Social Media in Motorsports with Jess Ellis

Getting her start in Motorsports

#1. What was the first moment that you can remember discovering motorsports?

My first moment discovering motorsports was actually because my stepdad had it on TV. It was 2021 - THE Max Verstappen vs. Lewis Hamilton race in Abu Dhabi. I'd never really paid much attention to motorsports before that. I was more interested in working in fashion. However, as soon as I saw bits of that race, I kept pacing past the door and then eventually sat down to watch. I was asking so many questions because I was so confused about all of the controversy.

Obviously a lot of people were mad. I just wanted to know more because I'd never even thought to sit down and actually watch a race. I just became a bit obsessed. I watched loads of TikToks. I then obviously watched more races when the season started up and got dragged into the whole Drive to Survive.

I think the passion and adrenaline from the TV - from what I was seeing on the broadcast footage - just seeing fans' reactions, the teams' reactions, Toto throwing his headset... I didn't realize there was so much passion in it.

‍

#2. When did you decide that you wanted to work in motorsports?

So, as mentioned earlier, I originally wanted to work in fashion. I started my first year of university with that in mind. Then, when I discovered motorsports, it was a no brainer for me.

I just immediately thought, "why on earth would I want to work in fashion when I just fell in love with everything motorsports?"

I did have a thought of, "should I mix my passion and hobby with a career?" I was doing horse riding at the time, and I had the same thought of, "should I go into horse riding or should I go into motorsports?" At the end of the day, I thought it was worth taking that risk and finding out if it did ruin it for me or if I'd even love it more.

Luckily, I ended up loving it more, and I'm even more obsessed than I've ever been.

It just hooked me right in. I think in the age of social media - TikTok and Instagram Reels and YouTube videos definitely did not help my obsession. You go into this deep dive late at night when you don't want to put your phone away, and you'll just end up watching every single video that they've ever put out on their channels.

I just became obsessed.

‍

Jess' Current Role

#3. What was your first role and that first step you took towards a career in social media management?

I was at Donington Park, which is a circuit in the UK, and it was an open paddock. I had the thought to hand out my business card, which at the time was just videography. That's how I started out. I didn't even think of getting into social media. To be honest, at that time, it wasn't as big as an industry as it is now.

Now, you see jobs opening up all around for social media, but at the time it wasn't as big of a thing. I say that like it was years ago. It was only like three years ago, but I went around every garage in the paddock and handed out my business card. I was offering my free videography for the next day because it was a two day race weekend.

I got a lot of callbacks because it's free work. Who wouldn't take it? I built up relationships with those people that I then went back and worked for. When my schedule was full I said, "maybe not tomorrow because I've been taken by another team, but the next race." I just did that for a year after university to build up my portfolio.

Obviously, I was earning no money. I was working waitressing on the side, but I utilized LinkedIn and built that as my own personal portfolio. I would then go on LinkedIn, find companies that I want to work for, and absolutely spam and follow every single person that worked for that company. I just got lucky with the CEO of one of the companies messaging me, noticing all of my work, and seeing if I wanted to go down and meet the team.

‍

#4. What does a standard day look like for you at work?

I think because I work for an agency, no day and no client is the same. We do various things. So in E1 Series, they have a standardized organization, so there is obviously: this time is practice, this time is qualifying, etc...

Then you go to Class 1, which is an American-based powerboat racing championship, and it's a little bit more chaotic. You have to be ready for anything in the moment. Flexible, ready to just pick up your camera and shoot if they're all of a sudden going to go racing because something else has happened and they need to move it up, or they need to move it back.

Then you obviously have motorsport, which is a completely different entity and everything's very well organized. You have certain access that you only can go into.

If we're talking just a standard day, I'll take E1 Series for an example. I'll wake up early and go down to the paddock where the boat is gonna be craned in. I think surprisingly, race day is the chillest day in the morning because everything happens later on in the afternoon. Racing only starts in the afternoon, so I'll actually get there about 10 o'clock.

However, on qualifying day I'll get there about 8:00 AM. For E1, I do usually get there about 8:00 AM to get the boat being craned straight away, and then I'll head over to the launch zone where the pilots are getting ready or having a strategy meeting. I'll be filming b-roll, get those hero shots, and live race moments throughout the day.

I schedule all of the race results, so whatever happens during the race, I'll quickly make a graphic and pop that out. I'll also be on the ground filming that moment. So if my pilots win - which luckily this season for Aoki Racing Team, we're doing really well - I will be on the ground getting them getting out of the boat, celebrating with the team.

I'll run, edit that video, put it out, edit the actual graphic, put it out, and then get back down there for when my next pilot then comes in, hopefully also winning their race and so on... It just goes on in that progress.

I remember one instance we had Steve Aoki at the race because it's his team. My team hadn't done too well the prior year. I think we finished eighth out of nine in the championship that season... first race, we were almost winning every single thing, which is uncalled for, for my team.

I think we only got two little wins last year. I had Steve Aoki, and it was his first race that I'd been at, that he was also at. So it was my time to get all the content pretty much for the whole calendar year. He only had about three hours there, and in that three hours, my team won both races and I had to get all the content with him in his scheduled time.

It was a little bit of madness, but organized madness, and I was quickly getting footage with him watching. Our pilots race, running down with him to the race zone, getting all of that content of them running, editing, so on... It can sometimes be nonstop and you will be working till 2:00 AM on days like that just to make sure that you get all your content out on time and next day you're flying as well.

‍

‍#5. What are the most rewarding and the most challenging parts of working in social media?

