Women Supporting Women in Auto
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Concept
Vision High Tech Conference
This is a big automotive career and training event. People set up booths and share information to help recruit new workers and teach skills.
Company
Milwaukee
Milwaukee is a well-known company in tools and equipment for trades. Here, they’re mentioned as helping support the conference so more people can get into automotive work.
Company
Midwest Auto Care Association
This is a regional automotive group that helps organize training and events. They’re mentioned as part of what makes the conference so strong for learning.
Concept
technical training
They’re highlighting training that teaches people how to actually do the job. In auto, that usually means learning the skills technicians need to diagnose and fix cars.
Concept
Transmission Rebuilders Association
This is an organization that supports transmission repair businesses. The goal is to help shops get better training so repairs are done correctly.
Company
ATRA
ATRA is a group for transmission repair shops. They help shops learn the latest skills and stay up to date.
Term
transmission shops
“Transmission shops” are businesses that diagnose, repair, and rebuild transmissions rather than doing general vehicle maintenance. In this context, the speaker is talking about shops that need specialized training for transmission work.
Concept
stigma of the industry
They’re describing how some people look down on auto work. The point is that today’s automotive jobs can be clean, skilled, and meaningful—not what people assume from the past.
Concept
entrepreneur
They’re talking about teaching students how to think like business owners. In auto, that could mean running a shop or starting a career path that isn’t only hands-on wrenching.
Concept
technicians question the technician coming in
Instead of only the manager interviewing, the current techs ask questions too. That way they can tell if the new person will work the right way.
Term
drill out your own bolts that you break
They’re asking if the person knows how to remove a broken bolt. That’s a real problem in car repairs, and it tests whether someone can fix it without making things worse.
Concept
hire out of desperation
They’re warning against hiring just because you’re overwhelmed. If you rush, you might bring in someone who doesn’t match how your shop works.
Concept
culture
They’re talking about “culture” as the shop’s way of doing things. It’s about the standards everyone follows day to day, not just a mission statement.
Concept
technician shortage
It means there aren’t enough trained mechanics to cover all the car work that needs to be done. That can make it harder for shops to hire and grow.
Concept
workforce data
It’s basically the information businesses use to understand hiring and staffing—like who’s available to work and what training they have. If that info isn’t good, it’s harder to plan ahead.
Company
ASC Connects
ASC Connects sounds like a program that helps auto shops solve staffing and growth issues. The goal is to make it easier to find and support the right people.
Concept
recruiting retention
Recruiting retention means hiring mechanics and then making sure they stay. It’s about keeping them happy and supported so they don’t quit soon after starting.
Concept
vendors
In automotive retail/wholesale, “vendors” are the suppliers that provide parts, accessories, or vehicles. The speaker emphasizes using multiple vendors and cross-shopping to find better pricing and availability.
Concept
financing
Financing means letting customers pay for repairs over time instead of all at once. If a shop offers it, more people can say “yes” to getting the work done.
Concept
COVID
COVID is the pandemic that caused a lot of uncertainty for businesses and customers. In this conversation, it’s why people were hesitant to commit to spending and why plans had to change.
Concept
women's retreat
A women’s retreat is like a special get-together or event for women. Here, it’s being talked about as something the group wanted to set up to help women connect and support each other in auto.
Term
service advisor
A service advisor is the person you talk to at a shop or dealership. They take your car’s problem, write up the repair request, and then work with the mechanic to get it fixed.
Term
wrenching
“Wrenching” just means working on cars with tools—like diagnosing and fixing things. It’s the hands-on mechanic side of the job.
Company
Jasper Engines and Transmissions
Jasper sells rebuilt (remanufactured) replacement parts—like engines and transmissions—so people don’t have to buy a whole new car. The idea is to fix the problem and keep driving the same vehicle.
Term
engine or transmission has failed
If the engine or transmission fails, the car may not run right or may stop working safely. The point here is that replacing that one major part can be a smarter move than buying a whole new vehicle.
Concept
trade their vehicle
Trading in means turning in your current car to help pay for a different one. The ad is saying don’t rush to trade it if you can fix the engine or transmission instead.
Term
remanufactured Jasper product
“Remanufactured” means the part is rebuilt and tested to work properly again. It’s often cheaper than buying a brand-new engine or transmission.
Concept
service writers
In a car shop, a service writer is the person who talks to customers and sets up the repair work. They help write down what’s needed and keep everyone updated.
Concept
facilitator
A facilitator is like the host of a group discussion. They help keep things organized and make sure people feel comfortable sharing.
Term
Zoom calls
They’re talking about using Zoom for meetings instead of meeting customers in person. In auto work, that can mean talking to customers remotely for questions, updates, or planning. It’s a different way to communicate at first.
Term
pop-up headlights
Pop-up headlights are headlights that slide up from the front of the car when you turn them on. Some older cars had this design, and if the mechanism fails, one headlight might not pop up. That’s what the speakers are describing.
LIVE
But that's what the whole point of it is, is to meet people and be together with people
that support you and understand what you're going through, what your struggles are.
Welcome back to Beyond the Wrench. My name is Jay Gannon and I am your host. Today we're
welcoming back Tiffany Sherado. Tiffany has been making a strong impact across the automotive
industry and is involved in a number of different areas, including her work with amazing women in
automotive. Really, really excited to talk about all of that. In this episode, we're going to do
just that. We'll dig into that work, the community being built and where things are headed next.
Tiffany, great to have you back on the show. Thank you. I'm glad to be here. So nice to run into
at Vision. Oh my goodness. Yes, we were just talking about that. Tiffany and I were able to
catch up at the Vision High Tech Conference in Kansas City as we record this a couple weeks ago.
And you had a really, really nice booth set up in a great, great spot. Like I think that might have
been one of the best spots in all the conference, wasn't it? Yes, they're very good to us. They donate
that booth every year so that we could be there and help support and recruit ladies into the
industry. So we very much appreciate Sherry and Milwaukee and their team. It's awesome.
