By Mahima Kaur
**EXCLUSIVE**
THIS WOMAN is living the life of the most GLAMOROUS mechanic you are likely to find under a car bonnet despite receiving death threats and sexual assault by MALE mechanics.
However, she after ploughing £150K into launching her own garage she is determined to continue in the field that saved her from the depression and anxiety that she suffered all her childhood.
Mechanic and model Peyton Cicconi (25) from Avalon, California comes from a long line of inspiring and strong working Italian women.
She learnt early in her life on Catalina Island, Southern California, USA that gender didn’t really matter for any job by looking at the strong women in her family including her mother and her aunt
As a kid, she always enjoyed playing car video games like Midnight Club but only got her first car when she turned 19.
Initially she considered pursuing mortuary science and pathology, but also understood her love for mechanics.
Her boyfriend exposed her to the world of car drifting and attending car meets at the age of 19. Since then there was no turning back for Peyton.
Drifting is a driving style in which the driver uses throttle, brakes, clutch, gear shifting and steering input to keep the car in a condition of oversteer.
She got her first tattoo at the age of 18 and has gotten 26 more tattoos since then.
Her first mechanic project was at 18 years old when she worked on a 1999 Chevy s10.
She spent around £135k on setting up her mechanic business. She is also an alternative model for a goth clothing brand.
She can drive stick-shift in high heels and platform heels and also does some stunt driving all dressed up in heels. She is also learning how to drift.
She lives with her boyfriend and their cat that they have named Turbo. Her mother is a single mom and she also has a twin brother.
Obsessed with the colour purple, Peyton’s journey has had its share of ups and downs.
She has modelled for Killstar brand and Vera’s Eyecandy, both of which are goth and alternative clothing brands.
In recent times, she has also received death threats due to her confidence and her stance for women in the industry. Men find it hard to believe that she is a model and a mechanic. The hate towards her multifacetedness has reached such heights that people have made a Facebook group to spew their hate. They post her photos and harass her. She stands unwavering though.
“People don’t believe me when I tell them I am a mechanic,” said Peyton
“Especially when I’m dressed up in something glamorous or when I am wearing high heels.
“Old men can’t believe that I’m a mechanic.
“It’s funny to see their faces once I start talking about cars.
“Women often give me compliments. Even children come up to me to talk to me.
“The women I grew up around showed me that it didn’t matter what job you did, as long as you could get it done.
“My mom did construction, bartending, sailed boats and was a fisherwomen.
“My aunt made pasta and wine from scratch and rode motorcycles.
“My aunt owned her own business on the island doing upholstery on cars and building her own house from the ground up.
Peyton’s Italian family moved from Italy to the USA in the 1970s and she was raised on a small island, Catalina, off the coast of Southern California. She knew everyone in town when she was growing up and she was very close to nature.
Peyton also has some dark side of the trade to reveal.
“I’ve faced sexual assault so many times in mechanic shops,” she says
“I’ve received every comment in the book.
“I’ve been cat-called. I’ve been told I’m too small, that I’m too weak.
“People say ‘this isn’t a job for a woman’.
“The majority of men don’t take you seriously until you prove it to them.
“I’ve gotten death threats.
“Men leave mean comments on my posts online. They try to bully me.
“Men are threatened by a woman who can do everything herself.
“Men don’t support me simply because I do modelling and I am a mechanic.
“Surprisingly many people in the automotive industry don’t like tattoos and still look down on them.
“I’ve faced lots of judgement and assumptions.
“It is actually easier to do the work of a mechanic, the professional side of people taking you seriously is more challenging.”
When asked if these comments deter her from working towards her goal, Peyton doesn’t hesitate to answer,
“It can be very discouraging, these sexual assaults.
“I am an advocate for fair treatment of women in the industry and I’ve had many women come forward to me.
“They tell me that they have stayed quiet about the abuse in the industry due to fear of retaliation and being banished from the local community.
“I didn’t realise how many people have been inspired by my confidence and bravery.
“Men and women both message me on instagram to tell me that they have been inspired by my ambition.
“People come up to me and compliment everything- my paint jobs, my fabrication work, my driving and my mechanic work.
“Even my fashion and style gets so much love.”
She is most pleased with how she has helped other women to break stereotypes and launch their own automotive careers.
“I’ve had many women tell me that they started working on cars because they saw me dressed up in my glamorous clothes, working and felt like they had representation and someone to motivate them,” she said.
“Many people love my ink, my tattoos and my willingness to express myself through them.
“Being a mechanic and working on cars has helped me gain my confidence back.
“I now fully express myself and don’t care about peoples’ opinions of me anymore.
“My car events and my mechanic workspace will always be a safe place for women.
“I’m so grateful I can inspire others and get new people into mechanics.”
ENDS
