MotorTrend Highlights Automotive Leaders, Creators, and Innovators for Black History Month
This year’s group of amazing trailblazers show why diversity in the automotive industry is good for all of us.
Since the current administration took over, it’s been all over the news: Major corporations have been rolling back their DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) initiatives, which were designed to help increase diversity in the workplace and in the education system while also helping underserved communities, including people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, people with disabilities, women, and veterans find opportunities that may have previously been out of reach due to discrimination, systemic racism, sexism, or all of the above.
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Opponents of the initiatives often claim that DEI forces companies and educational institutions to lower standards in their hiring and admission practices when considering Black candidates for the sake of diversity. Not only is that notion deeply racist, but it’s also objectively wrong. Minority candidates aren't, by default, lesser than anyone else. And striving for diversity is not the same as dismantling meritocracy. A candidate found through a DEI program can and should still be considered based on the merits of their skills and experience against any other candidate, just like anyone else. What's important is that they were given the opportunity to be found, and not passed over for consideration or missed by recruiters.
Nor is diversity in the workplace a drag on business. Just look at soaring corporate profits the past few years. Costco’s shareholders recently struck down a proposal from a conservative think tank to abandon its DEI efforts, and the board also rejected the proposal and recommended its investors vote against it. “We believe (and member feedback shows) that many of our members like to see themselves reflected in the people in our warehouses with whom they interact,” Costco said in a proxy statement to its investors. The shareholders agreed and sided with the board in a 98 percent vote.
Major financial firms like Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan Chase have both elected to hang on to their DEI initiatives as well, because it makes business sense for them to do so. "We will continue to reach out to the Black community, the Hispanic community, the veterans community, LGBTQ, we have teams with second chance initiatives—where I go, with blue states, red states, governors, they like what we do," said JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon in an interview with CNBC via ABC News.
This Black History month, it is especially important to reflect on these developments, and it is my privilege and honor to spotlight four individuals who exemplify the strength of diversity and how the automotive industry and car culture all benefit from their contributions. You may know some of these people, and others you may be meeting for the first time. Either way, I’m so excited for you to get to know more about them.
First up is futurist and visual experience designer Dalal Elsheikh. Elsheikh immigrated to the United States with her family from Sudan when she was a child, and her love for cars and art led her earn degrees from both the New Jersey Institute of Technology and the legendary ArtCenter College of Design. Elsheikh has flexed her design talent at Ford and Mercedes-Benz, and she currently serves as a senior product designer at Rivian. She was also a co-host and judge on the Hot Wheels Ultimate Challenge reality show. You might have also seen her as a guest on the InEVitable podcast.
Elsheikh will share what it means to be a futurist, what “good design” is, and how her perspective as a woman and her upbringing has enhanced the creativity of the teams she’s worked with.
Next is Vice President of Marketing at Porsche Cars North America Ayesha Coker. When Coker earned the role of VP in 2022, she made history as the first African American and woman of color to join Porsche’s leadership team. With educational roots in the fashion industry, Coker pivoted to the automotive industry when she became fascinated by the similarities between fashion design and car design.
Coker spoke with me about the essence of leadership and how being open to diversity, not just of background but of thought, is a strong component therein.
Following that will be a fascinating conversation with YouTube sensation, automotive creator, and author Rich Benoit, otherwise known as “Rich Rebuilds” to his millions of subscribers and followers. Benoit’s audience grew even more when he was featured on Robert Downey Jr’s Downey’s Dream Cars show on Max, where he helped the Marvel actor “eco-mod” cars from his personal collection to make them more environmentally friendly. Benoit has also written a book about his personal journey in the industry called Going Fast and Fixing Things.
Benoit spoke to me about his rise to YouTube success and his experiences being one of the few large Black creators in the automotive space, some of his personal struggles, and his opinion on how the industry can become more diverse.
Finally, I spoke with MotorTrend’s own William Irvin Lewis. With a passion for cars and a degree in communication from Oakland University, Lewis has become MotorTrend’s top SEO content writer. With over a decade of automotive writing experience, Lewis’ work has helped the biggest automotive outlet grow its audience even more. Lewis is also an author and coordinates grassroots motorsports events in his home stomping grounds of Detroit, Michigan. Don’t be surprised to catch him drifting, auto crossing his ND2 Mazda Miata project car at those events. Lewis’ experience as an African American in the heart of American car culture gives him a unique perspective on what it’s like to be Black in the automotive space.
Lewis spoke to me about what diversity means to him and how it’s influenced his impeccable work on such a massive platform.
Make no mistake, highlighting these individuals is not about debunking the straw-man arguments of opponents to DEI or educating the willfully ignorant. None of the subjects featured in this series is simply benefiting from concessions made to them due to the color of their skin. They’ve all earned their positions and success through their hard work, determination, resilience, leadership, and talent.
They’ve all graciously agreed to share their stories with me because the common thread that connects them all is that they want to be examples for those seeking inspiration for what’s possible.
I should also make it clear that the four individuals featured in this series aren’t rare. The frustrating truth is that there are millions of equally hardworking, highly qualified, determined, talented people of diverse backgrounds in this country, some of whom probably want to be part of the automotive industry and automotive culture as a career. However, even in 2025, people of color are still frustratingly made to feel like we have to constantly prove why we’re even worthy of consideration.
In closing, we exist. We’re here. We are more than capable of making the automotive industry a better place for everyone, and both consumers and audiences respond positively when offered diverse ideas. If you’re in a position of influence in this industry, you can either recognize that fact to your benefit or ignore it to your detriment. Either way, it’s not going to stop people like Dalal Elsheikh, Ayesha Coker, Rich Benoit, or William Lewis from continuing to excel, inspire, and change things for the better.
Black History Month Profiles: Dalal Elsheikh, Ayesha Coker, Rich Benoit, William Irvin Lewis
Images provided by NBC Universal, Porsche North America, and Getty Images.
Andrew Beckford’s passion for cars started as a middle schooler when his friend Richie explained how an internal combustion engine works. He was bitten by the bug and the rest, as they say, is history. He dug deep into the tuner scene and eventually wrote for Turbo Magazine, Import Tuner, Super Street. He covered car shows, feature builds, and reviewed racing games for those magazines in addition to covering motorsports including Formula Drift, Indy Car, and F1 for his personal blog. Eventually Beckford joined MotorTrend to cover the daily automotive news beat. Besides being a gearhead, Beckford has been a gamer since the ’80s and is a huge fan of the arcade racing games of the ’90s like Daytona USA, SEGA Rally, and Ridge Racer. Beckford’s a movie buff as well, especially comic book films from DC and Marvel. When car culture crosses over with gaming and entertainment, rest assured Beckford is aware of it. In addition to serving as a consultant on a “triple A” racing titles, he’s reviewed major racing games such as Forza Motorsport, Need for Speed, Gran Turismo, F1, and more. He’s also interviewed blockbuster directors including Steven Caple Jr. (Transformers: Rise of the Beasts) and Neill Blomkamp (Gran Turismo). His biggest profile to date was with Robert Downey Jr. on his love affair with cars and his show Downey’s Dream Cars on MAX. Beckford’s profile of Downey Jr. was the first print cover story written by an African American in MotorTrend’s history. Along with KJ Jones, Andrew Beckford also heads up MotorTrend’s celebration of Black History Month by spotlighting diverse voices in the automotive industry and motorsports. Beckford’s first car was a 1982 Nissan Stanza affectionately named “Stanley” by his late mother.
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