Let's take a minute to talk about that dedication that Milwaukee had, the Midwest Auto Care Association,
and Sherry in general just puts on a phenomenal show from the independent side of things. I don't
know that there's much that competes with that in terms of the quality of training and the amount
of technical training that's out there. I really, really enjoy that. I know a lot of technicians
really do. There are some great classes from some of the best trainers in the business.
Absolutely. And I think some of the things that people don't realize is how smoothly
that team runs behind the scenes. We work with a lot of industries and all these associations
and all these associations are very important and they all work extremely hard.
The vision's been around for a long time and they really had it down to an art and she wholeheartedly
wants to be able to impact the industry in a positive way. And if anybody ever has suggestions
or classes, they're always looking to improve and make it better. So I recommend that they
reach out to the team and say, hey, we have trouble in our shop and we want this kind of
training. We're seeing a lack of this when we're hiring or whatever the case and I guarantee you
their staff will look into it to try to add that. They love to have input from the industry. They're
great. Yeah, not only get the input but actually listen to it. I think they do a phenomenal job of
that. And I had a great conversation with Sherry prior to the show opening or the expo part of the
show opening and she was going through a lot prior to that too. She had her mother and some health
complications there and for her to, you know, it was like a week or two prior to the show,
she's going through a lot of stuff and to have that show go off the way it did and just like you
said, very seamless, very welcoming. I think that's the other thing. Anytime you saw somebody with
the vest on or one of the shirts, they're always so welcoming and inviting and so people that maybe
haven't been to that conference before and especially like, I think a lot of times with
technicians, maybe they don't get to go to as many of those types of shows and so the feeling
of comfort walking into those doors in a huge, huge facility is pretty cool. Yeah, they do have
a very homie family type atmosphere. So many of the same people come back every year. So there's
so many relationships and people catching up and friendships being developed and all the networking.
It's very exciting and like one thing I want to mention is their attention to detail with stuff.
For example, we had our women's breakfast there. We always do some type of a women's
event and correlation with the show to get all the ladies together and they came down and visited
and checked on us and we had to add some tables because it just, it went way better than we expected
which was exciting. But Sherry was like, okay, here's a couple things I think we need to do next
year. You guys are out growing this space. I'm going to get you some audio. We need,
you know, and just like I said, just constantly wanting to make it better but we were happy.
I didn't get any negative feedback. Everybody was completely satisfied but they're just like,
no, we've got to do this. We've got to make it better and that's just them in a nutshell.
People that you really root for and want to see do well and, you know, I just have the utmost
respect for Sherry and the entire team for the quality of show they put on each and every year.
It is something else. So that's enough about vision. Let's talk about you. You have so much
going on. I was just, I popped up your LinkedIn page and it's been a while since we've really
caught up and I'm just looking at everything you've got going on and my goodness, I'm overwhelmed
just looking at it. Tell us the latest. What's going on with you? Yeah, so I think last time we
talked, I was, of course, running the shop with my dad, which I still do. We have a retail side and
a wholesale division that we run. I believe I was doing all that at the time and then
got into Amazing Women and Automotive with Nailin. But since then, I have become one of
the board of directors for ATRA, the Transmission Rebuilders Association down in San Antonio.
I represent Region 5. It's also a great association to work with and if you have a
lot of transmission shops listening, they have great training. It's really been a joy to be able
to work with their team and it's a good show down in San Antonio. If anybody needs transmission
specific training, it's a lot of fun. So this is my second year on the board with them. Let's see,
what else am I doing? I'm always working with the local schools. You know that.
It's on my school connect page, seeing if anybody need being seen. This year, we donated the Ramsey
financial curriculum to a couple of our local schools. I can't tell you how much I love that.
That is such a cool, cool idea and so needed, so, so needed. Yeah, and in Oklahoma, some states may
be different, but in Oklahoma specifically, they don't require any kind of financial curriculum
in schools and they become our employees and their money problems come to us and it creates
absenteeism and stress and mental health problems and so many things. So if we can get in there
and eliminate some of that, I feel like the money we spent on the curriculum is well worth it.
And what a different way of coming to the school too, right? I think so many schools,
we talk a lot about this part of, I think the schools have been conditioned to where
whenever a shop reaches out to them, they almost are guarded because they're like,
approaching it in the sense that you're trying to help the students, you're trying to help the
program and you're trying to do something bigger than just recruit that one student. I think
there's so much value in that and with what you're doing and giving that Ramsey program away
could have a huge impact on somebody's life. I think it will have a big impact on somebody's
life and so that goes far beyond just getting somebody in the doors and trying to recruit them.
You're having a significant impact on somebody's life. Well, and the industry, the whole we all
for years have been fighting that stigma of, you know, it's just dirty, there's not much value,
you don't want your son or daughter to be working in that industry. But when that kiddo,
that student comes home and tells their parents about this curriculum as being donated by this
automotive shop and they came to speak to their class about being an entrepreneur,
I mean, for a second you take a step back and go, really? An automotive shop is doing that?
Absolutely. We're invested in the community. We're a strong business and we want to make
an impact and give back to the community that's given to us so much. It goes right into so much
good because so many of us are trying to change that outside perception of the industry, right?
Where we want people to see us for who we are and not judge us based on what the industry was 30
years ago and what their perceptions of the industry were back then because it has changed so much and
we look at it from that student standpoint and the need to try and attract really,
really smart people to this industry because it's not getting any easier. And so I think the more
we come with different opportunities like that or just the ability to go in and not just talk
about rebuilding a transmission, right? Or just working on a car, like you're bringing a different
element and it shows off so much of the good of the industry and I just, I can't get over how much
I love that. Yeah, I highly encourage it. It's not a really expensive investment. You don't have to
sign up to invest every single year, but if there's shops out there that want to try to give back,
that's certainly something that's well worth it, I feel, and meet them with two schools locally so
far. Sorry to go off topic here for just a second, but do they have any offerings for employees by
chance? They have the smart dollar program, so if you had employees that you wanted to offer
something to, they have that. A couple of our ladies and our group do the smart dollar with
their staff and I've heard good things. I haven't done that yet, but I've heard really good things.
