower her to seek resources,
to become her best self
and to grow and rise through the ranks.
And if you do, you're going to capture
more market segment of women
because women trust women more than women trust men.
And you've done a lot of research on this.
You alluded to your doctorate.
That ties into this too.
Do you want to talk a little bit about that?
Yeah, so originally I set out to explore
how women got into the automotive industry.
But as my study evolved,
it became clear that what I needed to study
was how people's lives intersect
and what that intersection looks like.
It's called linked lives, okay?
And it's all about who is in your circle
and how do those lives influence your life?
Because we don't travel in isolation, right?
We're in and out of people's lives
and these are teachers, parents,
people at your church, people in your community,
people at work, all of these lives influence yours.
And so what became very clear
is that sponsorship and mentorship
are critical to women in the automotive industry.
And basically that's how you connected the dots
with empowering leaders.
For women who are listening, who might feel isolated,
hesitant to take the next step into leadership,
what's the first step you would encourage them to take?
Find somebody who is doing the job
that you're considering and ask them about their work.
Approach them and say,
hey, I'm really interested in becoming,
fill in the blank, whatever they're doing,
becoming a service manager
or I'd really like to become a technician
or I'd really like to get into auto body work.
Find somebody that's doing that work
and just have a cup, go for a cup of coffee,
pick their brain, ask them, how did you get here?
What should I do next?
Find somebody to talk to, reach out, open up,
have those conversations
because through those conversations,
we can empower each other.
And what about your organization?
If somebody wants to mentor,
somebody wants to get involved,
how can they connect with you?
So the best way to connect with me
is either through my website
at empoweringleaders.com or on LinkedIn
and it's michelle.r.pip and on LinkedIn.
Either one of those and I'd be happy
to take your information right now.
My program is closed to the little trial pod,
but very soon, and this is this year,
it'll be opening up to many more mentors
and mentees alike.
So I am collecting names and contact information
of people who are interested in doing that.
And Michelle, you are going to be speaking in Detroit,
are you not?
That's correct, yes.
I'm speaking in Detroit.
I saw you on LinkedIn, you wanna talk about it?
Yep.
So I'm speaking on women making the jump
to the C-suite in the automotive industry
and it's for Women Automotive Network.
The Detroit Summit is June 2nd.
There is actually a link for a discount code
on my LinkedIn page,
so I would love to see all of the women
in our industry showing up for that amazing summit.
And I hope they do, Michelle Pippen.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
We loved having you.
Thank you so much, Kristine.
It's been a pleasure.
Be sure and give us an update, please.
I definitely will.
That's going to do it for us today
at Ratchet and Wrench Radio.
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and may the rest of today
be the greatest day of your life.
About this episode
Michelle Pippen’s career in auto repair started after her car broke down in rural Alaska, leading to a chance to work at a shop—first as the “office lady,” then through management as the business expanded. Her research and experience convinced her women often enter the industry by invitation or accident, not intention. Through her nonprofit Empowering Leaders (H.E.R.S.), she focuses on mentorship that goes beyond social circles, addresses credibility-killing workplace dynamics, and builds confidence for women managers. She also ties leadership development to market opportunity and women’s decision-making power.
Michelle Pippin never planned on joining the automotive industry. A broken timing belt on a remote Alaskan highway changed everything. Now, nearly a decade later, she’s leading a movement to intentionally invite, mentor, and empower women in auto repair—and challenging shop owners to rethink how leadership is built inside their businesses.
