Key Highlights
- Women are increasingly taking on diverse roles in collision repair, from technical positions to executive leadership, driving industry innovation.
- Support from family, company culture, and industry networks like WIN play crucial roles in empowering women to succeed in this male-dominated field.
- Personal stories highlight the importance of perseverance, self-advocacy, and community engagement for women pursuing careers in collision repair.
- Mentorship and networking opportunities help women overcome barriers and foster growth within the industry.
- The industry is witnessing a shift towards greater inclusivity, with women making significant contributions and inspiring future generations.
In the collision repair industry today, women are everywhere. Driving innovation. Performing body repair. Leading manufacturers’ global teams. Adding artistry to exteriors. And helping mentor the next crop of amazing automotive specialists, many of them female.
In a male-dominated industry, their total count is lean, and yet they are unmistakably present in a wide range of roles that help impact the bottom line and accelerate business growth.
FenderBender caught up with five women thriving in the collision repair industry today to find out how they got here and what makes them stay.
Body Technician | Vernon Collision Center | Manchester, Connecticut
Cassandra Thibeault didn’t ask for permission. In her late 20s, she recognized which roles in collision repair revved up her interest the most — body technician — and over the course of nine years, she went for it.
“I pretty much did every position around painting and body tech, and then one day I decided, whichever opportunity comes open first, I’m going to do it,” Thibeault says from her post as a body technician at Vernon Collision Center in Manchester, Connecticut, where she started out three years ago doing everything from priming and prepping to parts and teardown.
“I was always more interested in being a body tech, but I really didn’t see any women doing it,” she says from the vantage of three years as a body tech under her belt today.
Thibeault’s husband, Alan, also works at Vernon Collision Center, which was the 65th location of MSO Vive Collision in October. “Working together in the same place and in the same field is very cool because we know a lot of the same people, and it happened organically. To share the same passion is awesome,” she says. “When you get home from work and say you’re tired, the other person knows exactly what that feels like.”
In addition to sharing a deeper connection with her spouse because of their shared commitment to the industry, Thibeault is forthcoming about past substance abuse and a bipolar disorder diagnosis. Time and again, she finds that her openness surrounding the topics tends to draw out others in the industry — men and women — who are struggling with mental health issues in silence.
“Being transparent about my experiences has only brought me genuine interactions and relationships,” she says. “The company is very supportive, as well.”
Global Marketing Operations Manager | 3M Automotive Aftermarket Division | Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
As a young contract employee and customer service rep, doors opened for Kasey Douglas when a female manager took notice of her talent for management and leadership. So, Douglas took initiative, stood up, and stepped inside.
It happened like this.
After Douglas had worked at the company for about 18 months, the manager came to her and said, “We think you can do so much more, and we’d like to expand your education.” So, 3M allowed her to spend time doing different functions around the company to figure out what she wanted to do.
“I spent time with marketers, salespeople, labs, and all different folks at 3M to see what would really turn me on,” Douglas says. “Marketing really jumped out at me. So the company got behind me and said, ‘We’ll invest in you and you do the work … and they put me through university.”
She adds, “It took me six years to complete my degree, working on it part-time because I was at 3M full-time. I was lucky because two years into my degree, a junior marketing role came up in this business, which was perfect for me.”
Fifteen years later, Douglas is grateful she seized the opportunity that came her way. “After I completed my degree, I went from the junior marketing role to assistant product manager for Australia. And then during a merge, I became the marketing manager for Australia and New Zealand and I ended up having a team of marketers reporting to me. Most recently, I was very, very lucky to get approached to apply for my current job three years ago.”
Today, she sits on the global marketing team as global marketing operations manager at 3M's Automotive Aftermarket Division and is based in Australia. She helps pull together and roll out initiatives to the company’s marketing teams around the world, showing up to the industry consistently via global events, public relations, and training and education.