One thing we did do with one of our employees, he had just got married and they were both very
young and they found out she's getting ready to have a baby. She got pregnant after they got married,
so we gifted them one-on-one training, financial training for them because they wanted to buy a
house and that was really, really cool. So yeah, they have a lot of resources for businesses. I
wasn't even meaning to bring that part up, but that is, I think, something so many shops could
learn from and not just shops, like any business. If you have employees, I look at it and you see
how much that personal life and maybe the inability to manage money or maybe just not making enough
money to manage everything that you have, your obligations, giving resources where people might
not even know they have a blind spot at is so powerful and I hope any business listening to
this is thinking about that and thinking about their people because when we go into our job ads or
we go into our marketing and say, we really care about our team, that's the kind of stuff that
actually shows you actually care about your team and you're not just saying it. You're caring about
them as people more so than just their paycheck and really the work that they bring to you.
Yeah, absolutely. And I think I had years ago, I would listen to the day of Ramsey podcast and
stuff when I was in college. I used a lot of his methods that I would hear on the radio with his
trainings and teachings and I got my student loans paid off before I was 40 years old.
Just by doing some of those little things where he talked about, pick a credit card or pick a bill
and pay a big chunk towards that and pay smaller amounts and then once you get that paid off,
take that amount and add it to the next one before you know it, you get motivated quicker
because you're knocking this one out and you're knocking that one out instead of trying to pay on
all these across the board and you don't feel like you're gaining any traction on anything.
And so I talked to the students about that. This is what it taught me and it was probably about a
year, year and a half ago. We were looking for some leadership stuff and we know we have a lot
of industry training, but I wanted to kind of step outside the box and do more of an
entrepreneur leadership focus. And so that's when I had looked up one of his conferences
and I sent my dad and my sister because she's our service advisor. She's coming up in the ranks,
dad's wanting to retire. So how is that transition going to look? Who's the next person under me?
So that's how we kind of got back being involved again. And I'm always learning and one of the
things that had come up in some of the conversations that we had had is a book called The Ideal Team
Player. Have you read that? Is that Lencioni? Yes. Yeah. I had an ops manager that we had hired
and we were just struggling with bringing him onto the way we think and our culture
because he came from like a minor key or a Midas and like, no, a big totally different.
It was very much about, oh, just keep the employee happy, do whatever you have to do,
tolerate their behaviors where we're not going to do that. If they're calling in,
they're putting stress on the other employees, it's disrespectful, we're not going to allow it,
they're out. And that book, I gave it to him because I knew as I read the story how I related
to it and he does a fantastic job of explaining the types of people that you meeting your company.
And I gave it to him and I said, let me know when you've got that read, we'll discuss it.
And sure enough, he's like, everything you said to me, it's like a light bulb. He's like,
I totally get it. I totally get it. And he's really come around after reading that. But I've
shared that book with a number of people, highly recommended. It's a short read. So if you don't
like reading, you can also listen to it within just a few hours on an audio book, but very impactful.
And I think he does a great job talking about culturing people. Even if you don't like reading
with Patrick Lencioni's writing, he makes it really, really easy to read. It is
very engaging and almost to the point to where it's weird. I think some books,
when you're reading, you almost forget that you're reading, right? And I think he has that
ability to kind of pull you into a story and does a really, really good job at it.
Yeah. Even I gave it to my assistant to read. I gave it to my sister to read. I'm giving it to
salesman to read. It's just part of reading here. I've incorporated it into the leadership program
at our shop because it really has changed the way everybody thinks. It's changed the way we've
decided to hire. We'll do a traditional hiring interview. And now we bring them in for a team
lunch. And I let my technicians question the technician coming in. And it's amazing the questions
that they ask, are you clean and neat? Will you put things back? Well, that's certainly direct.
And now he knows where the king's led. One guy asked, do you know how to drill out your own
bolts that you break? That's a good question, by the way. Yeah, this was something that I'm
going to have to come over there and help you with constantly. So they did a great job and I think
he was going to be a great fit. So hopefully he starts Monday as planned and he works out really
well. But it's definitely something that I think most people should read and give some
consideration to because it will change the way you think about things.
Well, this is so cool because I think what you're doing there is you're not hiring out of
desperation, right? And I think a lot of shops go wrong there where they're just desperate. They
need help. They've got customers breathing down their neck and they're really struggling with
that and it forces them to hire somebody that doesn't fit who they are. And so I think when I
look at that, it makes me so happy because it gets your team to buy in and they're the ones
really kind of setting the stage for that culture. And we had an author on the podcast at one point
who talked about that he has a book called Seeds of Culture. And he was just saying like
culture is so hard to define when you're writing it out. But he said the best way that he defined it
was the way we do stuff around here. And when you talk about that, that's what they're trying
to get to, right? There's a certain standard. There's a way that we go about our work and allowing
your team to kind of make a judgment call on whether they're going to live up to that standard is
absolutely huge. Definitely. I believe everything you said there, they loved it. They absolutely
loved it. I think they were a little caught off guard when we told them we were going to do it
the first time. But I think they realized how valuable it was and I think they had fun.
It's good. Free lunch? I joke with our, for those of you that don't know, my family has an
automotive shop that I grew up in. And I still give the guys a hard time about like, hey, I'm
going to put you in probably kind of an uncomfortable position here. But there's a reason that we want
to do this. And that's because we need your buy-in on this. We need you to want to help this person.
And if we're bringing, you know, I used the term family loosely because there are differences.
