Meet The Motorsports Driver Leveraging Social Media To Fuel Her Career

Forbes

Professional racing driver and content creator Lindsay Brewer joins Forbes Talks to discuss the convergence of motorsport and digital media. Brewer reveals how she utilized personal branding to overcome the industry’s high financial barriers, financing her return to the track through the creator economy.   00:00 Introduction 00:54 Lindsay’s Origin Story And The High Cost Of Racing  02:36 Leveraging Social Media For Funding  06:31 Overcoming Stigma As An Influencer In The Paddock  10:13 Strategic Partnerships And The F1 Effect  14:09 Balancing The Life Of A Multi-hyphenate Athlete  24:13 The Business Case For Sponsoring Female Drivers  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Hi, everyone. My name is Maria Garcia Santillana. I'm a careers reporter here at Forbes, and

00:07today I'm joined by Lindsay Brewer, a racing driver and content creator. Lindsay, how are

00:11you doing?

00:12I'm great. Thanks for having me.

00:15Absolutely. I know we're going to talk a lot about a lot of things today, but I want to

00:19start with getting a little bit into your own racing career. Talk to me how you first

00:23started racing, how you got into the sport.

00:25Yeah, it was a bit of a unique situation. I have zero family or anyone I know in racing.

00:32I just went to a birthday party at a go-kart track when I was a little kid, about 11 years

00:36old, and absolutely fell in love with it. Ended up beating all the adults and all the boys

00:41there and just fell in love, couldn't get me out of the go-kart. So I ended up going back

00:47the next day, couldn't get me out. And so my dad bought me a go-kart, and I raced my

00:53first regional championship the next year when I was 12, won that championship. I was

00:59like, okay, maybe I am good at this. So I ended up competing nationally throughout high

01:04school in shifter karts. Then dabbled a little bit into cars, got like my racing license for

01:11cars, did a series called Legend Cars in 2015, won the national championship in that. And then

01:18unfortunately, racing is a very expensive sport. So I had to take five years off for university.

01:24My family couldn't financially support me any further past that level. So kind of took a

01:31pause on racing, got a business degree, then started to grow my social media in that way

01:38and started racing full-time again in 2021. And so I feel like I've been in the racing industry

01:43a long time, but yet this is only my fourth or fifth now, I guess, season coming up to

01:49it racing cars. So it's been a little bit of a journey and ups and downs, but it's been great.

01:57Talk to me a little bit about that break you had for university. What made you want to come

02:01back to motorsport?

02:03So I was super fortunate to find my passion at a young age because once I had raced, even

02:09since I was 12, I knew this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I knew this

02:14is what I wanted to do for my career. I knew there'd be nothing that could stay in my way

02:19to get to that point to make this a career. And I'm sort of the type of person that like,

02:24if I have my mindset to something like I almost to a delusional level, like I will make sure

02:28I get that done. And so I knew if I, it was out of my control finances at that point, my family

02:35didn't have connections in racing. So I knew social media was starting to become a thing

02:39kind of right when influencers were first beginning on Instagram in 2015. So I just knew

02:46if I was able to grow my audience, then potentially I could use that in order to get funding for

02:52my racing. So that's exactly what happened. I studied for four years. I really enjoyed my

02:58experience, like met some great people, had a great experience at San Diego State. And I felt

03:04I was able to use some of that business teachings into my racing as well and into getting funding

03:10for my racing. And so it was an interesting, unconventional way to sort of get back into

03:17the sport. But my mind was, I knew I was going to be racing again. It was just not if it was when

03:22I would get back to it. Yeah. And I think that kind of connection of using content creation to further

03:27your racing career is really interesting to us. How did you know that that was kind of going to be

03:32the way to finance, you know, your sports, the sports side of your business?

03:37Well, I think I just knew because it was something I was super passionate about. Like

03:41to me, it wasn't just transactional, like, oh, I'm just doing this to fund my racing, I guess. Like

03:47I really enjoyed sharing my life and I really enjoyed showing what I'm doing. And so I initially

03:52I was just posting lifestyle content because that's what I was around. I didn't really have access to cars

03:56when I was in university. But then once I graduated, I started posting more car content and

04:02there's a big auto scene in here in LA and Orange County. So I started posting a bit more about it in

04:07the automotive space. And I saw the traction that that gained and the opportunities that that was

04:13starting to bring in. So I think that's when I knew, okay, wait, I really can make this my way back

04:18into the sport. And so it was just, I don't know, it's just something I knew I loved doing. And I

04:25felt like I knew there was a smart angle of ways I can combine it because it was such a niche,

04:30especially for women in motorsports. There's so few of us. I'm like, okay, maybe there is an angle

04:34here. Yeah. So that's kind of how it started. Did you have any inspirations or role models going

04:41into motorsport as a woman? As you said, there's not a lot of women in all kinds of motorsports,

04:45but I wonder what you were seeing. Yeah. I mean, of course, Danica Patrick was one of the key

04:51pivotal figures growing up because she honestly was one of the only women that I saw that was

04:57very notable. And she was another woman, I think, that used her social media and her,

05:03I don't want to say appearance, but just her persona to her advantage and getting partnerships

05:08based off that, like GoDaddy. So that's in a business sense, I respected her on that angle.

