It was not an easy road. “The auto industry was something that I didn’t grow up around, and breaking into it as a woman and as a newbie and as a young person was a real challenge for me,” she said. “I had a lot of struggles coming up in the industry.” Adversity was less of a deterrent for Lateiner and more of a motivator. As she found her place in the industry, she became fiercely committed to making sure women have more opportunities in the trades. “I’ve always believed when hardship happens, the best thing you can do it make good out of it by making it into something positive,” she said. It was in this spirit that Lateiner organized an all-female restoration of a 1957 Chevy pickup truck, known as the Chevy Montage project. Her intention was to bring together as many women as possible – even those who had never even picked up a wrench – to shine a light on women in the trades. “We’re here. There’s a lot of us. We’re good at it,” she said.

BASF partnered with Lateiner on this project, both in terms of promotional support and as a supplier of paint. BASF worked with Lateiner to develop three potential colors for the truck, and fans had the opportunity to vote for their favorite shade. The truck and its selected color were revealed at the 2017 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) show in Las Vegas. “BASF really believes in education and bringing in the future generation, and that’s what this build is all about: celebrating the women in the industry and creating more opportunities for people to see careers for themselves in this field,” Lateiner said. “Even before I saw how big of a vision it was, BASF was like ‘we’re in, how can we support you?’” In the end, fans chose a beautiful color with an apt name for the classic truck: Tenacious Teal.