Erikka Tiffani Wells, Vice President, Women of Color Automotive Network (WOCAN)

Kyle Mountsier: 0:00This is In the Dirt with ASOTU. All right, I am here with the woman the myth, the legend. Erikka Tiffani Wells. Erikka Tiffani, thank you so much for hanging out with us today just a little bit here at NAMAD. And yesterday WOCAN had I believe its very first like inaugural luncheon history making history making. I didn't get to come I really apologize. But talk me through what that was like for that community and and just the engagement and the energy around that room yesterday.

‍Erikka Tiffani Wells: 0:35

Listen Kyle when I say on full, you know, I'm saying I am full, I left so satisfied. Being in a room with 80 Women of Color in a sold out event to look out into an audience and see women in the automotive industry who look just like me with similar stories and backgrounds and passions in history. It was just it was fulfilling. You know, the network, we did a speed networking event where each woman got two minutes with another woman to meet, connect, share LinkedIn profiles, lunch and a sit down lunch and we're eating we're sharing stories. We had a speaker Christy Rutherford who helps women understand their value and their worth. She's gotten millions of dollars for women in pay raises, by letting them know to ask for the money, ask for what you're worth. don't diminish yourself. So in the end, people were crying, people were laughing. People were sharing stories, people got awards. And we as WOCAN understood that our vision was fulfilled, right? We started this in 2020. It's been all virtually the entire time. And for the first time in our history, we were able to do an invent event here at name ad sponsored by CARS.com and Chase, and have, at way better color right here in the business making it happen. And it was it was history making. It was phenomenal. I am so satisfied.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:46

That's awesome. So what's the what's the trajectory for that organization? Like what's what's next? What's on the horizon? If people don't know about it? Or if they've heard about it? It's like, what are they really going to do? What's next? What's in there?

Erikka Tiffani Wells: 1:58

Well, for us, it's about continuing to bring more women in and then getting them back out. Right? So people are always asking me, Erikka, can you speak at this event? Can you be a part of it, I'm tapping out. I'm bringing my ladies in Janae Andrews, you know, I got Jessica Frigorifero. I'm bringing these people in because I want to share their stories. And we want to continue to make this bigger, we're going to do a conference like this, right? We're gonna have a two or three day conference, we got to lean on for some of those pointers, but we want to make it big, we want to make it you know, three or four days, we want to have workshops and classes and speakers and as big as you could possibly think because we think that it's absolutely possible. And knowing that our event here got sold out with 80 women in our first event is a big deal. We didn't we didn't know at one point if there was 80 Women in automotive that were of color, right. And now we have members up to 600. So the future is bright. The future is beautiful. The future is brown. And we're super excited about the future here with women of color automotive network. That's

Kyle Mountsier: 2:53

awesome. Now your trajectory personally in your future with your your role in the stores has changed significantly recently, you've gone from kind of a smaller group in a smaller town mega group to Walser, which is like a whole machine. What's that just like, give me a little insight into the experience and like the onboarding and now like coming into that organization has changed your perspective for our

Erikka Tiffani Wells: 3:17

So I'm 30 days in. And I'll say I'm industry. unlearning, unlearning, right Walser such a unique organization, one price, one point of contact one rate. And it took me a minute because I had to ask them like, after one week, I'm like, is this the car business like work? Where am I I'm in the matrix, right? What I realized is that they're really good at processes. I mean, I'm looking at my numbers every single day, they're really good at the customer experience these customers, it's like a machine, right? It's automation. At the end of the day, they can take people from any industry who've never sold a car before plug them into their process. And they're selling 20 cars a month. And it blows my mind. Right. So I'm just rethinking and challenging myself. I'm also challenging them, because they've been doing their process their way infusing some of my experience in automotive and saying, let's look at this a little bit differently. And I think that Yin and Yang is just what's making it a great combination.

Kyle Mountsier: 4:06

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, I'm telling you what the what I know of that organization, they're going to accept that they're going to take it and they're going to implement it. So gosh, like, we could probably talk for an hour, so we'll save it for the next one. But if you don't know, Eric, Tiffany, and if you're not following and a part of WOCAN actually what that's one thing that I think maybe people aren't really familiar with is like, WOCAN is not just for women of color, and even particularly black and brown women like it is it is women of color. And also there's an there's opportunity, like I'm an early early member of the crew. And I think that there's opportunity for a lot more people to be a part of that conversation. So how do people get connected and plugged into

Erikka Tiffani Wells: 4:48

WOC Auto network.com is where you can join and be a member until your point yes, women of color automotive network is geared toward Asian African American and Latina women, right? Yeah, but our allies are white women white Men, people who are not of color who want to support the group, and we need them as just as importantly as our members because they are the ones that are helping inside the dealership. They're the thought leaders that are helping us to understand that the causes and the issues that some of these women are facing, and just opening up their mind and saying, What can I do to help? How do I get the exposure? What can I do at my dealership? Right? How can I continue to lead the way so our partners and our allies are extremely important. So anybody can literally be a member of WOCAN. We're not limited, and we just want to continue to grow. So definitely, thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to share about that.

Kyle Mountsier: 5:31

Awesome, sounds good. Thanks for hanging out with us. Thank you for listening to In the Dirt with ASOTU. We love the automotive industry and the people who make it run day in and day out. We would love to connect with you more through our daily dose of fun, a free email that you can sign up for at asotu.com That's a s o t u.com. We put our heart and soul into it every day. Thanks again for listening. Join us next time for more Conversations In the Dirt with ASOTU

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