Why I encourage women to become automotive writers

15-year career exploring industry has been a great ride, writes Lorraine Sommerfeld.

I started writing in the auto section of a newspaper about 15 years ago. It was only supposed to last six weeks, by my request. At the time, I could only think of six topics to write about that were tangentially connected to cars without being a sorry attempt to pretend I was a gearhead. I had no interest in doing car reviews — and what else was an auto section for?

I’d been writing a weekly column in the Living section (still do), and how better to entice female readers to at least try the auto section than by Pied-pipering them over with a woman they already read?

That was the six-week plan. But instead of leaving, I discovered an industry I’d casually taken for granted most of my life.

In that weekly column, I wrote what I knew. Road trips as a kid, hanging out with my late father when he bought the next station wagon, and how to find a great independent mechanic. Teens with learner’s permits, seniors who had to be encouraged to hang up the keys, and my mother’s fear of underground parking.

I learned and wrote about buying and leasing, insurance, tires, advanced training, road rage, the Highway Traffic Act, warranties, and the coming wave of huge shifts in technology. Everything but car reviews.

The hate mail was immediate. It came in from every fanboy who believed I’d stolen his dream job. My editors tried to shield me from some of it, but the internet made that impossible. I expected it, but it still burned.

But then a shift happened. People responded with their own stories, their own passion for cars or trips or just childhood memories. The raging bullies faded. What’s most disheartening when you’re a woman writing in the automotive industry is that people attack you not for what you write, but for who you are.

But none of that can shade the best parts: helping readers or viewers navigate an industry that can be intimidating; learning constantly; having strong opinions and sometimes having those opinions changed. I’ve seen parts of the world I never would have otherwise. I’ve driven extraordinary cars and very ordinary ones. I’ve met remarkable people, from students to octogenarians, and watched women around me gain prominence and break ground.

Women are represented in more parts of this industry, and recognized for the skills they bring to their sectors: service management, public relations, upper management, design, driving instruction, technical writing, journalism, editing, and all media forms. We don’t have enough mechanics, but we encourage it.

Mary Barra becoming chief executive of GM in 2014 was a very big deal. Women can, and should, chase jobs in any part of this industry that interests them.

On the writing front, we’re still outnumbered by the men by about 10 to one, but we have many allies within the industry, which helps.

I absolutely admit I got my initial chance because I was a 40-year-old woman and mother — the demographic they were chasing — but I am still here because of something else: I’m good. I got syndicated, I win awards, and I’ve helmed a TV show for eight years. Female auto writers are under a microscope where errors or miscues are highlighted. But this makes us careful, it makes us deliberate in our work, and it makes us better, frankly.

I’m part of a small sisterhood within a huge industry. We look out for each other, we check in with each other, and take care of anyone whose luggage gets lost on a trip. I want younger women to discover what I have, and to know that if they have a voice and a passion, they can carve a niche for themselves.

And, yeah, sometimes they make me do car reviews.