Ep 53: Racing Communities, Abandoning Internal Misogyny, and NYC Public Schools with Motorsports Streamer Ash Kalita

Ash Kalita (known as ashvandelay on social media) is a motorsports Twitch streamer and creator who joins me on this week’s episode of If I’m Honest with Julia Landauer. A fellow New Yorker who also went to one of the specialized public high schools, we immediately bonded over our similar backgrounds that unexpectedly led to careers in motorsports. Ash shares how her Polish heritage led her to root for Robert Kubica in Formula 1, how she found online communities through playing video games during the pandemic, and why she sets boundaries around parasocial relationships online. We also dive into the beauty of the community of women content creators in motorsports, abandoning internal misogyny, and the increase of brands advertising to women in motorsports. I ask Ash to share how she got her gig with Red Bull Oracle Racing, to which she emphasizes the importance of in-person face time and gives a pro-tip for working in corporate. Lastly, we touch on her approach to content creation, her role models in motorsports (shout out to Lyn St. James!) and we end with a rapid fire If You’re Honest.

Follow Ash on:

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ashvandelay

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashvandelay

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AshVandelay

X (Formerly Twitter): https://x.com/ashvandelay

And you can visit her website here: https://www.ashvandelay.com/

 

Articles Referenced: https://www.femalesinmotorsport.com/post/female-fan-abuse-in-f1-was-drive-it-out-just-hollow-words

Grid Clique: https://www.gridclique.com/

 

Learn more about Julia Landauer at https://julialandauer.com/

 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello everybody, and welcome to the first guest episode of
season three of If I'm Honest with Julia Landauer. I
am so thrilled to have Ash Khalita, who is known
as ashe Vandalay on the show today. Ash is a
motorsports twitch streamer and a creator who works with Oracle,
Red Bull Racing, NASCAR, FANA, Tech, GT World Challenge America.
Her love of the sport is the foundation of her community,

(00:25):
and she aims to inform and inspire anyone who wants
to learn more about the industry, about racing or is
just looking for a safe space to be yourself. From
Formula One to NASCAR to Indie and all wheels in between.
We're big fans of racing around here, and let me
tell you, Ash embodies that to a tea. It was
really cool, and not only to discover that we have
a lot of background similarities from being from New York

(00:48):
and going to specialized public high schools. We have been
navigating the motorsports field as women for many years. She
shared some of the things that she's really excited about
for women in motorsports and some of the things that
she has seen changing. We talk about how she creates
content and her creative process. We talk about what it's
like to be a streamer, and we jump into a

(01:10):
lot of really fun, honest, vulnerable conversations. I'm in awe
of Ash and how she uses her platform to advocate
for things that she cares about and to keep it
honest and to really create an incredible, safe and entertaining space.
And I love her content so much, so I really
hope that you enjoy this episode with ash. Ash. Thank
you so much for joining me on If I'm Honest

(01:30):
with Julia Landauer.

Speaker 2 (01:32):
Thank you so much for having me. And I also
love the podcast title. It's a I think there's gonna
be a lot of bit honesty plying around, so I'm
pretty stoked.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
We like to keep it real, so I appreciate that.
And I'm going to just jump off because I did
not learn this until just before we started recording. But
we are both from New York City. We both graduated
high school in twenty ten. We both went to specialized
public high schools in New York and Guys, that is
so monumental. I think to have two women who are
in motorsports who are from New York City who then
also went to these public, nerdy high school so this

(02:01):
was so cool to discover.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Yeah, it's a small world, I mean in motorsports specifically,
but yeah, it's cool in New York City with like
a city of eight million people that we found the
two folks in the same year, specialized high school life
going through it.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
It's so cool. And my sister went to the same
school as you and your brother went to my school.
So I mean just really really cool and brings so
many things together synergistically. So I want to get into
some details about that later. But first for our listeners,
who many are not necessarily motorsports fans, can you get
into your background and how you got into motorsports, streaming

(02:35):
and just your foray into motorsports.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Sure. So, my parents are Polish immigrants. They immigrated to
New York City Greenpoint, Brooklyn in the late eighties and
they opened up a Polish Delhi. We grew up around
other immigrants and children of immigrants and whatnot. So you know,
grandparents in Poland, so big Polish family, the usual shenanigans.
If anyone's from green Point, they know. So when Robert
Kubizza started racing in Formula one in two thousand and six.

(02:59):
It was a It was a decently big deal of
my dad is like that father in my big fat
Greek wedding, or if any Polish person does something cool,
we all know about it. We're all emailed, we're all
texted of that. He emailed us about this person. Then
we'd read up on it. He knows that everyone's percentage
of Polish ancestry who's famous, and be like, oh, that
person's great great grandfather's polist and you did you know that?

(03:20):
And amazing, So we had a root for Roberto Pizza
was seen in our house. We started watching Formula one
and you know, seven and six has been watching Formula one.
And I went to college in Florida, so that kind
of introduced me to NASCAR and IMSA and we what
is the Daytona twenty four? A little less for the racing,
a little bit more for the infield partying, but was
familiar with what IMSA was Daytona twenty four. Fast forward

(03:41):
to twenty twenty the pandemic, which I'm I mean, everyone
went through mental health here North there of some kind.
I was in a DC basement apartment. My window view
was our dumpsters of the apartment building. So it was
just I was just not having It was just not
a good apartment. I know, but they were like they're roaches,
and it was just I was not having good It

(04:03):
was pinned you had to sit there to be in
that apartment, and I was like fighting for my life.
So I found communities online, like on Twitch or the
video games that I played, so I would interact with
the people in a live chat rite the streamer would
be responding to folks. You'd come together to play a
game together, and my therapist recommended that I do that
similarly to like a motorsport community, and she's like talking

(04:25):
about motorsports. She's like, I don't know how this Twitch
thing works, but you know they're gapping to you. She's like,
you talk about what you love. And I was like, okay,
and that's a goal we work towards. So I started
streaming the Formula one twenty twenty one season as a
watch lungs and qualifying and such, and then as kind
of starts some racing, because it just kind of goes
hand in hand when you're looking for audience to cross
pollinate and eventually people are like, oh, you should do

(04:47):
other you should cover other racing, like you should do
watch like you would watch if you watch NASCAR, if
you watched ims of if you watch wek like, let's
let's just watch races together. So that's kind of where
I started growing in the motorsport realm and learning all
of because people wanted more information or wanted me to
talk about it.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
That is really really cool that it was. It was
grown out of like your own mental health journey and
you know, growing personally and finding those outlets, and I
think that's really powerful. Were you transparent with that kind
of as you were building your community and as you
were kind of hosting these online communities or was it

(05:24):
more just this is racing, let's talk about racing.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
Oh, pretty sure, it's para. We're pretty open about it.
I do said some boundaries right between, because there's parasopial
relationships where people have come up to me at racetracks
and they're like, oh my gosh, and they know a
lot about me because I tend to talk a lot
during three hour NASCAR watch alongs, right, And then I'll
be like, I'm so sorry, I don't know who you are,
and they'll be like, I'm Matthew and they're like, I

(05:47):
don't know what that is. Like I only know you
by your usernames, so unless your name is like Matthew
on my Twitch chat, yeah, I do know what your name, Like,
I don't know you.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
That's trippy.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
It's a little strange, like there's like obviously noally no
ill intent of like this, but like they know you,
or like they know me through the camera. They see
my motions, they see my basement here, my decor and everything,
and I talk about like my work day and stuff
and the races, but like I don't know much about them,
like they'll tell them like yeah, my day would well

