CLEVELAND — Popping car hoods and changing car parts has been Carbae’s passion for more than a decade. She’s the owner and operator of Carbae’s Auto Service and Repair, which is the first business of its kind in Cleveland.
Carbae said her auto repair journey began in 2015 as a roadside technician at AAA, becoming the only female tech in Ohio.
She graduated from Ohio Technical College three years later and worked at other local auto repair shops before starting her own business offering mobile services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Women represent 12% of all mechanics in the United States. Carbae said, she’s hoping to help bridge that gap.
“When I started out, we only represented 4% of mechanics in the United States. So I feel like that number is growing,” she said.
She said, she’s hoping to continue inspiring other women to step out from behind the steering wheel.
“I want to be able to offer classes here one or two days a week… get some girls who are really passionate and about doing this,” Carbae said.
Jazz White joined the auto repair team a month ago but has worked in the car industry since a young age.
“I’’ve been doing this since I was 12,” White said. “My grandfather used to work at Ford, and he started real young, when he was, like 17. He moved down here with my grandmother from Marion, Alabama … He just taught everybody how to work on cars, and since then, I just never stopped.”
White said she’s also an Ohio Technical School graduate, now using her experience and expertise to help others.
“That’s really what [we’re] promoting right now. Just women empowerment and Black women empowerment,” White said.
And while they’ve received significant support, Carbae said, they’re still pushing for more progress in the community.
“I also want to maybe be able to provide cars like the women who catch the bus with all the kids in the snow,” Carbae said. “… It should be a program out here to help them get vehicles and teach them how to maintain them. And that’s that’s what I want to do. That’s what my passion is.”
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