Black Automotive Creators You Need to Know—Especially If You’re Shopping for a Car
It’s Black History Month – time to celebrate Black innovators, leaders and others who have blazed a path for others. But how about those who are making history? In the automotive space it’s not just important to see a variety of opinions because cars, which are a large and complicated purchase, can mean different things to different people. Can we trust our own situations to the bulk of gear-headed reviewers and content creators who mostly happen to be white dudes? Like everything else, we look for someone who looks and lives like us for guidance. Specifically, Black automotive creators.
Which is why we’re in this space. Women buy or influence more than 85% of all car purchases. But the sheer number of Black Americans—50 million—represent a huge share of the market too, enough to make or break a car maker. But if you consider the outsize number of Black athletes—70% of NBA players and more than half of NFL players according to Statista—and Black musicians, which number about 44% according to Billboard, who are are huge cultural influences, including cars, the importance is even greater. But who else can we look to for a culture-inflected opinion, or simply, a Black creator or journalist who is crushing it in a white-dominated world?
These people represent some our favorite voices in the auto space, though we would always love to see more Black creators here—especially women.
This story is 100% human researched and written based on actual first-person knowledge, extensive experience and expertise on the subject of cars and trucks.
Marques Brownlee is Maybe the Best Voice in Tech
Tech expert YouTuber and Instagramer Marques Brownlee is literally a make it or break it voice among all voices with nearly 20 million subscribers on YouTube and more than 4.5 billion views. While he focuses mostly on tech gadgets like phones, headphones, watches and the like, he occasionally focuses on computers on wheels: cars. Of course, they are mostly electric cars, the most computer-like cars on the road. His reviews are always fun, but we love it most when he’s focused on Tesla, for good or bad, and all the contenders gunning for that market.
Read: VW ID Buzz First Drive: This 3-row 7 Passenger *Bus* Means No More Boring Family Cars
Abbas Wahab Has Us Laughing and Laughing and Laughing
You might call him a car buyer’s car guy: funny, spot on and relevant. Abbas Wahab gets the gear-head angle, but he also interprets brands, the sales process and the overall car world the way most of us see it. But all with a very, very funny laugh-out-loud style.
Read: Never Buy These Things From a Car Dealer—Or Pay For Them When You Purchase a Car
Brehanna Daniels Is the Breaker of Barriers
If there’s one woman breaking down barriers, it’s Brehanna Daniels. She was the first Black woman in the pits and now is part of the first all-Black NASCAR pit crew, a journey that came about by following her passion. Every weekend she’s pit-side swapping tires and making adjustments under the pressure of a race in progress. And lest you think a woman with a job that demands such strength and precision leads a gritty life, nah. Seeing her in her downtime you’d never guess what she does for a living.
Patrice Banks Inspired Us to Look Under the Hood
Patrice’s passion and dedication has changed legions of lives. Literally. She founded the Girls Auto Clinic in Philadelphia where she also teaches women to become automotive repair techs. She’s helped women to gain great-paying jobs and she’s inspired other women to feel confident in making car repair decisions. We need more women like Patrice.
Ralph Gilles: Designer of All Your Favorite Cars
You know all those amazing muscle cars that make us catch our breath for their sheer beauty and power? Those off-roaders that we envy for their rugged strength? Family cars that bring us joy for all they do for us? We have Ralph Gilles, global design director at Stellantis, maker of Dodge, Jeep and Ram among others, to thank for a great many of them.
A Haitian-American who grew up in Montreal, Ralph dreamed of designing cars as a kid and, then did, not just running a great design division but also empowering many other Black designers, as well as designers from all walks of life, including quite a few female designers. We couldn’t be more delighted with Ralph’s design leadership, but his mission of including others makes us even more grateful.
