Belinda Automotive at Nearly Two Years: The Mindset Journey Behind the Brand

Belinda Automotive Started Long Before June 2024

On the 6th of June 2026, Belinda Automotive celebrates its second birthday, and while that milestone feels incredibly exciting, the truth is that this journey started long before the first post ever went live.

If you look at it from the outside, it can seem like Belinda Automotive appeared in June 2024 as a content platform dedicated to automotive storytelling, industry conversations and celebrating the incredible people who shape the world of cars. People often see the content, the podcast episodes, the collaborations, the interviews and the award nominations and assume that was the beginning. But, the truth is, it wasn't. The beginning was October 2017.

In reality, Belinda Automotive started nearly seven years earlier, in a much quieter way, through years of self-doubt, hesitation and convincing myself that I simply was not ready. You see, before then, I had just quit my teaching job and was completely lost in the world of not knowing what was out there. I didn't know it at the time, but October 2017 would become my automotive origin story.

For a long time, I had the ideas but not the confidence. I knew I wanted to create something that felt meaningful within the automotive industry, especially as someone who had already spent years working in it through product marketing roles with brands such as BMW and MINI, before moving into EV and fleet spaces with Pod Point and Fuuse. I understood the industry, I cared deeply about it and I could see the stories that were not being told loudly enough. But, my problem was never knowledge, it was mindset and being scared of being knocked down.

I spent years telling myself I was not experienced enough, not visible enough and not qualified enough to build something of my own. I looked at other creators and industry voices and assumed they had something I did not. I kept waiting for a moment where I would suddenly feel ready, as though confidence would arrive first and action would follow. What I eventually learned is that confidence rarely works like that.

Why Mindset Matters More Than Confidence

One of the biggest lessons behind building Belinda Automotive has been understanding that confidence comes after doing the scary thing, like posting for the first time or deciding to build a podcast, like I did.

For years, I stayed in the planning stage. My notes app was full of ideas, content concepts I wanted to create, stories I wanted to tell and people I wanted to spotlight, but I kept waiting for permission. I thought I needed another qualification, another role or another sign that I had somehow “earned” the right to take up space. I also thought that being in my 30s wasn't an attractive look for content creators. How wrong was I?

Eventually, I realised that permission was never going to arrive from somewhere else. I had to decide that I was allowed to do it. It was my own permission that held me back. That was the real beginning of Belinda Automotive.

It was not the branding, the website or the first Instagram post. It was the mindset shift that happened before any of that, when I decided to stop treating my ideas like they needed approval and start treating them like they deserved to exist. Of course, several other events had happened in my life since, like facing redundancy again and knowing there was a lot of friction in my day-to-day life.

That shift was uncomfortable, and it certainly did not happen overnight. Mindset work is rarely dramatic. It is usually made up of small decisions repeated over and over again: posting when you feel nervous, speaking up when you feel unsure and continuing to show up even when imposter syndrome tells you not to. What many of you don't know is that in January 2020, I decided to try creating my own growth mindset and self-care group, and it did really well for a few years before the spark died out. I know now that was an example for me to face those fears and that judgement at a more local level, and I don't think I could have created Belinda Automotive without that experience happening first.

Looking back, I think that part of the journey deserves just as much celebration as any visible milestone, because without it, Belinda Automotive would never have existed.

Creating Automotive Content That Tells Real Stories

One of the strongest reasons I wanted to build Belinda Automotive was because I felt there was a gap in how the automotive industry was being represented online. Too often, the conversation focused purely on products, launches or performance figures, while the people behind the industry were overlooked. I knew, at times, how that felt first hand.

I wanted to create something that focused on stories, calling out the people who are often hidden behind a company or who are swallowed up by a team. That meant highlighting incredible individuals whose contributions deserved more recognition and showing that automotive is built by people, not just machines. Although, some of those machines deserve a shout out too!

Some of the most meaningful content I have created has been around women in motorsport and automotive history, particularly stories that challenge assumptions about who belongs in this space. Creating content around icons like Sabine Schmitz gave me the opportunity to celebrate someone whose legacy continues to inspire people far beyond motorsport. Her story is one of passion, talent and refusing to be limited by expectation, which is something that resonates deeply with the wider purpose of Belinda Automotive.

