Our Women in the Powersports Industry series, highlighting the struggles and achievements of women in a male-dominated industry, was originally intended to be a year of monthly articles, that started on International Women’s Day on March 8. That was two years ago. Since then, the series has continued, on an occasional basis, because there are many more stories to tell, and much more inspiration to be found.
Welcome to a new year and a new Women in Powersports profile! In this latest article, we talk to Jessika Häggling, Manager of multi-brand powersports dealership Northbike’s 6000 square-metre store in Umeå in northern Sweden. She is responsible for a team of 30 people, including eight sales people that advise customers on Ski-Doo, Sea-Doo and apparel purchases, as well as leading motorcycle brands.
To say, Vicki Gray is an adventurer, would be an understatement. The subject of our latest Women in Powersports profile has driven herself to take risks, aim for the highest peaks, and get off the beaten track for her entire adult life. At 19, she was travelling Canada training merchandisers. At 23, she was winning awards for the highest profit increases in the sales territories she managed. And then she sold everything and moved to the Caribbean island of St. Maarten to ride all year long and continue to teach others, expanding her passion for motorcycling.
Our occasional series, “Women in Powersports”, spotlights our female colleagues in every area of the industry, and at all levels. This time, we’re turning our attention to the organization of sporting events, talking to one of the only women to head up a winter racing event, and not the smallest one at that! Véronique Lizette is General Manager of the Grand-Prix de Valcourt, the largest winter powersports event in the world, with six disciplines in one weekend: snowmobile and motocross on an ice oval, motocross and ATV on an iced road circuit, snocross and drag racing.
In our series Women in powersports, we shine a light on the different roles women occupy, how these roles evolve, and how these women contribute to that evolution. Today, we meet Megan Brodeur, from Coaticook in Canada, who races snowmobiles in the extreme sport of Snocross, round a rough off-road circuit. Despite her young age – she is 22 years old – Megan has been in the racing world for over a decade. She was the youngest women’s Snocross racer to win the North American championship, at 18, and she’s won three more championships in a row since then.
Our series Women in Powersports has set out to meet ladies from a variety of areas in our industry. In this interview, we meet Elizabeth Munguia, Director, Quality, for the Querétaro plant. Elizabeth is a trailblazer as the first-ever Mexican female director at BRP in Mexico, where the percentage of women on the management team is now 10%. With 145 people reporting to her, including two Quality Managers, she is responsible for quality assurance on the engines and machined parts manufactured in Querétaro, as well as the Sea-Doo watercraft. Elizabeth trained as an electronics engineer and began her career in this field, switching to quality when she moved to Querétaro – a manufacturing hub – for her husband’s job. In 2012, her desire for a better work-life balance, more time to spend with her young son and family, led her to BRP.
The BRP family includes not only its employees, but also its dealers and customers. In our dealerships, we see more and more women making their mark as businesswomen and powersports experts. Stephanie Hunsaker, general manager of ADS Motorsports in Utah, is one of them.
As the winter season begins, it’s appropriate that we continue our series on women in powersports by introducing an exceptional woman who thrives in snow, Ashley Chaffin. A Ski-Doo ambassador and highly-skilled snowmobiler, Ashley is a profile in determination, leadership, and commitment to advancement of the industry.
In our penultimate profile of an exceptional woman in the powersports industry, we get to know Iris Brown, Team Leader at BRP’s Valcourt plant. Like the other women we’ve celebrated in this series, Iris is strong, determined, and dedicated to making a contribution to the industry.
Our series “Women in powersports” showcases the determination, the leadership and the commitment these exceptional women deploy in our industry. Today, in our Xth portrait, we present Émilie St-Laurent, co-owner of BRP dealership Sports DRC in Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean, Quebec, Canada.
In our 9th portrait of an exceptional woman for the “Women in powersports” series, we’re proud to feature Corry Weller, Can-Am Off-Road racer and ambassador. The purpose of this series is to celebrate the determination, leadership and commitment of women who make a difference in the powersports industry.
Continuing with our series “Women in powersports”, we wanted to highlight the determination and boldness of Jodi Emmons, BRP Manufacturing System coordinator at our Evinrude manufacturing site in Sturtevant, Wisconsin, USA.
An 7th article in the series "Women in the Powersports Industry", highlighting the determination, leadership and commitment of many exceptional women who make a difference in this industry.
Now, at the peak of summer, many of us are thirsty for adventure on the water. How appropriate that the subject of the 6th installment of our "Women in Powersports" series is Andrea Dominguez, athlete, Sea-Doo ambassador, and owner of a watercraft school in Colombia.
As we’ve seen throughout our series, being a woman in the powersports industry has its daily challenges. What drives some women, therefore, to dive into the powersports world as a professional career? For Samantha Ryan, it was a combination of opportunity and determination.
We are now at our third portrait in the series “Women in the powersports industry”, highlighting the determination, leadership and commitment of exceptional women, who make a difference in this industry.
This is the second article in our series "Women in powersports", highlighting the determination, leadership and commitment of exceptional women, who make a difference in the powersports industry.
To mark women’s history month in March, we are proud to highlight the determination, leadership and commitment of several exceptional women, who are making a difference in the powersports arena.