ElleVictoria: A Standout Among Black Automotive Creators
If you’ve seen ElleVictoria’s Instagram, HeelsnClutch, you’ve probably immediately drooled, not just for the jaw-dropping stilettos, must-have handbags and gorgeous backdrops, but for the Astons and Lambos and Porsches, many of which she owns. The most amazing part? She buys her cars herself, as well as many of those driven by some of her kids. Grown kids. Yeah, she’s all that and we can’t stop watching what she’ll conquer next.
Kimatni Rawlins Is Making the World a Better Place
Automotive journalist and expert Kimatni Rawlins (left, above) is the founder of Automotive Rhythms, a site dedicated to helping consumers find their own automotive style. A dad, vegan and fitness enthusiast, Kimatni could have been happy just telling car stories, but that wasn’t enough.
So, a few years ago he co-founded The Driving Force media internships for students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The program just celebrated its fourth year of partnering with colleges, students and auto makers on internships to inspire Black students to consider journalism and communications as a career.
Forrest Jones Drives All the Car You Wish You Could Drive
If there’s one guy out there with a cool job, it’s Forrest. He’s a force on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok where literally millions (and millions) of car buyers and enthusiasts follow to see what amazing car he’s driving next. A dad, husband and truly nice guy, Forrest always gets our attention, from value-focused family cars to supercars that only a few will ever get to see up close. Thanks to Forrest, we can at least dream.
Kinya Claiborne Brings Her Chic Style to Cars and More
The editor of Style and Society Magazine, Kinya Claiborne makes a point of sharing behind-the-scenes looks at all the places she goes, the styles she loves and the cars she drives. We love that cars are part of the mix, as they should be!
Teia Collier, Mom, Educator and Among Our Fave Black Automotive Creators
Teia is a car girl’s car girl, always adding cars into the mix of the busy life of a single mom, school board member, volunteer and journalist. But it’s Teia‘s smile that gets us every time. If she can smile so can we, even when things don’t look so grin-worthy. When we need it most, her Instagram posts always bring us back to where we need to be: in our happy place on wheels.
Mariel Swan is the Most Stylish Person at NASCAR. Really
NASCAR wife, former NFL cheerleader, dance coach and mama, we’re here for the style but love her car life too. And it’s a life Mariel lives authentically, never afraid to dress for the track, tote the baby and flash her megawatt smile for the camera. While we’d love to see more cars in her feed, we can’t get enough of what we do see.
Alicia Quarles Brings Cars To TV
You might remember Alicia from Good Morning America or know her from her super chic Instagram page. But it’s her car girl heart that inspires her to do something pretty bold: Share car stories on Positively Charlotte, for which she serves as both host and executive producer. A mom of twins, she spends a lot of time in the car with the kids, car seats and all the gear and she gets it. And so does her audience.
Kevin Williams Has the Best Instagram Handle Ever
Can you love his Instagram handle, Gaytona, more? Kevin, a true car enthusiast, is an automotive journalist who focuses mostly on electric cars, though he loves anything on wheels. We love all he has to say, his journeys to China and beyond to see and test electric cars, and his take it all at InsideEVs.
Tomika Bryant Takes the Title for Bold, Beautiful Black Automotive Creators
If there’s one woman in this world who is unafraid, it’s Tomika. Because she’s seen the worst first hand and returned from it all bolder, badder-ass and more confident. She just tells it all as it is, from style to parenting to travel to shoes to cars. All often in the same sentence or the same Instagram post.
Dawn Gibson-Thigpen Brings Her Sassy Take On Cars
Dawn was one of the originals in this space, telling car stories from her own point of view before diversity was a buzzword. A car girl from the earliest days, Dawn brings her sassy car style to everything she does, from her blog and social channels to her own life, always sharing with her friends and colleagues to create a larger, louder voice. And a much needed voice.
Did I miss anyone? Leave a comment. Want to become a creator? Leave a comment. We need more voices, more diversity, more opinions. As much as I try, I can’t be everything to everyone but I can try to help everyone find a voice they identify with.
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