(06:17):
work a little bit in the chat, but the extent
they know me. So it's always interesting when it's like
a very one sided conversation, right, And I'm like, what's
I need? Like name tags so like user names and real.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
Name right, like you knew that, Like, hello, I am whoever,
this is the this is the community I'm part of.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
This is yeah, I'm snow Globe four four six, and
I really have a Matthew, like I need some kind
of Yeah, but it grew out of just community love
and engagement stuff like that, so I greatly appreciate them
for always not only educating me because I don't know
everything about motorsports, which is kind of why, right, I
love it. So I feel like out of college, you
kind of stop learning, you kind of stop being forced
to learn. So motorsports are always constantly googling things. I'm

(06:57):
always like, you know, getting an aerodynamics degree race so
then maybe like a physics degree in the next So
I know a lot of folks who either work in
the series. I have someone who works for ThorSport and NASCAR.
He's one of my community members, and it's really helpful information.
I know someone who works for Firestone and IndyCar, really
helpful information and like they just answer the questions the
community and for myself. So it's become kind of like

(07:19):
a team effort here.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
That's great. So before you started streaming and like had
your face on camera, did you were you kind of
open about your identity as a woman in motorsports. And
I asked that from the lens of you know, I
got really into Web three and NFTs and like joined discords,
and you know, there were a handful of women who

(07:40):
were in the space as well. It was not it
was predominantly men. And I had a few people who
were really active in these chat rooms saying that they
kind of had an ambiguous user name, and then like
people seemed to be surprised when they found out that
they were women in the space. Did you experiencing anything
like that or were you kind of transparent about who

(08:02):
you were?

Speaker 2 (08:04):
I browse lurk the reddit sometimes for like Formula one
sportscar race and things like that, and yeah, my name
is just ambiguous, not by fault, it just I just
happened to like make it that way. But everyone, Yeah,
there's always that surprise when it's like, oh, okay, I've
never been meant sorry, excuse me, met with any kind
of like weirdness luckily either because I've made my privacy

(08:26):
settings very strict. It's just like I just let that
like crazy fester into the dark void of the Internet
usually when it's like oh and then we move on,
so that's nice.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah. But otherwise, yeah, I've been a pretty known and
like social media, like my personal social media growing up
and like going to various summer camps or work or internships.
People I definitely knew about it.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
Okay, that's good. So rolling it back to Cuba, SAP
so he was my favorite driver for a long time
in Formula one. And part of my racing background was
that in two thoy and seven I raced Formula BMDF USA,
so we were the support races for Formula One at
Indie that year and Montreal, and so that year at
Montreal was when he had his horrific crash, like the

(09:09):
barrel roll crash going into turn ten, and that happened
after we had our two races, which I was fifteen
years old at the time, and so it was pretty
monumental to see such a dramatic crash in person. I'm
glad it wasn't before my race. I think not that
my races went well that that weekend, but that's besides
the point. And just like really admired his comeback, and

(09:32):
you know, his class and style, and I think that
the way the drivers carry themselves away from the racetracker
off the racetrack, I think is always really important. Have
you have you been a diehard if it's a fan
the whole time, or were there other drivers that you
then obviously he stopped racing in Formula one, but in
that time, were you also rooting for any other drivers? Uh?

Speaker 2 (09:53):
Yeah, I always been a commits a fan slam usually
and people are like, yeah, gosh. There's some people who
come into the twitch rat they're like, who's your favorite
F one driver? And like the way they asked that,
you know they're trying to start. So my safe answer
is always like Kubita because that's one that's just like
a smart answer. And then two they're always like ah,
And then I'll know if they're like a newer fair Knox,

(10:13):
I'll be like who is that. I'll be like ha,
nice try and you went past me. I do for
for F one. I mean, Lewis Hamilton is just not
only is he the best, I just think I appreciate
what he stands for. He speaks up about a lot
of issues that I re aligned similarly on, so there's
no doubt that he's just a overall I think, just
ten out of ten and just I mean, he's just

(10:35):
a great driver. And I get frustrated when I see
like these little Twitter analysts trying to be like, oh
Hamilton's losing it at his old age. I was like, please,
you have no idea, you know nothing. You cannot say
that and.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Like the machine that I'm also a big Lewis fan,
which was interesting because in twenty twenty I raced in
the euro Series for Anthony coopan who's related to Max
for staff and so I was like the black sheep
on that racing team. But I agree the machine like
preparation and execution and dealing with adversity. And I came
across the quote I don't know who is attributed to,

(11:11):
but it says that privilege is invisible to those who
have it. And I think that that's really important for people,
especially white guys in motorsports, to remember that, like you,
you don't know what it's like to walk through the
world and someone else's shoes, even if you try to
be empathetic, even if you try to do research, you're
just never quite no firsthand. And so I think people

(11:33):
who kind of understate or underestimate the barriers that he
has had, or that women have, or that other people
of color have or any other you know, you know,
stray from the you know norm if you will, in
their quotes. It's just hard. So yeah, it's hard to
see that. So if you're a Lewis fan, talked me
through streaming the twenty twenty one season of Formula one,

(11:56):
particularly that last race, which for those of you who
have not known or watching Formula one the twenty twenty
one season was an incredible nail biter between Lewis Hamilton
and Max Verstappen, and the winner was not decided until
the very last race, and Hamilton was dominating, the clear
favorite to win the race, there was a whole kerfuffle
with lapped car crashing, restarting, red flag safety cars and

(12:21):
basically it got restarted and Lewis Hamilton didn't have a chance.
Max er Stappen got the win in the championship. That's
a very simplified version. But as a Lewis Hamilton fan,
as you're streaming this, what was that like for you?

Speaker 2 (12:37):
The race itself a confusion, right, just so you're just like,
what is going on within the rules and this is
you know, et cetera. I think, I mean, I gotta
feel bad for both drivers because, right Max forever really
can't enjoy that win for him the first one and
like he probably like maybe he does when in the
back of his head it's just like annoying and everyone's
always commenting on it or they're like asterisks or there's

(12:58):
always something. So both of those drivers.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
It's just like, oh right, it's a way to describe.

Speaker 2 (13:04):
It, Like there's no easy way. And I really want,
I really want Lewis to break the record for number
of world championships. He doesn't know that to any of us,
but he just keeps breaking them. And I think for
some reason, people in my head, I would think that
people would stop questioning his ability, whatever his age, if
he just won nine. For some reason in my head,
I'm like, oh, maybe people would stop. The probably wouldn't

(13:26):
because that's too logical. But yeah, that was It was
just confusing about the rules clear cut. You know, being
an American American stick ball sport fan, you know it's
sometimes refs make very judge like not easy calls. But
I feel like for that one was like a pretty
black and white like why do we do it this way?
This was very confusing, So it was definitely frustrating.

Speaker 1 (13:46):
Yeah, and it's like why you deviate from the rules
that are there so that in this situation you don't
deviate from them like you know what to do? Yeah, yeah,
was there. I'm not as familiar with being a community
member streaming, but like, is there a lot of engagement?
What were your community members like or.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
Like oh yeah, uh oh, yeah, the chat was I
think that was one of my definitely one of my
bigger streams, just because there's right you mentioned it was
a nail body of a season. They were head to
head so close to points and they just needed to
win one of them. You just needed to win that
race to be champion or finish ahead to a champion.
So yeah, a lot of people were just watching and
you know, trying to make it a big deal, do

(14:26):
a pre ratio and stuff like that. So that was
that was fun. It was just like an unfortunate ending
to the season and we were like, you're really done
with it and you're like, mm, I don't know what.
I'm just sports is inherently for entertainment, and I was
not entertained, nor happy or any kind.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
Of Yeah, do you watch Drives to survive?

