Iron Angels is an all-female motorcycle club founded in 2018 by a team of Harley engineers, out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They are one of the many teams belonging to BUILD Moto, but proudly boast to be the first-ever all-female BUILD Moto team. BUILD provides students with an opportunity to learn a myriad of technical skills, ranging from design and welding to machining and media.
The team of adults pair up with young women from local high schools and teach them business basics, mechanical work, real job and world situations using motorcycles as the catalyst to develop these skills that are invaluable to these young people.
“We felt like there was an underrepresentation for women in this world and we wanted to show high school girls the world of motorcycles and that there was a place for them there.” – Nerissa Cerny, a leading member of the Iron Angels, and the work they are doing shaping the future of the youth in their community is remarkable.
Each year, Build Moto assigns them a certain type of motorcycle to rebuild over the course of six months (January – June). And each year the Iron Angels get a new set of students to mentor. Over the span of six months the team will dissect, design, re-build, showcase, and race their own flat track motorcycle. They spend the duration of the project not only teaching them budgeting, mechanics and tool safety, but also taking the time to develop the character and aspirations of these students.
“It’s really about exposing the girls to positive female role models. We become life mentors for them even beyond working on bikes, and some relationships last well after the project is over.” – Nerissa Cerny
Each team is given a budget and timeline for milestone completion up until their own internal competition where they will showcase their final product to be judged. The winner is presented with the Royal Enfield BUILD CUP.
This year the Iron Angels team was able to build their bike at the Harley Headquarters, and it’s going to be featured at Sturgis within the Maiden Moto Art show. The team is overly excited about this and hope plenty of people get to come down and see the fruits of their labor.
BUILD also has a show coming up on August 7th in Milwaukee, the Brew Town Rumble, and all the Build Moto clubs will have bikes on display for the competition. Please consider going if you are in the area because the proceeds from the show go right back into the mentorship program.
If you’d like to get involved, BUILD is run and supported entirely by volunteers and is always seeking new ones. From becoming a mentor, to working a booth, providing subject matter expertise during projects and also event volunteers to assist with the competition.
You can find more information on the Build Moto website at this link: https://buildmoto.com.
If you’d like to follow the Iron Angels, please use the following links:
Website: https://sites.google.com/view/theironangels/
Social Media: https://www.instagram.com/theironangels/
