The Garage by Sonatus

Today in The Garage,
we're recording live at AutoTech

Detroit.

And our guest today
is Stephanie May,

director of the Women
Automotive Network.

Women Automotive Network is
an incredible forty thousand

member strong organization of
international members across

the world, And they
produce incredible

programs for
networking, mentorship,

and helping both women and also
companies in general be successful.

It's a really
interesting conversation,

and I hope you'll really enjoy.

Let's go.

Welcome to The Garage.

I'm John Heinlein, Chief
Marketing Officer with Sonatus.

We're recording live
at AutoTech Detroit,

and that's the background noise
you may hear during the episode.

Our guest today
is Stephanie May,

Director of the Women
Automotive Network.

Stephanie, welcome
to The Garage.

Thank you. It's
amazing to be here.

We we've, been talking more for
more than a year now, I think,

and we had a chance
to meet this, again,

last night at the
AutoTech Awards.

I was so inspired by,

so many of the stories you
shared that I really wanted to

have you on the podcast.

So let's start by introducing you
personally and your background.

Yep.

Tell us about you.

Stephanie May, Women
Automotive Network.

I actually have a background
of history and sociology.

That was my passion,
all throughout my youth,

and my university degree.

Then I fell into events,

and I haven't
looked back really.

I actually used to work for the
Informer team with their LTE

and 5g series.

I've come full circle now.

I've done auto events, IT,

and now I feel like I
found my home with the Women Automotive

Network. I love my job. It's
my passion. It's my people.

It's my community.

That's great. We'll
get to that next.

You've got to tell us a fun fact
about you to get to know you first.

So I absolutely love
Vietnam and Vietnamese food.

I went and studied, and taught
English there after uni.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

So I I love That's
a two-fer fun fact!

Yeah. That's a good one.

So I've I I also
love Vietnamese food.

My wife, traveled to
Vietnam years ago.

I have not yet made it.
I'm very disappointed.

I'm hoping I'll get to go.

But I love love
Vietnamese food as well.

There's some in the Bay Area.

We have amazing amazing
Vietnamese food.

In fact, I mean,

really dozens and dozens
of unbelievable places.

So and what's your favorite?

Pho. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah.

I know it's traditional,
the soup is great.

I'm also a big fan of bun,

which is sort of a
noodle salad with meats,

and that's also very good.

But I'm not sure what it is.

You can never miss never go
wrong with a good P ho. Mhmm.

So tell us about the
Women Automotive Network.

And, explain to us what the goals
of the organization are and and

what's your role.

Yeah. So we've been around
since twenty nineteen.

We are a global community now
of forty thousand individuals.

Four zero thousand.
That's great.

There's quite a lot of zeroes
on there, and it's an amazing,

growth, in just six years.

And it it literally is a global
community over a hundred countries,

and we work with those
individuals on their own career

journeys, and then we work
with corporate companies to,

attract new talent, retain
their current talent,

which is probably the
biggest thing that we do,

and then obviously provide
those amazing personal

and business networking opportunities
at all the events that we do.

That's that's fantastic.

So for those of our listeners
who may be less familiar with

the automotive
industry, you know,

what's the percentage of
women in automotive today?

So globally, it's still only
approximately twenty percent.

And if you break that down
further into the specifics,

it's about thirteen
percent in engineering.

That's not very much.

No. It's incredible.

And I think to build upon that,

it's not just kind
of attracting,

that talent, it's keeping it.

So we did a recent poll
with our community and forty nine

percent still
considered leaving.

Forty nine percent considered
leaving Yeah. Automotive. Yep.

And what are some factors that
are that are causing that?

I think it's like we've been
discussing for a while now.

You know, "you can't
be what you can't see",

that whole kind of role model
side of things, no aspirations,

still being the only
woman in the room.

You know, it's lonely,
especially the higher up the

ladder, that you get.

You've got to be really, really
resilient and enjoy your job,

and then obviously be supported.

We exist, because there
are unique challenges,

whether it be from whatever
minority group that we wanna

support, you know, motherhood,

traditional care bearing,
menopause, et cetera.

Yeah.

I mean, I'm on a a number of
different, organizations that,

they're looking
to to help build,

a broader, diverse
pool of talents.

You know, you know, you
have so many amazing,

talented women that,

data shows that they tend to
fall away from science and

engineering in general.

And you mentioned a minute ago,

you can't be what you can't see.

I mean, a lot of the statistics
say that if you're going into a

career when everyone you see
there is different than you,

it's not going to make you
as comfortable to engage.

Yeah.

And I think also
to build upon that,

people are also seeing
those senior leaders.

They're not seeing the
right work life balance,

and they're thinking, I
don't even want to get there.

You know, I'm quite happy at the
director level because even when I do

make it to the top,
that's not what I want.

And I think especially with the
younger generation coming in,

they know what they want.

They want that life,
work- life balance.

I think it's it's
such an interesting,

thing you're probably trying
to solve because I look at it

purely from a perspective as there's
such amazing talent out there.

And how do we make sure more of that
talent wants to work in our industry?

It's a great industry.

Technology is a great industry.