Speaker 2 (14:46):
I did watch the first season, and then afterwards, I
don't know, because I guess I watch. I'm so into
watching the current season. With what I do, it's just
like I I'll just get the highlights or you.

Speaker 1 (14:56):
Don't need the drama. You don't need drama.

Speaker 2 (14:59):
Oh, and like you know, some of it's just not
for some of it. It's just not for me as
an audience member. So yeah, I'm as as a consumer,
so I don't need that big radio messages or incorrect
layovers on certain racetracks. So it's like, I'm all set
here for.

Speaker 1 (15:15):
We we do watch I haven't watched I think the
most recent season or two, but we did watch that one.
And so to like be so upset with how the
twenty twenty one season ended and then to like relive
it afterwards during the show was agonizing. And it's crazy
because I don't think of myself as like a true,

(15:36):
like die hard, like big fan of very much Like
I'm not like a die hard fan for a lot
of things, but like that just seems so deeply unfair
and so deeply problematic, and in a sport that I
absolutely love. And so yeah, just like always gonna be
a little rough spot.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah, it was like unjust, and I was like, trust
this is not being served, Like no one's getting their redemptions.
Ah say it long here and it's just like nothing
you can do about it, just so helpless. Watch it
from the other side of the screen and totally unjust.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
That's a great way to say it.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
I was scrolling through through TikTok and unfortunately reading the comments,
which I really should stop. Someone was saying that you're
not a real fan. Classic classic way to start that.
I know you don't know what you're talking about. If
you support like multiple drivers or different like a driver
than a team, you should only support teams. I don't
know some shenanigans, and I was I was like, there's

(16:28):
I actually have my favorites or people I root for,
but I also don't inherently dislike anything. There's like two
people I have problems with on the F one grid
like I dislike, and then everyone else I hope they
do well. Like I hope everyone's having a nice time,
Like yeah, but I don't understand, like why I can't
root for everything. Same thing watching endurance racing, like I
have my coupizza, my iron Dames, et cetera, hard of racing,

(16:49):
et cetera. But I hope. I just want to see
good racing and I hope everyone does well. I don't
want anyone to crash out or get hurt or injured
or anything like that.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
And you can feel for someone when something goes really
wrong or like even we're recording this at the end
of July, and so there's just a race where you know,
George Russell absolutely had this, in my opinion, brilliant strategy
that was risky that ended up paying off and he
won the race and ended up being a little underweight.

(17:16):
And like, although I'm happy that Hamilton got a wing
because I am a Lewis fan, first, it's like you
absolutely feel gutted for him, and you feel gutted for
the team, or if you are a supporter, you feel
gouded for them, and just like, you know, especially as
a racer, like you know how devastating it is to
have something taken away from you and then to have

(17:37):
all of your performance question because it was related to
weight and so you know, could that have affected you know,
his performance. So yeah, it's a lack of empathy in
the comments. It seems to be the theme of social media.

Speaker 2 (17:52):
There's like a lack of I don't know what it is.
I feel like racing fans are massochists. And if you
don't like because there are so many variables outside side
of everyone's control at that point when you're racing, because
because when you watch sticking ball sports, right like you
have your foul ball lines like thinking bag baseball, you
hit the three bases and then you hit the home
play and you got the ref and well you can't

(18:14):
ask the rough to review the play in major leagues,
but you know you got your strike out bought. Like
there's very like very strict either hit very well or
you don't. Someone's out, Like this makes sense, right, And
then in motorsports, your car can break, something's going wrong,
the pavement's bed, the tire, rubbers wearing, there's all these things.
Like you can practice as much as you can, you
can build the best car, and then someone crashes into you,

(18:36):
insidemon your fault like lack traffic, and it's just the
fact that we're okay with all of this. We're like, yeah,
this is our sport. Like anything can happen someone who
has anxiety and I hate lack of control. The fact
that I'm into motorsports maybe makes sense, but it also
doesn't make sense because like it's a race of attrition always.
It could be an hour sprint and it could be
a sixteen hour endurance race. It's all about surviving.

Speaker 1 (18:58):
You know, I never thought of this until you just
said that. So as I you know, through my keynotes
I talk about the importance of taking ownership, and I
think that kind of one of the most unfair things
about growing up is that you can do everything right
and the outcome is far less predictable. You're much less
likely to get what you want, whereas, like in school,
if you study really hard or you get to like

(19:20):
you'll if you put in the effort, you can probably
get the grades that you want, you know, and all
this stuff, and then you go into the real world
it's like it doesn't work like that, sweetie, Like you
can do everything right and still goes wrong. And you're
really on the point that with racing there are exponentially
more factors that get in the way. And I think,

(19:40):
you know, I remember growing up just feeling a little
jealous of other athletes that got to practice all the time,
or the fact that practice you could practice the craft
of your sport, whereas in racing, you can't really practice
the craft of racing unless you're in a race because
people don't want to crash or risk their equipment. So
it's just, oh, you have given me some new perspective.

Speaker 3 (19:58):
Okay, Well, on that note, we're take a quick break,
but we'll be right back with Ash, we.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
Are back on if I'm honest with Julia Landauer. With Ash,
so we have talked a lot about motorsports. I want
to specifically dive into women in motorsports because I've been
in motorsports now for twenty three ish years and I
feel like we've really seen the landscape for women change
and I think it's been pretty positive overall. A little
slower then I might like. But in your entire time

(20:37):
kind of being involved with motorsports, have you seen anything
in particular that you find particularly profound about women's roles
and the perspective of women in motorsports.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
In terms of I mean, we do a really good
job of making our own communities like infiltrating and like
the most positive aspect of that word, right, sport fans
and all their glory. The men are like either gatekeeping
or whatever, and no, then we'll create content to learn
about it. I see a lot of Formula one one
oh one videos be like, I'm learning about this because

(21:11):
you won't teach me. So I'm going to teach my
community about it.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
Because you won't.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
So being able to just like take the reins and
just trudge through like you're gonna let us in or
we're going to come in whether you like it or not,
which I really appreciate. And then I've seen recently which
is incredible to see because sometimes it's internal misology and
women that we white every day, especially depending how we
grew up, et cetera. And seeing a lot of women

(21:36):
working in motorsports now and bringing each other up the
ladder of either inviting motorsport content creators, either giving them
an advice and making sure they have time for them
and messaging on LinkedIn and doing all that stuff to
just further the knowledge of how to get in motorsports
or working or just general curiosity questions like how does
this work and stuff. It's been cool to see that

(21:57):
kind of happening and unfold and just coming to fruition
a little bit more so than I've been deep dive
into other sports. But this has been when you find
the right people, they'll there's like a little community of
folks here and there that will help out. And it's
been really really great.

Speaker 1 (22:13):
When you talked about taking the reins, that gave me
goose bumps because I think especially since in general women
and girls tend to wait for permission or wait for
an invite. And I really love this, this trend of
taking more ownership over it and being okay, doing what
we want without like the explicit permission. And and I too,

(22:35):
you know, across social media, AM really impressed with the
knowledge level and also the I really like the mixing
of other interests with motorsports. I think something that you
tend to find with with diehard sports fans like Okay, well,
if you're not talking about motorsports in a motorsports community,
like you're not authentic, you're not real. Whereas like you

(22:56):
can you know, dive into other things like attractiveness level,
or things they do off track, or the relationships, like
any other kind of human interest that might be interesting
to you as a consumer of this sport and of
this this this culture to be comfortable talking about it.
And I think that space is really special and I'm

(23:18):
so glad it's growing, and I'm so glad that you're
having that experience of it being more.

