There's nothing I love more than people breaking down stereotypes and proving others wrong - going beyond what society believes are your limits and Emily Pyke totally embodies this.

After getting pregnant at 16 and raising two girls as a single mum, Emily is also a car technician, founder of the online community Featuring Inspiring Women, and an all-around badass.

Working in a traditionally male-dominated industry, Emily has faced her fair share of prejudices, micro-aggressions and sexism in the workplace. She shares her experience gaining her qualifications and auto-shop apprenticeship while finishing high-school (and looking after her young daughter) and the challenges she's had to overcome. From customers refusing to have their car serviced by a female mechanic to managers assuming she'd be "more comfortable" in a desk job, she's heard it all.

We chat about her journey and how she got to where she is today - the lessons she's learnt and the cautionary tales. And while there's been tremendous growth in diversity and women in the trades, the industry still has a way to go in terms of normalising the idea that a woman can work and succeed in these industries. We discuss the idea of having a diversity quota in the trade industries and how that might (or might not) work in practice, as well as what employers can do to encourage more women to enter the trades. Emily is one of the many women around the world, paving the way for more gender diversity and she offers amazing advice for women looking to get into the trades and how to handle gender stereotypes.

Not only is she leading by example and teaching her girls that women can be and do anything they want, but she also created an online community called “Featuring Inspiring Women”, which features and celebrates different women in the trades - telling their stories, teaching people about what they do, increasing visibility of diversity in the trades and inspiring people who may want to get into the industry.

You can find out more about Emily and Featuring Inspiring Women at @featuringinspiringwomen and featuringinspiringwomen.ca.

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