And how do we make sure people feel
like that could be a place for them?

I mean, I wish I had the answer.

You know, it's a million dollar
question because we all all drive a car.

You know, we all it's
it's the future. Yeah.

It's just absolutely everywhere.

You can't get rid of it,

and I still don't understand why
people don't want to join it.

And especially automotive at
the minute, every single year,

there's a new technology,
there's a new development,

you know, it's not
even automotive.

It's mobility.

You know, what is the
future gonna be look like?

It's incredible.

Yeah.

You know, this, automotive
the automotive industry is really,

having a resurgence.

There's a lot of
interest in, you know,

not only in this area but
across the world in automotive

as in a new destination
for technology.

We're seeing software defined vehicles
making cars more exciting Yeah.

Bringing more technologies in.

And we're gonna
need lots of smart,

smart engineers and and not
only engineers, but just smart,

smart participants in general.

Yeah. A hundred percent.

What are some of the things
that the Women on an Automotive

Network OEMs, kind of,

some of the events and
some of the things you do?

Okay.

So we have a huge social
media presence, like you said,

to kind of that daily
motivation, daily blogs,

news articles to kind of just
keep talking about what's

happening, both in
the automotive world,

but also with these individuals.

We run a mentorship
program twice a year.

So this is cross country, cross job
function, really, really personal,

connecting those
with who need it.

And then the big thing, which
obviously we still love, is our events.

So we've done
Germany since 2019.

It's our second year
collaborating with Autotech,

for our Detroit event,

and we are super excited
for our new Mexico event in

December .

New Mexico? Yeah. That's
great! Not New Mexico.

As in, like, Mexico
City or New Mexico?

Oh, that's fantastic. Yep.
In in where is it being held?

Mexico City.

That's phenomenal. Yep.

Mexico is a huge automotive,
development area.

I mean, so we are
a global community,

and we just wanna make sure now
that we've got that footprint.

So last year was Detroit. This
year's Mexico. Next year, Asia.

And then who knows?

That's fantastic. And you
just mentioned mentoring.

I wanna go back to that as well.

I mean, I've been,
mentoring for years.

I mean and I've had
mentees who are men,

I've had mentees that are women.

But it's, it's so important to have
someone to help guide your career path.

And I think

lowering the barrier to people
finding a mentor and having

experienced leaders that they can
meet with, I think, is so valuable.

Exactly. And I would ask
you, did you enjoy the experience?

Oh, of course, I
did. Absolutely.

And I and I and I always
encourage other people to

mentor in the same way.

This is what we hear. You know,
one of the best ways Yeah.

To learn is to teach. Mhmm.

And I I found that,

everyone wins when you when you collaborate
and you build the next generation.

That's what we find.

The the mentors,

they get so much out of it
that they wanna come back.

Have you ever done
reverse mentoring?

Tell me...what is that? Tell me.

So kind of the other way around.

So So you being the senior
person and you having a mentor

that's a younger
generation or a new.

It's interesting, I think
I see what you're saying.

And and I was gonna make a
similar point that when when

I've been a mentor in the past,

it's helped me to realize
challenges or issues or

questions or things
that I didn't know

that I didn't know.

Right.

Right? And so I
learned new things.

I learned, oh, I didn't realize
that was a problem for you,

or I didn't realize that was or
I didn't realize that you were

perceiving this
situation in that way.

And it helped me to learn. Yeah.

How to do my job differently
and be better at what I'm doing

as part of the process.

I think that's kind of
reverse mentoring effectively.

Exactly. Yeah.

Unofficially, obviously,
when you mentor,

you're still on that
learning, journey.

But sometimes we
help senior leaders,

and we connect them with
the younger generation,

on a more official platform.

But, yeah, mentoring is always
a two way, growth opportunity,

I think.

And so first thing, shameless
plug for your Mexico event.

When is that happening?
Do you happen to know?

Can I actually say it's second
of December [2025]. Yes?

And we are not just excited
about the margaritas,

obviously, but the
seniority and the buzz

and, obviously, I think, like,

the passion and the
hunger down there.

So CEO of BMW, CMO of,
Daimler Truck, you know,

from the top down,
everyone is engaged.

And that's really what you
need because that's where real

change happens when the
leadership understands

why the whole
organization needs to be

involved in the conversation.

That's right. Yeah.

So so it's December second
[2025] in in Mexico City, is it?

Yep. Mexico City is phenomenal.

I was just in Mexico
City a few weeks ago.

Oh, I'm jealous. Phenomenal,
phenomenal city. Okay.

Very vibrant city.

If people want to learn more
about, your organization,

how do they get how
do they find out more?

Womenautomotivenetwork.com,
or again on LinkedIn,

women automotive network.

It's so wonderful to see you.

I'm glad we ran into you,
yesterday at the awards,

and I'm so glad we could
help raise awareness of this

important work you're doing.

Thank you so much for
everything you do.

Thank you.

And when we do
APAC, we'll have to,

talk about you being
in Vietnam, maybe.

That would be great. Maybe
it'll be a excuse to go.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

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We look forward to seeing you
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Garag very soon.