Speaker 2 (23:21):
It's also nice to see advertisers more dedicated towards women,
because if I have to see another like Viagricar on
the NASCAR track or commercial, I was like, this is
all right, I know most of your target audience is
probably for this, but I love seeing the Elf collaboration
that the Key Zone with Dadley Deaker, and I was like, yes,
these are things I can actually use and I relate
and I know exactly this is great, Like I'm loving

(23:43):
this well.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
And it's crazy because the NASCAR audience is like forty
percent female, and so the fact that there's not more
of a push to kind of capitalize on that, like,
to me, that's always been like, what the fuck are
we doing? Why is this not being you know, capitalized on.
Men don't get it. I don't get and you're seeing
the power. And I thought that the Elf activation around
the Indy five hundred and for those of you who

(24:05):
who aren't familiar, Catherine Legg is a very accomplished woman
in racing who raced in the Indie five hundred this year,
and she had ELF Cosmetics as a sponsor, and they
did huge activation on Wall Street at the track, you know,
on the social and it really brought awareness it I
think it from afar at least, it seemed to build
incredible community and excitement amongst female fans and families and everything.

(24:28):
So it's just it's like, how how many times do
we have to prove it over and over again that
this is really valuable to invest in. And I'm hoping
we see more of that with F one Academy, And like,
I was really disappointed when the W series kind of
was no more. And you know, I'm cautiously optimistic about
F one Academy because I want to see I want

(24:49):
to normalize seeing women on the podium throughout the field
making passes, you know, being in the garage and being
peers with a are male racers right, and it's it's yeah,
I think it's really important to really emphasize that representation
that they're showing.

Speaker 2 (25:08):
And I think that's where sports cars racing kind of
comes into play, which I really appreciate because I I
find it difficult to explain and I'm gonna pick my
words obviously carefully. I appreciate e F one Academy because
I know exactly right, these girls these excuse me, well,
see that's the first thing. These women, the background, the knowledge,

(25:29):
the strategy, the support, the money, and like, that's what
I want to see. However, women don't have to be
separated from men in racing in general. I know the
point of Efrine Academy. But sports car racing has shown
that Samantha Tan Salamoncnulty. I mean, we have all these
incredible otion at Ashton Harrison, etcetera, etcetera, et cetera. Iron Dames,
we're just Lindsay and James said a cards and care
if your man or women are just scared. If you

(25:50):
hear your break point, it doesn't matter like this, we
don't have to separate out. I understand the point of
Beforne Academy, and you know so I do want to
see just more of importing women, even though they race
in a mix series. Like I understand, I'm want your
shirt right now is everyone watches women's sports, but there's
there shouldn't be women's sports in motorsports. It should just
be motorsports. And then we're supporting women who race in

(26:10):
motorsports and then they race in mixed grid like that.
Support the women in motorsports.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
I hear you, and I will so. When the w
SERIS was first announced, I was vocal that I didn't
love it, like I love that racing as co ed.
I love that girls can compete against boys in go karting.
I love the women can compete against men and that
you know, I acknowledge that there are definitely biological differences
and there might be some slight advantages or disadvantages in
both directions, but there are virtually no other sports. There

(26:38):
are some, but virtually no other sports where you can
compete at the highest level against men and women. And
someone kind of brought up the point, well, if if
you're normalizing seeing a lot of women in the sport,
even if it is an all women's series, like as
a very primary level primary step to kind of helping
with overall ability to support women in more of a

(27:02):
co ed series or mixed series, that that can be
a good thing. And that didn't completely change my perspective,
but it definitely gave me new perspective as to some
of the ripple effects that you can have. But I
hear you. I mean, if if a woman's climbing the ranks,
regardless of what series, if it's in midgets on dirt
or sports cars or any of this, like, talent is talent,
and and I think I think also the sheer financial

(27:27):
barriers to entry in motorsports is something that I think
a lot of other people who don't follow motorsports can't
quite grasp because people will say lacrosse is expensive, and
I'm not saying it's not expensive, but like lacrosse is
a very different level of expensive than millions of dollars
needed to go race it, right, And so yeah, I
don't know where I was going with that tangent, but

(27:48):
I hear you. I hear you a lot of.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
Clear and it's interesting to see certain I would say
boys for this one. Certain boys get upset at like
why are we emphasizing like a woman is racing and
stuff like that. And I was like, I I don't
know how to bring across the how much representation matters
to someone who's always been represented in a sport exactly.

Speaker 1 (28:06):
There's always privileges invisible to those who have it. You
have no idea the impact that it can have.

Speaker 2 (28:11):
I always say the story I saw Captain Marvel, I
was like twenty seven to twenty eight when it came out.
I'm thirty two now, and I was like, finally, like
a female superhero movie where she's kicking butt and not
falling in love, Like finally, Like I just this is
all I wanted. This is a it's to see ever
growing up. So I love watching superhero movies. And stuff
with my brother in comics and whatever. So it's just
nice to have a woman on screen. And I remember

(28:33):
Brie Larson has behind the scenes like working out and
she pushed her trainers jeep uphills. She's like deadlifting three
hundred pounds. I was like, this is awesome. This is
exactly what I need. So just seeing all types of
exactly racing to your point, whether it's a dirt et cetera,
Tote gr Cup, sports car racing, Formula one open wheel
and you're seeing all that like this is a spot
for you and I it just hopefully gets more women

(28:55):
and little girls interested in it, and it's like, oh,
finally we can have more visible representation and be more
vocal because I think we've also always been there in
these spaces. We just haven't realized that we're all there together.
And I think now that we have the social media
and we're talking about it, we're just forming these communities,
these alliances, and we're being more vocal and just standing
up for what we want to see, what we want

(29:16):
to do, and what advertisers you want to go on.

Speaker 1 (29:18):
So yeah, and to your point, I think that's you know,
there's a lot of downsides to social media, and you know,
we're only just going to start seeing some of the
more long term effects, but that is something that is
really really incredible, and I think helping people not feel
alone is really powerful and it's something that, if done correctly,
can be amplified in a really powerful way, I think

(29:40):
on social media. And to your point, even even like
I think it was last year where maybe it was
the Austrian Grand Prix where there were the complaints about
like really share sexism at the racetrack towards female fans
and the fact that there were enough I think they
were all female journalists who did investigative reporting to figure

(30:03):
out what happened, what was going to be the consequence,
how are we going to prevent it moving forward? Like
I don't know that would have happened without social media, right,
and then you have an unsafe environment that a lot
of women are going to and so I think just
happy that there is that positive, powerful element of social
media as well.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
Yeah, absolutely, to build on that, they also started, you know,
group chats at races or like, certainly I didn't know
that many members and communities and stuff starty group chats
really like hey, I'm good being at this race, like
to your mind, like are you can I sit with you?

Speaker 1 (30:34):
Guys?

Speaker 2 (30:34):
It's just like yeah, of course, like please, so just
don't feel alone. Oh I love that.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
Can you where where can people find these group chats?

Speaker 2 (30:42):
If that is a great question, I will have to
send that to you post.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
Okay, I will put it in the I will put
it in the in the description. But I just think
that's really really powerful and I didn't know and just
being able to like, yeah, be visible with people and
be there in person. Oh, that's that's awesome.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
So how many races do you go to in person?

