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Person
Stephanie Wedgeworth
A successful automotive industry leader who trains car salespeople and helps women of color succeed in the car business.
Company
Ford Motor Company
One of the most famous American car companies, started by Henry Ford, which made cars affordable to the general public by inventing the assembly line.
Concept
experiential marketing
A way of advertising where companies let you touch, feel, and try out their products in person, like letting you test drive a new car at a festival.
Term
ride and drive
A special event where people get to test drive new cars to see how they feel and work.
Term
product specialist
A car expert at an auto show whose job is to explain how a car works and answer your questions, rather than try to sell it to you right there.
Company
Hyundai Motor Company
A major car company from South Korea known for making reliable, tech-filled cars with great warranties.
Company
RockEd
A phone app that helps car dealership employees learn how to do their jobs better through short, easy-to-watch videos.
Car
Ford F-150 Harley-Davidson Edition
A fancy version of the Ford F-150 pickup truck made to look like a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, with special paint, wheels, and leather seats.
Company
Women of Color Automotive Network
An organization that helps women of color succeed, find jobs, and get promoted in the car industry.
Company
National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers
A group that helps minorities own and run car dealerships and get better jobs in the auto industry.
Place
Fontainebleau Miami Beach
A famous, upscale hotel in Miami where many big car business meetings and events are held.
LIVE
Hello and welcome to the CarGuy Coffee Podcast. This brew has been brought to you by Certified
Solutionaries and if you want to consume more brews or want more information about how to
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Let's brew!
Our car guys and car gals, it's Lou Ramirez. And it's Fred. Let's arts!
And we are brewing solutions on the CarGuy Coffee Podcast. Thanks for jumping in with us today.
We are excited to have a super solutionary inside of the cafe with us and we want to be
able to make sure that we have a whole lot more fun inside of this cafe. So help us right now
and let's get some people inside of the room. Go ahead and tag a car guy.
And tag a car gal and share, share. Let's get this out there. Let's make sure
that people know that we're about to drop a five liner with somebody that we all I think anybody
who's ever been in her area, even if you just seen from afar, watched her on a stage, speak at
TEDx, you know what I'm saying? Doing her thing. Man, it's somebody that you inspire and want to
be around, right? Like when you get around, energy is contagious and I'm so excited. So folks, get
people in here so that they can get some of that energy. CarGuy Coffee, we're brewing solutions,
but I'm telling you, she's been brewing solutions just as long as if not longer than us doing big
things with this huge smile. I literally, I literally saw her, please people get in here,
but I literally saw her in Vegas. We've met a few times, but we were walking in the hotel and
she was actually walking down. I think we were on the same floor actually, and she was walking by
and she looked like a movie star. I was like, man, oh my gosh, right? My wife and I both had a
compliment or we're like, check this lady out. This got her thing going on. It's not just the
looks there. This lady has the brains. The brawn has it all, like really out there doing some big
stuff, man. And I'm excited to have her on the show today to learn a little bit more about her
and share it with our network, bro. Yeah. What's been awesome is that we've had the chance to be
able to learn from her through different platforms that she does make incredible content in. So
CarGuy's and CarGuy's, be sure that you do tune in to this on the replay, listen to this on the
podcast, make sure that you share this with somebody that needs to hear an inspirational
individual that is doing great things in this industry, a little bit of the background behind
them, a little bit of how we brood the cup that she's pouring out for this entire industry. And
we are so very thankful to have this opportunity, but you all know what you need to do. Make sure
that you do go to cartagcoffee.com. If you need more fill ups inside of your cup so that you are
sipping on the solutions that help to drive forward this industry, move your career where it is that
you want to go and help this industry advance what it is that the world knows about automotive.
There's some great things that are going on inside of our industry. We are making some incredible
leaps and bounds happen for people all throughout the world and we need to be celebrated. And with
that today on this five liner, we get the opportunity to celebrate somebody that is doing some really
incredible things that we did have the opportunity to really take some notes, really take in some
micro classes from on the RockEd platform. She's done incredible things for the industry. Like
Fred said, she's had her TED Talks. She's had her big microphones, the big stages, the little stages,
the podcast, the shows, all the conversations. And now she's here on the Car Guy Coffee Podcast
to capinate your world, everybody. So help us to make welcome the one. The only step in the way.
Oh my gosh, I'm so excited to be here. What an intro. You guys are amazing.
It's easy to have a big intro for somebody that brings such dynamic ideas and thoughts and processes
into our industry. Really, you're something that people need to look more at our industry and say,
hey, I want to be like that, right? And that's what's so awesome about having you on the show today.
