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Stephanie Martinez Highlight
If a woman can follow her passion, do it, be successful in it, and live her dream, that’s success.
About Stephanie
- 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.
