When Wendy Pinnow was a kid, some of her favorite toys were Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. She would spend hours delicately parking, driving and re-parking her cars.

“My first memory was with Matchbox cars, I had a really great collection,” Pinnow said. “Then I started working on my own cars and that was empowering, to see that I could do things I didn’t know I could do.”

This childhood past time grew into a career for Pinnow, who at age 25 started M&W Auto Sales and Rentals in Friday Harbor.

Her parents, Penny and Whitey Williams, who were entrepreneurs in their own right, arrived with Pinnow and her siblings to the island in 1972 and ran Lakedale Campground and then Whitey’s Food Center, later called Friday Harbor Grocery.

“Since my parents were self-employed, it was a good example for us to take what we loved and turn it into a business,” Pinnow said, adding that her six other siblings who grew up on the island are now all self-employed on and off-island, each running their own shops or businesses.

Pinnow, 52, said that prior to starting M&W Auto, she worked at her parent’s businesses, including running the meat counter at Whitey’s from age 19 to 25. Pinnow said people were often surprised to find a young woman working as a meat cutter.

“I would be talking to a salesman and stuff like that and they would ask for the manager, and I’d say ‘That’s me!’” Pinnow said, laughing.

Pinnow said that she has experienced similar situations at her car shop, with people expecting the owner or mechanic to be a man, or being surprised that she can do auto work.

“Since everyone knows me here, they’ve grown to appreciate my knowledge so I get it less now. But definitely there was a time when people were very stereotyping,” Pinnow said. “And now, people who don’t know me, like tourists, will still do it. They never assume the mechanic is me.”

Over time, Pinnow said that she has noticed people being more accepting of women running their own businesses, and encourages anyone to do it. For herself, the process was slow and organic as her business grew and figured out what it needed to flourish for more than 27 years to its current state.

“I really believe that a woman can do whatever she wants if she puts her mind to it,” Pinnow said. “You really can do anything. Start slowly with confidence and just keep moving forward, keep growing.”

Pinnow’s daughter Melisa Pinnow also grew up on the island, and is now going to The Evergreen State College to study marine biology. During the summer she works on the islands doing whale research.