But I also look at it as you're spending a lot of time with this person. You are really, really
going to be, you know, you could become really good friends out of this. That's one of my favorite
things about business is when we have team members that become friends that go beyond even just work,
right? And not that that's an expectation. It's just kind of cool when you see it happen. So
I just think when you get people, like-minded people around each other that are smart and driven
and wanting better for the whole, you're going to be happier. And I just love seeing that.
Definitely. We try to keep the conversation away from money, you know, because we do pay our team
well. And we know ultimately, nobody's coming to work to work for free. That is going to be a
make or break. But we want them to realize that our emphasis is on their quality of life and the
quality of work that we bring to our customers, that we care about each other and those kinds of
things instead of just hiring on, okay, we'll all pay you this, you know, what can you do for me?
And this, you know- That never ends well that way. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. And then it's a
me versus you type of relationship. And that just doesn't, that doesn't work.
No, no, it doesn't. And then they get complacent after about a year and they're not performing
like they're used to, but they're still making money and they want to make more money because
they've been there for a year and, you know, it just doesn't, it doesn't work and it's a horrible cycle.
Every shop, dealership and business in our industry depends on great technicians.
Between the technician shortage, disconnected school relationships and lack of trustworthy
workforce data, it makes it difficult for shops to plan higher and grow. That's where ASC Connects
comes in. Created in partnership with Wrenchway, ASC Connects is a membership designed specifically
for shops like yours to help you build a stronger technician pipeline by connecting with schools
empowering you with tools and data to improve your recruiting retention and performance.
With ASC Connects, you can connect with local schools through school assist,
start building relationships and support the programs that educate our future technicians.
You can also access verified data on technician pay, benefits and labor rates through the industry
data exchange so you know how your shop compares locally and nationally. Lastly, you can get proven
strategies for leadership, employee development and shop management through members only guides,
templates and events. Join ASC Connects to strengthen your workforce and build a stronger,
smarter shop. Learn more at wrenchway.com slash solutions slash shops or follow the link in the
show notes. You had mentioned that you sent your sister and your dad to the Ramsey conference. Was
that like the entree leadership one or something different? Yes, the entree leadership one. I've
never been. That's a bucket list one for me. I just I see it every year and I'm like that is such a
cool thing. Such a great book to base everything off of, but it is a bit over since they'd
ever been to and I believe it. I'm an off-sky this year. Really? I need to get, they always do it
outside of Nashville, right? Over by their headquarters or is it somewhere else? Sometimes
they do it outside of Nashville. It was in Colorado last year. Belive it this year it's
going to be in Coronado Springs. All right. That's good to know. I need to get back on that
train because I love that. I've always respected Dave Ramsey. It's the same as you listen to his
stuff very early and it had an impact on the way I went about my life. I just foundational
principles that are pretty, they're not hard to understand. They're hard to execute and I think
that's the even understanding a budget. If it's your personal budget, if you're good at that,
that probably does translate into helping run a budget for a business. If you're an operations
manager, general manager, whatever it might be and you've got a budget put on your lap,
that's some pretty darn good training to have and something that can have just an immense
impact on your personal life as well. Yeah, no, absolutely. When you get a manager in there like
that, making those decisions, it impacts the entire team. They have poor finances. I see that a lot
in city councils, people running small towns. Horrible, horrible financial behaviors and then
they get in there because it's a small town and everybody knows each other and there's not a lot
to choose from and this small town is just a disaster. Shambles. Yeah, and that's just case
and point, which is one of the reasons we donated that financial curriculum to a really small school.
It wasn't typically what Dave Ramsey goes after because they like to make a larger impact,
but it was something I felt was extremely important because I see what happens in those
little rural areas and they need it more than anybody. I agree. As somebody that lives in a
small rural area, I totally agree. It's something that young people, not even just industry specific
stuff, just in general, I wish we could spread more of that throughout. My brother's a financial
advisor and he goes in and speaks to schools and does a really, really nice job with that on
some of the similar things, right? I'm budgeting and investing and just giving them enough to
have an understanding, but I truly think that's really impactful stuff that can help people out
and I love to hear that. All right. Yeah, I'm not going to pump his ego up like that,
but I will say that he's doing a good job with it. We're going to get into the amazing women
and automotive here, and we'll spend a lot of time on that, but I did want to ask, how is the
wholesale business? I remember maybe early days of that with you and it seemed like a great idea.
It's got to be doing pretty well, I'd assume. It's doing pretty well, yeah. I need to add
another salesman. That'll help our team a lot. We have multiple vendors. What makes us different
is we use different vendors. You can go by just from Draftsboro. You can go by just from this
place, but we have vendors that I've tested in my shop, so there's certain ones that I won't
distribute for, but my customers can call me and I can look across the board at multiple different
vendors and do the shopping for them so they're not stuck on the phone trying to find the best price
and the fastest time to get there. My team will just call them back with it. Overall,
I'm going to say it's slow right now in general. I hear that from a lot of my shops that only buy
from us. They're just not getting a lot of yeses right now. People are hanging onto their dollars.
I've encouraged a lot of shops who don't offer financing to try to get that to help with some of
the noes because people are struggling right now, but other than that, the business is still doing
really well and we're glad we had gotten into it. We started it just before COVID, so that was tough.
I remember we launched Wrenchway about the same time and that was, I think, Wrenchway is a platform.
We were still Finder Wrench back then. The Wrenchway is a platform we were supposed to launch
this time in 2020 and six years ago, almost to the date. I remember being St. Patrick's Day
in a weird office outside of Madison, Wisconsin, being like, oh no, what do we do? It's just being
lost. I don't even know if shops are going to stay in business through this. I don't know what's
going on. I just remember my co-founder, Mark, and I sitting at the table being like, this is
going to be chaotic. I think we cracked a beer, sat back, and we're like, there's not much we
can do. You may as well just, yeah, yeah. We were swimming in it though. I cannot imagine
same thing I'm guessing with you. Just don't know what to think.