So yeah, to get us excited to cheer you on and get you on here on our show today on our five
liner, no doubt we're going to bring it. There's a lot of fun to be had and there's a lot that people
can learn from you. And we want to be able to make sure that we do give you every microphone, every
camera, everything that we can to make sure that you do get your voice out there. And you do let
people know how they can advance their own career. Because that's something that I do appreciate about
you from being real Stephanie. It's how you really want to be able to see other people grow,
learn, improve, maximize their capability so that they can too feel like that star walking
wherever it is that they go as you often do wherever it is that you go. We appreciate you
jumping in with us. We got a celebrity in the cafe today, everybody. Make sure that you do
share this around and ask some questions, put them inside of the comments, and we'll try to get to
them as we can. Or as she sees them afterwards, she'll be able to reach out to you personally
so that you can know how it is that she operates. But this five liner is designed to learn a little
bit more about you, Stephanie. But for those that don't know, give us a quick cap on where you're
from, who you're working with now, and what you've been doing for the automotive industry.
Okay, thank you. Again, thank you so much for having me on. I'm so excited. I've been a huge
fan of the two of you for a very long time. So it's an honor to be here and to be in front of
your audience today. Your audience, you guys are my people. I'm just so happy to be here. But
I've been in automotive for two decades. And I started with Ford Motor Company, doing experiential
marketing for them. I sold cars from the Auto Show floor. And I was at the top of the leaderboard
for five to seven years straight, getting leads, selling cars. Ford was a pioneer in making sure
that the people that were on the Auto Show floor, people who did their ride and drives and their
launches were certified product specialists, which meant you had to go through a very rigorous
program of training and testing to make sure you knew your stuff. So from there, I got the,
I was bit by the Auto Industry Bug, I should say. So I was all in and I was there for 14 years.
Before I decided I wanted to do something a little different, which was right when I was
working for them was a lot of consumer facing training. I wanted to do in dealership training.
So I pivoted and started working for Hyundai. And I was an in dealership trainer for pretty much
the whole country. I was the backup trainer. And then I had my own territory in Florida,
which Florida was like there is their number one territory where they sell most of the up
Hyundai's and anywhere in the country. So I had a really important role and I really loved what I
going into dealerships and helping see that light bulb come on and helping people tap into
their genius and grow and develop as salespeople. So my job was to train sales. And then later we
started training service as well. So from there, my former boss found me on LinkedIn and she wanted
me to be talent for this startup called Rocket. And during the interview, she started telling me
about her, their ideas and this new way of learning and how they wanted to take that in
dealership training experience and do this micro learning videos on the app. And I was like, wait,
what? I had that idea. And when I was working for Hyundai, there was this contest that all the
trainers had. And it was a contest for who could come up with the most creative idea to get people
engaged as totally unique and different. And that was my video micro trainings at the time it was
on a tablet versus the phone. But it was basically my idea. So when I'm sitting in this interview
and she's talking and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is crazy. And she was like, wait a minute,
I had no idea you had this much experience in automotive. Are you looking for full time? I'm
like, yeah. So the marriage is made jumped on the rocket ship as I like to say, and I've been with
rocket for five going on five years will be five years in October. And I'm the director of sales
content. I also help develop, build and create learning strategies like AI coach and role plays
and certification programs and curriculum. So it's it's been a fun ride. I love this industry.
I love the people in this industry. And I love the impact that you can have on this industry.
Wow, it has been and we are so glad that you had all that experience and opportunity for you to be
able to for one hone your skill, right? Learn from literally one of the best companies on the
planet been doing it like invented things made things happen on this planet that a lot of other
automakers are doing because of them, right? They they lead the way. Then you went out and you became
an in-store trainer with the company that needed some help to be able to get some gain some traction
and look at what's happened with them over the last two decades, right? It's unbelievable how
far they've come, right? It's so much more than you could ever imagine the things that you've
been able to take away. Now the perfect place, right? You went inside there, you were had an
opportunity to help a startup, be part of a startup, see how that is and where that goes.
And now look at you, you're on the CarGuy coffee podcast doing a five liner. That's right. This
is the this is the like literally the top of it all. That's an amazing story. And we're so lucky
to have you here today. And I'm so glad that you went through that journey. That's an amazing
journey. That's so solutionary. And I know Lou agrees with me on that. You know, we have these
five questions and these five questions dig into this a little bit more. The purpose,
two decades in this industry, it's not something you do just because this is there's a reason
behind it. So my very first question for you today will be what is your why? What drives you?
What brings you talking about TEDx? Simon Sinek says it all starts with the why. What's yours?
Yeah, that's such a great question. And I think that's a question that every single person should
ask themselves. If you don't know your why, then you are lost. You have to have the why. The why
is your North Star, right? So for me, my why is people. I love to see people excel. I love
to see them grow. I like to help them grow. I noticed that when I even when I was
younger, I noticed that I was that kid that always would find the one kid that was sitting by
themselves in the corner, the ones that everybody's poking fun of or or not be friending or not sitting
by at lunch or not asking them to join the group and gym class or whatever. The one that was picked
last. Those are the people I gravitated towards because I was like, there's a genius over there.