Speaker 2 (31:02):
Ooh? That depends, right. I work with SRO, so most
of them I'm not going to to out of their calendar,
but I'm going to the rest of them, which is
about five races for them. F one, I've been with
Barcelona with Red Bull. I might be going to Vegas.
It's a TVD. It just like all depends on certain stuff.

(31:25):
Was lucky enough to go to an MS of race
at Luna Sega, which I've never been to before. Oh cool,
that was a cool track to experience. Spot twenty four.
Probably go to an IMS and race, So it depends.
I try to also just go to races on my own,
I mean, like with friends, but also not to work
a while. It's not working anyway, so I'll be like, oh,
I'll run into someone. But I think it's as a

(31:45):
motorsport fan, I just want to go and be a fan,
you know, and just like go and watch the racing
and hang out with people too in the infield. So
me and my community members were sure now lifelong friends.
We've gone to VAR almost every year. We won't be
going this year, but we've gone to IMSA oh Ims
Watkins Glenn, which I had to miss, but we've always

(32:06):
gone in field parking ms of Watkins Glenn and just
like found people or maybe like community meet up and
just straight on out.

Speaker 1 (32:14):
That's so fun. It's good to be able to enjoy
motorsports in a non professional sense. You you remember kind
of like why it is that you like the sport
in the first place.

Speaker 2 (32:23):
Yeah, exactly, because sometimes you get so bogged down. I've
originally been bogged down with like the algorithm and the
likes and the engagement stuff, and it's just like you
just got to remember what's important because I can't take
that to the grave. Just like I choke and at
the end of the day at coud Matata. So yeah,
memories and stuff.

Speaker 1 (32:42):
I especially, like, you know, I was pushing to try
to make racing work basically through twenty twenty two, beginning
of twenty twenty three, and so it's like every time
I was at a NASCAR race in particular, it is like,
how can I put my face in the right place,
Like the stress of trying to make sure you get
something or that you are serving, you know, serve yourself
towards your future goals and the professional goals, and to

(33:02):
just show up at a racetrack and I go to
a couple of them for work at NASCAR now and
just like I just get to enjoy and kind of
getting paid to be here, which is different, and just
just enjoy the racing and like see what Lee as
a sanctioning body can do differently or better as a
It's a more relaxing way to go to the racetrack.

(33:24):
I miss racing. I would do it again in a heartbeat,
but it is. It is nice to take that slight break.
You had mentioned red Bull and that you go to
a few races for Red Bull and you do a
lot of really cool content with them. Can you explain
how you got that professional opportunity?

Speaker 2 (33:40):
Sure? So I mentioned the sim racing on my channel.
The Morgal Red Bull sim racing team reached out to
me looking for like creators to partner with, and I
would be luckily just started working with me, which works
out beautifully that and just yeah, I've been doing a
lot of sports with them in the sense of getting
more women and girls into SIM racing. So one of

(34:01):
our partners is Rocked, so we call it rock the
Rig and we're just starting a female F one like
lobby competition, sim racing tips things like that. So whether
it's someone who's new there's no equipment to buy, or
someone who's who's great and like no setups, it's just
like a little community aspect and that we've were doing
for this year and then last year they found six
development drivers to like train with our esports drivers to

(34:24):
up level their skills and stuff like that. So just
on the sim racing side, like esports wise, like that's
also like a path in motorsports, which is wild, so
it's it's been cool. And the F one Academy stuff
asking teams to sponsor F one drivers one Academy Driver.
Excuse me, it's been it's been great to partner with
them on that as well, and just like get that.
It's just so much easier instead of like email like

(34:45):
cold emailing, they're like, yeah, this is these are our
driver sponsored by Red Bull.

Speaker 1 (34:48):
Like here you go.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
And I was like, yeah, great, like have that door open. Stuff.
It's uh yeah, motorsports not surprising a lot about connections
and who you know, that's probably just life.

Speaker 1 (34:57):
But yeah, it's just life. You know.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
It just can get you in the door or give
you cool experiences and stuff. So you mentioned going to
the racetrack and trying to get your face scene and known.
And it's interesting that I I'll interact with teams or
series on social media, but it's not until I go
to the racetrack and they see me face to face
that like feels and like stuff starts happening. It's crazy,
like there's some disconnect between the screen, but it's like,

(35:21):
oh you're you seem like a normal person. Now we
can work with you. It's just going to the racetrack
open so many new doors and it's it's wild.

Speaker 1 (35:28):
It's a credibility thing and it's a showing I think
that you know your stuff that you're putting the time in,
and even just like you know, I think people still
need a real, in person, face to face kind of
just like confirmation that what you are expecting or seeing
is real, and especially if you're representing a team that's
so you know, such a high importance, high priority, like

(35:50):
it makes a difference and people remember how you make
them feel and so you can. I think it's a
lot easier to do that in person than it is
virtually used.

Speaker 2 (35:59):
To working from home and like doing my twitch stuff,
I'm just like, oh, yeah, just you know me to Twitter,
what are you talking about.

Speaker 1 (36:04):
I'm totally legitious. Just give me the job. We'll give
me the job.

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Yeah, just as a contract over down a big deal.

Speaker 1 (36:09):
That's right, I'll sign it right away. That's that's yeah,
it's in person, it's really and it's also interesting, like
for me, this is my first time working in a
corporate setting, and it's the same thing. Like I'm very
efficient at home, like I've always worked from home, Like
I get my shit done. But you do see the
value of just you know, relationship building and the importance

(36:30):
that that has, especially to developed a team as you're
going to be working with people in a more long
term scope. So kind of like I knew all of
that conceptually, but then to see it and practice and
in person is interesting growth.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
Yeah. In corporate America, I call it walking on the floor.
It's every morning. This is a pro tip. If anyone's
in the working in an office.

Speaker 1 (36:49):
Tell me everything. I'm still learning. I'm not a year
in yet. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
Oh yeah. If you if you're working in an office,
and let's say, if you get there earlier something, just
wait to like eight thirty nine. Everyone rolls around and
gets settled. You just grab a couple of coffee and
just walk the floor, say hi to people, start a
little small talk conversations and it's just wild. Tell people's
perception of you will change. It's just like, oh yeah,
of course she's so engaging, like she's she's here all
the time. She always like it's just it's just something
about being seen and just saying good morning, and then

(37:13):
maybe the rounds like in the afternoon, do you need anything,
You're good, let me give you. Like it's just walking
the floor, leaps and bounds and I'm very much I
didn't God, I hate the game sometimes, but you just
have to play. It just part of life again. So
I would very much just rather do my work, go home,
call to day right, just like my pick check and
see you later. I hate the work happy hours. I

(37:33):
don't want to go mini golfing with you. You don't
care what I did this weekend. I like, I, let's
just give me the Excel spreadsheet. We're here to do
a job, get our benefits, and get paid so we
can pay your bills and fun stuff on the weekend.
But yeah, the walking of the that doesn't getting any promotions though,
so walking the floor and stuff like that is a
simple just saying hello.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Yeah, yeah. And I'm also seeing the value in, you know,
especially with teammates or people that you're working more regularly
with more closely, how you can if it's the right
combination of personalities, right combination of values like help each
other elevate. And I think that that's really cool, and
especially coming from so much experience with the team dynamic,
where it's like I got to get the team to

(38:13):
invest in me. I gotta get the guys to want
to work as hard as they can so that we
can go try to win the race. And whether they
have preconceived notions about who I am or not. I
need them to do I need them to work really hard,
and so like that, trying to bring out the best
in people. But then to your point with the games,
it's like, well, if someone else does better, does that
hurt my ability to climb? It's like it's a reality,

(38:36):
but it's definitely a delicate tightrope to walk.

