It’s no secret that the car repair business is a male-dominated industry, even in modern days. However, women in the field are just as capable and efficient as their gender counterparts, something everyone could see first-hand thanks to MotorTrend’s “All Girls Garage”.
Although the show has successfully become enjoyable both for car experts and beginners, “All Girls Garage” is also known for its many changes of cast, having left behind some of its most memorable stars such as Rachel De Barros.
So where is she now, and why did she leave the show in the first place? Is she in another show or has left TV altogether? Stay with us to know what’s up with “All Girls Garage”s Rachel De Barros.
Why Did She Leave The Show?
Given the usual drama-oriented nature of reality shows, viewers are used to finding out that there’s always some type of questionable situation behind their favorite series.
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Even if no one could fault people for thinking there’s something not right with “All Girls Garage” seeing how often the show lets its cast members go away, this is fortunately not the case with Rachel De Barros, who was in the show for several seasons until April 2019, when her official exit from “All Girls Garage” was announced after the eighth season’s premiere.
As Rachel explained on her Facebook page, she was leaving the show in order to pursue other TV projects, which were supposed to be released later that year. When asked by a fan if her choice was influenced by ‘network politics’, Rachel affirmed her exit was solely a personal decision, to avoid schedule conflict when her new show came out. Aware of the suddenness of it all, Rachel also assured that she had planned on leaving for a long time.
Judging by the fact that Rachel sometimes posts pics with her former co-stars, it’s evident that there’s no bad blood between the girls. However, it’s unclear what happened to Rachel’s own TV project.
Where Is Rachel Now?
Unfortunately, Rachel De Barros’ own show apparently never saw the light. Besides a couple of appearances on the Science channel, Rachel has been away from TV since her exit from “All Girls Garage”.
Although that’s a shame considering how talented and charismatic Rachel is, she hasn’t stopped working on her personal projects. She now owns a content producing company named Purple Star Media, in addition to starting her online show GearHead Diva, which focuses on Do It Yourself projects in a wide variety of fields, such as science, woodworking, engineering and mechanics.
Describing herself as a ‘MacGyveress’ and ‘virtual reality creator’, Rachel is still the same girl who’s not afraid of getting her hands dirty if it’s needed. Though that doesn’t mean she’s completely away from the car industry, as she often attends conventions and exhibitions related to it, as seen on her social media.
Who Is Rachel De Barros?
There’s no way to describe Rachel De Barros without including the words talented, skilled and hard-working. While many people know her for her wide knowledge in mechanics, metal building and wiring electric systems, Rachel takes pride in being an expert content producer, a science geek and enthusiastic inventor.
All of these talents don’t come out of nowhere, though. From her early years, Rachel was deeply interested in disassembling and building all types of artifacts, eventually taking summer jobs at her uncle’s collision shop, learning the basics of bodybuilding, mechanics and painting in the process.
Despite pursuing a career in marketing, Rachel’s mechanic skills served her well during her early 20s, saving her money in car repairs and maintenance, attracting fellow students who wanted her to fix their vehicles. Rachel finally established her own business, Purple Star Media in 2006, having furthered her knowledge in mechanics by completing a professional program at the Philadelphia Automotive Training School.
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Despite choosing two different career paths at the same time, her automotive skills and ability to communicate with wide audiences served her well in making a name for herself, both in the entertainment world as well as in growing her businesses into what it is nowadays.
What Are Her Businesses?
Despite partially funding her studies by fixing cars, Rachel’s first official business was Purple Star Media, her marketing agency which focuses on visual content for brands. As the business’ website states, Purple Star ‘pushes the boundaries of branded story-telling across visual media platforms’, centering on using highly technological tools such as virtual reality and 360° visuals for their productions.
With Purple Star, Rachel has produced her online series “Nerdungeon”, “Wonder Spawn” and her celebrated “Gearhead Diva”, which was the show she was discovered from by “All Girls Garage” producers.
Thanks to the wide platform she had built through her TV appearances and online projects, Rachel has successfully established an online shop with her best ‘fan-powered builds’ and tools. As if that wasn’t enough, Rachel is a proud member of Specialty Equipment Marketing Association networks, just called SEMA, for Young Executives and Businesswomen.
Social Media & Gearhead Diva
You have probably noticed Rachel De Barros has been absent from her social media accounts, but there’s actually a very good explanation for that. Since she left “All Girls Garage”, Rachel has taken her career in the entertainment world by its reins, by focusing her efforts on making her Gearhead Diva brand grow.
That’s why she said goodbye to her almost 500,000 followers both on her old Instagram and Facebook accounts, moving her entire content entirely to her new Gearhead Diva pages. Despite taking such a risky decision, Rachel has successfully gathered a wider audience on Instagram than in her old personal account, while her Facebook page still grows steadily.
Nowadays, Gearhead Diva is more than just an online series of Rachel fixing her cars. It’s become a streaming platform on which Rachel shares her best creative building techniques, teaching her audience the basics of developing a wide variety of science, automotive, tech and garden projects.
Although Gearhead Diva’s live streams are free to watch, her most dedicated fans can purchase monthly subscriptions to enjoy exclusive and interactive features such as discounts, private fan communities, giveaways, detailed map projects, unlimited video archives, and joining her Wrench Army.
All in all, while the TV project she left “All Girls Garage” for apparently didn’t see the light, Rachel is doing well on her own.