The same is true when looking at pioneers like Dorothy Levitt, whose work challenged ideas about women and driving long before those conversations became mainstream. Telling stories like hers matters because representation matters and because history often leaves out the people who changed everything.

These long-form stories have become some of the most rewarding parts of the platform, and they also connect closely to other features already published on belinda-automotive.co.uk, where I explore the lives of women like Michèle Mouton, Sabine Schmitz and other figures who helped shape motorsport history. Linking these stories together creates something bigger than individual posts, it creates a body of work that shows how much automotive history still deserves to be rediscovered.

Creating Fun and Relatable Car Content with Pommy

Not every story has to be serious to be valuable, and one of my favourite parts of building Belinda Automotive has been finding ways to make content feel both useful and personal. One example of that has been creating seasonal safety and awareness content with my dog, Pommy.

At first glance, that might seem like a very different type of content compared to motorsport history or industry interviews, but it actually reflects the same goal: making automotive conversations more human and more accessible.

Winter driving safety, visibility awareness and practical seasonal advice are important topics, but they can often be delivered in ways that feel overly formal or easy to scroll past. Bringing Pommy into that content created something warmer and more relatable, while still keeping the message clear and useful.

It also reminded me that audiences connect with authenticity far more than perfection. Sometimes the content that resonates most is not the most polished or the most strategically planned, but the content that feels genuine and recognisably human.

That balance between professionalism and personality has become an important part of the Belinda Automotive identity. Plus, my personality is the Belinda Automotive brand, which makes it even more loveable.

Launching Belinda Automotive: The Road Is Ours Podcast

Another major milestone was launching my podcast, Belinda Automotive: The Road Is Ours, which became a natural extension of everything Belinda Automotive was already trying to achieve.

Social media is brilliant for creating quick connections and sparking interest, but some stories deserve more space. I wanted a platform where conversations could breathe, where people could talk honestly about their experiences in automotive and where listeners could engage with the industry on a deeper level. The podcast gave me that.

It allowed me to move beyond short-form storytelling and create long-form conversations around people, careers, motorsport and the realities of working within the automotive world. It also reinforced something I care about deeply, which is changing the perception of what this industry actually looks like.

There are so many incredible people working across repair centres, communications teams, finance departments, EV businesses, marketing roles, engineering, motorsport and leadership positions, and yet many people still have a very narrow view of what automotive means.

It creates room for conversations that feel more honest and representative, and it supports the wider mission of showing that there is space for far more people in this industry than many realise.

Award Nominations and Unexpected Recognition

One of the things I never expected when I started Belinda Automotive was the recognition that would follow.

Being nominated for industry-based awards was one of those moments that felt surreal, not because of the title itself, but because of what it represented. For someone who had spent seven years convincing herself not to start, those nominations felt like proof that the thing I nearly talked myself out of actually mattered.

They were not validation in the sense of needing outside approval, but they were powerful reminders that taking the risk had been worth it. They reflected the fact that people were connecting with the work, that the stories were landing and that Belinda Automotive had become something bigger than an idea sitting quietly in my head.

Sometimes recognition arrives not as the goal, but as confirmation that you were right to trust yourself.

What Nearly Two Years of Belinda Automotive Has Taught Me

The biggest lesson I have learned through all of this is that the hardest part was never creating the platform itself. It was learning to believe I was capable of building it.

For seven years, I told myself I could not. For the last two, I have been proving that I could.

That does not mean self-doubt disappears. I still have moments where I question whether I am doing enough, whether I should be doing more or whether I am ready for the next step. The difference now is that I no longer let those thoughts make the decision for me. That is what growth often looks like. It is not fear disappearing, it is learning how to move despite it.

As the second birthday of Belinda Automotive approaches on the 6th of June, I am not only celebrating the business itself, but the years before it. I am celebrating the mindset work, the uncomfortable growth, the progress and the decision to stop waiting for permission.

Belinda Automotive may officially be turning two, but this journey has been nearly a decade in the making, and if I could say one thing to the version of myself who spent years doubting whether she should begin, it would simply be this: start anyway.

The opportunities, the stories, the people and the version of yourself waiting on the other side of that decision are worth far more than the fear that tries to stop you.

And honestly, this still feels like only the beginning.