Speaker 2 (38:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (38:44):
End quote.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
And that's it. Yeah, that's all I got for my
advice was just to walk to floor. It's all.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
That's all that. No, that's that's so fair. We're gonna
take another quick break quote. We'll be right back with
ash On. If I'm honest with Julia Landauer. We are
back at ash On. If I'm honest with Julia Landauer.
I want to dive into your creative process a little bit.

(39:09):
So you have a really nice, i think combination of
motor like very technical motorsports content filled it in with
like some life advice content. Do you have a fairly
strict way that you kind of plan out what your
content's going to be? Do you have spur of the
moment ideas? How does that creative process work for you

(39:31):
in terms of the content that you post.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
See to the pants. We're just doing it live every morning.
Detriment is you get all this advice from creators or
videographers and like schedule batch content, batch, schedule, pre schedule,
all the scheduling.

Speaker 1 (39:49):
You know.

Speaker 2 (39:49):
It's like I have ADHD and sixty things to do
and I and I I'm pretty easy to read. Don't
play poker with me.

Speaker 1 (39:57):
Or do win? Don't play poker with me because I'll
I'll lose.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
Everything, but I guess you'll win everything, so maybe do
play poker with me. It's just if I'm not interested
in a topic a serious A race did reach out
to me in Formula one and they're like, we want
you to talk about this race, and I was like,
I genuinely cannot with like a serious face and like yeah,
like check out these GI tickets, Like I I like
the video dead inside Eyes. Just nothing's happening in the

(40:22):
brain lights around nobody's home when I'm talking about it,
So I definitely have to be interested in the topic.
If so, it just can't be. I don't know, And
then sometimes I just lose interest or I'm just not
happy with the way it came out and it turns
out just like talking to the camera a little more
colloquially always seems to be doing a little bit better.
And so yeah, it's just whatever I feel like doing.

(40:43):
Sometimes I'll try like new editing stuff that I saw
someone do it. I'm like, oh, this is cool, and
like try to incorporate that. But usually it's just my
steat of my pants, whatever whatever sounds good that day,
or what I want to talk about.

Speaker 1 (40:54):
Well, you stick the landing every time, so it's working
for you. And I think it's interesting, Like you said,
you take advice. I think there's no right way to
do anything, but especially with creative endeavors, it's like everyone's
brain works so differently, and so like, yes, I'm sure
from a scheduling perspective, it could be great if you
can have things done ahead of time and then you
don't have to stress about it. But you know the

(41:15):
way your brain works, with the way it works, and
so to kind of like be okay with doing it
your way, I think is really important for young content creators,
and whether that's like social media content. You know, my
storytelling is through keynotes, and it's like how I put
together keynote is gonna be very different than how other
people do that and owning it and being okay with
it is how you make it good. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (41:36):
When I talk to my boss at my corpor jobs,
like you don't say like it's due eventually by the
end of the week. It's like, no, give me a
day and of time because I will the way just
my brain like I need.

Speaker 1 (41:45):
A ton, need a deadline.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
I need a deadline. So being my own boss in
this motor sports space and like the worst and best
boss ever, you know, like yeah, whatever, you get the
round to it, I don't care, Like, oh no.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
But do you feel that sorry I cut you off
a little bit. Do you find that your experiences in
corporate are helping you at all on your content creation?

Speaker 2 (42:09):
Yeah, in in interesting ways, and like the professional setting,
like just being professional via email. That's interesting because I've
been on emails with either younger or older content creators,
or maybe by older content creators. I mean they've only
been doing like YouTuber content where it'll just be very
like sounds good and everything's lowercase and professional. I was

(42:30):
just like my brother in Christ, like let's just put
in some efforts while we're typing. It's just not and
it's just very interesting to see and just you know,
I I'm aware of like the stakeholders, Like I know
they had the hit KPIs, Like, I know this is
a business. At the end of the day, I know
we would all love to be on a racetrack racing
for fun, for ships and gigs. I we be in

(42:51):
those machines every single day, but we can't because there's
someone's got to pay for it, and someone's gonna be
making money otherwise they're not sponsoring or happy or need
to be winning. In marketing, so usually when I work
with the series, like I'll get down to it, I'll
be like, what are the KPIs you were judging for?
Like what is your boss going to come to you
at the end of the day and be like this
wasn't good enough. Because it's one thing to just invite
me and be like, enjoy the race, because at the

(43:11):
end of the day, you're probably looking for something. There's
no way you're in biting me to be like have fun.
It's like, no, we're looking for views, engagement clicks on
this link that you want me to promote. There's something
that you need for me. So knowing that kind of
back end stuff because I do it for my job. Yeah,
has been really helpful. Clear communication has been very helpful,

(43:33):
things like that.

Speaker 1 (43:33):
So that is such a pro tip to ask what
the other party is trying to get out of the
relationship because obviously you get to create content, your name
out there, you get paid, but what are they looking for?
And then that that's got to be refreshing to a
lot of these people that hire content creators to like
know that the talent wants, like wants to know what
the what they're judging the performance off.

Speaker 2 (43:55):
Of, Yeah, and meeting with them because motorsports to me,
is still pretty behind on the whole working with creators, YouTubers, podcasters, right,
I mean f one seal doesn't have a credential for podcasters,
not that we think we just but there's it's just
very still old school media and things like that.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
So that is fascinating because I think a formula one
is being word fans.

Speaker 2 (44:20):
It is not.

Speaker 1 (44:21):
Maybe I am mistaken.

Speaker 2 (44:24):
That's a story for drinks. So there's uh where they
like with this.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
Like how you podcasters, how the media how engaging with
social influencers or content creators is a little behind.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
Oh, a little behind and such. So I remember working
with series and I'll attend. They'll be like oh right,
Like what do you need for me? Who your sponsors?
And like, oh no, just go do what you do.
And I was like, I don't think you know what
I do because I twitch stream and I can switch
stream in sprink because there's only one internet tower that
we're one cell tower that we're all sharing right now,
so right, And I also need their help to schedule interviews,

(44:58):
Like I can't just walk into garage. They won't know
what I am. So if you can make those introductions
or connect me to or like the PR person that
I can then tell my questions to, or is there
a topic you want me to hit on, like is
there a tech partner? Because I would happy to research it,
and like I need a little bit of guidance of
like what's important to you and your values and like
I can make that into mine and we can. Yeah,

(45:19):
I can make the content creatively mine, but I need
a little guidance of what you're looking for. Do you
want more people attending? Do you want more people being like,
Oh this is cool? Do you want to be exclusive?
Blah blah blah blah, And then we can get to
the nitty gritty. But and then what KPI is or
your boss is your boss judging you out at the
end of the day.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
Yeah, that's I mean, it's mind blowing that those questions
aren't being asked necessarily from the get go, and it's
really great that you're bringing them up.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
And Yeah, which really a difference I think they think
so the word influencers that everyone, it's where they think
of the ones that have like a lot of follower
accounts and then go drink champagne and the paddock and
they can do you tell them to go do whatever
because their content is dependent on that kind of stuf. Yeah,
but I would very much, like would prefer to be
in the garage with you, man, if you handed me

(46:05):
a wrench, I would love that, Like I would I
want to work for your team whatever it is, Like,
I would love to do that and then talk about
it afterwards and be like, yeah, it's twenty four hour
race men, I don't know how these mechanics do it,
you know, and just be like I was holding all.
I had a job. My one job was wrench were tearoffs.

