Stephanie's Open Road

STEPHANIE MARTINEZ

Senior Coordinator, OEM & Product Development
SEMA Garage

LEADER INFO:

INTERESTS:

Engineering Technology

THEMES DISCUSSED:

Acceptance Perseverance Determination Fulfillment Societal Pressures Negativity Struggle Choices Opportunity Goals Confidence Transitions Hard Work Exploration

FOUNDATION:

Accomplishing Goals

BIOGRAPHY:

• Currently serving as the Senior Coordinator at the SEMA Garage in Diamond Bar, CA where she is in charge of overall logistics.
• Originally wanted to become a cosmetologist, but after getting pregnant at a young age, she felt she needed a more steady paycheck.
• She started out by bouncing around different companies in their customer service departments, until she eventually landed a job at Yokohama Tires.
• With that job, she says she “fell” into the auto industry—worked her way up at Yokohama for the next ten years learning everything she could about cars.
• Encountered a lot of gender bias early on; for one interview, she was blindfolded and tested on whether she could identify tires by their tread, which was not something they did to male applicants.
• Viewed it as a personal challenge to see if she could do it—ended up feeling empowered by the fact that she was the only woman in her department.
• Says that first impressions have often worked against her—she constantly struggles to gain people’s trust and prove that she does know what she’s talking about.
• Believes that women interested in going into the auto industry are lucky because they have the benefit of a growing pool of women who are genuinely interested in helping you succeed.