Ruben sits down with mechanic and restoration specialist Constance Nunes of Netflix’s “Rust to Riches.” With her fascination for taking things apart and reassembling them, she applied this passion to what she was around her whole life, cars. Her goal was to create cars that were accessible to those who were unable to get the car they dreamed of.
“I’m trying to build dreams for other people and that way they can experience everything that I’ve experienced with Baby Stang.” - Constance Nunes
Constance talks about what it is like to work in a male dominated field of building cars and how we can apply cars to life. She felt the pressure of being one of the only women in her field doing what she wanted to do, but then she realized that she could do whatever she wanted whether there was representation of it already or not.
“I think what changed for me with that was just realizing there’s not really a reason that I can’t be just as good as the guys are at it. Like there’s nothing that’s stopping me from turning a wrench the same way. And once that started clicking in my mind of like, it’s not different.” - Constance Nunes
Constance feels like more people are realizing we don’t have to conform to norms, but she still experiences some challenges with people not thinking she “looks” like a mechanic. Regardless, she continues to show up in male dominated spaces and does not let the pressure to define her overrule her strengths and abilities.
Constance encourages people to realize that achieving their goals requires work and our goals taking time is not an indication of failure. This pressure young people feel today to appear perfect and successful overnight is incredibly discouraging to them, says Constance.
“Just do it. Just do it for yourself. If no one sees it, nobody sees it. That’s fine. Did you do what you wanted to do and it made you happy? It made the people around you happy. Great. So that matters.” - Constance Nunes
Constance feels it’s important we all realize there are many ways to get to the same destination, and sometimes what you wanted might not be what you expected, and that's okay.
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About the Guest: Constance is founder of CARS By Constance, a shop dedicated to building dream cars for clients. She aims to create more opportunities, awareness, and diversity within the automotive community. Constance became the first female ever to be featured in an Edelbrock national commercial, has raced in several high profile races as a professional driver, and has worked directly with multiple Fortune 500 companies. Constance stars as the lead mechanic on the Netflix series “Car Master: Rust to Riches”
