139. She started rebuilding carburetors at 13, now employs her 3 best friends at just 17!!

Guest:  Riley Schlick - Carburetor rebuilder and business owner at 17

This episodes guest is anything but an average teenager. While most young people these days know little of carburetors, and it is still relatively uncommon to find young girls pursuing automotive hobbies, Riley and her business Riley's Rebuilds, are difficult to not take notice of. Riley spent her teen years perfecting the art of rebuilding carburetors and used the money she made from her small business to not only buy her own first car, but also to buy all the parts to fix it up and turn it into a screen accurate Jurassic Park Jeep replica.

When Riley’s story came into the public eye, as a simple request on social media for old carburetor parts to meet her client’s needs went viral, Riley found her small business suddenly flooded with support and requests for work. More work, in fact, than she could handle on her own. This is where her story goes from pretty cool to incredibly impressive. Riley enlisted 3 of her girlfriends into her business, taught them the ins and outs of carburetors, and after school the 4 of them would spend their time rebuilding carburetors.

I can not say enough about how impressive and inspiring I find this. To start a business in a non-traditional field, to do it at such a young age, and then to use it to welcome more young women into the industry and inspire others, is simply incredible. Her humility and grace about the whole thing makes it even that much more impressive. She didn’t set out to be an inspiration or a change maker, but she accomplished just that. Since her story went viral - Riley has had the opportunity to travel the country to attend trade shows including SEMA, and been invited to be a guest on multiple tv productions, including joining Bogi and Faye for an episode of All Girls Garage which airs this weekend!

These are all things that, in her words, "I never thought would happen in my lifetime. Dreams do come true and if you are ready when the opportunity comes, jump on the wave and try to ride it as long as you can."

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