Philadelphia, PA 19103-1189
(215) 567-7710
FAX (215) 567-7850
Contact: Communications and Development
FREE LIBRARY’S BUSINESS RESOURCE AND INNOVATION CENTER (BRIC) TO HOST GIRLS AUTO CLINIC BOOK RELEASE
PHILADELPHIA, August 22, 2017—The Free Library of Philadelphia’s Business Resource and Innovation Center (BRIC) is excited to host the official book launch for Patrice Banks’s Girls Auto Clinic: Glove Box Guide. The event will take place in the Skyline Room of the Parkway Central Library, at 1901 Vine Street, on Tuesday, September 19, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Author Patrice Banks, a former engineer, is the founder of Girls Auto Clinic, a workshop that empowers women through their cars. At the book launch, Banks will share her empowering story of leaving an established career in engineering to lead car-care workshops for women. She opened a full-service auto-repair shop staffed by female mechanics in the summer of 2016. The Girls Auto Clinic Glove Box Guide is the one-stop-do-it-herself-guide to auto maintenance. The book empowers women to take control of the wheel so they never feel mistreated, misunderstood, or taken advantage of by car maintenance providers again. It provides readers with answers to all their common car questions through DIY instructions, tips, and illustrations.
“The BRIC is thrilled to bring Patrice Banks to the Free Library and to host our first business book-signing event,” said Juanita Vega DeJoseph, BRIC Assistant Department Head. “We are proud to host an entrepreneur and author who focuses on a topic not usually associated with women. We’ve seen the future of business and it is fabulously female!”
The BRIC—which launched in February 2016, combining the resources of the Business, Science, and Industry Department and the Regional Foundation Center—brings all of the Library’s business programming, services, and resources under one commanding umbrella. This entrepreneurial hub offers a unique environment in which to incubate new business ideas and bring them to fruition, as well as to improve existing small businesses.
In March 2016, Patrice Banks attended the BRIC’s first “Disrupting the Patriarchy” event—a now-annual conversation that brings some of the area’s most highly respected business professionals together to discuss the advances women have made as industry leaders and how to empower more women to join their ranks. She has since formed a relationship with the Library and the BRIC; in January 2017, she joined Free Library President and Director Siobhan A. Reardon on a discussion panel at a “Women Changing the City” event presented by the Center City Proprietors Association and hosted at the Parkway Central Library.
Tickets to the book launch include a signed copy of the book, complimentary drinks, and light bites and dessert provided by Brûlée Catering. Banks and the Girls Auto Clinic team will meet and greet attendees. Additional books and Girls Auto Clinic merchandise will be sold on site. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.
For more information on the BRIC, visit freelibrary.org/bric.
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The Free Library of Philadelphia system, with 54 locations and the Rosenbach, advances literacy, guides learning, and inspires curiosity with millions of digital and physical materials; 25,000 yearly programs and workshops; free public computers and extensive Wi-Fi, including neighborhood Hotspots; and rich special collections, including those at Parkway Central Library and at the Rosenbach. With more than 6 million in-person visits and millions more online annually, the Free Library and the Rosenbach are among the most widely used educational and cultural institutions in Philadelphia and boast a worldwide impact.
08/22/2017
Department of External Affairs, Free Library of Philadelphia, 1901 Vine Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103-1189
(215) 567-7710, FAX (215) 567-7850