They just don't know it. We got to help. I got to help them. I got to help them find their way.
And that's just me. That's just who I am. Some people call that bossy. If you ask my brother,
that's what he would say. But I find it that I'm just I like tapping in. I like to get to
know people. I like to listen to what people's stories are, what their goals
why is, even if they don't know what their why is to help them find their why and then figure out
you're really good at this. And I think you should focus on this or you should go this direction.
You're going left and really you need to be right or you need to be center. So my why is just
is tapping into people, listening to people's story, understanding their story and connecting
people and connecting their why to their how. So that's just what I've always done. I never really
realized it until I got into training. When I was doing the fourth thing, I realized that it was
just more a lot of people who did experiential marketing and did the auto show circuit, you
get handed a script, they take the script and they go, okay, I'm just going to memorize the script.
For me, it wasn't about memorizing the script. It was about me thinking about the person on the
other end of that stage listening to me. What is it that they need? What do they need to know
about this vehicle that's going to not just sell the vehicle, but it's going to enrich their lives.
That's the level I was taking my presentations. It's not just, oh, this vehicle has this and
it has this and oh, for its first at this and we did this. It wasn't about that. It was about,
what can I tell you about this vehicle that's going to make you stop? First of all, because
there's like thousands of manufacturers and people here, what's going to make you stop and make you
go, oh yeah, wow, I didn't know that about that car, huh? That's my goal. It's just, you know,
the why, always the why. Regardless of what you're doing, it's always the why. It's the North Star.
Sounds like a solution, every folks. Amen. I'm like, did you read my diary?
Phenomenal answer, but I no doubt in my heart, that's the truth about you for your whole life,
your career path, who you are, how you bring energy to people. That exudes everything you just said.
I love that. Thank you. It is. It's a, it's a funny thing when we do find people that
are intentional about finding the people that are on the outskirts, the ones that are left out.
I believe there are so many people that are on the fringes of society that need somebody to
just reach to and say you have value, you have, you bring something to the table and I believe in
you and in order for them to then truly turn and say, I do carry something good and I can contribute
because we all have something to contribute. Doesn't matter what part of society you're in,
we all have something to contribute. We all have something that's special about us. We are all made
in God's image and there's something so important about somebody being present to say there's worth
over there and I believe there's people like that sprinkled all over the place because we all need to
have Stephanie's in our life that doesn't get picked for the ballgame or doesn't really have
anybody to talk to or just has a hard time creating new relationships, right? For salespeople,
we do that all the time. We're the ones that initiate the greeting. We're the ones that should
jump out of our comfort zone. We're the ones that should not be afraid of making the phone call or
sending the message and creating the opportunity, right? Asking the question. That's something that's
ingrained inside of us and I'm sure for many of you that are listening, you can probably think back
to your life being in the yard with the kids, being at school and these different traits that you
showed back then that was saying, hey, I was made for sales and you definitely were Stephanie. That's
awesome that you are in this industry. So thankful for that and you gave us a little bit of a rundown
of your time in it, but what was it ultimately that brought you to the car business? Oh, you know
what? This is funny because it was, I hear people say this all the time that, oh, I fell into the
car business. It's so true. I did fall into the car business. It was a complete and total desperate
act of survival. I was trying to be a model and an actress in LA and my friends were so sick of
hearing me complain about being broke all the time and not having money and I was a waitress and
I actually did experiential marketing for a marketing company on the side. So I had all these
little bitty jobs, these little bitty part-time jobs that equated to one half of a full-time job
because I was trying to be free so I could audition. So I had all this spare time and my
friends kept telling me, you're good at memorizing stuff and you're good at marketing and you're
on stage. You should do auto show and I was like, I don't even know what that means. I don't even
know what that is and it runs during the times when I should be auditioning so I can't do that.
Billy Bills said, yes, you can do that. So I had a friend who was working for Ford and she told me
about the audition and I got on a plane and flew from LA to Detroit to audition for one of the
agencies that had a contract with Ford and I got the gig and the rest was history. Like when I just
remember how afraid and how scared I was the very first time I hopped on that stage and was talking
about a truck. Of all things, the very first vehicle I have to talk about as a truck and trucks are
so much harder than cars because there's so much to it, especially Ford trucks. That's the
end-shorter of that company, right? And so I was so intimidated. I'll never forget it was a black
F-150 Harley Davidson and I was terrified to talk about this vehicle because there was so much to
talk about. But once I got on that stage and I conquered it the first time, I was like, oh, okay.