05:12But then I also really looked up to Susie Wolfe, even from a younger age, Susie Wolfe. And now

05:18she's obviously doing F1 Academy, which is amazing. And I saw Sarah Fisher, obviously, and Catherine

05:25Legg. And so there was a few key female driver figures that I really looked up to. But I really

05:30did like how Danica, I saw that path that I was like, okay, if she can do it, why can't I do it?

05:36Which I am hoping to provide for girls now, you know, posting my content. So it's,

05:41it was really cool. Yeah, it's interesting. It sounds like you're really thinking about this as

05:46a combination of both, right? Not just racing, not just content creation, but both of them together.

05:52Yeah, because I love both of them. Obviously, racing is my number one passion. It's what I've

05:55loved doing since I was a kid. But I love content creation. And I've been doing it for 10 years now.

06:01So it's just, I feel like it's also a part of me. And I feel like a lot of people in racing used to

06:06not take me serious. Because yeah, they didn't take me seriously because of that. And now I think

06:11content creation, everyone is a creator. Now I feel like it's such a like saturated space,

06:15which is good. You know, people are having their own brand. But it's very, it's much more recognized

06:19as like a legitimate career now. But back in the day, when I was doing that, I got made of made fun

06:25of a lot by not only my peers in college. But also, when I got back into racing, people in the paddock and

06:31men did not take me seriously, because I would be posting TikToks at the track. And, and obviously,

06:36when it came down to race, like, I have to separate the two. But when I had hours of free time in

06:42between sessions, and I would post some TikToks, I definitely got some backlash from, from the guys

06:47in the paddock. But now I see everyone else copying it. So I'm like, yeah, you know, how has that

06:53changed? Right? Just not just from the prevalence of content creators in motorsport, but from a respect

06:57perspective to your own career. Yeah, I mean, I think at the beginning, it was tough, because I

07:03took that break. And so people, when I got back into racing, people were saying, who's this influencer

07:09pretending to be a race car driver? And I'm like, I've been racing since I was 11. But I think

07:14obviously, it was, I wasn't taken as seriously at the beginning. And I, you know, I hadn't proven

07:20myself until I would say even till this year, when I when I was winning races, and I almost won the

07:26championship, I was two points back in this Lamborghini championship. I think that's when

07:30people were like, okay, she can drive, you know, she's not just a content creator driving. And I

07:36think, again, maybe once I got up to the indie next level and open wheel, you have to be quick to even

07:40be able to compete at that level. Like there's a certain threshold of time that you have to be from

07:44the quickest driver to even compete there. And so I think that's sort of when I felt a shift of

07:49respect. And I think again, once the creator space changed, and now more and more people are

07:55creators, and they understand the value of that, I think that's when the respect short sort of

07:59shifted. And they're like, wait, this is actually really smart of you to be able to use the content

08:04creation to help fund your, your passion and your career in racing. Yeah, how do you view your role

08:10kind of sitting in between these two worlds and bringing more women into motorsport?

08:15Yeah, I think, of course, the goal for me is to, I love showing what I do. But my personal goal is to

08:22show young girls and other women that look, there is a space for them here in motorsports,

08:26not even just as a driver, but engineers, strategists, people in marketing, just any

08:32other role in motorsport is so important to showcase like, look, there's a space for us here.

08:37It's not just unattainable, like you can be here. And I hope that at least just showing me showing

08:44myself in that position on the track and winning races, like it's like, yeah, you can do this. And

08:49right now, that's what I'm doing. But I'm hoping to expand upon that and sort of help women further.

08:56But it's been a goal of mine to start like a go-karting league for young girls. And I want to

09:00eventually do more philanthropic work for younger girls. So that's like kind of on my radar next.

09:06But for now, at least I'm able to like showcase look like, yeah, there's a spot for us here. And it's

09:11if you want something bad enough, you can't make it happen.

