El Paso woman breaks barriers in auto industry, driving other women to do the same
EL PASO, Texas (CBS4) — It’s Wednesday, which means CBS4 gets to showcase another inspirational woman in the Borderland who is Breaking the Bias.
CBS4 introduces you to the President of Pronto Body Shop, Tiffany Menefee.
“I want to bring the women’s perspective on how we view things in a shop across the board, versus how maybe a man views things in a shop,” Menefee said.
Menefee started in the insurance industry and is now driving the auto industry.
“I started in the insurance industry when I was 18 and that was very male dominated also at that time, and then I had the opportunity 20 years later to sort of jump over into the body shop side of things,” Menefee said.
She took over Pronto Body Shop in 2015, becoming the boss of many male co-workers.
At first when I came into the shop they were a little bit weirded out about having a woman in the office and taking directions and information from me, because they weren’t used to having a female giving directions,” Menefee said. “Once I was able to prove that I actually knew what I was doing and sort of put my money where my mouth is, they started relying on me and I won them over.
As she walks around the auto shop she’s helped grow, she’s proud of how the representation of women in the industry is evolving.
“I’m super big about promoting the women in our industry and all my estimators, my parts manager, my general manager here at the shop, they’re all females,” Menefee said.
She also wants to show that women can get their hands dirty too.
If I need to get my hands dirty, I do get my hands dirty," Menefee said. "It’s not that I’m just in the office and doing the basics, if I need to be out there, I need to be inspecting the cars and need to be sure we’re making good on what we’re telling our customers.
What's next for Menefee? She plans to continue representing women in the auto industry through an award winning magazine.
“I recently started writing, I’m one of the first female columnists for an auto collision magazine called Fender Bender, so moving into that realm of things and seeing what the future holds to represent women on a national platform,” Menefee said.
Missed last week's Breaking the Bias segment? Watch it and others in this section.
We want to hear about some of the incredible women you know in the borderland that are Breaking the Bias.
Share them with us by sending submissions to smmadrid@cbs4local.com.
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