COLUMBUS, Ohio — When getting function on your car or truck, far more situations than not, a person is carrying out the do the job.
What You Have to have To Know
- Chris Cozad created an vehicle mend shop in 1983 called ‘Alternative Automobile Care’
- The shop is intended to provide a secure area girls can work in the automotive market
- As a Lesbian, Cozad also advocates for the LGBTQ local community
According to the U.S. Worldwide Trade Fee, gals make up only 24% of the workforce that manufactures cars, but when it comes to individuals who restore your automobile, it truly is only 4%.
But one particular individual changing the narrative is Chris Cozad.
“It obtained to a level the place I thought, ‘Heck, I can do this’,” said Chris Cozad, owner of Choice Vehicle Care.
As a lady, Cozad is never afraid of working with her arms, no matter if it really is fixing up autos or gardening. From a youngster to now, it’s often been a enthusiasm of hers.
“I did a large amount of woodworking and carpentry stuff when I was younger,” mentioned Cozad. “Then, I had an outdated vehicle when I was in higher education, and it was often broken. I did it as a hobby for a lot of a long time. I liked it.”
The passion was so strong that she eventually opened her have shop in Columbus identified as Alternative Car Care.
“I have four specialists. It’s all women of all ages,” mentioned Cozad. “I like becoming all females simply because it creates an surroundings of protection and empowerment, and it is really a good-having to pay career. From an empowerment level of view, it is a way for women to have access to ladies equity with no acquiring to acquire large amounts of student bank loan personal debt.”
Though advocating for gals is a massive portion of Cozad’s emphasis, it’s not the entire story.
Outdoors of her shop, the rest of her electrical power is put into the LGBTQ group. As a lesbian herself, Cozad has sat on the board of several LGBTQ businesses and serves as LGBTQ group liaison to Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther.
“It can be who I am,” stated Cozad. “I feel that if you happen to be gonna be your entire genuine self, you need to have to be it where ever you are.”
Though she’s come a long way in her advocacy for the LGBTQ local community and women alike, Cozad says there’s more to be accomplished.
“We want conversation,” explained Cozad. “We need to have to talk to each individual other simply because it’s substantially more durable to dislike or discriminate from another person mainly because of their sexual intercourse or gender identity if you really don’t know them.”
Back again at the shop, Cozad hopes her story, not only changes the narrative, but opens people’s minds a person way or a further.
To proceed bringing fairness to women and the LGBTQ local community, Cozad claims it starts with being open up to new views and hopes that, in time, that will influence the workplace positively.
She is a person of 6 gals becoming honored in April 2023 as a YWCA Girls of Achievement in Columbus.
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