There is a lot of good advise here.

Here are a few thoughts I have on the subject.

If you can possibly volunteer at a bike co op you should. They will have all the tools you might need and experienced folks to help you.

At The bike Exchange I have a woman who is just starting out that asked me to mentor her. I told her to go to the pile of junk bikes we have , choose one, and strip it of parts( for future use by us). It is a great way to experience a bike for the first time.

Then she will start to do some services. I don't plan to tell her what to do until she asks for help. I want her to make mistakes. Then try to fix them.

I will be there to guide her and step in when necessary but won't do it for her, only show her how and answer questions.

I also suggested she go out and buy a few tools for herself. I suggested she go to harbour freight and buy a set of box end wrenches and a set of allen wrenches to start and also a tool box.

With that as a starter set she will be able to do a lot of things without having to go to the tool cart every 5 minutes. She will also have some "skin in the game" . As she finds herself going to the cart for the same tool over and over it will become clear what to buy next.

While this is not a complete list here are some basic tools I put together, many of which I already had.

Bike Repair Tools and Equipment

1 Repair stand
2 high pressure floor pump
3 ball end hex wrenches (metric)
4 cable cutters
5 electrical tape
6 chain breaker tool
7 chain lube ( T 9)
8 Screw drivers ( flat and Philips , small and medium size)
9 tire levers (4 )
10 ball peen hammer (and rubber or plastic hammer)
11 scissors
12 Adjustable wrench ( small and large)
13 gear brush ( and tooth brush or similar)
14 Grease ( white lithium grease in squeeze tube )
15 chain whip
16 Freewheel removal tool ( and / or Cassette removal tool)
17 spoke wrench ( individual or multi tool)
18 permanent marker
19 measuring tape (combo metric and english 12 ft)
20 zip ties
21 plastic baggies (various sizes )
22 pencil magnet (with extension if available)
23 cone wrenches (12,13 and 14,15mm combination wrenches or better)
24 Bottom bracket tool ( for your bike?)
25 Catch pan to place under axles etc to catch bearings (i.e. Auto oil drain pan)
26 auto shop towels (red or blue) or terry shop towels
27 wd 40
28 liquid wrench or equal
29 409 or Fantastic cleaner.
30 big floor sweeping magnet ( to find all those tiny parts you dropped on the shop floor and can't find)
(40) Tool box
(41) Work bench (2' x 4' folding table at minimum to set your tool box and misc parts and tools