It started in a parking lot. The closed down grocery store served as the hangout spot for cool cars and trucks and 7-year-old Jill Latham. Sitting in the backseat of her brother’s ‘96 Nissan Altima as he performed donuts in the parking lot sparked her love for power and automotive.

By age 14 Jill was popping wheelies on her brother’s motorcycle. At 17 she bought her first truck, a ‘94 Nissan, and at 18 you could find Jill cruising the streets of upstate New York on a street bike of her own. It took another decade until Jill finally owned a diesel, but the 2017 Chevy Colorado 2.8L Duramax was well worth the wait.

Jill grew up the baby of the family with four older brothers. As many younger siblings do, she went along with whatever her brothers did, which was usually getting dirty, catching frogs, fishing, camping and building bicycles out of spare parts.

“My poor mother hated it,” Jill said. “She wanted me in cute pink dresses with lace on my socks and bows in my hair.”

The trade school program in high school required three choices. Mechanics and auto-body were easy picks for Jill, but she went to her mother for help on the third. Her mom suggested cosmetology because when she was younger, Jill had a habit of cutting her Barbies’ hair. What mom didn’t know was that Jill cut the dolls’ hair hoping they would then be thrown away. But Jill chose cosmetology as her third choice anyway. Thanks to her bad luck, that’s the program the powers at be placed her in.

While it wasn’t the ideal situation, Jill turned lemons into lemonade. She opened her own salon, traveled to London to work with a barbering school, worked on the sets of commercials for major production companies and she’s found a love for cosmetology.

“The biggest game is being able to make someone feel so much better about themselves by simply changing their hair,” explained Jill. “Being able to touch someone’s life by doing something so minuscule fills your heart with joy.”

Jill never lost her early love for the automotive industry, and five years ago friends introduced her to the diesel community — it hooked her.

“One turbo cough from an old 12-valve and I was in love,” said Jill. “The amount of power and abuse a diesel engine can withstand compared to a gasoline engine is so intriguing to me. It was 1000 percent a community I wanted to be a part of.”

It was love at first sight for Jill and her four-door, long-bed Minimax. The test drive went better than Jill could ever hope for.

“The first time I drove her it was pouring rain and I couldn’t help but laugh because every time I tried to give her a little something, she just purred like a kitty and that’s how she got her name.”

Before having technical ownership of Kitty, Jill ordered a Belltech Suspension 4-inch lowering kit after noticing that most decked-out Colorado trucks have a lift kit. She drove Kitty straight from the lot to the welder to have it installed.

Within two weeks, Kitty had Fuel Off-Road Rebel 18×9 wheels wrapped in Nitto tires and was all blacked out. That second weekend, Jill drove to Carlisle Truck Nationals in Pennsylvania with low expectations that were blown out of the water. She placed third in her class and was approached by Diesel Hotties.

“Being a female in a male dominated community is a tough gig and often we’re not taken seriously,” said Jill. “But being part of a group of ladies who have the same passion for diesel trucks made me feel unstoppable. For the first time in a long time I was somewhere I belonged. Now I travel with them to shows all around the country on a regular basis. I’ve gained a whole other family I didn’t know I needed.”

Since that first show, Jill has given Kitty an S&B intake, Stealth Module, MagnaFlow exhaust and Infinite Off-Road rock lights.

With newfound confidence from her salon and Diesel Hotties, Jill made the leap to return to her original passion of auto-body work. She currently commutes three hours per day to attend a heavy-duty diesel technician program where she has a 4.0 GPA while working in a local garage.

“After graduating,” she concluded, “my plans are saying goodbye to what’s comfortable and starting a new chapter of my life, in another state with a new career.”

As for Kitty? The diesel could see an upgraded turbo, tuning and who knows what else. Jill is just getting started.