Two years ago, Haylie Colby was a high school senior without a plan. Now she's a truck painter at Nuss Collision Center in East Bethel, Minnesota, and when she found herself at this year's Women's Industry Network conference, receiving the organization's Founding Mother Award, she assumed she was the latest in a long line of women to receive the honor.
But the line started with her.
"I didn't know I was the first one," she said.
WIN created the Founding Mother Award this year to recognize women working in hands-on collision repair roles. In the organization's 20-year history, it is the first prize built specifically for women on the shop floor, and a panel of WIN's original founding members selected Colby, 20, as its inaugural recipient.
The women who inspired the award
Laura Kottschade, WIN's current chair and chief operating officer of Jerry's ABRA Auto Body & Glass in Mankato, Minnesota, said the new award reflects the organization's origins. WIN's first chair was her mother, Geralynn R. Kottschade, a collision repair operator and one of the organization's six Founding Mothers. Its first vice chair was also a female shop owner.
"WIN was founded to provide women in the collision industry with a safe, supportive community and a place where they belong, particularly for those working in repair facilities," Laura Kottschade said.
The technical side, she said, warranted recognition of its own.
"Technicians are not sitting behind desks — they are restoring vehicles to pre-accident condition through an incredible combination of technical expertise, craftsmanship, and problem-solving," Kottschade said. "It is not just a skill; it is an art that requires immense talent, precision, and patience."
Geralynn Kottschade recused herself from the selection process because of Laura's position on WIN's board. The five Founding Mothers who selected Colby were Frederica Carter, Kathy Mello, Patricia Serratore, Marcy Tieger, and Gigi Walker.
Laura Kottschade was not involved in the review either, but she has worked with Colby since. "She is the perfect example of what we wanted this award to represent," Kottschade said. "For only being 20, she is extremely mature, humble, and honestly just a great kid."
From Monster Jam to the paint booth
Colby traces her interest in cars to age 6, when her family took her to Monster Jam. But it took nearly a decade to find a practical outlet. Her high school offered an auto body class, and she signed up.
"I learned that my dad used to do it, and I was like, oh, that kind of sounds fun," she said. "And then I did it, and I liked it."
She set the class aside for a couple of years. By senior year, with classmates committing to four-year degrees, collision repair resurfaced.
"Everyone else had such solid paths, like, 'Oh, I'm going to go to college to be an accountant or whatever,'" she said. "And I'm like, I don't even know."
The job itself came through the BMX track where Colby races on weekends. Someone overheard her mention the class and told her to apply at Nuss. She trained on the job and got a choice between body work and painting.
"I've always been an avid artist, actually," she said. "I did art classes, ceramics, painting, drawing. So I could see where that came from."
The painting clicked, even though the work looked nothing like what her high school class had suggested. Commercial trucks at Nuss meant fiberglass, not the sheet metal and dent repair she'd practiced on. Her father told her she was naturally talented at it.
"That gives me confidence, I guess," she said.
The harder part of the job
When Colby started at Nuss, she was one of the only women on the floor. When asked about the challenges she faces in her role, she points to being a girl.
"There's a lot of people that you work with who aren't quite supportive of that. But you have to stand your ground. You can't be scared," she said. "We're all just people."
Her parents helped make the career possible in the first place. When Colby told them she wanted to try collision repair, they kept it low-pressure: try it, and if you don't like it, you don't have to do it.
"I'm really happy they had that approach to it, honestly," she said. "Or else I don't know if I ever would have got into it. I don't know what I'd be doing."
Try it, and ask for help
Colby has a clear starting point for anyone considering the trade.
"There's plenty of little things you could do to your own car to try," she said. "Definitely try it out, and then ask for help."
"You could fix a dent, and someone else could fix the same dent, and you could do completely different things and still end up the same way," she said. "So it's nice sometimes to ask for help, just to see a different perspective."
For a more structured entry, she points to vocational programs, where shops recruit directly.
"I know a lot of the shops go to the tech schools to try to recruit, and I think that's a great way to start out," she said. "The businesses will come and do their career fairs, and I know two people who've gotten jobs that way."
Her own high school held a single career fair in April of her senior year, with limited trades representation. By then, most students had already decided what they were doing.
"I think they could do a lot better," she said.
Kottschade hears that frustration from the other end of the pipeline. As vice chair of her local school's advisory board and a SkillsUSA volunteer at both the state and national levels, she watches enrollment in collision repair programs decline year after year.
"Technicians and repair facilities are the true heartbeat of collision repair," Kottschade said. "Without them, there is no industry."
What comes next for her career
The WIN conference broadened Colby's view of what a collision repair career could look like.
"You only really think of body tech, maybe a painter, but there's so many other paths you could go down," she said. "Maybe you want to be an estimator or maybe you want to be a manager. There's so many careers from this path."
The founding members themselves made an impression. "Hearing all of their stories, I just felt like, wow, I don't even compare," she said. "These are some kickass people."
Her own plans come in stages. Near-term, she wants to become lead painter at Nuss. Further out, she has thought about opening a shop with a small crew, doing full repaints and maybe custom work. The vehicle doesn't matter much.
"Even if I get a shop, I'd still like to paint," she said. "I think it's just fun for me. I really enjoy it."
Before the award, Colby had already settled on her biggest professional achievement.
"Becoming a painter," she said. "I always kind of thought I would be a body tech. I didn't even know this was a road I could go on."
Jess Fritsche