Lisa Eckler

I attribute a lot of my successes to probably having been raised with a strong foundation of working hard. You can't give up when it gets tough. You have to be tenacious, and my parents kind of raised me that way. I think it's also okay to be a nice person. It's okay to support and encourage your peers, your fellow co-workers, instead of putting them down. If you see somebody struggling, help them out. Kindness is critical and can really drive success.

The best career advice I've ever received is don't take things personally. That was a tough one for me to overcome when I was younger. I had been in jobs in my early 20s where people would say you're too nice, like it was a bad thing, and it's not a bad thing to be too nice. I would take it personally and it definitely affected my self-esteem. I think you just need to sometimes let adversity kind of roll off your back, let negative comments roll off your back, and learn from your mistakes. You're going to make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. If you remember doing the science fair as a kid, mistakes were actually part of the science fair. You have to learn from your mistakes and you have to not be afraid to really make them. You work with the best information that you've got at your fingertips at the time, and you can't judge yourself badly for making decisions that may or may not have worked out.

The advice I would give to a young woman getting into my industry is you've got to be tough. You can't be oversensitive. You have to try and not let your emotions get away from you. You have to kind of be tough and hold your ground. Hold on to your convictions. Don't let people say to you that you're wrong or question what you've done. I think for women who wanted to get into this industry, I would join affiliations with women in auto care or other affiliations as such, because they'll be supportive. Find your tribe. That's probably a really good one. Network with people who are like you, and it doesn't have to be networked in person. It could be an online group, a Facebook group, or something of that sort. Just find your tribe.

The biggest challenge in my field right now is definitely finding the right staffing, specifically mechanics and technicians. Over the past 20 years or so, young people haven't been encouraged to go into the field, and it's not just automotive repair, it's the service industry in general, whether it's a plumber, carpenter, or electrician. Kids have not been as encouraged to go into the trades as they have been corralled to go to college. It's not necessarily good, bad, or indifferent, but now we're noticing an extreme shortage of technicians in our field. That's a big challenge because I could take in more work, get more work done, we could be so much busier and provide more service if we had more accessibility to technicians. I think we're going to see a shift in that. Our county executive, Sue Serino, has been very active in running skilled trades fairs here in Dutchess County, which has been great. We've been going to those with our little table and we talk to kids and try to really inspire kids to go into the industry if they have an interest in it. The industry is also growing in technology by leaps and bounds.

The values that are most important to me in my work and personal life are integrity, which is very important, and honesty, whether it's good news or bad news. I like to try to be proactive. I'd rather prevent forest fires than put them out.