And then when I realized, oh, I don't have to memorize this script. I can just make it my own
and I can be entertaining and fun up here. I was like, oh, they should never give me a microphone.
So it was desperation of me getting into a business just so I could make money and then
really found my path and my passion and found the direction I wanted to go in this business. And I
could just see how it's just filled with so many good people and so many people that just don't
even just there's just so many people from different backgrounds. Like they don't even have
direct paths. Everybody has these different paths of entry and different ways they want to go in
this industry. And I just find it so fascinating. It truly is. No different than yours. And what's
so funny is we've said this fundamentally to a lot of stuff. You've got to be an actor sometimes.
But you really have to learn how to be able to learn some scripts in a sense because you don't
have to know different than actor. Actor doesn't always go verbatim, right? A lot of times you
have to just feel the moment in but know the script. You have to know it to be able to do that.
That's so huge. But that being said it's the energy that you brought and the intensity that
you brought into it when you found something where you could be an actress, right? Yeah.
Literally they gave me a mic. They made a mistake. I literally what Lou and I said the very first
time they gave us a mic a digital dealer. I was like they messed up. They gave us volume mics.
We don't even need them, right? But that being said it's so funny when you said that it just
brought that memory back for me and I know that feeling. But then that passion that you get from
it. Yeah. Almost the vision of the future that you almost see for a moment. I remember telling Lou
man I see future. I see so much of this from this happening and it was just a great feeling.
I'm so glad you found that path and that you're again going the way you went. Being able to
really dig in and find like accidental. Everyone has their story, right? Everyone's Lou no different
just decided that it was going to be a part-time thing till he got to become a postman one day.
Literally getting out of the army. I got in because I thought it was an opportunity that I could do
just because at the time I was just hopping around anyway. I was like hey there's might be a chance
to make some money. I need to make some real money. But there's so many things. We have a
million stories. If you go back and watch our shows folks, I'm telling you everybody has a
different entry into this thing. But it's never most of the time I'd say shouldn't say never.
98% of the time it's not I intentionally wanted to be an automotive, right? And it just becomes
something that we fall in love with. And it's the people. There's a lot of great people in this
industry. I've met some great mentors along my way. People that have helped me go along. I've
been able to mentor people. That's one of the things that your why is right now is technique is
really being the great mentor for others digging into their why and their how, right? How to do it
and be somebody that cheers them on saying hey I know you don't see the results yet it's going to
happen. But so we need those people in our lives. We don't just mentor we have to be mentored.
Who have been some mentors or maybe a mentor in your path that's really helped you get to the
stage you're in today? I just love this question so much because that's really the thing that I
think everybody needs is a mentor or even better a sponsor, right? Because there is a difference,
right? There's a difference in a sponsor. A mentor is going to guide you but a sponsor is going to
not just guide you but they're going to pull you along with them, right? And that's what everybody
needs and I've been so blessed and lucky that I have some really good ones. In the past I had
nothing. I did not even know where to find one. I didn't know that I needed one. I didn't know the
benefit, the value. If I can tell somebody one bit of advice you take away from today make sure you
understand the value in a mentor and a sponsor and get one. It doesn't have to be a big ceremony.
It doesn't have to be hard or difficult and you may fumble when you grab one the first time. It may
not be a right fit. They may not be as available and giving you what you need. That's okay too.
Just keep trying because it's so beneficial. You'll learn something from every single person
whether they're good or bad. But when I had my very first mentor and I don't even think she
knew she was a mentor, I remember it was my first job out of college. I worked for a luxury retailer
and I was an assistant buyer and I had a horrible first boss. She was literally like the double
where's Prada? Because I don't remember in that movie that lady throwing
a stapler across the room at her employee. That actually happened to me. So she was
crazy but she was unhappy. She was an unhappy person. So I'll give this a go. But my next
office, my next buying office, this was the lady who mentored me and I didn't ask her to be a mentor.
I don't even think she realized she was my mentor but she was. And she saw me suffering
in that office. She saw my light dim. She saw me lose confidence, lose my way. And she knew that I
was considering leaving and she was like no. I want you to come work in my office. She was like
they're about to expand my because I was in small leather goods. She was getting ready to have Louis
Vuitton and Fendi and Dunion Burke and all these big handbags and she was like I've got just me
and a secretary. I need an assistant buyer. Will you be my assistant buyer? No interview process,
no strings, no jumping through hoops. Fill out this application. Tell me what are you're going to
do to make this magical thing happen in my office? It was just like come work with me. And she was
like you're good at creative. You're good at training. marketing and sales.
And she's I'm good at the numbers. We're going to make a great team. I'm going to teach you
what you don't know. You teach me what I don't know. That was magic. That was magical. I learned
so much from her. I built my confidence back up. I my light shined again. I felt like I was
failing. I felt like I was a failure and she made me realize you are not a failure. You just were
in the wrong place under the wrong person. You are smart. You are capable. You are able. You are
great. And she elevated that for me and ever since then I was like that is what I want to do for
others. I want to make sure people who are at feeling at their lowest don't stay stuck there.