No. We really started hitting the rural areas because they didn't seem to have the fear
the big cities did. They were still more willing to talk to you. We didn't do a lot of the door-to-door
sales. We did a lot of phone calls and Zoom and stuff like that. I figure if you can start a business
stirring, that's when the women's group started. However, for them, it was one of those things
where at the time, I was not the facilitator. He had started it with a woman named Dori Epstein,
and she ran it for just a short period and wanted to go and do something different and asked if I
would step in. Because the group had gotten so close due to COVID and everybody being so uncertain
about things and how to handle situations, I was like, yeah, this is too valuable to just
let it dissolve, so I let him talk me into it, and here we are.
Well, and when you say he, we're talking about Maylan, right? Yes. Yeah, and Maylan recently
passed away. Yeah, so we're just over a year. Before we dive into the legacy he's left behind,
I do want to give him so much credit for his heart and dedication to the industry as a whole.
I met him through you and had a few conversations with him. A really genuinely nice guy and very
smart, very intelligent, and I think we're all lucky that he created something like this to
leave a legacy behind, a legacy that's going to obviously far outlive him and gives it maybe even
that extra bit of purpose, because you want to see what Maylan created to just keep living and
keep going. Yeah, absolutely. In September of last year, we had gone to the ASTA Expo and they
presented me with the Golden Rential Award because of the amazing women. I was just in tears because
I didn't know they were going to do that. A few of the girls that are on the board knew about it,
and they had been contacted, and it was just like, this is all for Maylan. It wasn't for him,
we wouldn't be here, so it was a very emotional moment. Yeah, he was all that was good about the
industry and wanting to create something that was bigger than him, and I think that he did that
with what we're talking about with amazing women and automotive. And for those of you,
I was telling Tiffany before we got on, we recorded a podcast. It's probably been five years
since the last podcast we did, and I look back and I was truly embarrassed by how bad my audio
was in that first podcast. So I apologized to Tiffany because I was like, oh my goodness,
like we've come a long way on the podcast, we're still not even perfect, we're not close to perfect,
but from what I saw in that podcast, watching it back, I'm like, that just genuine embarrassment
on my part. But then you were walking through a lot of the why in that podcast and really being able
to paint the picture and almost the vision of what you saw with this. Can you give us an
update on everything? And even maybe for those folks that didn't want to listen through my terrible
audio in the first one to give them an idea of what we've got going on with amazing women
and automotive. Absolutely. I'd love to. 2026 has been a fantastic year of growth in our numbers
and the events and the support that we've received. Last year in 2025, we had our very first women's
retreat that we put together. After mainland pass, that was one of the things he was extremely
passionate about doing. He talked about it. He's like, come on, we need to do that. We just need
to find a place. We need to do a retreat. If we will, we will. I'm always, I'm a finance person,
right? So I'm like, well, when the money gets to this point, and we just need to, and that's how
he was, he's like, we just need to make it happen, whatever it would make it happen. And he would
pull the money out of his own pocket if that's what he had to do because he felt like it was so
important to have this group and this resource for women in the industry. He did a lot of coaching.
So he did a lot of service advisor coaching. He had a service advisor training that he did on
weekends. He'd travel and provide that. And a lot of the people he worked with were women in the
industry. And he really did believe they were extremely good at their job, probably better
than most of the men that he would encounter. And technicians, a lot of times were undervalued
when they were female. They're just not given a chance or stuck at a service advisor desk because
they were so good at that that what they really wanted to do and what they went to school for
was wrenching, but they just wouldn't put them back there. So he saw a lot of the struggles that
the women face in the industry today. And a lot of times they'll either leave the industry or just
be stuck unhappy because they don't have a community to, you know, a sound board or somebody to talk to
to empower them to make a decision so that they do what's right for them.
And so we did the retreat. We went to Park City, Utah. There was only about 10 of us
for the first retreat. It was kind of last minute. We threw it together, but it was absolutely
amazing, amazing. We couldn't stop talking about the next one. So earlier this year or towards,
it was right after Christmas, I think, right around New Year's, Sherry from Milwaukee had
reached out to me and she said, Hey, I saw you guys did a retreat last year. I said, We did.
She said, Well, our team had been looking at something like that for a while. And we saw that
you did it. And we're wondering if it would be something you might want to partner on. And so
in my mind, I'm wanting, I'm not wanting to partner with a big organization that might change
what Malin intended, what he wanted. So I said, I tell you what, I think there could be potential
for a great fit here. You know, I love what Sherry, we talked about that earlier, what she
does with vision. So I said, Let me get my team together. You get your team together. And let's
have a meeting and discuss whether or not our visions align for what we want. And my main concern
was I'm nationwide, where there is a Midwest Association, part of ACA. I'm actually international.
I have Canadian members. I have Ecuadorian members. I have members from Mexico. I mean,
all over the place. We had that much growth. We started AWIA Latina, the end of last year,
I think, is when they had their first meeting. That is crazy. I didn't know that.
Yeah. So we on Wednesdays, we have our regular meeting that we've always had. And then on Tuesdays,
I think they changed the meeting to 6pm central time now, but they have the Latina meeting. It's
all Spanish speaking. So for all the Latin American countries, they all get on and that's doing really
well too. So it's extremely exciting. I feel extremely blessed with the support that the
industry has given us. But ultimately, we ended up seeing eye to eye. And so this year's retreat
is going to be in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. And we are working with Milwaukee and the sponsorships
were already nearly 50% booked. And it's not even until June. So we haven't even met our first
price raise deadline for registrations yet. So we're just really excited about what this year holds.
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So tell me a little bit about what happens at the retreat or what your plan is for Gatlinbur.
So the women's retreat is a time for the women to come and focus on themselves. Oftentimes,
maybe the manager at the shop or front desk and we do a lot of taking care of our customers,
taking care of our staff, our employees. Then we go home, we take care of our family.
