Even as a little girl, Paris McGowan had an innate drive to fix things.
“Anything mechanical, any toy with lights on it, I wanted to open it up and see what was inside,” she said. “I just wanted to see where the sounds came from, how it all went together. I just needed to know how everything worked.”
She is still at it.
McGowan, 26, of Imperial recently was hired as a motorcycle mechanic with St. Charles Harley-Davidson.
She seems faintly puzzled over the attention she has garnered as one of the first Black women to hold the position.
“I think I am the only one in the state,” she said. “People say, ‘Congratulations!’ and I have done all these interviews, with them asking me ‘How does it feel?’
“But I just want to be good at my job.”
Sparking an interest
McGowan graduated in 2013 from McCluer North High School in Florissant, and she and her parents, Dana and Bill Ramsey, and her three younger brothers moved to Imperial several years ago.
She was familiar with motorcycles from her early years.
“Way back when, like when I was 5, my uncles would come around with their bikes and I always thought it was really cool,” she said.
But she didn’t have much riding experience until her parents started riding, which was around the time she graduated from high school.
“I’ve always wanted to be like my mom, do what she’s doing, so when she started riding, I got interested in it, too,” she said.
McGowan applied for a job at Gateway Harley-Davidson in south St. Louis County.
“I was in and out of the dealership all the time, and they suggested I interview for a retail position,” she said. “I got the job, and that same day, I saw this bike on the lot and just had this ‘Aww!’ moment, and I bought it.
“I definitely jumped headfirst into the world of Harley; when I bought my bike, I didn’t even know how to turn it on.”
She soon grew restless with her retail duties.
“I wanted to do more than just fold T-shirts all day,” she laughed. “I would sneak away from my workstation and go hang out watching the techs taking apart bikes. I found that way more interesting.”
A new direction
Before McGowan got interested in a career as a Harley mechanic, she had taken classes at St. Louis Community College at Meramec, hoping to transfer to a four-year school to study marine biology.
So, when she first floated the idea of going to school to learn to be a mechanic, friends and co-workers had mixed reactions.
“Some were supportive, and some said, ‘You’re wasting money and time.’ I was told by one person I should just go be a nurse or something,” she said. “His attitude turned out to be what pushed me the most.”
McGowan headed to Orlando, Fla., in summer 2019 to attend the Motorcycle Mechanics Institute.
“This was the furthest I’ve ever been from my family, so it was definitely an eye-opener,” she said. “I came back for a few visits, but I’d never lived so far away from them for so long.”
Just a few days after her Sept. 28 graduation, McGowan was offered her current job.
“She’s an hourly tech,” service manager Steve Sabo said. “She’s shadowing other techs right now but doing most of the work on her own. By springtime, she should be full-speed-ahead on her own. The faster and more confident she gets, the quicker it will be. She’s doing very well.”
The biggest problem so far has been finding a shop uniform to fit the diminutive McGowan.
“The shirts are more like a dress on me,” she said.
Sabo said a special order was required.
“Even the smallest guy we have here, those shirts don’t fit her.”
While her small size presents some physical challenges, they’re nothing that can’t be overcome.
“We look at it that it’s a team effort,” Sabo said. “We’ve got a couple of guys with a bad back, and they might need help lifting something. Everybody needs help sometimes; we all contribute.”
Once McGowan gets settled in her job, she plans to seek additional training for advancement.
“My goal is ‘Master Technician,’” she said. “That’s literally top dog in the industry, and I want to be the best. It’s not actually about competing with other people, not at all; I just like to push myself and see how far I can go in whatever it is I’m trying to do.”
Sabo said he thinks McGowan is a good candidate for advancement.
“She’s shooting for Master Tech, and that’s what I like to hear,” he said. “They call it PhD training; it takes most people probably about five years.”
Harley-Davidson foots the bill for selected mechanics to go to advanced classes and climb the advancement ladder.
“I believe there are 13 or 15 levels, something like that,” McGowan said. “There’s a test you have to pass at the end of each level. The more certifications you get, the more you prove yourself, the more valuable you are and you can make more money.”
Making some noise
Making money isn’t McGowan’s only goal. “In 10 years, I see myself being able to build my own bike from scratch,” she said. “I have some pretty crazy ideas, and I would like to be able to put them into reality.
“A lot of bikes these days all look the same; they have no personality. I want to build something that will speak for itself and stand out in a crowd. I want mine to look amazing and sound like monsters. I want them to have my own flair.”
She said a bike like that would reflect her personality
“I love being a beast under everything,” she said. “I used to do modeling as a kid, and I hated it. Everybody is like, ‘Oh, you’re so cute!’ and it was just uncomfortable for me.
“I love it when you go to a race track and see a (Volkswagen) Bug and it’s all cute and girly – and then they turn the engine on and it roars and fire comes out the back. I live for that, to blow people’s minds.”
McGowan also enjoys some typical girlish pursuits. “I’ve always been bold,” she said. “I loved high heels, getting my hair done – but would still go out and play football with the boys. I do an oil change on my car and then go get my brows done. I can be super girly and then turn around and do something people think of as more masculine.”
She also believes in giving back to the community. She and her parents are involved with Black Harley Riders, which sponsors a number of charity events. And she is an active rider with Ride4Hope, a group of motorcycle riders that hold events to support women with breast cancer and those who are victims of domestic violence.
She looks forward to continuing her journey. “Every day I go to work, I am excited to be there. I feel at home. This is what I’m supposed to be doing.
“And maybe I can inspire other girls to go outside the norm, and don’t let anybody shut you down. I started out thinking I’d be a marine biologist. It’s never too late to find your passion.”