Her Story
About Amber
I've been in my field my entire life, 34 years total, but racing directly for 24 years and in marketing partnerships for 24 years. I am a NASCAR driver, entrepreneur, speaker, and on-screen media TV talent. I grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, racing local dirt tracks. I was winning a lot, and I caught the eye of the National Diversity Program, which opened my mind to what could be possible. I then raised hundreds of thousands of dollars of sponsorship and got an immigration visa to move to the USA in 2016, where I became the first Canadian female to win a NASCAR race in the USA. In the last 24 years, I've raised over $5 million in marketing partnerships to support my racing career, from major corporate companies to smaller brands and everything in between. I've learned how to really prove return on investment for these marketing partners, and that has transitioned into me having some media opportunities and also speaking on my experiences, both as an athlete, as a race car driver, and also as a businesswoman who has built her own brand. I'm the president of Amber Balcaen Racing and manage all my own brand partnerships, contracts, and everything in between. I started finding my own sponsorship at a young age, which is not very common. I grew up in a racing family and I'm a third-generation race car driver, but my dad said if I wanted to race, that I had to do it on my own. So I raised all my own sponsorship and worked on my go-kart all the way up until today. I've raced at Daytona 4 times, which is a legendary racetrack.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Amber
01What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice would be to not let gender be an obstacle, and to try to take gender out of the situation completely, and just focus on being the best race car driver you can be. I think a lot of times, women will kind of view themselves differently because we are a woman, but with racing, we're very fortunate. It's one of the very few sports that men and women can compete against each other at the same level. So, just know to have confidence in your abilities and confidence in yourself, and as long as you continually focus on what you can control, how you prepare for the races, how you execute your strategies and your plans for the races, then that's really all that matters. I think one of the biggest deterrents is comparing yourself to others, and I think the biggest thing is to kind of just keep your head down and focus on yourself, and not compare yourself to others, and also not let the opinions of others dictate or influence the decisions that you make for yourself.
02What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the biggest challenge of being in male-dominated fields is that we have to work harder to be taken seriously. I feel that I am more disciplined and work harder on every single aspect of race prep and race execution than my male counterparts, just to prove to those around me that I take this seriously, and that I'm committed, and that I'm dedicated. I think men can kind of get away with goofing off a little more, where women have to always portray a level of commitment and seriousness to be taken seriously and to get the same opportunities. More specifically in racing, if I have teammates that are men, I know my team is more likely gonna give them the better race cars, or the faster race cars, because they just automatically believe they can get the job done because they're men. And that's not always the case, so I think we just have to work harder to show our seriousness and our dedication and commitment to be taken seriously. I think especially when you're a feminine female as well, they kind of wonder maybe what your motives are, or what your purpose is, and don't realize that I want to drive race cars just as much as any other person. It doesn't matter what I look like or what my side hobbies are. I can still wear makeup and enjoy driving fast race cars and work really hard at it.
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