And I felt stuck there. And because of her is why I say everybody should have
a Nancy Langhorn in their life. That was her name. Shout out Nancy. Shout out. That's huge.
That's amazing. That's an amazing story. And it's amazing that you have that person in your life.
There is also so much amazingness that you just poured out inside of just describing that
relationship. And also why it is so important for us to position ourselves in an environment
where we can grow. And the only way that actually happens is if we have somebody pouring into us.
If we have a consistent flow going in. No matter how many seeds I go and plant out there in the
fields. They are not going to grow if we don't water them. They are not going to grow if we
don't continue to nurture them. They are not going to grow if we continue to dig them up
just because they are not producing fruit fast enough. And we have to be able to be inside of
an environment where we can grow. So for those of you that are listening. For those of you that
are on the podcast. You are on a run. You are on a drive. You are doing whatever. You may be
sharing this with your teams right now. Be sure that you are inside of an environment where you
can be poured into. And if it is not inside of your environment. Then be intentional about
getting a pipeline ran to you. Listen to people that inspire you. Read the books that encourage
you and get going. Open up the Bible and learn your identity on this earth. And actually put
the blocks in place that need to be in place. Because we don't stand alone. We all need somebody
to pour into us. And soon enough you are going to need to pour into others. And when I say need
to. I really mean need to. There is something inside of us that has to be able to have somebody
to pour into. That has to be able to give some succession and pass on what we have been gifted
and given from our mentors. From our experiences. From our pains. And from our big victories.
With that said. Stephanie sounds like you have had some fun opportunities. And some big lessons
that you have learned over time. With that. And knowing the value of those mentors. And even
having them in your life to guide you through that. What has been the hardest lesson you have had
to learn. Getting to where it is that you are today. The hardest lesson I have had to learn.
Immediately what comes to mind is how to be a good leader. I don't even think people understand
how important it is to be a good leader. And how to identify when you have a bad leader.
So having a bad leader can mess you up. It can kill your confidence. It can mess up your path.
It can destroy you. And not just you. It can mess up your family. Because now you're going to bring
that home. And you're going to be complaining. And you're not going to be present. And you're going
to be agitated and irritated. And you're going to feel deflated. And you're bringing all of that
energy into your home. Where your loved ones are. So it's like you have to almost decide is it worth
it for me to stay there with this bad leadership. Or is there something I can do to change it.
So it's so important to be a good leader. And I say that because I was a leader young
when I did finally leave that luxury retailer. I went to go work for a family company. My family
company. My parents owned a medical equipment and respiratory care company. And they heard me
complaining and just so miserable. And they were like OK if you're going to work that hard
you should come work for us. Because we will pay you more. And all of that energy
effort that you're pouring into that company come poured over here so we can pour some more into you.
And so we can all grow together. So that's what I did. And I was a I became a leader
young. And I had to learn very early that word leadership is deceptive. Right.
Because I would lead leader. People think that because you're leading you're supposed to know
it all. You're supposed to have all the solutions. You're supposed to solve all the problems.
You're supposed to flex your power. That's not leading at all. That is not
leading. Leading listening. Leading is is about the people leading is helping others grow helping
others turn on their life and guiding them if they're lost or if they need to do something
different helping them realize that there's another way or sitting back and learning and going OK.
No I don't do it that way. But let me watch this for a second because maybe I learned something.
Yes. So that is leading. And so that was the biggest lesson that I still carry with me today.
And I cannot wait to have the opportunity to again lead in the respect that I did when I was
working for my parents where I can help somebody else and help them and watch them grow even if
you don't have a team that you're leading. You can still be a leader. And I every day
because even though I don't have the a big team that I'm leading I still
help others. I reach out when I see somebody needing help. I offer a hand. suggestion.
I offer a session. I'll say you do you want to pop on a huddle. Do you want to chat. You want to
talk it through. You want to text me privately. Do you want to meet on Saturday. I still lead
in other ways. So even if you're not a leader at work you can still lead and you can still help.
You can still support. mentor. reach out and pull somebody up.
And that was those were the lessons that I had to learn about leadership is not just about leading
or flexing or knowing everything. And it's not about your title. You can still lead and help
other people in other ways. And that's still a leader. Wow. Wow. I love that. That was a great
explanation of that. And people I hope you guys took some notes on that. I know I did.
