Featured Girl Mechanic of the Month:
Shelby Livetsky (missshelbylynn_xo)
This post is part of the Girl Mechanic of the Month series where we feature a real-life girl mechanic and some of her best work and let her tell us a bit more about her story.
Why, you ask?
Well, first, because girl mechanics are somewhat of a rarities and by that I don’t mean those cuties posing in short shorts in front of a friend’s Integra and tagging the picture with #girlmechanics on her Instagram! I mean REAL girl mechanics, working on REAL cars, getting dirty with REAL grease. And every time I come across a real girl mechanic like that I just want to show her to the world to prove everybody that they really exist.
So, our website seemed to me the perfect place to do that!
Also, being a car mechanic myself, I always thought it would be great to have more girls around. It’s always a guy thing. You work with guys, ride with guys, talk with guys, race against other guys, guys jokes and such. It sure lacks a bit of a feminine touch sometimes. And, sorry, car show girls just don’t make the cut!
And finally, I have to admit it, who doesn’t like a cute girl in a mechanic suit? 😉
Ladies, I strongly suggest you read ’till the end. Our girl mechanic of the month gives a real thoughtful and motivational speech to all the girls out there still unsure whether to become an auto mechanic or not.
Seriously, we’ll never have enough girls like this one in our shop!
So, without any further ado, let me present to you the featured girl mechanic of the month:
Shelby Livetsky
(missshelbylynn_xo)
MD – First things first, what’s your name?
SL – Shelby Livetsky
MD – And how old are you?
SL – 19 years of age
MD – Where do you live?
SL – I live in a small town in Manitoba, Canada
MD – How did you learn mechanic?
SL – I initially learned the basics of mechanics from helping my father out in our garage growing up. When I got older I started an internship working on construction equipment with my Uncle and fell in love with heavy-duty mechanics. I worked with him for about a year and decided to try to find a job in mechanics where I could start my apprenticeship. After searching for a while I was hired on at a school bus garage in southern Manitoba at the age of 18. I am currently still with the bus garage and still learning mechanics from my brilliant boss who has 30 plus years experience on school buses alone.
MD – Where do you work?
SL- I work for a school division in southern Manitoba and I’m taking care of, give or take, 25 school buses.
MD – What kind of car do you drive?
SL – I currently drive a 2016 Mitsubishi Lancer. 2.4L, 4 Cylinder engine, automatic. I haven’t had it long but I absolutely love it!
MD – Most importantly, do you drive stick?
SL – I do drive standard, I can also drive school buses, and I’m certified to operate most construction equipment including skidsteers, telehandlers, aerial lift equipment (scissor lifts, boomlifts, etc.), rollers, excavators, and loaders.
MD – American, Japanese or European?
SL – To be honest they each have their pros and cons I have no specific preference either way.
MD – Do you have some kind of side project?
What are you working on as a hobby?
Tell us a 
bit about it.
SL – I do have a side project going right now, it’s not as cool as building a hot rod but it’s still a very important one and I was honored to be chosen to do it! My supervisor asked that I research propane buses and put together a presentation to present to our board of directors, to try to convince them to buy propane buses for next years tender (instead of diesel).
The board of directors of a school division, are equivalent to the CEO of a company. They have never had a mechanic pitch them an idea before so this is very new to everyone, as well as a very big opportunity for me. Not only am I focusing on safety of the vehicle but I have to explain the basic differences between the engines, parts eliminated by switching to propane, emissions, and of course cost and savings of switching to propane buses. I am very excited to present although my presentation isn’t for a month yet. I have lots of time to prepare.
MD – What is your dream car?
SL – I would love to own a 1931 Model A Roadster. I’m an old soul.
MD – What is your absolute must-have tool?
SL – My absolute must have tool would have to be my Mac ½ inch drive, 30 inch breaker bar. I use it all the time! When you’re as small as me, leverage is your best tool.
MD – What do you like most about the job?
SL – What I love most about my job would have to be the people I work with, they make the job more interesting and they always have the best advice.
MD – What do you hate most about the job?
SL – To be honest I hate trying to find those one or two broken wires that may, or may not be the solution to your electrical problem and tearing apart the whole harness to find them.
MD – If you had one advice for beginner auto mechanics, what would it be?
SL – If you can’t fix something and you get frustrated it’s better to just walk away and take a break or work on something else until you calm down. Then go back and try it again. It’s no use getting mad, that’s when it breaks. So when you come back after you’ve calmed down it works much better, there’s no use getting mad over the small things.
MD – If you could trade places with any other person for a week, famous or not, living or dead, real or fictional, with whom would it be?
SL – If I could trade places with anyone it’d probably be George Harrison. I’ve always loved The Beatles and it would be cool to trade places with anyone of them for a week.
MD – Where can people reach you?
SL – My Instagram account is: missshelbylynn_xo
MD – Any last shoutout or thank yous?
SL – I want to say to all the girls out there who are thinking about pursuing mechanics as a career (or any trade for that matter) that they should follow their dreams and just do it.
Everyone has this stereotype in their heads that men are not willing to accept females in the workforce and that they will try to make work life hard for us. I can say that from my personal experience and from talking with other females in trades, that this isn’t the case. I can say that no male mechanic I’ve ever met has made my work life miserable or given me a disadvantage because I am a female. I have had nothing but help and positive, encouraging attitudes from other male mechanics. I have had some negative feedback from people, about my dream of being a mechanic in the beginning but those were from people who weren’t mechanics and clearly don’t know what they’re talking about. All that male mechanics want to do is help you and protect you. You become an important part of the shop (a prize if you will) and you are special to them and considered family. They want to help female mechanics out because we are hard-working and willing/eager to learn. They want to be able to say that they helped you out on your journey and they taught you everything you know; they want to have something to be proud of. You are considered equal to them and they only want you to succeed.
I have been so lucky to have many amazing people/mentors in my life that helped me on my journey; my mother, uncles Quintin and Brent, my battlefield buddies, my new coworkers and bosses (Richard, Trevor and Chris) for constantly giving me support and help when I need it and most importantly for teaching me what I know. I am so blessed to have had amazing mentors to teach me, it’s an opportunity that male mechanics don’t usually get. I feel that being a female in the workforce is an advantage for that reason, males are more willing to teach us and help us learn. In short, being a female mechanic isn’t easy but it’s not because of males giving us a hard time. Our only disadvantage may be that we are weaker, (but that’s what the leverage technique is for) and male mechanics are always more than willing to lend a helping hand. So pursue your dreams ladies and don’t be afraid! Last but not least, I want to thank the boys at The Mechanic Doctor so much for doing these posts every month and giving us female mechanics some recognition, and giving other females inspiration and hope. It means so much to me, and I am so honored!
Shout out to my Uncles Quintin and Brent for kick starting my career, believing in me and giving me constant advice. I also want to thank my supervisors for taking a chance on hiring a young female mechanic and being willing to put me through the Apprenticeship course to have me fully trained!
That’s it for this month! I hope you liked it!
Make sure you come back next month for another “Girl Mechanic of the Month” post! Also if you are one yourself or if you know some girl mechanic who would like to get featured here, leave a comment below, send us an email to: [email protected] or reach us on any social media and we will get back to you as soon as we can.
In the meantime, cheers and have a nice day!
