Conyers Mechanic Builds Nearly $1 Million Auto Business and a Pathway for Georgia's Next Technicians

CONYERS, Ga. A side hustle that began with buying and reselling used cars has grown into a nearly million-dollar Georgia auto-repair business for Desiree White, owner of Crown's Corner Mechanics in Conyers.

White, known online as The SheMechanic, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she sold 36 vehicles from her driveway during her first year in the business. At the time, she was a nurse, a mother and someone who did not yet know how to change her own oil.

She began teaching herself through online tutorials, textbooks and hands-on practice. She later launched a mobile mechanic service around metro Atlanta, invested heavily in professional diagnostic equipment and built enough demand to move into a permanent shop.

Today, Crown's Corner Mechanics operates from a 9,000-square-foot facility in Conyers. ProTech Pathway Foundation identifies the location as an eight-bay shop, while the business itself advertises services that include diagnostics, engine and transmission work, general repair and vintage restoration.

White told the AJC that the business almost reached $1 million in revenue last year. The publication also reported that she now has more than 150,000 TikTok followers and operates Crown's Corner Mechanics with four other employees.

From driveway sales to a Conyers shop

White's path into automotive work did not follow the traditional trade-school route.

According to the AJC, she studied repair walkthroughs online, reviewed trade-school curriculum and textbooks, then bought vehicles she could diagnose, disassemble and repair. Over time, people who saw her work online began asking her to fix their cars.

That demand led to mobile repair work across metro Atlanta and eventually a brick-and-mortar shop. White said social media was a major part of that transition, including helping her reach the customer who supported her move into the 9,000-square-foot facility.

Why this story matters beyond one auto shop

White's story also intersects with a broader workforce challenge.

Women represented just 1.8% of automotive service technicians and mechanics nationwide in 2025, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time, the agency projects employment in the occupation to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 66,200 openings expected each year on average during that decade.

Georgia wage data compiled through O*NET from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show a median annual wage of about $49,060 for automotive service technicians and mechanics statewide. In the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell area, the median is about $51,450.

Those numbers help explain why hands-on training and mentorship can matter. The state needs people who can diagnose and repair increasingly complex vehicles, and many openings will also come from workers leaving the occupation or retiring.

Building the pathway she wanted to find

White has now created a nonprofit focused on that training gap.

ProTech Pathway Foundation runs a three-to-four-month, hands-on automotive internship program at Crown's Corner Mechanics in Conyers. The program covers diagnostics, engine and mechanical systems, shop safety, professional workflow, customer communication and quality control.

The foundation describes Crown's Corner Mechanics as its founding training partner and says graduates can receive placement support through its hiring network. The network currently focuses on metro Atlanta, Conyers and Covington while expanding into additional Georgia markets.

That makes White's next challenge different from the one that started her journey. She originally had to teach herself how to enter the trade. Now she is trying to build a clearer entrance for the people coming behind her.

A Georgia small-business story built in public

There is another lesson in White's growth that reaches beyond the automotive industry.

She documented the learning process, repairs, business problems and daily shop life online instead of waiting until the company looked polished. That audience became part of the business model.

White told the AJC that her business tripled during the transition from home-based work to mobile mechanic service. She also credited social media with helping make the permanent shop possible.

For Georgia entrepreneurs, it is an example of how expertise, content and business development can reinforce one another. The work created the content. The content created an audience. The audience helped create customers and opportunity.

What happens next

Crown's Corner Mechanics continues operating in Conyers, while ProTech Pathway is accepting applicants and recruiting sponsors, training partners and employers for its workforce-development model.

If the program expands beyond its founding shop, White's impact could eventually be measured in more than the revenue of one Georgia company. The mechanic who once struggled to find someone to show her the way into the industry may help create that path for a new generation of Georgia technicians.