I knew I wanted to do something Sound or Motorsports related from a very young age. I was told "that's nice" by quite a few people and then sent on my way to go back to playing or whatever it was I was doing before I told them my dreams.
That said, I had a few people in my corner helping and encouraging me that I could do anything I wanted to do, even if it wasn't normally a "girl's job."
In high school, I had a guidance counsellor tell me I should go for a more traditional role (nurse, teacher, etc), as I would never make it doing what I wanted to do; in her own way, I think she was trying to keep me grounded and protect me from a very hard business, but it just fuelled my drive more.
Instead of cutting my losses and focusing my efforts into something I would never be happy in, I never missed a NASCAR/Indy race, even snuck off to Michigan for a race when I was about 17, and raced on iRacing games as soon as they came out.
After taking a gap year in college, I got a job at the local radio station group that covered local sports, including some races at the local short tracks. While I was there, the production department taught me how to edit interviews and sounds/songs and create commercials. I also worked for a mobile entertainment/DJ service where I grafted long, physical (heavy lifting, long drives) and hard hours (often working the overnight and weekend shifts at both jobs) for eight years before moving to the UK...
I have worked just as hard here, but now have a fairly steady job in entertainment, theatre mainly, and continue to find ways to be involved in motorsports, whether it's content creation for a podcast, social media content creation or just staying in the loop/in contact with folks I know and trust.
In a nutshell, I proved her wrong, and she told my mom that she used my story to motivate her “harder cases” until she retired a few years ago. While it would have been nice for her to have encouraged me back then, I don't really want to change it, as her disbelief in my abilities is what gave me the drive to prove her wrong, so I may not have turned out how I did.
The moral of this story is: When someone says you can't do it because of gender, being from a small town, etc., don't take that at face value, challenge it respectfully, and if it's something you want, WORK HARD for it.
About the Creator
Keri Mason
I am a Sound & Graphic Designer, and newly graduated Social Media Manager I enjoy NASCAR, cooking & spending time with my family and friends, especially my dog Buzz.
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