About Me

My name is Nathalia and welcome to my blog, Petrol Heroines!

This blog aims to honor the women who have paved the way for future generations of women to participate in all aspects of the motorsport industry.  From drivers to communication specialists, to engineers, to mechanics, to marshalls, to media broadcasters, to artists, you name it, we will do our best to cover them and honor them.  We will honor our heroines from the past, current, and future in motorsport.  This blog combines my cause to encourage women to be empowered and my love for motorsport.

A few years back, I started to notice that I needed to communicate better with my father.  I had noticed that our communication was deteriorating until I realized that he really enjoyed Formula 1.  So, I decided to learn more about Formula 1.  I learned as much as I could, the drivers, the team principal, constructors, the tracks, the history, and even the gossip.  The more I learned, the more I fell in love with it, but then I noticed that the amount of female representation in Formula 1 is meager.

My love for motorsport was a gradual one.  I attended my first rally when my mother was pregnant with me.  On occasion, I will join my father at the local track in Salinas.  I remember taking my dad to the Grand Prix of Baltimore in 2011.  I used to go to the occasional car show.  It wasn’t until 2017 when I started to get big into attending PCA (Porsche Club of America) local autocross events.  Then Instagram led me to meet the most amazing women such as @WomenInPorsche, @motherofcars, @jennetic, @heather_981, @jenamayesing, @marianasmall, and many more.

Since a very young age, I've been an advocate for women in business and gender equality.  I grew up with a single mother and watching her battle corporate life was daunting, to say the least.  Being blessed to attend an all-girl high school I noticed the disproportionate environment when women and men were in the same classroom.  When classes were mixed they turned out to be very boring.  Women stopped talking and men overpowered all the conversations.  During that period I was inspired to raise money for the local women’s shelter.  That night we raised $700 for the Blackburn Center in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

With the knowledge that motorsport is still a predominantly male-dominated industry, assisting women to have an opportunity in this industry has been a goal of mine.  Women make everything better, more efficient, and more inclusive.  And it blew my mind how many women are motorsport enthusiasts, let alone Porsche owners!

I fell in love with Porsche at a very young age.  When I saw Kelly McGillis drive a Porsche 356 A Speedster to follow Tom Cruise to call him out on being a little bitch.  That visual of the car speeding has been seared into my memory ever since.  I do have to admit at the time I was too young to know what car that was.  Then my second sighting was Sandra Bullock as a young lawyer defending Samuel L. Jackson in the movie Time to Kill.  Again, another bad-ass chick driving a Porsche 356 A Speedster.  Both in black.  The first time I physically saw a 356 was in 2009.  The first time I got to sit inside one was in 2018.  And yes I cried like a teenager would if she had met Justin Beiber.  And the funny thing is, I heard her first.

The love I have for motorsport and Porsche is the best kind of love because it’s the one that was built through time.  The people but especially the women I’ve met through meet-ups, research, and Instagram have become dear friends that I know their friendship will last years.  I can confidently say the female friendships that I’ve met through motorsport are the best because we do understand we get constantly underestimated therefore we have to stick together.  We have no need for gossip because we must stick together to make sure we get treated fairly in an industry that enjoys our company but puts strong limitations in order to achieve proper integration.  But no worries, some companies are making strides in gender equality but we are still far from having equal representation.   

Contact Me:

petrolheroines@gmail.com