“I want to be able to do things for myself. I don’t want to have to rely on someone else to fix it.”
That pretty much sums up Leah Gillanders’ philosophy of life.
A philosophy that put her on the path to be one of the most accomplished female car technicians in the country.
Gillanders was born and raised in North Vancouver, and even at an early age friends and neighbours knew she was not your typical girl. While her friends were more interested in hanging out at the mall, Gillanders was “going old-school tinkering on 350 cubic inch small (engine) blocks in my driveway.”
When she was just 13, she rigged up an engine hoist in her backyard underneath a patio.
Gillanders’ father is a businessman and her mother a stay-at-home mom, so as a child and teenager her budding interest in mechanical things, about how things work, was mostly self-taught.
“I was very outdoorsy growing up, and that led to an interest in trucks” she explains. “I wanted to figure out how to fix them when they broke down in the woods.”
Attending Carson Graham Secondary was the perfect fit for Gillanders as the North Vancouver high school is one of the few to still offer auto shop. She excelled from her first class onward, and at the end of Grade 11 received a scholarship for the automotive program at BCIT.
“That gave me the opportunity in Grade 12 to do that program and just take a few correspondence courses through Carson Graham to get my (high school) degree.”
She describes the BCIT program as “amazing,” citing the excellent teachers and the scope of the curriculum.
“You learn a little bit about everything,” she says of the one-year program.
From there she went to work as a first-year apprentice in the service department at Jim Pattison Toyota on the North Shore.
“I loved it. The people were great; the cars are awesome,” she says, but adds she quickly grew out of doing oil changes and basic maintenance. “I just wanted to do something that I couldn’t do in my backyard and fine tune my automotive skills.”
She found that at Brian Jessel BMW in 2008 after two years at Pattison Toyota.
“The complexity of the cars, the performance, it’s just an incredible place to work,” she says of the Vancouver dealership. “Every day is different.”
Three years into her career with Jessel, Gillanders launched her first Ladies Tech Day session.
“Brian Jessel and I were just chit-chatting one day and I said I would love to see more women working on cars,” she said, noting that sentiment came from her experience of helping female customers in the drive-thru service bays.
“There is almost a sense of security from them when they are talking with me, and I think that is because they feel I’m not going to judge them when they tell me about, say, a strange noise in their car.”
Jessel asked Leah if she’d like to do a seminar for the dealership’s female customers, which she says probably make up half of Jessel BMW’s customer base.
The first one was held in 2011.
“It felt like I was just hanging out in the shop with women. Once they get comfortable with me, which takes a half-hour or so, they just start asking me all these brilliant questions.”
It was one of those questions that underscored how valuable the Ladies Tech Day sessions are and convinced Gillanders that she should do more.
“One lady said she drives a standard vehicle, and wanted to know what ‘rpm’ was,” Gillanders recounts. “I know that’s a question she wouldn’t be comfortable asking somebody else.
“It’s a really great feeling to give women that sense of power and confidence.”
She knows that few, if any, of the women who attend the sessions will start servicing their vehicle themselves, but learning about things like rpm will translate into their driving skills.
“A little bit of knowledge is going to help you with your driving,” she notes.
The next session is this Saturday at Brian Jessel Autohaus on Boundary Road, and Gillanders hopes to continue hosting them at least twice a year. And you don’t have to be a Jessel customer to take part, nor is it exclusive to BMW owners.
Gillanders is also just one of 25 women in the entire country to be Red Seal Certified.
The Red Seal Program, overseen by the Industry Training Authority, is recognized as the interprovincial standard of excellence in the skilled trades, and is earned by successfully completing a Red Seal examination.
Two years ago she finished her fourth and final year of the program at BCIT.
Her abilities under the hood also translate to other facets of her life. As a recent homeowner, Gillanders is tackling things like plumbing with a real sense of curiosity.
“My boyfriend thinks bad things are going to happen,” she says with a laugh about her hands-on approach. “But I can learn these things, like plumbing and taking walls down.”
As far as she’s come and despite the technologically complex and cutting-edge vehicles she works on, Gillanders admits is still a truck girl at heart.
“I drive a GMC Sierra with a six-inch lift kit,” she says. “Don’t get me wrong, I love the sports cars and love driving them, but what I really love is heading out on the weekend and getting a little muddy.”
And when she gets a mechanical problem out on some remote logging road, Leah Gillanders doesn’t rely on any help to get up and running.
“I can fix it with a pry bar and a couple of tools.”
