Founder and head of Force Indy, a team competing in Indy Lights in 2022 and working to promote greater inclusion in the sport, Rod Reid gave an exclusive interview toGRAND PRI ZE and revealed that he intentionally has a press office team founded by a black woman and staffed exclusively by black employees.

"When we started (with Force Indy), I knew we had to have a PR company, someone to work on our social media. I looked for a company with African-American or Latin-American owners, and I said, 'I want to hire them to do the job,' and guess what? Nobody knew anything about motorsports. They had excellent credentials in other areas of PR, but not motorsports. When I talked to Tracy (Hughes, founder of Tracey Royal Communications), I said, 'hey, do you think you'd like to work in motorsport?' and she said, 'what is motorsport?' She is absolutely amazing, because after a whole month she came to me: 'Rod, I will agree to work with you for a month, no expenses, nothing, I just want to learn and see if this is something I can do'," he revealed. And it worked out.

But beyond representation, however, it is also necessary to talk to those who are in the front line in the fight for greater female inclusion in motorsports: to give prominence, therefore, to women who have actions in this direction. In Rod Reid's case, the conversation is with icons of American motorsports.

"I talk constantly with Lyn St. James and Beth Paretta about this whole perception that they fight about: that women should be in the stands with their cocktails, and only in the winner's circle to kiss the driver - and it was like that for years, and years and years. If you add that to the work we're doing to try to reach out to young women and talk to them about education and careers behind the wheel, I think they (people) are starting to notice," he said.

"But I think the initiatives that Lyn (St. James) is doing, putting women in the workplace for motorsports - and getting that translated into teams and drivers; and again, Beth Paretta, who is working tirelessly on Paretta Autosport (women-only team) to try to support the team... we'll be standing with them and trying to be that representation, where girls can come and see, 'oh, I can be like them,'" the Force Indy founder added.

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