March is Women’s History Month. The Ford design group is commemorating this by featuring a weekly profile series focusing on women clay modelers. With their subtle expertise, artistic touch and meticulous attention to detail, these women bring a unique set of skills and experience to their craft at Ford.

Kara Olson was introduced to clay when she was young at an annual bring-your-kid-to-work day at Ford. Olson, who has been a clay modeler at the company for three years, remembers walking into a design studio at the Dearborn product development center and being enamored with the full-size clay models displayed.

How was she able to get special access to a studio that restricts most Ford employees? Well, her father was a clay modeler there. Leonard Olson, who retired last year, was a Ford master modeler who wanted to give his young daughter a window into his niche profession.

“The studio visit when I was young made clay modeling my dream job at that moment,” said Olson. “I needed to find a way to become a clay modeler.”

She took ceramics classes through high school, then studied interior design at Central Michigan University. Olson rolled up her sleeves and put her hands to work in clay taking sculpture and woodworking courses. After graduating in 2016, she designed custom lighting for casinos, and her designs were used in Las Vegas, including at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

Then, Olson’s dad told her about a clay milling position that had opened up at Ford. She didn’t even know what clay milling was at the time, but it seemed like a good foot in the door. She spent eight months as a clay milling operator, managing the machines that take the computer data of a car design and carve it into a full-size model. Then the finesse work begins, as clay modelers add the finest details the computer-controlled mills are unable to carve out.

After that, following a three-month internship, Olson came on full-time to work as a clay modeler on interiors in the Ford truck studio. Her dad managed a different studio down the hall housing Mustang and Bronco, and the two had lunch together every Friday to catch each other up on their projects.

Olson has worked on Explorer, Expedition and F-150 programs, and enjoys every day on the job. “You build a relationship with the clay,” she said. “You are aware of every surface, every line, every imperfection. It almost becomes therapeutic.”

Outside of the clay studio at Ford, Olson continues working with her hands and learning new techniques from her dad. His garage is the family workshop, where the two explore other mediums, like wood and plastic. Some of the pieces they have built together include furniture, drink coasters and wall murals. The projects keep getting larger, as they’re now working on plans to build a pole barn.

Every day in the studio, Olson uses various modeling tools to get the right line, the right shape and the right appearance on clay. Many of these tools were passed down from her father, and a few still have “Leo” carved into the wooden handles. Olson says she’s been lucky to grow up learning the art from her dad and getting the opportunity to follow in his footsteps.

“When you grow up around it, it has a presence in your life,” she said. “It’s so empowering to channel all your creativity and see the joy it brings people.”