Speaker 1 (46:21):
And I jump over the front of a NASCAR car
and rip that tear off.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
That's the dream, you know, I'd be such a good
tearoff person.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
Oh, we'll see what we can do. Now my goal
and bring it to the content or the influencer and
marketing team or I gotta figure out the right team
with a NASCAR that.

Speaker 2 (46:38):
That is, let her tear the tear ups. That's all
she wants.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
To Let her take the tearoffs with a wrench in
her hand.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
Yeah, I think NASCAR, or I mean, excuse me, the
NASCAR teams. I'm sure they all have pick crew practices
one way or another, and I would love to be
like invited to one and be like, yeah, try to
check up this car to five foot three body of
yourself and could be like yeah, because at home, I'm like,
just like watching the Olympics, I'm like, yeah, I could that.
I had ten years of training, but I could do that. No, Like,
I can't believe she missed that the volleyball, you know,

(47:06):
she missed that dig ridiculous. I could do that in
my sleep. There's a hustle there.

Speaker 4 (47:10):
I can check her heart the pain cave care she
so Yeah, I would like love to do a video
about Hey, this is me, this is my I've been
trying to get.

Speaker 2 (47:21):
Red Bull to send me like maxress Happens workout plan.
I was like, let me do his workout plan with
my trainer for like a month, and let's see what
the differences are, or like.

Speaker 1 (47:29):
Let's see like what you'll be ready to drive?

Speaker 2 (47:33):
I do that neck training, get shoulders.

Speaker 1 (47:37):
Yeah, the iron neck is some real cute stuff. I
was on the dating apps. I would I would definitely
put a picture of me in the iron neck there,
just to see what conversation starters.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
They're gonna be, like, is this in your apartment?

Speaker 1 (47:54):
It's oh good times training. Yeah, okay, we're we're going
to be wrapping up soon. But I one more question
before we get to the rapid fire. If you are honest,
who are some of your role models in motorsports?

Speaker 2 (48:11):
Ooh? In motorsports particularly, I researched a woman in Camille
du Guest, who was I think the first hour woman
to get a driver's license and the second woman to
ever compete in motorsports. It was like eighteen ninety six.
Her husband died, leaving her the wealthiest woman in all
of France.

Speaker 1 (48:28):
Good for her. Yeah, this is exactly what I thought
is a business plan, right, there so, and.

Speaker 2 (48:35):
Then she also became like a balloonist, so hot air ballooning.
She took up all these hobbies, archery, shooting, fencing.

Speaker 1 (48:43):
All of the co ed activities, all co ed activities.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Well, it's interesting because Ben's reached out to her to
compete in a race, but the race officials were like, no,
you're a woman, you can't do it, which is weird
because like the she had the manufacturer back here. This
is wild. It's like, can you imagine right now without
what happened? And from the Paris Amsterdam Paris race, she
was out of twenty seventh. I think she was running
six or eighth, but then she had she stopped to

(49:08):
help a competitor because he rolled into a ditch.

Speaker 1 (49:10):
Oh wow, did she like?

Speaker 2 (49:12):
I mean, that's some that's good teammate stuff.

Speaker 4 (49:15):
You know.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
I appreciate that. So pretty cool woman. Lind Saint James
is huge because I've seen her Ted talks and I
just appreciate how write the quote earlier. But a car
doesn't care of your man or a woman. The car
has no idea what you are like. The car just
wants to gets to work. So yeah, I was appreciated
that perspective, and I think that always when I bring
that up to other people, when they're like, oh, women
shouldn't be racing, I was like, why the car does

(49:35):
not zero ducks given by this car?

Speaker 1 (49:38):
He just yeah, have you met Lenin in person?

Speaker 2 (49:41):
I have. I've been to the women in Montage Bortn,
North America. I've gotten to Metland. I've also went to
a skip barber school and she was there. I was
in Sea Brink and doing Mustang getees and she was
at this I don't know who she knew or why
she was there, and not that I'm complaining. She's welcome
to be wherever I am or whatever she wants to be.
But I was like, what do you see? What are
you doing here?

Speaker 1 (50:01):
Yeah? Yeah, you know, she's incredible. I had a well, she
was pretty tight end with skip Over for a while
and so like that was my first racing series when
I was thirteen, and one of the instruct I mean again,
I was thirteen years old at that time. Thirteen year
olds were not racing cars and aging myself there. Wow,
I feel like an old woman who just said that.

Speaker 2 (50:22):
That's when I wasn't thirteen year old woman back in
my day back in my day.

Speaker 1 (50:26):
Jesus by one of the you know, I think my
parents my dad had seen her women in the Winter
Circle program that she put on and applied and didn't
get in, and one of the Skip Barber instructors kind
of reached out to her and I was like, I
know she's really young, but you should take her. And
she graciously did and has been an incredible mentor friend

(50:50):
outlet when she gets frustrating. And I could remember I
had one season where I was like really unhappy with
the team and I explained, you know, you start to
wonder like are they sabotaging me? Am I being a
conspiracy theorist, Like is this going in my head? What's
going on? And you know, I told her like I
don't know if they're out to get me, but this
is kind of what I'm feeling. And she's like, oh,

(51:12):
let me tell you my experiences, and like she didn't
even like question the validity of my feelings. Right, It's
just like, yes, this happens. This happens to minorities in
any industry, but especially women in motorsports. So yeah, just
big shouts to lind Saint James because she's absolutely awesome
and just such no bullshit and we love no bullshit.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
She had a really good his story when she's talking
about she wanted to I think race with Ford and
she's like, I just emailed everyone every day because I
Noah is only no from that person on that day.
And she's like I broke them down. They eventually said yes,
and I was like that sense is key that is
That's that's some boss shit. Or she's like, I'm going
to keep I'm going to keep emailing you. She's like,
I don't care who I email that. I was like,

(51:51):
I could email the accountant of Ford and it was
just like not the email to send. But I was
gonna wear people down. Oh yeah, mindy about there.

Speaker 1 (51:57):
Wiki wheel does get the grease. That's a kind of
icky statement, but it is so true.

Speaker 2 (52:02):
M all right.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
We're gonna segue into our final segment of this conversation,
but I feel like I could keep asking you questions forever.
But the if your honest segment, Okay, who is your
favorite F one NASCAR indie and empsode driver?

Speaker 2 (52:23):
Ooh, okay, F one I'm just gonna say Lewis Hamilton
because amen, amen Nascar? Ooh, Nascar is difficult. I I'm
a I'm a Ryan Blae blaming truther. So big fans
support that, uh Indy car Scott McLoughlin, M he's fun
on X He's just so he's cool. I've I've had

(52:44):
a chance to interview him multiple times and just he's
just chilled. I mean, all New Zealanders are, right, we
see that with Sveg. Now they're just like, yeah, they're like,
shit happens. I don't know. It's racing and the like
they'll go, they'll they'll just go live their day and
then go to the next race and then get P
one or P two or body or whatever and it'll
be fine real quick.

Speaker 1 (53:02):
To that pointment interrupted rapid fire because I think SPG
was racing at CODA this year and he last year
and got like absolutely dumped, like was so angry clearly
or he should have been. And he gets off and
he's doing his interview and he's laughing and smiling. It's
like no one who just got the wind taken away
from them should be that happy, you know, just oh, gosh,

(53:26):
happy New Zealanders or Australians or that that section of
the world.