09:14Yeah. And I think your point, right, it's almost leveraging this niche to progress. You mentioned

09:20Danica Patrick with the GoDaddy sponsorship. Suzy Wolf, I also think, has been kind of a pioneer in the

09:25F1 Academy space by getting people makeup brands, luxury, you know, fashion brands to partner with the

09:32traditional kind of like male sport. I wonder how you're thinking about these strategic partnerships,

09:36right, that you can leverage to grow your own brand, but also to get more women into the sport, even just

09:41knowing what it is. Yeah, a hundred percent. Like I've been fortunate enough to work with some

09:45amazing brands on and off the track. And yeah, even to name a few, like I'm going and working

09:51with Wynn and Guest Jeans this weekend at F1 Vegas, which is really cool. And I just did a partnership

09:56with Qatar Airways, which was really great. And there's just been some amazing brands that I've

10:01gotten to work with, like C4 Energy sponsored my racing for a few years. And I think it's great,

10:06again, what Suzy Wolf's done with F1 Academy, with Tommy Hilfiger and Charlotte Tilbury.

10:10And that's sort of on my radar next. I really want to work with a makeup brand. So I've been

10:14talking to a couple of my favorite ones and fingers crossed, because I think there's such

10:19a play there, especially I'm wearing a full face of makeup when I have the helmet on, like I want

10:24to look good, feel good and perform better. So I think it's really cool that I'm able to combine

10:30both worlds. And so has Suzy and F1 Academy. And I love seeing that progression.

10:35Yeah. How do you ensure your content feels authentic to you, to the sport, and also to

10:40the brands that you're partnering when you're partnering, sitting in the midst of all of this?

10:45Yeah. I mean, I think what makes me me is I always will be super girly still. I love

10:51fashion, beauty. I love being like a badass race car driver, but still wear my fake nails and my makeup.

10:57And I think to remain authentic to myself, I post not only race car content, but I post lifestyle

11:03content and beauty content as well. And I just, I love doing both. And so I always try to remain

11:09authentic to myself in that sense. And I think that also helps with brands because they see that

11:14authenticity and I'm able to work with motorsport brands, but I'm also working with fashion and

11:19beauty brands. And so I think it's obviously a balance. I wanted to try to diversify my content as

11:24much as I can, but I just try to post what I like to post. And I feel like that's what ends up

11:28performing the best. Yeah. Obviously it sounds like an incredibly busy schedule. How do you balance

11:34kind of, you know, your preparation for an athlete, your brand deals, the editing and kind of approvals

11:40that obviously on the content creation side take some time? It's a lot. I'm not going to lie. It's

11:44been a busy, busy past few months. I just got back from Europe and my last race of the season was in

11:51Italy. And so I was there for three weeks. I was testing with formula E for the all women's test,

11:56which was incredible with Penske. And now I'm going to Vegas. And then I fly to Qatar next week

12:02for, for that race in formula one. And so it's in between all that travel, I have to maintain,

12:07like, I mean, I have to be in shape. I have to drive on my simulator and be in the best driver

12:12shape I can be. But then I also have to think about what content do I need to capture and film? And

12:16so I'm fortunate. I have a great team around me. I have like a personal videographer, photographer

12:21that I keep on retainer that travels a lot with me and he edits my stuff. I mean, I'm the one doing

12:27all my social media. I have all my logins. Like I don't have anyone run it for me because I feel

12:31more authentic that way. But I do have a great management team, PR team, videographer that I've

12:38worked with for five years that I really have a core group of people I trust. And I found that

12:41really helps me. And my fiance can travels with me as much as I can, because I think mental health

12:47is also a huge role. Like when you're traveling so much and as a professional athlete, having,

12:52and especially in racing, it's such a mental sport, your mental health is so important. So I do feel

12:57burnout at some times, but like, I don't know. I do enjoy living this fast paced lifestyle as well.

13:04You have to be a bit crazy when you're a race car driver, I feel like. So I enjoy it. And I just try

13:10to balance. It's all about like balance, in my opinion. And yeah, but it is hard. Sometimes,

13:15sometimes I feel like I'm not strong enough, or I didn't do enough sim time, or I'm not posting

13:20enough content, or like, there's so many different aspects of what I do. I'm not just an athlete,

13:25and I'm not just an influencer, content creator. Like, I am spread thin, but I try my best. I try my best.

13:32Yeah, that's all I can do.

13:34It's the double like edge sword of a multi hyphenate, right? You're just, there's a lot of things and

13:39things that you can do to fill up your day. Yeah, I'm trying to start a business and do

13:44two different businesses, actually. So yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot, but it's fun.

