Jasmine Lawrence is a mother, content creator, automotive enthusiast, and service technician. She has worked professionally in the automotive industry since 2010 and strives to educate and empower women through their vehicles.

Her initial interest in cars began around age 15, as her stepfather — a hot rod enthusiast and mechanic — taught her basic routine maintenance, such as oil changes, replacing spark plugs, tire rotations, etc. Over the years that interest grew into a love for vehicles and how their complex systems work. As the only girl of six siblings, she grew up a little rough around the edges and preferred science experiments and disassembling toys over playing with dolls. Her favorite school subjects were science and math, so it was no surprise to her family that in high school, she’d been accepted into Mercer University’s mechanical engineering program.

During her sophomore year at Mercer, Jasmine bought her first car: a 1998 Ford Taurus. At the time her dorm was about an hour and a half commute from where her family lived, and she would drive home every other week. Because of all the miles that accumulated, her Taurus often needed maintenance and repairs. However, like most college students, she couldn’t afford to pay a mechanic to do the work. So one day she took the time to learn how to fix it herself. She realized that she wanted to work on automobiles for a living shortly after her first job at a Fortune 500 engineering corporation. Although the job paid well, it didn’t give her the satisfaction of turning wrenches. A couple of years later, she decided to pursue a career in automotive repair.

She gained knowledge and experience from her stepdad’s teachings, employment at independent repair shops and dealerships, and of course trial and error on her own. In 2017 she enrolled at Penn Foster Career School, where she studied automotive repair and small engine repair to expand her knowledge of repairing outboard power equipment (lawnmowers, snow blowers, tractors, etc).

Jasmine has a professional background concentrated on German engineering. Most of her training has been on Mercedes-Benz and BMW models. Starting in 2016 she decided to expand her knowledge and experience to American and Japanese makes. It’s hard to name one service that she enjoy doing most! Basic maintenance is simple, but she also embraces a challenge. Some of the most rewarding moments of her career have been overcoming unpredicted obstacles that are unknown to the customer (e.g., removing seized or broken bolts, receiving incorrect parts, etc). A person’s vehicle affects their livelihood, and knowing that she’s trusted to keep it in top shape speaks volumes.

Modern automobiles are incorporating more electronics and computers, making them suitable for anyone to diagnose regardless of gender. Although women make up most of the customers in automotive service and sales, female technicians are scarce. Women of color in the automotive industry are a double minority and even more rare. Women in the automotive service industry would generally agree that they must work twice as hard as their male counterparts for half the recognition. By no means are they in competition with them, but have smaller margins for error and MUST have thick skin to survive the industry. To succeed as a technician, a woman must have confidence in herself, work hard, and do the right thing.

Jasmine’s first car clinic “Women, Whips and Wine” – created in 2016 with her close friend, fellow automotive enthusiast and cofounder of WOCAN, Erikka Tiffany Wells – was essentially a wine-tasting, networking event, and women’s workshop all meshed together. The event was designed to create a safe space for women to express their automotive concerns and inquiries, enjoy h’ordeuvres and music, and mingle with other like-minded women within local cities. Not knowing which questions to ask a mechanic or car salesperson can leave women feeling overwhelmed and taken advantage of. The objective of “Women, Whips and Wine” was to help women eliminate their anxiety and gain confidence when dealing with automotive professionals.

In 2018, Steelettos Garage collaborated with Woman & Machine, an organization formerly based in Texas and hosted an event in Fall of 2018 in Atlanta, Georgia. Woman & Machine Atlanta was sponsored by Auto Zone and Pull-A-Part, and celebrity automotive enthusiasts Bogi Latiner and Charles Sanville attended. In 2021, Jasmine featured in the “Fire Breathing Corvette” episode of Monster Garage on the Discovery Channel where she and four welders and fabricators had the challenge of modifying a '69 Corvette to run on only wood gas.

Steelettos Garage is a mobile automotive maintenance and detailing business. Most of Jasmine’s customers are small business owners who don’t have time to wait for hours at repair shops. She founded Steelettos in hopes of inspiring girls and women to pursue the automotive service industry or any other male-dominated industry. Her mission is to educate newcomers in the field, empower more women to join, and to create opportunities for women as technicians and reach their full potential in automotive service. 

In her spare time, Jasmine enjoys turning wrenches with her equally enthusiastic daughter Jada. Her dream cars are the Audi R8 and Ferrari 458. Photos just don’t do them justice.