Right. And but it's the truth. Everything she just said there. You may be a top producer
but doesn't mean you're a good leader at all. It doesn't mean anything. Leader is a very unselfish
thing you have to be. It's not about how great you are. The greatness of you is the greatness
of your people. That's a fact. And that's what leaders have to understand. Just because somebody
can do something better than you doesn't mean you're a bad leader. That means you were a great
leader. You helped them get to that glory land. That makes you an excellent leader. And that's
what you want to do. Matter of fact, most of us real leaders never did the stuff that the people
are doing today in the same job. So we can still be leaders there. Just because we didn't do it
doesn't mean we don't know how to lead people. We need to encourage Lou and I talk about three
ease of an excellent experience. Educate, encourage and empower everyone we deal with.
Right. And if you do that you you leave a lasting effect. Yeah. That's the mentor. That's the love.
It's much like what you do every single day. I think you fill that to your heart. Right. And
it's so big. And that's what leaders have to be able to do every single day. It doesn't matter
that I sold 50 cars a month when I was a salesperson on the floor or none of that matters to a
salesperson. You're not that's not what they don't. They need somebody to show them how to do it.
They need somebody to tell them that they can do it. Yes. Oh, I love that answer. That was phenomenal.
Just so you know, gotta say. Right. The hard lessons. They're dope. And Lou, I know you agree.
I gotta let Lou drop some nuggets on next. I know Lou was like, yes. No, you definitely
penetrated the heart on that because we're never done growing as leaders. We should never stop
stretching. The biggest room in the world is the room for improvement. And we constantly
need to grow in how we understand leadership. Right. For those that are blessed to be able to
be parents, they get to learn it in a different realm because everything that you do is watched,
absorbed, emulated and regurgitated. Right. In their own flavor, it comes back out
whatever you've been pouring in. Sometimes it's great. Sometimes you're like, oh man,
they got that from me. Right. Sometimes that also comes inside of your leadership style. Right. If
you pay attention to the culture that's around you, especially if you're the one that cultivated it.
You're the one that planted the seeds. You're the one that arranged it. What does that actually
look like? Right. Do you have a fearful environment? Do you have a respectful environment? Do you have
the environment that you actually want? And if you don't leader, that is definitely a red flag
that, hey, maybe I need to adjust how I'm leading and learn how to lead. The thing about many people
that find themselves in leadership positions is that they have not been learned in how to be.
And because of that, they only go to the level that they know. They only know to show what they've
been shown. And so because of that, we often impede the growth of each other because we are
inadequately trained. And that is a plague inside of our industry because we have a lot of people
that can be put inside of a great position because of how they've done in one position.
Now in the military, that doesn't work that way. You have to be trained to go to the next level.
Before you take a new leadership rank, you have to attain leadership schooling and teaching and
knowledge in how to be that kind of leader and what to do situationally. That's just the way
the organization is designed. In the automotive, we don't necessarily have that as much. So I love
that you're highlighting the leadership purpose. And that is a big lesson to learn because
we're never done learning it. So many people think that their numbers and the numbers that
are on the board or the numbers that are in the bank is an identifier of how good we are
at leading anything. But at the end of the day, I just think that it shows that, hey,
we solved a lot of problems, maybe we did a lot of transactions, maybe, but are we really leading
and leadership is always about who you're leading, not the one leading, if that makes sense.
Bingo. Yeah. Love that.
Phenomenal stuff. And Stephanie, this has been, I love this show. This has been a great episode.
I'm loving that we're learning more about you, right? I think our audience definitely
is getting some great nuggets from this. I know I am. I've taken some notes.
It's awesome to have somebody out there in the world doing big things. And the more that we
have in this industry, the better that people are going to feel about our industry. We need
better people. We need more women in this industry. We need more people that don't normally come to
this industry to come to this industry so that we can have those better perspectives,
better processes, better ideas. I love that. We've talked about your why.
We've talked about what brought you to automotive. We talked about mentor. I love that.
I love talking about mentors because it's huge. And that's who we are at heart and
what we need at heart, right? Hardest lesson just went through that. And that's,
again, another mic drop moment. Obviously, you've been on stage as you know your heart.
That's why I told you you knew all the answers to this stuff. This last question we ask is like,
what has been your greatest reward up to this point? You've done a lot of things. A lot of great
things have happened to you. But for all this hard work, the two decades of automotive, you
changing the trajectory of where you thought you were going to go in life to do something
even bigger for you in your heart, right? What has been your greatest reward for all that?
Oh, my greatest reward is being the event chair of Wokan, women of color automotive network.
It just feeds everything that I am that surrounds my heart. It's just, it's the reaching back.