What Is “All Girls Garage”?
Premiered in 2011, “All Girls Garage” has undoubtedly changed the general perception of women-centric automotive shows, but just like most MotorTrend’s shows, it offers its audience a deep insight into some of the most complicated and worth-watching overhauls.
However, what sets the show apart from others isn’t having an entire female cast, but their expertise and approach while taking every project to completion. It’s worth noting that despite being hosted by top-level mechanics, “All Girls Garage” is without doubt an educational show, centered on actually teaching its audience every step of the process, instead of leaving important details up to the imagination, which is something very few shows in the genre could pride themselves in doing.
While the fact “All Girls Garage” rotates its cast every couple of years isn’t necessarily the audience’s favorite part of the show, there’s no doubt that the series’ success and popularity is well deserved.
Who Else Left The Show?
Besides Rachel De Barros, other “All Girls Garage” cast members have left the show at some point for diverse reasons. Here are some of them:
Cristy Lee
The most recent “All Girls Garage” star to leave the series was Cristy Lee, the avid biker and motorsport reporter of the team.
Though she started her career in the real estate industry, her love for everything automotive and adrenaline took her to new and unexpected career paths in the entertainment world. Cristy has hosted events such as the XGames and World SuperBike, and often makes public appearances in highly-praised exhibitions as a brand ambassador, though her love for bike racing remains undiminished.
Cristy became internationally recognized when she joined “All Girls Garage” back in its 2011 premiere, sticking with it until 2019, when she left the show to focus on her next project – “Garage Squad”. As Cristy admitted on a heartfelt Instagram post, she was grateful for the time she spent in the show, for the friends she made there and everything she learned: ‘Thank you @motortrendtv for creating a platform for women to empower others in the automotive media world, and believing in ME to be part of that’.
Cristy completed two “Garage Squad” seasons before leaving the show altogether in March 2020.
This second exit wasn’t entirely explained either, but given that she had just undergone an appendectomy back then, it’s assumed she left to take care of her health.
In 2021, she co-hosted the popular “Celebrity IOU Joyride”, alongside the expert mechanic Ant Anstead, so surely more opportunities are awaiting her.
Jessi Combs
Whether or not you have been watching “All Girls Garage” from the start, you surely know who Jessi Combs was. Since the early 2000s, Jessi’s hosted a wide variety of automotive shows such as “Xtreme 4×4”, “MythBusters” and “Overhaulin’”, eventually becoming an “All Girls Garage” star from its premiere in 2011 to 2014.
However, Jessi was far more than just a TV star. She was an expert steel builder and fabricator, showing enviable creative and mechanical skills. By exhibiting her graduate project at SEMA, Jessi quickly gained the attention of local media and car-centered TV networks.
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While Jessi primarily owed her fame to TV, in 2011 her passion for racing gained her second place at the SCORE Baja 1000 competition, which was the first of a long list of professional races she won. Later in 2013 Jessi broke the 4-wheel land speed record, becoming the first woman to ever run at 440.709 mph.
It was her love for racing that eventually led to her exit from “All Girls Garage”, as she wanted to focus entirely on her new career, but also to her death. She made a couple of brief appearances on TV, before unfortunately losing her life while setting the women’s land speed record at 512.71 mph on 27 August 2019.
Who Are The Current Cast?
Sarah “Bogi” Lateiner
Whether you know her from “All Girls Garage” or for other shows, it’s for sure that the name Bogi Lateiner rings more than a bell for you. Despite being a graduate in Law & Society, Bogi discovered her true passion in her early 20s, after having several bad experiences with car repairs.
Following her graduation from the Universal Technical Institute, Bogi enrolled into the BMW STEP training program, working for the company for seven years before leaving to start her own project, even though the stakes were against her accomplishing that dream: ‘I had little money in my bank account, so I called all my friends and family to bring their cars to me’, she said in an interview with Oberlin.
Though building a business from zero isn’t easy work, Bogi eventually passed from fixing cars in her driveway, to buying a building which served both as a car body shop and mechanical educational center for women in Arizona.
Following her debut in “All Girls Garage” in 2012, Bogi has hosted other automotive shows such as “Garage Squad” and “Best Of Top Gear”, also acting as a spokesperson for educational programs such as Girl Gang Garage, steadily becoming a big influence for women in the overhauling industry.
Faye Hadley
Not only is she the most recent addition to “All Girls Garage”, Faye Hadley is also the youngest one out of the cast. While Faye’s skills at mechanics might be astounding, it’s even more surprising to know that she has a degree in psychology, graduating from Harvard in 2010. Though choosing to become an automotive expert instead of her original career might not sound wise for many people, it’s turned out well for Faye. In 2021, she finally became a Master Certified Technician, in addition to joining the cast of other shows such as “Motor MythBusters” and “Holiday Hooptie Challenge”.
Seeing how far she’s gone, it’s surprising to know her career started on social media. Although she’s not a fan of video-sharing platforms, using her YouTube channel to ‘create content aimed at empowering the at-home DIYers to take control of their own vehicle maintenance’ was her primary goal back in 2013.
As her subscribers count slowly but steadily increased, so did her fame. In 2019 she was contacted by “All Girls Garage” to take Rachel’s spot after her departure, and even if later Cristy Lee left the show as well, Faye and Bogi have kept their television carshop afloat with no trouble at al.
