This Week we Feature Young Professional Tarik G. Wilson
Our Young Professional of this week can be considered no stranger to challenges, however, he has managed these challenges whenever they arose with a spirit of adventure and a smile of confidence.
Virgin Islands News Online proudly presents Tarik G. Wilson.
Wilson can be considered a young aspiring visionary. At at the delicate age of a teenager, he had already made up his mind to challenge the status quo by starting the tedious journey of becoming an entrepreneur in his own right as the owner of his very own high-end auto care facility.
The second of four siblings, Wilson, 22, is currently a Technician in his chosen vocation of auto care and he is making fast strides towards becoming an expert in the repair and maintenance of high end vehicles.
Though our Young Professional started his humble journey in Texas, his foundation was built in the Virgin Islands where he attended several local schools including the Althea Scatliffe Primary School, the Elmore Stoutte High School as well as the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC).
He explained, “I moved to Texas in 2009 to extend my education in Mechanics” and disclosed that studying for him has had its ups and downs, periods of excitement and struggles but he has managed to stay focused with the support of family and friends.
After moving to Houston, Texas where he got accepted and attended the Universal Technical Institute, Tarik spent two years completing an academic programme that brought him some amount of notice through his excellent performances and a subsequent transfer to the Orlando, Florida branch of the Institute to specialise in BMW auto care.
As a certified BMW Technician for the past eight months, he has since had the privilege of working at Braman BMW and Rolls Royce auto care based in Miami, Florida.
He explained that he gets out of bed around 6AM to get to work for 7AM and meets with a team leader who delegates jobs based on customer complaints received for various models of BMW luxury vehicles.
“Most of the time,” he related, “I have to pull the dashboard apart, the entire vehicle interior, just to change an AC component.” He suggested that this was the most frequent complaint but he also dealt with transmission problems and engine repairs as well. He described his job as involving a lot of troubleshooting and explained that this required a lot of patience and intuition.
Much of the work is based on assessment and verification of the customer complaints but even though he may at times spend an entire day on a single car, he explained that he was always up for the challenge that came his way.
Relating one of the odd days that came around, Wilson said one day a customer came in and complained about a scent on her vehicle and to his surprise, after doing an inspection, he discovered that the customer had unfortunately managed to have a cat melted to the exhaust system of the car and he had the "distinct pleasure" of having to remove it. This was something he described as one of the worst jobs ever and one he definitely did not hope to revisit at any point in the future.
Wilson disclosed that he had an early fascination with working on high end-cars and his inspiration came from being around cars with his uncle ‘Smiley’ as early as age 12. “I always used to notice that people had to come from abroad to work on high end cars, and I was already accustomed to working on cars so I had already made up my mind at an early age that this is what I wanted to do,” our Young Professional revealed.
Explaining his vision further, he said “I want to start my own establishment, working on high-end cars, so we don’t have to bring persons from away to be doing repairs and persons that live right [in the Virgin Islands] could do this for us.” “I wanted to be the person to do that,” he added.
Wilson said he wants to set up an auto care shop for cars such as BMW, Mercedes and Jaguar once he returns to the VI and has already decided on the name - Wilson Complete Auto Care - for his business.
He further revealed that working with Braman has required him to always stay current with the latest techniques in auto care, so he has to remain on the ball with his studies and this is a requirement that is endorsed and fully supported by the company.
Being away from his family for such a long time has been really tough by itself but Wilson was particularly in praise of the support and encouragement given by his cousin, Scherrie whom he credits for always pushing him to give his all in everything. “Sometimes I get homesick and I want to come home,” he said, “but I know that I’m on a mission and I have to remain focused.” He was also happy that his girlfriend was able to visit him in Texas despite the fact that he was thousands of miles away from close family and friends.
Outside of auto care, our Young Professional reveals that he likes playing basketball, bike riding and chilling out at home watching television.
Wilson encourages youths to stay focused, work hard and remain committed once they have their mind set on a goal. “Don’t limit your challenges,” he said, “instead, always challenge your limits… chase your dreams.”
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