Breaking the Glass Garage: Trade Mastery and Defying Automotive Stigma
Award-winning automotive technician Emily Pyke joins Natasha Ozybko to discuss overcoming hiring bias, the "flat-rate" pay trap, and empowering women through AutoCade
In this fortieth episode of Conversations with MOXY, host Natasha Ozybko sits down with Emily Pyke, an award-winning automotive technician and co-founder of AutoCade. The discussion explores Pyke’s journey from a self-professed "terrible teen" and single mother to a master-level mechanic, the systemic pay and gender biases still prevalent in the automotive industry, and her mission to empower women and children through automotive education.
From "Terrible Teen" to Trade Master
Emily Pyke shares a candid look at her unconventional path into the trades. After getting into trouble at school, she switched to a new town where an automotive class was one of the few available electives; she fell in love with the trade immediately. Finding herself pregnant at sixteen, she refused to drop out. Pyke utilized specialized programs to complete her schoolwork while caring for her baby, eventually returning to her original high school to graduate with honors and two commencement awards. Voted "Best Mechanic" in the Kitchener-Waterloo Reader’s Choice awards for multiple years, including 2024, Pyke is hybrid-certified and currently one class away from achieving master-level technician status.
The Harsh Realities of the Shop Floor
Despite her success, Pyke highlights significant systemic challenges that women continue to face in the automotive sector.
The Gender Pay Gap Pyke recounts a humiliating experience at a previous workplace where she discovered a male coworker with only three days of experience was being paid more than she was after four years of service. Her manager’s response was that she simply needed to "work harder" to earn a raise.
Hiring Bias While seeking new employment, Pyke’s stepmother witnessed a manager crumple Emily’s resume and state that they no longer hired women because a previous female hire "didn't work out".
Consumer Exploitation Pyke pulls back the curtain on how mechanics are often paid per job rather than per hour, a structure that incentivizes selling unnecessary services—a practice she notes often targets female customers.
AutoCade: Education and Advocacy
Pyke co-founded AutoCade (a blend of "Automotive" and "Educate") with Stephanie Bruinsmith and Liana DiGruccio to build trust and transparency in the industry. AutoCade hosts workshops teaching basic emergency skills, such as changing spare tires and boosting batteries, specifically targeting women and children. As she works to involve the next generation, Pyke’s own daughters, Abigail (11) and Eleanor (7), are hands-on participants who teach segments of the workshops to help break generational stigmas. Designed to act as a "big sister in your back pocket," helping consumers verify repair needs and avoid being ripped off, the company developed the "Big Sister" app. And in September 2024, Pyke’s team planned and executed fifteen workshops for underrepresented groups, including "U-turn" schools for at-risk youth and LGBTQ+ organizations.
Conclusion: Clearing the Path
Pyke concludes by urging employers to recognize the superior attention to detail and discipline women bring to the trades. She remains focused on opening her own AutoCade shop to provide a safe space for both vehicle repairs and work verification. Her final message is one of transparency and resilience, proving that a "terrible teen" can become a beacon of leadership in a traditionally exclusionary field.