It's helping people. It's helping women. It's helping women of color. It's reaching into those
corners, right? And finding those people that are stuck in a corner or put in a corner or not
offered a seat at the table, not even invited into the room. I just remember when I started
in automotive in 2005, I did not see very many of me. I remember one time an agent telling me
that they are like, oh, we're so sorry. You didn't get picked to work that show. They wanted
blondes with blue eyes. I'm like, okay, she was at least honest with me. She wasn't the one making
the decision. She was just the messenger. So I'm like, okay, it was a very, it was very different
20 years ago than it is now. There's a lot more women. There's a lot more minorities or women of
color, but there still is a lot of room for growth. We still need to see more women at the
table, hear more women's voices. We need to see more women designing cars and building cars.
And when you look at who is the decision maker of who buys any high ticket item, not just a vehicle,
any high ticket item, right? Furniture, televisions, a home. The woman is the decision maker,
a majority of the time. But then when you look at the boardroom, you don't see that reflected.
You don't see the women designing vehicles. You don't see women up on stage. These are the COOs,
the CMOs, the CFOs. If I could count them on one hand, if I can count them on two hands,
if I could count them on two hands and two feet, we have a problem.
Yeah, you're right. You can count them. That's the thing. If you could actually think of the list
on the top of your dome, it's almost a, whoa, there's a problem here.
So I hear everybody saying, oh, the things have changed and it's so much, it's not so much better.
It's just slightly better. When you look at the statistics and you look at the numbers and you
look at what women are getting paid in this industry, it's dismal. It's not fair. It's not
right. And when we look at the problems, the challenges in this industry, they could be solved
just simply by making that change. They just made that change. And that's why I love Wokan,
because that's what we're there to shine light on. We're there to not just shine light on
those type of problems, but to help women of color navigate those problems.
I have some of the most amazing women around me, mentors and sponsors that help me navigate my
day to day. Sometimes you leave work or you'll leave a meeting or you're just, you're feeling so
defeated and so deflated and you're just like, my value is just not being appreciated. And then
you can go and reach into the Wokan jar of goodness and you'll find somebody that'll lift you up.
Like I can send a text message out of SOS out and I get just this blood of information and ideas
and support. And it's just been wonderful to pour so much energy and effort into everything
that we do at Wokan, giving out scholarships, helping people succeed, helping people find jobs,
helping people start businesses, helping people get financial security. It's just been one of the
greatest rewards for me being in this industry and just of my career. I'm just so proud of the
work that we do. I'm proud that I'm part of that organization and I'm proud to see us moving into
our fifth year and preparing for annual events that's coming up at NAMAD. So we're just super
excited and I just couldn't be more proud. Awesome. That is awesome. Who are we? We are Wokan and we
absolutely cheer on the entire Wokan network. Ladies of Wokan are amazing from top to bottom,
from founder to current president to everyone that is a member. There's not a person in that
organization that is not there to help each other and I love that. And it is nice. It's a
beautiful room to walk in. It is a great representation and I love that more and more meetings are
happening. When you walk in those rooms, the meetings are bigger and bigger and it's beautiful.
Congratulations on that and it is. That is a big deal. That is awesome that you're a part of that
organization. It's a two-way street. You benefit just as well as they benefit by having somebody
that's so giving inside that association and that's big. And I know that you talked about
NAMAD and we talked about a lot of things, folks. That was the five-liner. But before we get out here
today, I do want to, we do got to talk about that. Where are you going to be over the next few months?
You said NAMAD. Everyone knows I just got to throw that out there. The best conference of the year.
You all need to be there. We will be at NAMAD. We're definitely going to have Stephanie on stage.
She'll be speaking one way or the other, folks. Just stay tuned for some details on that. We're
going to definitely have her up there talking and doing things, interviewing, the whole nine.
But more importantly, are you all going to be there? So be there because if you're not,
I'll make sure that we'll be doing some marketing on that for everyone to be able to sign up and
be part of this amazing show in Miami, Florida. Come on. So what about that? Besides that show,
where else are you going to be? I'm going to be in Austin, Texas for the Women in Automotive
that's happening July 17th through the 20th. So I'm super excited about that. I'll be in the
C-suite with the executives doing a two-day workshop. So I'm very excited about that. It's
going to be all about customer experience and getting the buy-in from your leaders and how do
you navigate that when your leaders might have been there longer than you've been there and just
kind of helping people wrap their brains around. How do you navigate those difficult waters and
how do you elevate your team and your customer's experience? So that's really exciting. So yeah,
I'm going to be there and we'll be planning our Wokan annual event, which is going to be bigger
and better than ever before. It is our fifth year and we have a new space in the fountain blue.