13:49We've talked a little bit about kind of these all women racing series from the Formula E test to

13:53F1 Academy. I wonder what your perspective is on how those are helping women get into kind of the

13:59bigger light in motorsport. Yeah, I mean, I think the biggest issue of why there's not a lot of women

14:05in motorsport right now is just that initial funding and initial investment. And obviously,

14:12the eyeballs of not now, like before F1 Academy and these women's series, like there weren't a lot

14:18of women in the sport, and there weren't a lot of eyeballs on women. So I think now that we have

14:22F1 Academy, it's showing again, like, look, there's a space for us, there's a space for women.

14:26But I also think it's giving young girls that initial investment and opportunity to get up from

14:32carting to the junior formula level, because you see a lot of girls in go-karts, but then you don't

14:37see a lot of girls jump up, take that next step up to junior formula. And it's that gap and that

14:42funding gap, which is why I had to take five years off for university, because I didn't have the

14:46funding gap. And I wish F1 Academy was around when I was a bit younger. But yeah, I think that's,

14:52it's just really great to have these opportunities, because it's just giving women that chance that they

14:59didn't have, and they didn't know even existed. So I think, and to have more brands continue to

15:05fund women, it's not only good for their PR marketing, which is great in itself, but it's

15:11also good to engage different audiences. So like, it's a smart play for brands, because they're able

15:17to engage in a whole new audience and younger demographic, female demographic. And so that's

15:22from a business side. But I think for female drivers, it's just, it's just amazing to get the

15:26opportunity. Because, again, I wish F1 Academy existed when I was younger. And it's, I'm so

15:31grateful for Formula E to have this women's test. And it's been really, it's been really great to

15:35see brands take that initiative. And I hope it continues to, to rise up.

15:41Absolutely. How much did you feel like you needed to have saved or, you know, accumulated in funding

15:46before you could kind of go back into racing full time?

15:50Well, gosh, it was just tough, because back in college, you know, you don't make any money. So I'm like,

15:54how in certain series, like my dad made it adamantly known. He's like, I'm not paying for

15:59your racing anymore. You are an adult. Like, it's so expensive that he put so much investment at an

16:04early age that I didn't expect him to. And I didn't even ask, honestly, I knew I had to do it

16:08myself from when I became an adult. So I just knew it costs hundreds and hundreds of thousands of

16:13dollars. I'm like, I know, I know, I can't work and save up for this. Like, I just know I have to,

16:17like, get sponsorships and figure out ways to make these big money, like, moves, I guess.

16:23Um, yeah, so it wasn't necessarily a dollar amount. Like, I was really fortunate. I joined this

16:30back in the day in COVID. There were like the hype house. And there was this one content house

16:35called Clubhouse, which I was a part of. I was that was back when I was still doing the TikTok

16:39dances, everything. You know how the creator space changes constantly. But Clubhouse, that content house

16:46ended up sponsoring my racing. So they just paid the whole bill for the season, which was amazing.

16:51And that was in touring cars. So it was expensive, but it was doable. And I think from there, having

16:56that exposure, being a race car driver, it attracts other brands to then be like, okay, like we want

17:01to sponsor her like C4 Energy, then came in as my primary sponsor, and sponsored me for two years.

17:07And that was great. And so yeah, there wasn't a set like dollar amount, I was just trying to hustle

17:12and get any program together. And I was really fortunate that again, that content creator house,

17:17I would never have been a part of if I wasn't an influencer. And that's literally who sponsored

17:21me for racing. And so it just, it just worked out, like, again, creator to to driver.

17:27Oh, no, it absolutely makes sense. When you're looking kind of like longer term, right? In the

17:32next five years, aside, obviously, your own racing career, where do you see kind of this space and

17:37specifically women in motorsports growing?

17:39I mean, I hope it just continues to grow and grow. And I hope that we can see women

17:46kind of break out from the F1 Academy as well and, and find funding into the higher tiers of racing,

17:51like Formula Three, Formula Two, even Formula E, the new gen four car is so fast, so cool. And I think

17:57it's great if, if we could get a female driver into Formula E, like, it's great to have this these

18:01tests and like this all female series, but I really want to see women and men competing together

18:06at the higher levels. And I do think women and men can compete together. And, you know, and I do,

18:11I love what they're doing at the that level, but I want to see women rise to the top. And so I think

18:15continued support and investment to women is really important from brands. And then obviously,

18:22I'm going to do my part to try to keep, keep posting and showing that you can do it. And then my

18:28goal in five, say five to 10 years is, I always want to be, hopefully, I'm still racing, and I've gotten to

18:34the top level of like weather tech, and I'm racing in Le Mans, and I'm doing, you know, the being a

