The Queen’s Women in Automotive & Motorsport Conference

(Co-founder Lindsay Stroz provides Motorsport Prospects readers with an overview and review of the recent Queen’s Women in Automotive & Motorsport Conference.)

The Queen’s Women in Automotive and Motorsport Conference was created to generate female equity and support within the industries of focus. Queen’s University, located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada is a perfect landscape to begin creating this community of young passionate women, having the highest percentage of female engineers in Canada and a female majority on campus. 

Occurring on March 23^rd, 2024, at a venue on campus, 76 attendants including 50 delegates, 9 conference coordinators and 17 professional guests assembled for the first conference of its kind at the university level in Canada. The full day event was filled with three speakers, two workshops, a delicious lunch and many breaks filled with networking, giveaway prizes and a racing simulator provided by the university’s Formula SAE design team, Queen’s Racing. 

As the day began, we heard from the conference co-chairs and co-founders Lindsay Stroz & Joellie Duffy and their inspiration as to why they decided to take on this project. Lindsay and Joellie are classmates in the Mechanical Engineering program at the university and just finishing up their third year. Joellie hopes to become an Aerodynamicist for Formula 1 one day, and Lindsay hopes to become a Race Engineering for Formula 1 one day as well. 

“This idea began back in the summer when Lindsay & I were catching up and talking about our mutual goal of making it into the automotive and motorsport industries. Although we got some hints of working within the industry, we both shared the common feeling of lack of support, community and so much room for growth.” – Joellie Duffy

“As we thought about other young women we know, we found that there were so many people in our close network that were interested in similar careers but had the same experience of a lack of support. So, we thought, what better way to start to begin to change this ourselves in the community of Queen’s University.”– Lindsay Stroz

Lindsay and Joellie were joined with a team of 8 female queen’s students who were integral in the execution of the conference: Mattea Birker, Megan Marshall, Amelia Veale, Tiara Khalaj-Zadeh, Sonya Bong, Madison O’Brien, Zoey Doyle and Caley Monaco. 

In the early days of the conference, they gained the support of Magna International, Canada’s largest automotive manufacturer and began to work closely with members of the Magna Women’s Exchange. Along the way they gained sponsorship from Hatch Ltd, FEL Motorsports, Kytech Machine Works and the Chair for Women in Engineering at Queen’s, Heidi Ploeg. With the sponsorship to help financially fuel their conference they began to develop and search for speakers and workshops that would enrich the delegate’s experience. The final schedule included Erika Hoffman; a Canadian Race Car Driver and Founder of Slate Racing, Caroline Hargrove; CTO of Ceres Power and former CTO of McLaren Technologies and Jessica Benevides; the Manager for FEL Motorsports. Each speaker provided enriching, inspirational and insightful talks that invited many wise and thoughtful questions from delegates. 

“As someone who plans events for a living, I was very impressed by the first QWAI event put on by Lindsay, Joellie and their team. There were engaging speakers and workshops with women in the industry holding high-level positions. They were also able to secure sponsorship to financially support their ideas and offer added value to all of those who attended. Their vision incapsulated the sentiment of the automotive industry and they wanted to see more young women like themselves have access to ideas and connections -and I believe they have done just that by starting QWAI.” – Jessica Benevides

The two workshops of the day also provided a chance for the delegates to interact with each other and with the professional guest. The first workshop, facilitated by Magna included a ‘speed-dating’ style chance for delegates to ask questions and learn about the careers of 9 Magna representatives including members of HR, engineering, management, and production. The second workshop was hosted by Stephanie Thompson and Nancy Watt. Stephanie shared her experiences a female engineer at GM and her female youth initiative StembySteph and Nancy Watt led the crowd through several useful exercises that lead to becoming a better professional and person, referencing her research and teaching as a McMaster university professor.

Delegates were also invited to enter to win 1 of the 9 giveaway prizes donated by sponsors and partners including a crowd favorite of a ‘Technical Inspection for the Day’ voucher provided by FEL Motorsports, a crowd favorite.

“Working in the paddock during a race weekend is an unimaginable experience for any young race fanatic. FELs generosity with this giveaway prize was a chance for two passionate delegates to get to experience this for themselves. For them, it was valuable beyond estimation.” – Lindsay Stroz 

The overall buzz of the room throughout the day radiated positivity and growth. Delegates from across Queen’s campus of different genders, race, program, and background assembled to celebrate and learn about their communal passion about motorsport and automotive. 

“A big moment for us was selling out tickets. At the end of the day, you can plan an event as best as you can but what makes a difference is if people want to show up.” – Joellie Duffy

Overall, the event further solidified the fact that women want to be in motorsports and automotive, and we will continue to learn from each other and support one another. 

As Joellie so eloquently wrote on each of the speakers thank you cards: 

“Let this conference be a testament to the fact that women belong in automotive and motorsport, and together we won’t just open doors, we’re going to tear them off their hinges.”

For updates and information on next year’s conference, please go to: https://www.instagram.com/queensuni_wai/.