Girls 'N' Gasoline: Workshops that empower women

Melissa Hannan has been a car mechanic for over 19 years, starting out up north and slowly making her way down to Ōtautahi to open Five Nine Garage, and by extension; her workshop Girls ‘N’ Gasoline. 

The workshop focuses on the basics of car mechanics, checking oils, replacing tires, and how to jack up a car. This and more are all covered over a 3-hour interactive session. 

She says after years of friends and family coming to her with questions and confusion, the idea of an all-women’s workshop came to her.  

"I just really love kind of encouraging people to get involved and just supporting them to just learn the maintenance.” 

After a year and a half of the workshops running, Hannan says the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Women as young as 13, and as old as 65 making their way out to the garage to build up their skills. 

"It’s always a huge variety. You get younger girls and older ladies, it really is just a welcoming environment and everyone gets along. It’s really lovely, I love it.” 

Hannan says the core reason she continues to run these workshops is to empower and make women more confident in fixing small WOF issues themselves. 

Her most recent workshop on Mother’s Day booked out faster than she could blink. 

She hopes to continue these lessons for a while and continue to empower women in the community.