18:39very successful race car driver at the top levels. That's my goal, of course, but I really want to,

18:44a goal of mine has been to start like a female agency that represents female drivers and gets

18:50funding to them. So it's not necessarily, it doesn't have to be race car driving, it could be

18:55drifting, it could be like, honestly, I'm deciding if I want to do female drivers or female athletes in

19:00general, I've really want to be a part of the motorsport space, though, still, and I love being

19:04in front of the camera. So if I can do some any sort of like reporting, whether that be in Formula

19:10One, IndyCar, NASCAR, like, I just love being a part of, of motorsports. And I always want to,

19:15I always want to be a part of the industry, whether I'm driving or I'm not. So that's kind of

19:19right. Oh, no, absolutely. And again, I like that you're focusing on that, getting that funding,

19:25because it seems to be the biggest barrier as of now. Yes, again, like, I really, because there's,

19:30there's a lot of women who can't get that seat informed in F1 Academy as well. Like, there are

19:34so many women who maybe didn't get a chance to prove themselves since they weren't, and they

19:40didn't have that social media at first. So they weren't recognized by F1 Academy, because there's

19:44so few seats. And I want there to be more than those 20 some drivers that there are. Like, I want to

19:49be able to give opportunity to women who need it. And that funding is crazy. If you had one message

19:56or one thing to tell brands and potential sponsors that are like, maybe thinking about sponsoring or

20:02contributing to a female racing driver's career, what's like the one big thing you want them to

20:07take away from this conversation? It's smart marketing for you. I don't care. Not only you should

20:13care about wanting to help female athletes and diverse athletes, but I think it's just a smart business

20:19play. Like having women, like you get, you unlock an entire new demographic. You unlock, it's such

20:26great partnership opportunities. Again, not only for their marketing and visibility of helping a female

20:31athlete, but again, it's, it's just great because you're unlocking in a whole new audience. And I do

20:36think women are big consumers and it's great for, you know, you see women are, they're the ones who drive

20:41most of the sales, even for their husbands and boyfriends. So I think it's, again, it's a really smart

20:46business play. And there are, I don't know off the top of my head, but I was doing research and

20:50there's a lot of great statistics of brands who have that helped fund women. Like they see a lot

20:55of upside to that. And so, I mean, I could send over the statistics I found, but you could look it

20:59up and it is really, I'm not just saying this, it has, it does help businesses a lot to invest in

21:03women. So, you know, to a young female racing driver now, who's maybe faced with the question of

21:08what do I do to get funding? How do I get more money to get to the next step? What's the one big piece

21:12of advice you have for them? Honestly, from my perspective, I do think you, you do really need

21:19to focus on making a brand of yourself. And I think social media and being a creator is a great play.

21:24Like you see it with even formula one drivers that they've kind of created, become like global

21:29creators themselves and the social media that they're doing. So my, my thing is like do post and

21:35do, if you love it, like you need to post and do what you love and what you're passionate about and

21:38make it, try to make a name for yourself, like work harder than everyone else. I would say like

21:43work harder than any other driver, man or woman that you're competing against and, and just don't

21:48stop email hundreds and hundreds of brands, talk about like what you, what your goals are, what you

21:53want to do. But I think it hard work and you, you just can't have the mindset that, oh, I might not

21:58make it. Like you have to be almost delusional. Like even if you don't fully believe in yourself,

22:02like you have to like convince and like, and just, you do have to like fully believe that you're

22:07going to make it there. And if you do that and you combine that with hard work, you can get anywhere

22:12you set your mind to. And it's super cheesy sounding, but I fully believe that. So, but I,

22:17again, I do recommend creating a brand of yourself and, and showing valuable content and engaging with

22:24your audience. And I think that will really be a value set to any partners that you're wanting to

22:29bring on. Amazing. Yeah. I mean, it totally makes sense. Personal branding feels more important than

22:34ever. Now. Yes. And it's sucks for some people. I know, like even some of my co-drivers in Rafa

22:41Racing, the team I'm with now, they don't like doing social media, but they just know how important it

22:45is. And so they're, they're doing it. But again, like you have to post what you want to post or

22:49else it's going to seem tedious. Like, I don't know, you just got to find a way to like create value

22:54and do what you love. And that's, it is such an asset right now. And the space is constantly

22:59changing, but right now that's my biggest advice. Even if you don't necessarily love social media,

23:04I think it's, it is really important and helpful in new age marketing for brands. So that's my

23:09advice. Yeah, absolutely. Well, Lindsay, thank you so much for speaking with us today. This was great.

23:15That's all I have from us. Thank you so much for having me.

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