“My end goal was always to be on the global team, because I felt like I can add so much that we can replicate globally and do the best for this industry and for 3M,” Douglas says. “This all started with a female manager who believed in me, and I like to tell this story because it’s a thank-you moment to the organization.”
Brand President for Collision | Driven Brands | Hamilton, Ontario
Sabrina Thring’s career journey to the role of president has been circuitous. When Driven Brands secured CARSTAR in 2015, she came on board to run finance. “When I joined, I truly joined to do finance,” she says. “That was the core of my capabilities and skills.”
Soon, though, she made a move into operations because, like Douglas, someone spotted her innate potential. For Thring, it was a man — then-CEO Jonathan Fitzpatrick.
Thring recalls, “He said, ‘I’d like to take a chance on you, and do something different. I’d like to see you run a business.’” First, though, Fitzpatrick wanted to see her operational capabilities.
So, a leap of faith landed Thring in multi-site operations at Maaco, where she oversaw some of the larger MSO groups. Her operational ability was tested in multiple ways, because she was a mother to three children.
“There was a lot of angst from going to an office setting and going home every night to being on the road, traveling the United States, being in every shop and learning from the ground up,” Thring shares. “I’m thankful to my husband, who’s been my anchor, and my kids because they let me do it and they did it with grace and unwavering patience.”
Next, when Driven Brands acquired Auto Body Repair of America and Fix Auto USA in 2020, Thring became COO and ran all its brands.
“I built out my Collision Group under Dean Fisher, who was president at the time, and then I became president in June 2023,” Thring says from her Hamilton, Ontario, base. “Today, I oversee CARSTAR Canada, CARSTAR U.S., Abra, Fix Auto USA – all in all around 1,080 locations altogether, all franchised.”
When asked about her career trajectory in the industry, Thring says, “I could not have dreamt I would be in this role and, quite frankly, one of the first females to ever step into a collision presidency role. I really have Driven Brands [and its franchise partners] to thank for taking a chance on me and letting me show my hunger, willingness, and capability to learn. What an incredible journey it has been!”
Painter | Iron Manz Collision Repair | Missouri Valley, Iowa
At 26 years old, Natalie Haynes is seven years into her career as a full-time painter at her family’s collision repair business. And even though she is just beginning to get to know other women painters, she does find some online and has met several through SATA and at the SEMA Show.
“On TikTok, there are all these women painters who are popping up, and I just love to see it,” she says. “You’ll see women in all sorts of roles in the automotive industry, not just painting but estimating and doing repairs … and I’m like, ‘Go for it.’”
As a young teen, Haynes was captivated watching her dad paint cars, and when she asked if she could try, he invited her into the booth and taught her everything he knew.
Haynes also took classes with Axalta Coating Systems, and she practiced her craft on her own ’69 Camaro SS — a gift from her mom and dad on the condition that she do all the repairs and paint it herself.
As a seasoned painter today, Haynes is known in the shop for her keen eye for color and strong attention to detail, and she believes that women painters naturally excel in these areas.
“Science does say women have a better eye for color,” she notes. “We also pay attention to detail, to the little things. And so the things men might miss, women are apt to notice those details.”
Haynes adds, “I’ve hit a point where I can’t see myself in any other industry. I enjoy it so much, the challenges and the rewards, and I think I’ve kind of made a name for myself. I couldn’t leave the automotive industry behind.”
Senior Vice President of Collision | OEC | Portland, Oregon-based
Tanya Sweetland and her team oversee the company’s collision repair software platforms relevant to body shops and the partners who would like to be connected to them.
“This includes our platforms of certification and networking management and marketplace, which is where all the parts procurement solutions reside, including TraxCollision and CollisionLink, two body shop solutions,” Sweetland says. “Then, we have a handful of software solutions and services for insurance companies and claims handling.”
She adds, ““We’re not an estimating company, so we’re different. We take care of different parts of the workflow that some of the other solutions don’t address.” (Insurance solutions and claims processing included.)