A lot of times we fail to take much care of ourselves at all. So it will give them a few
days to focus on themselves, to relax, unwind, hopefully de-stress and find a way to maybe work
on some boundary issues that they have. Learning to say no, becoming empowered to do something
that's holding them back and just give them strength and energy. It's not high pressure.
It's not like going to a conference where vision is fantastic and there's so much,
but you come home exhausted. With all these ideas that you're going to implement,
this is time for them to slow down, to focus on themselves and their growth and what they want
and what they need and to take a plan of action back to try to focus on themselves more, to make
connections, to meet some of the women that are on the calls that they talk to every week in person.
And we usually have a big event the last night. Last year we did an onsite hibachi with a fire show.
It was fantastic. That sounds amazing. It was awesome. A huge fun event. I don't want to give
anything away right now, but we've got plans for a really cool dinner the last night this year.
So yeah, it's just, it really is a rest and relaxation. How do you come up with the location?
Is it throwing a dart at a map or do you have a pretty good idea where you're wanting to go?
Well, it has to be a place with a really big house.
One little bathroom and a large kitchen. So that's kind of how that works. So
Utah, we knew would have a lot of really large houses because they have lots of big families.
Gatlinburg, there's a lot of lodges and things of that nature. So the house,
we ended up getting it holds like 56 people. Oh my goodness. It is a mess. This is a big house.
The old homey, right? I don't want to take everybody and put them all in a hotel room.
It defeats the purpose of the camaraderie and the networking and making sure everybody's
interacting. Most of them won't even have their own bedrooms. They'll have a box. There'll be
two or three or four of them in the same bedroom. Separate beds, of course. We're not going to
force anybody to really get to know each other. Know each other. But that's what the whole point
of it is, is to meet people and be together with people that support you and understand what you're
going through, what your struggles are. Man, that is cool. What are the backgrounds of the ladies?
Are they different positions in shops? Is it some of the vendors? Give me an idea of who are the
attendees. Yeah. So just like our membership, it ranges from people who are maybe working in parks
and sales, vendors, to managers, business owners, service writers, technicians. It's a wide variety,
ages range. One of the things we thought would be fun to do at the event as an icebreaker
is to break everybody into the decades they were born in or the decades at high school,
because there will be such a wide variety. And what I always tell the young ones is you would be
absolutely shocked how much you can teach the ladies that have been in the industries for years,
right? Because you're the same age as some of the new customers that are coming in.
And so learning to interact or learning how they view things, everybody has something to offer.
Yeah. So you go to the retreat, you're all in the same place. Are you having classes or just kind
of sessions where you're interacting? I love the idea of doing it generationally. Give me an idea
maybe what somebody could expect in terms of a schedule once they're there.
Right. Well, so one of the cool things is we'll have an itinerary with times and things scheduled
out. The first night, everybody's going to arrive. We have an awesome chartreuterine wine
event that's going to be there just for everybody to kind of come in, because of course everybody
arrives at different times. So we weren't going to do a big dinner that somebody might miss. So
kind of a come and go, get to know everybody. They're all going to get journals to write in,
so we can start to focus our energy on the point of the retreat to take a little deeper
dive into ourselves and who we are and what we need to be healthy women in the industry and be
better than when we came. So the first night's pretty laid back and relaxed. The next morning,
we're not going to have a hard start for the session. We'll kind of let everybody get up.
We'll have breakfast and then once everybody's up and around, they've had time to get dressed,
we'll have our first session, which hasn't been planned yet because we've still got some time,
but likely it'll be on some of the topics I mentioned, possibly boundaries, maybe dealing
working with family, maybe it could be a number of things that typically come up
in a lot of the weekly meetings that we see that women are having challenges with.
And then that session will go as long as it needs to. If it feels like we need a little more time
and there's a lot of ladies that have this issue or it needs to be discussed,
it's kind of an open timetable. We just do whatever we feel everybody needs and then
we'll move on to the next activity, whatever it might be. So yeah, that's one of the things
that makes this different is we'll have a tentative schedule. We'll work everything in,
but the time, there's just no hard stops, hard starts, very relaxed and that's what we want to
be happy. I have to imagine it is you have that feeling of it being a safe space or being able
to openly talk about things that maybe you wouldn't be comfortable talking about in
any other type of conference setting or any other type of meeting setting.
You get that feeling that people are just more open in that kind of setting?
Oh, absolutely. I can tell you even you'd be surprised even in our online Zoom calls during
the week, the amount of tears, stress, frustration, we don't record the Zoom calls. There's no audio.
I don't allow anybody to bring their note takers in because confidentiality is important and we
want people to be able to share and sometimes they're sharing very personal things. Sometimes
they're sharing about their boss and their frustrations with, hey, he hired me as a manager,
but he just won't turn me loose. I feel like my hands are tied and I know what I need to do,
but I just can't do it. Conversations like that, it may be personal stuff about themselves and
their family and things that they're dealing with. They've got a spouse, they have to go in and run
the business. They're frustrated. Maybe the marriage is having a hard time because the business
is struggling, things like that. Even at the retreat, nothing's recorded. No sessions will
be photographed or anything of that nature because it is extremely important to us that they can
share fully without worrying about recourse or somebody saying anything. So that's extremely
important, yes.
The amount of stress that has to take off a person, where maybe you've been carrying
something for a long time and you can talk about it openly with other people that understand the
position that you're in, maybe for the first time in a long time for a lot of these ladies,
an avenue to vent and do it in a healthy way where you can get support and you can
feel comfortable talking about shortcomings. I think in this day and age where everybody
has to look so perfect on social media and everybody's lives are perfect and then
you really talk to them and maybe not so much, just having that avenue to be able to tell the
truth and be able to just have people that will empathize with you and understand your situation
and know that if they're running a business, it's not always glorious and it doesn't
matter how much business success you have, it can be challenging at home. There's just so
many advantages to having those open conversations and I just love that relaxed
atmosphere because I do think where good stuff comes out.
Yeah, yeah, it's great. I'm really excited.