Speaker 2 (53:31):
Gosh, I swear someone bonked into him gosh in a
recent NASCAR race, and he was just still like yeah,
saying exact that. He was like, you know, this happens.
What do you do about it?

Speaker 1 (53:44):
Mm hmm. What's she gonna do about it?

Speaker 2 (53:47):
Oh? Right? Uh, Indy carbas HiT's got McLoughlin, you said INZA.

Speaker 1 (53:52):
Oh, which obviously is a very big Yeah, we're racing, but.

Speaker 2 (54:01):
God, it is a lot of exccinumanity. I was gonna
go with Sarah Bobe from Iron Dames and such. I've
also had a chance to meet the Spot twenty four Hours,
and I mean just all the Iron Danes women are
just like also no bullshit, and they're like, we're just
here to race, Like this is so much like we're
here to we're here to kick some button take names,

(54:21):
and I al said they do. I also had a
chance to meet the Faft drivers Jarvis and Coffer Caffer.
They're also also I mean, I just appreciate all the
driver gosh what I really liked about and just like
rite gg World challenges, like everyone's just into garage, like
we're working, like we're doing stuff and they like keep

(54:41):
them away or like high them and just like oh,
yeash like they're pretty cool. But you can have their
autograph sessions, you know, hang out and talk to them.
We're asking questions and like the mechanics want to ask
get asked questions. I asked when they're working. But if
you're like, hey, like what engine is, what are what
do I use it?

Speaker 1 (54:56):
Like?

Speaker 2 (54:56):
What I want to use it for my truck bag something? Yeah,
you're asked a Claar and GG three mechanic, what oil
they use? You can use it for your Ford F one.
But yeah, everyone's just friendly and open. They just like
motorsports and every single driver I've interviewed and if asked
what would you race? And they're like, I just want
to race. They're like, I don't care what it is.
I just want to be in a car. I just
want to I just want to race. I just want

(55:17):
to be on the track. And they're like, I will
take any opportunity.

Speaker 1 (55:19):
Yeah, there's a humility to that. Thanks for a body series.
I think, all right, what show are you watching right now?

Speaker 2 (55:29):
Sure? Am I watching? I guess the Olympics doesn't count.
That's exactly what's happening right now.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
I mean that's what we're all watching. But it's not
quite what I.

Speaker 2 (55:37):
Feel like I'm on some kind of like stock market
exchange like a lot because like women's basketball finishes and
I have to switch over really quickly to like rugby
seven's and switch over swimming and switch over. Like everything's
like happening back to back to back.

Speaker 1 (55:47):
I'm like timing stuff and like some of the stuff's
really early in the morning, which I'm not that committed to,
but watching afterwards.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
Yeah, I do like the Netflix real estate reality TV
shows like Selling Sunset and stuff, but recently their newest one,
Owning Manhattan, which is definitely more towards real estate, like
more real estate focus. There is some drama in there,
which I I know sometimes we just enjoy other people's
drama that's not yours, but I we.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
Love to drama when it's your drama, right, someone else.

Speaker 2 (56:14):
Not mine? And I just appreciate, uh the the owner
of the real estate Ryan Stirhan, he had some really
good quotes that I was just like, oh wow, like
that's a good a good way to think about it,
or just like starting his business in real estate and
he's like, I'm the sixth best real estate now and
like I want to be number one like it's his goal,
so it's.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
It's really yeah, yeah cool? Who or let me try
that again. Who is someone or what is something you'd
really like to create content with?

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Ooh, that's like a question. Who would I like to
create content with? I just want to say Lebron James
to meet Lebron James, but that doesn't count.

Speaker 1 (56:55):
And count we're manifesting here.

Speaker 2 (56:57):
Like does he just want does he want to whip
around and McLaren and to the Americas.

Speaker 1 (57:01):
I'm sure he would actually.

Speaker 2 (57:02):
But be a two seater Indy car ride. I'm trying
to think. Who gosh, it's interesting. I don't want to
do anyone in the motorsports space. I have a really
big thing if I don't watch other people's motorsports content
too heavily. Like I'll support everyone and like their stuff
because I know that helps with the algorithm and things
like that, but I don't want their stuff like accidentally
leak in the mind. Like if someone has a topic

(57:23):
or an opinion, I want to form my own first
and get it out there before like I hear and
get convinced. Does that make sense?

Speaker 1 (57:28):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (57:28):
I felt I'll watch what hockey content creators are doing
I'll watch what baseball content creators are doing. There's one
baseball creator I really like. Her name is Kate Kai
t S It's ask Kate, and she talks about baseball
a lot. She's doing a lot with the MLB and
stuff like that. I think making like her style content
with motorsports would be really good.

Speaker 1 (57:47):
Fun cool. Well, we'll keep an eye out for that
and support you when you do that. Last, if you're honest,
what's something that you're grateful for right now?

Speaker 2 (57:57):
Ooh, Honestly, I think about this all the time. It's
just my parents. I can imagine immigrating to a new
country at twenty one, just starting a small business and
just sacrifice, like they didn't get to do their hopes
and dreams and you know all that fun stuff. And
me and my brother are now able to do that
because they immigrated over and owned a business and woke
up at four am to open up the deli at
six and then came back home at eleven pm, and

(58:19):
for gosh, they owned the deli for thirty years. So
I think about it all the time because I was like, man,
I was like, I hope I'm making them proud, or
like I just want to like help pay off their bills.
I want them to retire comfortably. And it's just like
I just want to make sure that they're taken care of.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
That's so beautiful. And I'm sure that they are proud
of you because you're doing really awesome, kick ass stuff
and advocating for important things and clearly being transparent and
vulnerable about what it is to be human and your experience,
and that's all that anyone can ask for, especially for
a public figure. So I'm sure I'm speaking for others
when I say thank you for being that kind of representation.

Speaker 2 (58:55):
It's not easy.

Speaker 1 (58:57):
I know, I'm sure it's not. I can't imagine, like
I'm I don't have the largest following by any means.
I can't imagine being that vulnerable to so many people
from behind a keyboard Like it's it seems pretty scary
to me. And I'm all about doing things that scary you,
but that seems scary, So ash, where can people find you?

(59:17):
I will link everything and obviously share it, but where
on online? I had someone once say, what do you
mean you want my address? And it's like, no, I
don't want your headdress for people, just where can they
find you online.

Speaker 2 (59:29):
Uh, you can find me online at almost I think
every single social media even LinkedIn at Ash fandly A
s h v A n D E l A. Why
that is a Seinfeld reference for folks who might be
curious and not my real last.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
Name, which is funny because I did not watch Seinfeld
and did not know that reference, and so I just
assumed it was your last name and you were like, no, yeah,
that is not my last name. It's like, what's these?
But thank you for clarifying for all of our listeners
who may be Seinfeld nubes like me. But Ash, this
was so much fun. Thank you so much for giving
us some of your time and for all of your

(01:00:03):
raw and very honest I loved all your honesty stories
and I'm excited to continue following you and supporting you
and cannot wait to see all of your upcoming content.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
Yeah, thank you for having me on your podcast. I
really appreciate the time.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
Amazing. Everyone, go give Ash a follow if you can
like the podcast, share this episode with a friend who
might also want to get involved in motorsports communities, and
watch Ash as she streams. And as always, thank you
so much for letting us be honest with you, and
I look forward to seeing you in two weeks