Entrepreneurship in Motorsports with Sarah Levenson | FanAmp Fast Lane

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Getting her start in Motorsports

#1. What was the first moment that you can remember discovering motorsports?

The first time I discovered motorsports was because of my college roommate.

Her boyfriend's group of friends were all watching F1 together back in 2015/2016. She was sick of being the only girl going to these watch parties, and so she dragged me along. From there, she taught me everything... and keep in mind that this is pre- Drive to Survive... So she showed me YouTube clips and taught me everything there was to know.

The rest was history...

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#2. When did you decide that this is where you wanted to build your career? 

 I spent a lot of my career working in different industries. I originally thought I wanted to work in Music PR - which I did for a bit.

Then I tried out different industries. I tried out in-house. I tried out agency. For a long time, I knew that I loved motorsports, but I didn't want to work in it because I was scared of turning my passion into a paycheck.

At one point, I was talking to a friend of mine who works in F1, and she basically looked at me and she said,

"I think it's crazy that you're not working in motorsport because you know so much about it and you love it. So why aren't you doing that?"

(Author's note: The friend was in fact F1 Strategist and Commentator, Ruth Buscombe)

I sat with that for about six months, and COVID hit around the same time. I just decided that it was either going to be now or never to make the move into motorsport.

It was going to be now or never to start my own agency, so that's what I did.

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Sarah's Current Role

#3. What was your first role and the first step you took towards starting your own agency and brand?

 I actually met that friend (mentioned above) and many other friends who are working in motorsport through Grid Clique.

My co founder - Samantha and I - met over the internet in COVID, like many people did and became fast friends.

At that time, there wasn't really a space where we felt that women could come together and talk about the sport. So we just looked at each other and we said, "Why don't we do that?"

We founded what was originally: Women of F1 and a few other things. Eventually, it ended up morphing into Grid Clique. Through that, that's how I met all of these colleagues and friends of mine.

It was that friend, Ruth, who then told me that Grid Clique is amazing and this is fantastic... but asked "why aren't you working IN it? Why aren't you building a career in it?

At that point and to this day, Grid Clique is a passion project, and that's how it became my job. It was something that I did as a passion and then I was able to build my career in it because of that.

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#4. What does a standard day look like for you?

 I know that this probably isn't the answer that you want, but there is no standard day.

When I'm home, I am running my agency from my home office. My business is about 60% motorsports clients and 40% software and tech clients. I run PR and Marketing strategy for these businesses.

Then, on the weekends, I'm pretty much always on some sort of racetrack in some way, shape, or form.

Whether it's IndyCar - like this weekend* - or IMSA, NASCAR, F1, I'm either working with clients or I'm working as Grid Clique to help create content and create a safe space for women empowerment.

*Author's Note: This was recorded at the St Petersburg IndyCar Race.*

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‍#5. What are the most rewarding and the most challenging parts of working in motorsports and tech basically running 2 businesses?

Rewarding

 I feel so incredibly lucky to be able to work in something that I'm so passionate about, and work in something that I love. Through Grid Clique and giving women that safe space that they feel like they can connect and engage - if there's one person that comes up to me in a weekend and says, this place feels safer because of you, I feel like I've done my job and that's all I need.

When it comes to my business and my work... not many people can say that. They make money doing what they love, so I feel very lucky in that sense.

Difficult

One of the challenges that's interconnected is that there is no "time off or day off".

I'm at a racetrack Thursday through Monday morning, and I hit the ground running with the rest of my work and the rest of my clients Monday through Thursday.

When you own your own business, it is real when they say, you work 24/7 instead of 9 - 5.

With me running a business, as well as doing this passion project on the side, I've definitely oversold myself in some capacities, but again, I love it, so even the challenges and working all the time is worth every second to me.

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#6. What are the top 3 qualities that have helped you succeed?

Being nice to others

 I don't know if this is necessarily a quality, but it's a choice that I make every day. Honestly, being nice, which sounds so lame, but being friendly to everyone that you come across and putting yourself out there really helps you in so many senses.

