About Faye
When most kids were asking their parents for action figures or princess-themed parties, Faye felt drawn toward cars and trucks.
According to her mom, Faye clamoured for construction vehicle birthday-cake-toppers from the time she was a toddler. Faye’s lifelong fascination with machinery and vehicles predates her earliest memories.
Raised in an academic and artistic household, Faye’s pursuit of the trades made her a black sheep in her family, but it also inspired her to double down on her passion for all things automotive. And she has never looked back.
Faye’s automotive expertise has been built from a lifetime of hands-on learning both personally and professionally - from after-hours apprenticeships to rigorous formal training.
After earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, Faye apprenticed with a mechanic in Providence, Rhode Island before relocating to Portland, Oregon to enroll in automotive training classes while also working evenings at a local independent garage. These experiences in Oregon served as a springboard into her subsequent work as a Certified Toyota Technician.
Now living in San Antonio Texas, Faye is perpetually elbow-deep in personal automotive projects--from rebuilding her fleet of Supras to fixing the wobbly bits on her junkyard salvage 4Runner -- Faye honed her skills as a technician from her own trial-and-error and creative automotive problem-solving.
She has leveraged this rich array of experience into Pistons & PixieDust; the Toyota/Lexus/Scion repair business of which she is both founder and owner.
Today, Faye is known nationwide as a skilled automotive technician, educator, and an expert in her field. She is the co-host of MotorTrend’s All Girls Garage, and the featured mechanic on MotorTrend’s Motor Mythbusters series.
But among all of these varied accomplishments, Faye is proudest of--and most passionate about--her popular educational YouTube channel: youtube.com/FayeHadley
Faye launched her YouTube channel in 2013 posting occasional DIYs to document and share little-known repair solutions that she had learned on the job.
In 2018, her six-video series titled “020 Transmission Fun” -- detailing the unique complexities of the Volkswagon transmission and clutch setup--garnered nearly a quarter of a million views and officially put her YouTube channel on the map among industry veterans and automotive hobbyists alike.
Now, Faye creates upbeat, educational YouTube videos on a regular basis, all focused on empowering the at-home DIY-er to get hands-on with their own vehicle.
Never afraid to dive headfirst into an automotive project to see where it takes her, Faye’s signature enthusiasm and easy-to-follow instruction style have earned her millions of views and legions of loyal fans.
Faye’s commitment to educating car owners about their vehicles extends beyond her YouTube channel. As a working mechanic, Faye has always prioritized including her customers in the process of any repair she performs, empowering them through knowledge rather than keeping them in the dark. Faye believes that it’s vital for car owners to understand more about how their vehicles operate. Learning more about doing the work yourself leads to substantial financial savings and greater independence.
Despite being fully immersed in an automotive career, cars remain her hobby as well: Faye’s downtime finds her working on her 1989 Toyota Supra in her home garage, surrounded by her beloved shop chickens.
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