They've expanded and renovations. So we'll be over there and we're going to be on a different day
than usually we're at the Wednesday having the Wednesday breakfast or the Wednesday luncheon,
I should say. This year we're going to do it on the first day from Vienna Tuesday. So this one
we're going to be doing it on the and it's going to be an event not just a luncheon. So we're going
to have a market for the first time a weekend. So we're going to have opportunity for you to buy
products, sell your products. If you're a minority women owned business, we would love to have you
be a part of our marketplace. So please send me DM me send me some info would love to have your
company represented there. So yeah, that's what we're going to be doing. That's what I'm going
to be doing coming up. We can't wait to see you out there and to continue this conversation. Folks,
you have listened to a five liner. We got to say cheers to you, Stephanie. Thank you so much for
being on the show for brewing some solutions with us. Folks, she dropped a lot inside of your cup.
Make sure that you wine, make sure that you clip a couple of those, take a couple of notes, write
some things down. There's so much that she poured out and we so thank you, Stephanie, for taking
the time to be able to pour out here inside of the cafe. Your brew is something special and we're so
glad that we've taken the time to get it off the shelf, brew it up and get a good five liner out
there because your story is truly inspirational. We love what you're doing for the industry and we
can't wait to see how we can team up to do even more for the industry together. But right here,
creating this brew for the industry is step one and there's so much more to come, everybody. I'm
so thankful for this opportunity to be able to brew solutions with you today, Stephanie. This was
amazing. I'm so thankful for it. This is a great episode, great conversation. Fred, I think we're
ready to drop some F-bombs. Let's drop some F-bombs, man. I like to drop F-bombs. We're in the automotive
industry. We're not talking about the F-bombs. These are the ones that don't offend the moms.
All right, so let's have some fun. Let's forgive. Let's focus. Let's fly. We're going to wipe off
the weight of our forgiveness. We're going to focus. fly and keep growing together on
a count of three. You're going to join us, Stephanie. Make it happen. This is something you used to
doing. All right. Let's have some fun on a count of 3123 Forgive.
Focus. Focus. Fly and keep growing, keep growing. Thank you so much for tuning in, everybody. I am
Lou Ramirez and I'm Fred Lenards and you've been brewing solutions on the CarGuy Coffee Podcast
from RockEd. This incredible solutionary of solutionaries you've been brewing with the one,
the only, the only, step of the way.
About this episode
Stephanie Wedgeworth, Director of Sales Content at RockEd, joins hosts Lou Ramirez and Fred to share her two-decade journey in the automotive industry. From her early days doing experiential marketing for Ford to training dealership staff nationwide for Hyundai, Stephanie has dedicated her career to professional development. She discusses her transition to the micro-learning startup RockEd, where she designs innovative training strategies like AI coaching. Stephanie shares her personal passion for helping others discover their unique strengths, develop their skills, and excel in their careers.
Original notes
Car Guy Coffee Podcast Presents #5Liner feat. Stephanie Wedgeworth
Welcome to The #5Liner, the show dedicated to the individual journeys that power the automotive industry. It's not about the company; it's about the individual, their career, mindset, and personal story. In each episode, we sit down with a high-quality selection of Car Guys and Car Gals to get beyond the title and into the hard earned wisdom they've gained. Join us as we uncover the wins, challenges, and #5Liner takeaways that have shaped today’s top talent.
In this episode of The Car Guy Coffee Podcast, hosts Lou Ramirez and Fred Lennartz welcome Stephanie Wedgeworth for a “5-Liner” conversation about her two-decade automotive career and her impact through training and leadership. Stephanie shares how she entered the industry through Ford experiential marketing and auto shows, then pivoted to nationwide in-dealership training with Hyundai before joining the RockED startup, where she became Director of Sales Content and helps build micro-learning strategies, AI coach tools, role plays, and certification programs. She explains her “why” as helping people grow, highlights the importance of mentors and sponsors, and recounts how an early mentor rebuilt her confidence.
📲Stream it. Share it. Let's Brew.
Don’t forget to share and subscribe!
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Welcome to The #5Liner, the show dedicated to the individual journeys that power the automotive industry. It's not about the company; it's about the individual, their career, mindset, and personal story. In each episode, we sit down with a high-quality selection of Car Guys and Car Gals to get beyond the title and into the hard earned wisdom they've gained. Join us as we uncover the wins, challenges, and #5Liner takeaways that have shaped today’s top talent.
In this episode of The Car Guy Coffee Podcast, hosts Lou Ramirez and Fred Lennartz welcome Stephanie Wedgeworth for a “5-Liner” conversation about her two-decade automotive career and her impact through training and leadership. Stephanie shares how she entered the industry through Ford experiential marketing and auto shows, then pivoted to nationwide in-dealership training with Hyundai before joining the RockED startup, where she became Director of Sales Content and helps build micro-learning strategies, AI coach tools, role plays, and certification programs. She explains her “why” as helping people grow, highlights the importance of mentors and sponsors, and recounts how an early mentor rebuilt her confidence.
📲Stream it. Share it. Let's Brew.
Don’t forget to share and subscribe!
carguycoffee.com
certifiedsolutionaries.com
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