People want to work with people that they get along with. Unfortunately, there are people across industries that feel that they can succeed by power versus kindness. I see that the most successful people are the kindest. I'm not sure if that's a quality, but that's definitely important to me.

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Persistence

 There's going to be a lot of difficult moments for anyone who's trying to succeed in any industry. Going through those challenging moments and getting to the other side is difficult, but as long as you continue doing that, then you're going to continue being successful. That's another good quality.

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Adaptability

Flexibility could be a good one, but it comes to more... being able to adapt. I think adaptability is definitely a quality that you need to have because you can have all of the plans in the world... I'm a very type A person. I write everything down. I schedule everything out. I need that for myself, but when you're working in motorsports or in honestly a lot of industries, things are going to change.

You need to be able to adapt with it and change with it, or else, you're just gonna get stuck and overwhelmed, which I've definitely done before.

Learning how to adapt a bit better versus when I first entered the industry and I was very stressed that nothing went according to plan.

Now I just assume that nothing's going to go according to plan and that's okay and it'll all work out.

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Sarah's Advice

#7. If you could go back and change anything about your path to where you are today, what would that be? 

I think that's a very interesting question, because there's definitely been a lot of times where I've been very upset and frustrated that I didn't get certain opportunities that I applied for, or certain jobs that I really wanted that didn't end up working out.... or certain clients that I really wanted and it didn't end up working out.

It really is true that there is something better on the other side of that. When one door closes, another one opens, and I try to keep that in mind at all times, because every single time that I didn't get what I thought what I wanted, I got something better. That's helped me grow as a person. It's helped my business grow. It's helped Grid Clique grow.

#8. If you could give one piece of advice to someone looking to follow in your footsteps what would that be?

 I think there's all the basics of put yourself out there. Don't be afraid to knock on doors. Send cold emails. Those are the basics because in motorsports, specifically...

Your network is your net worth. Who you know, and who you come across will get you the positions that you want.

I think beyond that, on more of a 10,000 foot philosophical level, one of my favorite quotes and one of my favorite pieces of advice that I try to live by the most is,

"You're never starting from scratch. You're always starting from experience."

So, whether you feel like you don't know anyone in the sport, or you're trying to do something new, or you're trying to launch a business, or you're trying to make content, or whatever that is... I think a lot of people set themselves back from the get go because they're like, oh, I'm not experiencing this. I don't know what I'm doing.

In reality, you've had so many different experiences across so many different parts of your life that will help you in this new endeavor. Especially in some of the old corporate roles that I was working, where I felt like I was starting from scratch over and over again because I was just learning so much at the beginning of my career.

I just always try to remind myself.

I had a sticky note on all of my work computers that when I changed like job to job in the corporate world for the last eight years would always be there. It said, 'you're not starting from scratch, you're always starting from experience'.

I think that everyone needs to remember that sometimes.

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Sarah's Favorites

#9. What is your favorite race/ event/ moment that you’ve had in your career thus-far?

 It's a challenging one because my favorite types of races are 24 hour races. The endurance races... Le Mans has to be one of the coolest experiences that I've ever had. I also really love the races that I get to go with my Grid Clique co-founder Samantha. She and I don't get to go to many races together often.

When I'm able to be surrounded by people like her and being surrounded by incredible women or people in the community, it doesn't matter what series it is or what track it is. Those are always the best experiences as well.

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#10. What was that first race like, attending from a business standpoint rather than as a 'fan' or a 'friend'?

I knew absolutely no one - and going as a member of the media pool, I knew that I had to network and grow my business.

I'm an introvert and new, while everyone else seemed to already be friends and know each other. That's when the 'being niceto others' came in - because if you're nice to someone hopefully they'll be nice back.

Which was very true, I think. The first introductions I made at that first race really started it all for me and was the biggest jump into me meeting people across the paddock that have become clients, friends, and sometimes both.

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Want to learn more about building your own business and working across many motorsports series? Then check out all of our Fast Lane interviews, or jump right into one of these:

• Motorsports photography with Jamey Price
• F1 Journalism with Emily Selleck