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Kayleigh proves every day that passion has no gender

Her advice to other women? “Just go for it. Don’t let others decide what you should dream of.

In the workshop of TVH Equipment, one woman works among a team of men — and it doesn’t hold her back in the slightest. Kayleigh Geldhof (22) officially became an Electro Technician with us in October 2025, but she actually knew the workshop long before that thanks to her one and a half years of experience as a student worker.

From a dream of becoming a veterinarian to a passion for technology

As a child, Kayleigh dreamed of becoming a veterinarian. But her secondary school track (Social Technical Sciences) offered too few opportunities to access that program. So she looked toward her second passion: cars. “It doesn’t run in the family,” she smiles, “but I’ve always been fascinated by beautiful cars and by Formula 1.”

That passion eventually led her to study automotive technology in higher education, a program with only a handful of female students. Through her colleague Mathis, she rolled into the world of TVH Equipment. Remarkably, Kayleigh herself chose the electrical team, precisely because electricity was her weakest subject. “I wanted to get better at it.” Today, she mainly works on batteries, safety systems, electronic malfunctions, and tests machines to detect error codes.

One woman in a men’s workshop

As the only woman in the workshop, Kayleigh never feels the need to pretend to be someone she’s not. “You do have to be able to take a hit,” she says honestly. “In the beginning, they test how far they can go with jokes, just like they do among men.”

Still, she doesn’t feel like an outsider. On the contrary: “They actually treat me just like one of the colleagues. Sometimes they keep in mind that I’m a woman — like when there’s heavy work, they quickly offer help. But I mainly want to be treated as a technician. And that’s exactly what they do.” Two colleagues even show her a kind of fatherly protection. “Apparently I feel like a daughter to them,” she laughs. At the same time, she gets along really well with the younger colleagues.

Female strengths in a technical job

Kayleigh notices herself that she approaches certain things differently than her male colleagues. “Order and cleanliness are really my thing. Fridays were always ‘cleaning day,’ but I insist that everyone follows that consistently now. And yes, that might be my feminine side,” she adds with a wink. She also excels at administration and fine electronics: “I focus on details that others pass by more quickly.”

She beams when she talks about the work she’s most proud of: “There was a brand-new machine that was completely dead after water damage. Everything was broken. I took it apart step by step, cleaned it, ordered new parts, and rebuilt it. When it started running again, that was truly a ‘yes’ moment.”

Growing and dreaming

Although she is already able to handle certain projects independently, she wants to continue growing. She dreams of becoming an expert in one specific type of machine. “But I need to be patient — everything step by step.” Alongside her 4/5 job at TVH Equipment, she is also self-employed in the automotive world, with a particular love for the Mazda MX‑5. She is currently rebuilding her own MX‑5 in style.

Her message for other women

Kayleigh is clear when she talks about women in technical jobs. “Many people think that technical work is only heavy work. That’s not true. There is also a lot of delicate and precise work. And even if you don’t have any basic knowledge, you get all the support you need here. Colleagues help you, and you can take internal courses via our Academy as well as external training to strengthen your knowledge.”

Her advice to other girls and women on International Women’s Day is simple: “Just do it. Don’t let others define your dreams. If you really want to do something, you should go for it.”

She feels at home at TVH Equipment. “The atmosphere is family-like, everyone helps each other. It’s nice to be the only woman in such an environment. I would do it all over again.”