Photo: Created by Tessa Bury
Who She Is:
Growing up in Sweden with a self-described fear of failure, Simone Giertz taught herself engineering, fabrication, and CNC machining by deciding to build robots that were intentionally terrible at their jobs. Her intentionally terrible robots, including a breakfast machine that flung cereal everywhere and a lipstick applier that went crazy on her face, went viral, building her a global audience of millions who loved watching her learn in public. Behind the comedy was serious technical skill: Giertz designs her own parts, programs her own machines, and fabricates everything in her own shop. She later converted a Tesla into a pickup truck she called the Truckla entirely by hand, a project that required advanced CNC work, welding, and custom fabrication. She has become one of the most recognized and beloved figures in the global maker community.
Why She Matters:
Simone Giertz showed a generation of makers that the path into machining and fabrication does not require perfection, credentials, or permission. By learning out loud and sharing every mistake alongside every success, she built a career on the same iterative, hands-on problem-solving that defines CNC machining at its best. Her story is especially powerful for anyone who feels intimidated by technical fields, because her entire brand is built on the idea that not knowing how to do something is the best possible reason to try it. Curiosity and a willingness to fail forward can get you further than any credential, and Giertz has built an entire career proving it.