And it really amazes me that going back to the Wednesday meetings,
you'll see somebody become a member and they finally start coming to the meetings because
at first usually they'll just kind of Facebook stalk and kind of look what's happening,
they're not real sure, okay, do I want to commit to this? Is it a bunch of weirdos or is this
man bashing? We get a lot of that. No, no, we wouldn't allow that. That is absolutely not
constructive. We're not doing that. But watching these women from their first meeting to three or
four months later and just the light and the energy and the change, even if they're still
struggling as they were when they first came to the group, they feel more empowered to do
something about it or it gives them a space to vent or like you said, talk and just let some of that
stuff off their chest and know that they're not the only ones going through that. So it's just
incredibly powerful. So how does somebody become a member? How does one of the ladies that wants
to get more involved, how do they get involved? So the best way to go and become a member would
just be to go to our website, which is www.amazingwia.com. When they go on there, they'll find a little
button that says become a member. Memberships free. We haven't charged for membership since we started.
At some point, if we got big enough where we would need staff, we may have to change that,
but we're trying very hard to just get support from the industry and sponsorships to avoid doing
that altogether if possible. But right now, it's free, so hurry up and get in.
Yeah. That is incredible in itself, to be able to continue to do that where price
isn't a determining factor of whether you can participate. I'm sure there's been a lot of
people that have benefited because of that. Yeah, absolutely. That you don't always, especially in
those moments when you're struggling, you don't always have the financial means to pay for a coach.
I want to make clear, we are not a coaching company at all. We are a resource, we're a community,
but we are not coaching, so there's no competition. We have a lot of coaching companies that send
people to us. A lot of their employees will attend. Women at AutoCare, we actually work
a lot with them side by side. We have members that are part of them and us because the value is
different and the platform is different. We highly encourage anybody out there who
may be looking for a resource or struggle to go ahead, just fill out the membership. Let me start
sending you the emails and then eventually one day, you'll get on one of those calls and I guarantee
you'll just be hooked because the ladies on there are amazing. Everybody is very welcoming
because they were that new girl once. They're excited to help. They're excited to reach out to
somebody new. You came over to my booth. There was a ton of ladies over there. Yes.
Some already members are just wanting to help recruit. We even started an ambassador program
where we made cards for the ladies who they'll go to a bunch of different conferences and they
meet another lady and they recruit her. Now they've got little business cards that says,
I'm an AWIA ambassador and they can recruit on their own because they were doing it anyway.
It's just another way for us to continue to grow. It's cheap and easy.
My goodness. You look at, I had mentioned this earlier, but just even having the visibility to
others that are doing well in the industry and wanting to help out and just not being guarded
with their approach I think is so big. I love what you said about the, it's okay to be that
docker and to be the one that's just looking from afar and monitoring what's going on.
I know there are a lot of people, my wife included that would be, it takes time for her to trust
somebody. I think that when you gain that, we joke back and forth that I'm like the golden
retriever. I trust everybody and wag in my tail whenever I meet somebody. She's not,
she's the opposite of me and has probably safeguarded me at times when my golden retriever
personality wants to come out, but she's guarded that way. I could totally see, as you're looking
at that, people that you do have to gain their trust and you do have to gain that it's a safe
space, just that idea to have the avenue to be able to watch that at a distance and then as
you feel comfortable, get more and more involved. Then like you said, once you get on that call,
I just think that's when the true impact hits, where you get on and you understand
where everybody else, what everybody else is talking about and you feel that even, I don't
know how that first meeting goes for somebody. Can they sit kind of in the background and watch
or are they put center stage to start? How do you work with that? Depends?
Most of them are pretty quiet their first meeting. Typically what I'll do is I'll just say,
oh hi, welcome to the group. This is your first time in. Will you introduce yourself to everyone?
And then they'll say a little bit about themselves and depending on how large the group is,
sometimes we'll have as few as six. If it's like a holiday week when a lot of people are off,
as many as 20. So if it's a really large group, I probably won't do it, but I'll have some of the
ladies introduce themselves so they kind of know who's in the group. But I won't pick on them too
much the first time. So give them a chance to warm up. And then if I notice that maybe
a conversation has perked some interest, I might pry a little bit or ask something. But
now I'm not one to pick on you and call you out and make you speak. I'm going to let you get
warmed up and comfortable. So no, don't worry about that.
How do you feel you've grown as a facilitator through all of this? Because that is something
that is a unique skill. And just being able to listen and be able to drive conversation
is a talent in its own right. So have you seen maybe growth in yourself through this?
I think so. More confidence and more knowing how I want to lead. I didn't know exactly where it
was going to go before, but now I have a clearer path on what I want and what I expect.
The members also give me a lot of feedback. And I feel that the group should grow to become
whatever they need. So I'm not like, no, this is just how we do it. It can change. And I may change
and make a left or a right depending on what's going on. And we don't know. We may not have
another COVID or something of that nature at some point. So I try not to be super strict.
Much like the retreat, the meetings are very similar. We don't typically have, hey, come on the
call. We're going to discuss this. We come on the call, see everybody. Does anybody have anything
going on this week? I'll probably have the talking points maybe for backup if nobody has anything
going on. But that rarely happens. They've almost always got something to talk about.
And I try to get to those things first because that's what is important. That's what the group
is about. And I know a couple of the members of the women in auto care, they said, hey, I wanted
you to know because I thought this was a super huge compliment to you that they changed the way they
do their women's group now because this was such a welcoming space. They're doing it like you. And
I said, well, good. I said, that's all. I said, if anybody can benefit, then that's fantastic. And
I'm super excited about that. So I knew if a larger group like that would copy poor little old
me, then we're doing something right. You're doing a lot right. This is just the fact that
you've got so many balls that you're juggling in the air and bringing this on. And like we talked
about before, continuing Malan's legacy and seeing this grow. I remember having some of those very
initial conversations. And even I remember back thinking how cool the vision was and not 100%
knowing how I could help and trying to figure it out. It's just neat to see the evolution of it
and how it's matured and how you keep pushing it forward and continuing that legacy. So I just
so many compliments to you and everybody involved. It's just such a neat thing.
