We Are a Community and We are Powerful.
Women buy or influence the purchase of 85% of all cars and outright buy 65% of all cars. Without us, the auto industry would not thrive. You’d think that car makers and dealers would be falling all over themselves trying to win us over, but, no. Women are overlooked, marginalized and sadly, even victimized.
A Girls Guide to Cars was founded to give voice to the powerful yet often overlooked female car buyer. We’re here to change that by empowering women through knowledge and community, and that starts with trust, which we spell out, including our ethics, standards and advertising practices, here.
Meet Our Team
Scotty Reiss
People ask how she got into the auto business, but actually, the auto business found her. Never a car enthusiast or fanatic, she co-founded SheBuysCars in 2013 and realized that the car world, which seemed so closed off to women, was a wonderful place for a girl to blossom. Five years later, A Girls Guide to Cars refocused that mission with a fun, fresh and informative new appeal.
A writer, editor and journalist, Scotty began and has written for the New York Times, Forbes, PureWow, Parents, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan and Adweek, among others. She is the co-author of Stew Leonard, My Story, a biography of the founder of the iconic grocery company Stew Leonard’s. In addition to her writing, Scotty produced the American Express Publishing Luxury Summit, PRWeek magazine’s annual conference and a series of Luxury Marketing Council events.
Scotty also serves as a World Car Awards juror and Vice Chair; is a member of the board of the International Motor Press Association and formerly served on the board of Women in Automotive.
Scotty, who owns an Infiniti QX50, a VW Tiguan and a Hyundai Veloster, rarely gets to drive any of them. She lives in Texas with her husband, daughters and dog.
Kristen Brown
Kristen Brown’s obsession with all things automotive started when she was young, watching WRC races while bouncing on her mechanic father’s knee. In between writing and editing, she’s happy behind the wheel of her 2006 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited off-roading somewhere in California with her husband.
She has headlines with U.S. News and World Report, The US Sun, Autoblog, MotorBiscuit, and Internet Brands Automotive Group. As the Autos Editor here at AGGTC since 2023, she’s helped publish and coordinate loans for other writers while covering news, writing reviews, roundups, buyer’s guides, and lifestyle pieces.
Allison Barfield
Allison has been putting cars through their paces for years, being an extensive reviewer with MotorBiscuit. While she reviews cars with us, too, you can find her content on other automotive sites like HotCars. While reviews are her focus, she’s also created lifestyle pieces, buying guides, product comparisons, pet product reviews and industry news while acting as our contributing editor. When she’s not talking about cars, her favorite topics happen to be dogs, video games, Lord of the Rings, and her two cats.
Find her on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Natalie “Kitty” Merola
Natalie is our resident video expert and producer, as well as co-host and producer for our What Drives Her podcast with Scotty. When there isn’t a camera in her face capturing her adventures as a mom who loves cars and motorsports, she’s attending first drive events for us or working on her 2nd-degree black belt in taekwondo with her 11-year-old son. She and Shannon Bassett help run our social media channels, too, creating engaging and trendy content.
But her automotive influence doesn’t stop there. She shares her love of cars with her husband and fellow car reviewer, and is an avid member of the Texas Auto Writers Association alongside Scotty and Erica, with previous experience as the VP of Communications. For fun, she runs a fashion blog, Ginger Me Glam, where she reviews the latest fashion items through personal style and supports the music scene at concerts, too.
Find her on LinkedIn, Instagram, and our YouTube channel.
Shannon Bassett
IV Nurse turned full-time content creator, Shannon reviews cars, trucks, EVs, and sports cars for us from her home in New York with her husband and two boys. You’ve probably seen her hilarious yet informative car-related reels on her Instagram. Aside from covering cars for us, she’s an avid Formula 1 watcher, true crime documentary enthusiast, and proud Swiftie.
Reviews are her specialty, but she’s also written listicles for us, vehicle round-ups, buyer’s guides, product comparisons, lifestyle pieces and news.
Shannon is also a new (and proud) member of the International Motor Press Association.
Find her on LinkedIn, TikTok and our YouTube channel.
Sara Lacey
Sara has written about cars since 2005. She used to beat them up with her kids and write about it at the likes of MotherProof.com and Cars.com. Now a regular contributor for A Girls Guide to Cars, Sara is an expert on family cars, 4WD and off-road vehicles, sports cars and electric cars. She deciphers how a car will work in her readers’ lives. Sara lives in Colorado, where she currently acts as the President of the Rocky Mountain Automotive Press Association. Like most Coloradans, she likes to ski, hike, and watch Formula 1: Drive to Survive.
Sara grew up mostly around German cars, but has foundational memories of riding in her family’s 1972 International Scout II through the mountains. She also enjoyed riding in the teeny-tiny backseat of her dad’s 1982 Porsche 911 SC, of which she recently became the owner.
Sara, who drives a Tesla, is married and has two kids. She keeps considering getting a dog, but really just enjoys looking at pictures of puppies.
Erica Mueller
The oldest of 8 kids, Erica spent a few years as the only child. By the time her first brother was born Erica had a collection of Hot Wheels that any little boy would be jealous of. A fan of cars from a young age, Erica enjoyed working on the family car with her dad and hanging out in her grandfather’s tire shop.
She may have grown up to be a wife, mom, flower farmer/florist, web developer, photographer, and singer/musician, but she still loves cars and driving. An expert on pickup trucks, electric cars and family cars, she shares stories on her own Instagram and she’s a proud member of the Texas Auto Writer’s Association.
Erica owns and operates a flower farm in North Texas with her husband, three kids, three cats, several chickens, and one loyal dog.
Find her on LinkedIn.
Corliss Oglesby
Corliss grew up with the dream of becoming an automotive designer when she was in elementary school. She grew up admiring the interiors of the classic Cadillacs her family owned and adored, so naturally, she grew up to appreciate the luxurious experiences cars have to offer. For us, she’s channeling those childhood passions into writing about all things on four wheels, reviewing cars for us through the lens of an expert in design language, fashion, and as a professional model.
With a few reviews under her belt, she’s also written listicles about how a car’s interior is designed to provoke certain emotions through colors and materials, and highlighted her favorite automotive fashion piece among other fun automotive topics.
Kim Smith
Kim isn’t someone who likes to sit still. As a mom to two daughters, whom she calls her rainbow babies, she reviews cars—ranging from full-blown luxury SUVs, sports cars, EVs, and more while her daughters provide valuable insight. If she isn’t writing about cars, she’s publishing content to her blog, Beauty and the Bump NYC, where she discusses travel, family, food, and more. But ask her how much she loves her Acura MDX.
While she publishes regular reviews on her site What Drives Kim, she’s also covered automotive events for us, written lifestyle pieces, tips and tricks, buying guides, and family product reviews for us.
Find her on Instagram.