Dressed in coveralls, not a designer dress, Pati Fairchild is not your average EC professor. In a field dominated primarily by males, Fairchild makes a name for herself by not only teaching, but molding art and autobody work together.

“I’ve always been interested in cars since I was little,” Fairchild said. “My parents bought me toy cars because I didn’t like dolls; I had a great Matchbox and Tonka Truck collection.”

Fairchild’s first interactions with automobiles came at the young age of 17 with a “big old rusty” ’79 Blazer.

“The thing was an absolute beast, and I decided I was going to fix it up,” Fairchild said. “I started taking it apart, and I was doing it entirely wrong.”

The drive to do it right, pointed Fairchild in the direction of Cerritos Community College where she began taking automotive classes. Her passion with cars grew to such an extent she eventually quit her graphic design job and started working at auto dealerships.

Eventually she earned her bachelor’s degree from California State University, Long Beach, Fairchild began instructing at Rio Hondo and Cerritos Community College.

Fairchild’s abilities as an autobody specialist have launched her not only into a position working at El Camino, but she even now has her own shop.

“A very good friend of mine who sells car parts was looking to expand, and already had a little warehouse,” Fairchild said. “He agreed to let me use a little space to get my business running.”

Fairchild’s shop specializes in autobody customization and full paint customization as well. Many of the cars she has worked on have received a fair amount of notice in the custom car world.

“I’ve had customers who’ve won trophies,” Fairchild said. “I [have even] had one car that ended up in a Scion ad campaign.”

Fairchild’s work is a blend of modern tuner style with her work on Scions, and classic hot rod pieces with her variety of works on cars ranging from the 40’s to 60’s.

“When guys ask me to customize their car they usually don’t know what they want,” Fairchild said. “I utilize my art background to work with them and find out what they want and [how the car] will look after we’re done. It’s gotta’ have shape, proportion, color, everything has to work together like a piece of art.”

After three years, Fairchild’s now hectic schedule doesn’t allow her as much time as she’d like to devote to her shop, as her position at EC is a full-time job.

“I am not taking on any new projects at the moment, because I’m so busy with teaching,” Fairchild said. “I might restrict the business to my personal cars only, but I haven’t quite decided.”

Fairchild has decided not to juggle both the shop and her job at EC, with her students in mind.

“I really enjoy teaching, because… it is really rewarding when the students catch on,” Fairchild said. “I really like when a student catches on to a technique, where I will have them painting something that they’ve never painted…before and they pick up [the] tool and the results are good.”

While at the moment, EC does not offer a class specifically for autobody and paint customization, Fairchild is not opposed to the idea.

“There is a lot of interest in… customization in my classes,” Fairchild said. “At the moment, its just a part of my regular class, and I can’t promise that there is ever going to be a [customization class].”

While Fairchild tackles a position in a field primarily operated by males, she doesn’t feel that the specific stereotypes of females in a male centered type of work still exist, at least from the males

“There’s a lot of pressure to do the work better than all the guys,” Fairchild said. “The guys are really supportive though when they see a girl is trying hard and doing well, they think it’s really cool.”

On the other hand, when a female approaches Fairchild on the nature of her work, she receives much different responses.

“Girls cannot believe a girl would work on a car,” Fairchild said. “Guys are accepting, guys think its no big deal to work on a car, and that is cool.”

In regards to her students, Fairchild has never once had a problem with being taken seriously as a credible source, and if so wasn’t aware about it.

“If that’s ever happened, they keep real quiet about it,” Fairchild said. “Usually, if there are older guys in the class they’ll sit back and quietly challenge me to show [them] something. As long as I can show them what I can do, they understand that I do know what I’m doing.”

While Fairchild hasn’t personally experienced any challenges in respect to her gender in the workplace, she does have some tips on how to be successful as a woman in a male dominated environment.

“I wish I could say don’t be scared, but its impossible not to be scared,” Fairchild said. “You just have to go there and try your best, and stay focused on what you’re trying to accomplish. As soon as you start playing the damsel in distress you’ll be seen as the damsel in distress. You want to minimize the girl part and concentrate on… doing the best work you can.”