Well, and in your defense, I think Iris was one of the first podcasts I had done when it started.
So I didn't notice the audio was bad. It's great for me.
If you watch it back now, you're like, oh my goodness, Jay, what are you doing? But no, that's
good. Time to getting used to Zoom calls, getting used to that kind of stuff and talking to people
and being comfortable in that way to talk to the box. It's different, isn't it?
It's absolutely different when you're not used to that. You're used to that face to face counter
interaction with customers. So yeah, that's definitely changed now,
when to utilize those platforms and make it work and find a way to make people comfortable with it.
So yeah, it's been fun. It's been an adventure. But yeah, I'm glad we're going places.
All right. Well, as we finish this episode off, something that we've introduced since the last
podcast that you've done are just some quick hitting fun questions. We'll ask you three of them.
And just meant to get to know you a little bit more. The first being, what was your first car?
A teal Saturn Coupe. Teal. Yeah, it's teal.
All right. Teal Saturn Coupe. I like that. I think I can say with 100% certainty that's the
first teal Saturn Coupe that we've had as a first car. So we've had all kinds of different responses
to that question. It's very fascinating. I love that.
Four vets. But it had the same little pop of headlights. So that was...
You were lucky if the headlights worked. I know I had like a... One of my cousins had one where
like one would pop up and the other wouldn't. And I sometimes would have to go manually kind of pick
it up. So yes, yes, I... General, I think that was a Ford probe. But yes, very, very funny.
Favorite type of food? Oh my gosh. I don't know if I have a favorite type. I'm kind of a foodie. So
I like to try different things from different areas. If I go somewhere, I want to try the local
cuisine. But if I had to pick a favorite, maybe Italian.
I don't hate any Italian. I think that's also a common theme here throughout these questions that
the marketing team gave me to ask. Is that normally... I've not had one person say their
favorite type of food group and me being like, no. I love all kinds of... All different variations
of food. So I can always go for a good Italian restaurant. That's good. The last one is the
toughest one. And I think it might make you think a little bit, but best piece of advice you've ever
received. You can do it. I think that's probably one of the things I tell my nieces and nephews
that I have learned that discomfort when you're doing something out of your
comfort zone is growth and you're learning and that eventually becomes a positive thing.
Not so scary because you know that that feeling is you changing for the better. So I'm going to say,
yeah, the support people have always... Oh, you can do it. Well, why don't you decide to be on the
board? Oh, I've never been on a board before. Oh, you can do it. You'll be great. Trust them. If
they tell you that, as long as they're not somebody trying to steal money from you.
Don't be the Labrador Retriever. I'd be more like the Rottweiler. You're a little suspicious.
But I think listen to them. If there's somebody you've known for quite some time and they say,
hey, you should do this, they often see something in you that maybe you don't realize you have yet.
Boy, is that good advice. I'm sorry to put you on the spot there, but that is
really, really good advice. I had read a book not too long ago called The Talent Code. I think
that's what it was called, The Talent Code, where it talked about, I'll probably say this wrong, but
myelin in your brain and how it when you kind of force yourself to do different things, it's going
to force kind of that growth that we all look for. And if you're just getting a comfort zone,
you really don't push it. You're not growing. And going back to everything that you're doing
right now, my goodness, you're pushing a lot of stuff. You're growing that brain in a lot of
different ways. You're going to need to retreat from your retreat. Well deserved vacation. Hopefully
you get that sometime soon. Well, Tiffany, I always, always enjoy talking to you. I have so
much respect for you and everything that you've accomplished throughout your career and just
always a joy to talk to you. So thanks for coming on the podcast. Hopefully my audio
does it justice this time. Hopefully I didn't screw it up this time, but I just really, really
appreciate you. Well, thanks, Jay. It was good to catch up again. We all get busy with everything
that we're doing. So I'm glad we connected vision and we're able to do this. It's been fun.
All right, let's do it again. Hopefully not wait the four or five years again to do the next one.
That wraps up another episode of Beyond the Wrench. If you like this episode,
please show your support by rating and following the podcast. You can also watch the video
interviews on Wrenchway's YouTube channel. Speaking of Wrenchway, Beyond the Wrench is
managed and produced by the Wrenchway team. Wrenchway is dedicated to promoting and improving
careers in the automotive, diesel and collision industries. In partnership with ASC, we run the
ASC Connects community, which empowers shops and dealerships with reliable data, school connections
and industry insights while helping grow the future technician workforce. You can learn more by
visiting Wrenchway.com. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week.
About this episode
Tiffany Sherado returns to Beyond the Wrench to connect the dots between industry training, leadership, and community building—especially for women in auto. The conversation starts with her involvement in events like Milwaukee’s Vision High Tech Conference and how those shows create a welcoming, technical pipeline. Tiffany then shares her work on boards and school partnerships, including donating Ramsey financial curriculum to help students and employees. The centerpiece is Amazing Women in Automotive: weekly confidential Zoom support, free membership, and retreats focused on boundaries, stress relief, and empowerment—plus plans for a Gatlinburg retreat and growing AWIA Latina.
Original notes
Tiffany Scherado, Owner of Lifetime Transmissions and Facilitator of Amazing Women in Automotive (AWiA), joins us to share how AWiA is building a powerful community for women in the industry. Tiffany talks about what’s new since her last appearance on the podcast, what makes the AWiA retreat so impactful, and how being part of the group has helped her grow as both a leader and a person.
Watch the video podcast on YouTube
About the Episode
- Host: Jay Goninen, WrenchWay, [email protected]
- Guest: Tiffany Scherado, Lifetime Transmissions & Amazing Women in Automotive (AWiA), [email protected]
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Beyond the Wrench
Jay Goninen
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