The power of inspiration
“Inspiring inclusion” is this year’s International Women’s Day theme and Enterprise Mobility is inviting team members to nominate colleagues who inspire inclusion.
At the end of January, the Automotive 30% Club published its List of Inspiring Automotive Women 2024 award winners, which included Kellie Smith, a National Remarketing Manager for Enterprise Mobility in the UK.
We chatted to Kellie to learn about what inspired her to be a champion for diversity and inclusion.
Kellie has worked in the commercial vehicle sector for over 20 years, she has been with the Enterprise Mobility remarketing team working with a number of auction partners since 2019.
“My work is very exciting and something I feel very passionate about,” Kellie told DRIVE. “I sell our commercial vehicles through huge auction platforms. I represent Enterprise Mobility on a rostrum alongside our auction partners, selling thousands of vehicles to people bidding both online and physically at an auction site. Building the sales, pricing all these units, keeping up with market trends and the buzz of sales day requires a lot of co-ordination. I love it.”
The remarketing team has a strong commitment to building an inspirational inclusive culture. Its Women in Remarketing committee was established in 2022 and is now chaired by Kellie.
“I was very new to the team with lots of changes and restructure since the pandemic,” Kellie said. “We had to work harder to keep connections especially with other women within remarketing. I felt it was so important to ensure we provided support to each other irrelevant of location.”
"The remarketing team has a strong commitment to building an inspirational inclusive culture"
Kellie put together a diversity event in Manchester and created conversation around how to create a stronger, more inclusive culture and increase representation for women within the remarketing team.
“We were very honest about our career journey, home lives and the challenges we all face,” Kellie explained. “We had to be clear around our own personal goals and what we wanted to achieve together.”
“We could see there was an opportunity to build the group and change perceptions of remarketing around the business. This was our key goal to ensuring growth for the team and females within automotive overall.”
So, began several initiatives to encourage more women to apply for remarketing roles, and to encourage women already working in remarketing to apply for promotion.
They visited branches, encouraged visits back to a remarketing centre and created opportunities to shadow the team to share knowledge about working in remarketing.
“We made ourselves visible especially to women,” Kellie explained. “We want everyone in the business to know what we’re trying to achieve and how supported you are within a remarketing role by all your colleagues. Exposure of females within remarketing was key to work towards our goals for growing female representation across the year.
“We wanted to give people a better idea of what remarketing is day to day as well as showing how flexible the role can be. We want everyone to be confident and share their ideas, bringing their whole self to the team.”
As a result, the number of women working in remarketing has already grown significantly.
"We want everyone in the business to know what we’re trying to achieve and how supported you are within a remarketing role"
But Kellie could see the potential to be an ambassador for inclusion outside of the business.
“As I become more knowledgeable around diversity, I’m conscious when I’m in a minority,” she continued. “I’ve only ever worked with male auctioneers, and I’ve never stood on a rostrum with other women. It’s always great to see female buyers online though I still meet more women in office and admin roles.”
“I’ve been in the industry for a long time in many different roles – admin, office-based, field-based, leadership, client-facing,” Kellie said. “I always try to break down the barriers for myself, and I talk about my experiences with other people, having open and honest conversations. The feedback I have had has been positive, making people realise they’re not alone.”
“There is a lot of change, for the better, with more support and conversation being offered than when I started my career in automotive,” she says. “I’ve had the experience of men preferring to deal with a male colleague to talk about commercial vehicles but that seems to be more and more in the past.”
Kellie says inspiration is key to success.
“I never imagined I would be named as an inspirational female working in automotive,” she said. “It’s a great celebration for the team as well as being a lovely recognition for me personally. It’s highlighted where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going in our journey to inclusion.”
Now that she is based more from home, Kellie talks about inspiring her daughter, who is 19 and aware of her business persona. “She can see that hard work brings rewards as well as knowing automotive is an option. It’s great for her to see these wins and successes.
“My daughter has a visual on what I do most days. Seeing a senior female role model is so important: 20 years ago, there was only one higher-level female manager to inspire me. Today, I can see so many more. The female support around my colleagues is key to ensuring I continue to achieve success in my career.”
“I want to help elevate more women into senior roles. Being visible as a group of women in remarketing, continuing to spread the message about the opportunity, the support and setting our goals, means we can have a bigger conversation about diversity.”
“This award has helped to put that on a pedestal. I’m delighted that it’s landed in the remarketing team. Everyone should be extremely proud of what we’re trying to achieve.”
If you are interested in a career with Enterprise Mobility, please visit our recruitment website at careers.enterprise.co.uk and careers.enterprise.ie