On the certification side, OEC manages approximately 80% of OEM certification programs. It offers Repair Edge, as well, a program that brings coaching to collision repair shops on business performance and process.
Sweetland held a string of positions with various companies in the industry before coming to OEC, and she was an entrepreneur in the industry, as well. As she explains, “I initially became involved with OEC because they bought a startup that I co-founded, called OEM IQ. And that brought the RepairLogic planning platform to life and into the OEC position.
Rewind to the very start, before collision repair was even on Sweetland’s radar, and she was a 19-year-old looking for a job to help pay the bills while she was going to college. The first job she snagged was with ADP Claims Solution Group in 1993. In the entry-level position, she called people about cars they were selling to calculate a fair market value for a total loss vehicle.
“It was a great job to pay the bills, [but] it took me a little longer to actually get that degree (in management and organizational leadership) because I got married and started a family,” Sweetland says. “I was pregnant with my second child when I finally graduated.”
She took that first job with strong support and encouragement from her family, and she stayed there for 24 years. And as the company changed hands and morphed throughout the years, Sweetland kept learning, growing, and contributing.
There was another factor that kept Sweetland with ADP for so long. “I was in walking distance of the office, just three blocks from home, and it was a really good situation to get home quickly during the day in the months following three maternity leaves. And for years, I was close enough to regularly volunteer in the schools."
“I just worked my way up and through the operations and into technology and product management,” Sweetland says, which eventually led to her role today with OEC.
“Solving great big problems … is so much fun, and so fulfilling, but you don’t solve them overnight. It’s through 100,000 sit-ups that you’re able to get to your end goal, right?” she adds.
Snapshot: Collective wisdom and support
When asked for key advice for other women interested in a career in collision repair, three consistent themes emerged in each woman’s story. Here’s a sampling of interview outtakes:
1-Support from family and a supportive company culture help set up women for success.
For Haynes, a supportive culture was built into the experience when she developed a love for painting as a young teen. “I grew up in the shop,” she shares. “I watched dad in the booth and listened for [people’s] knowledge, and I picked it up and applied it myself.”
2-A can-do attitude, sense of humor, and unapologetic focus help women go the distance.
“You’ve got to advocate for yourself; I always did. Work hard and play hard, and have fun while you do it,” Douglas says. “I’ve got twin girls and I tell them all the time, girls can do anything boys can do.”
3-Networking with other women in the business helps make everybody stronger.
The Women’s Industry Network (WIN) organization, targeted to the collision repair industry, has given Sweetland a place to both give something and get something. She is both a past chair of WIN and a recipient of its 2025 Most Influential Women Awards.
“WIN has made a huge difference in my life and my career. Your personal growth goes through the roof, and there’s a lot of fulfillment in the ability to set goals and deliver with a team of like-minded people who are working in the trenches along with you,” she says.
For Thring, “I’m committed to WIN, and I do quite a bit of work there. And today I have WIN board members who report to me. I didn’t have to go out and search for women to fill leadership positions—they just happened to be the right people at the right time and with the right skill sets to do the job.”
She adds, “My philosophy is, I don’t care if you’re a man or a woman. As long as you can do the job and show me the appetite, hunger, willingness, and commitment, I’ll give you a shot.”
In the realm of female body technicians, Thibeault started the group “bodywomen” on Instagram to fill a void. “I noticed there were a lot of groups geared towards female painters, and I got inspired by that,” she says.
“I started the group so I could start meeting other female body techs,” Thibeault says. “Now there’s this community that didn’t exist before where people can join and share their work — and not get roasted.”
About the Author
Carol Badaracco Padgett
Carol Badaracco Padgett is an Atlanta-based writer and FenderBender freelance contributor who covers the automotive industry, film and television, architectural design, and other topics for media outlets nationwide. A FOLIO: Eddie Award-winning editor, writer, and copywriter, she is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and holds a Master of Arts in communication from Mizzou’s College of Arts & Science.