Rewarding

The most rewarding part is seeing the people that you have built up relationships with do well. In Class 1, we have a very good relationship with all the teams because we're managing the series as a whole, so I'll go down to the teams and see how they're doing in the morning, how they're feeling. Getting those pre-race interviews and following the throughout the whole weekend. You have these emotion connection with these people. So when you see them do well you feel really good.

I also love working in series that aren’t as well covered by the mass media. For example, when I went to the FIA European Drag Racing Championship, I found some incredible stories in a few of the teams. It’s a whole other world, there is a series called Top Fuel where the drivers are launched from 0-335mph in less than 3 seconds and the top two competitors are women (Jndia Erbacher and Susanne Callin). They both have incredible backstories and it was so rewarding to bring their story to the surface.

‍

Difficult

I work with a lot of different interesting personalities, and I want that to come across on camera because the audience can resonate more with them and feel that personality through the screen. So, I want them to feel like I am the audience and that's how they're talking to me. I need to have that relationship with them straight away, where they feel comfortable enough to act normal and to let that personality shine through the camera.

It's a lot of sweet talk. You ask them how their weekend's going, where they're from, what they've done previously to this. You have to have that whole rapport with them before you go into the content. Also, it's very important to discuss with them what content they're comfortable with before filming because you don't want to put them in an uncomfortable situation.

That's going to come across on camera and that's not what you want in this industry. You'll end up with a reel that doesn't perform and maybe even some negative comments. So, you need to get the best out of people, show them in the best light, and do what they're comfortable with.

‍

#6. What are the top 3 qualities that have helped you succeed?

Passion

I think you can't get anywhere, especially in the motorsport industry without that pure passion. When I started out, like I said, I went to all of the garages... did loads of work for free, and if I wasn't passionate about it, I would've never have done that, which would've never set me off in my career journey.

Jess Ellis at the Tokyo E-Prix — Jess Ellis and Alexa Rendell at the Tokyo E-Prix

You also work really long hours. I remember we were working 6:00 AM till 3:00 AM for 5 days straight for the Tokyo race. The only thing that got me through that was passion and the fact that I got to be at this insane track in Tokyo for their first ever race there and meet all these incredible people, see the cars on this brand new street circuit that no one's ever raced on before.

I would never have gotten through any of that if I wasn't passionate about it or really wanted to be there.

Personality

You have to have a comfortable and personal way of thinking and connecting with people in order to get the best out of them for content. Additionally, sometimes, you are with a particular team and you have to get on with them, you have to bounce off of them for ideas.

Nobody really wants to work alone. So if you can build up that personality with them and that connection, you are able to then bounce off them and ideate with them and ultimately get the best content. It's not just me thinking of everything... I get their own personal views on it too, which is ultimately the branding of the team and how we come across.

Organizational skills

You are sometimes in these very high pressure environments where there's a lot going on at once, and you can get very easily overwhelmed. I could have one pilot doing an interview with loads of fans and they're all signing and it's great content, and I can have the other one winning a race where I also need to be over there getting that content.

So, it's organizing priorities. Which one is ultimately going to perform better in terms of reels or contents or photos? Also working with the pilots on their schedule and not overwhelming them. So you want to make sure that you are getting the hero shots, the b-roll, the team interviews before the team is in that high pressure environment of race day, for example.

So I always get all of that on the Thursday and Friday when they're not feeling as overwhelmed. Then, you're more organized for race day when it really counts and you're not overwhelming them. Therefore they feel better with you being there just capturing in the background.

‍

Jess' Advice

#7. If you could go back and change anything about your path to where you are today, what would that be?

Honestly, in my career, I don't think there's anything that I regret. There have for sure been lows. It's the motorsport industry. It's very fast paced. You get put in a lot of high pressure environments and it can be quite grueling. To me now, I don't remember all of that when I look back.

So yes, there's a lot of lows, but I think the highs and the rewards from that outnumber the stuff that I've had to go through to get to where I am today.

‍

#8. If you could give one piece of advice to someone looking to follow in your footsteps what would that be?

I feel like everybody says this, but network. It is a very oversaturated industry, especially with Drive to Survive. You've got TikTok and all these social media platforms with millions of followers, millions of fans, everybody wanting to work in the industry. I think the way that you can get in is having those personal relationships with people.

So, as I mentioned before, I went around and handed out my card at Donington Park to all the teams. I then networked with them, kept in contact with them, worked for free, which sometimes unfortunately you have to do. I got calls back and they'd offered me paid work and so on... That's how I started my career.

I think you have to be willing to put in the hard work and the personal skills that you put into it with building up relationships with these people in order to succeed in this industry.

‍

Jess' Favorites

#9. What is your favorite race/ event/ moment that you’ve had in your career thus-far?

I think my favorite moment was with Aoki Racing Team this year in Jeddah. We didn't do too well last season, but we came back with a bang with a whole new rebrand. I spent two weeks in Saudi Arabia in Jeddah. We rebranded the whole team to this absolutely insane ocean dragon livery. It's meant to be the sea dragon and the boat looks amazing.

We have a new pilot, Dani Clos, who is just incredible in front of a camera. It makes my life so much easier. We have Mashael Alobaidan, who it was her home race, and we just went out there and smashed it. We won almost every single race and it was so rewarding to see the team that have worked so hard all throughout last year and it finally paid off for us.

Seeing them on the podium, they all jumped in the water at the end, which not only makes incredible content, but just has makes your heart warm. It's so incredible to see them getting those rewards from working so hard and we're like a family. It's absolutely incredible to work in and to work with that team.

‍

#10. What’s been the most fun or interesting thing moving from racing on land to racing in the water?

Being honest, when I started working for my agency, I had never heard of Class 1 or P1. And E1 was a brand new series at the time. So, I hadn't heard of that either. I have one motorsport client and the two powerboat racing championships. Now, I'm actually more passionate about the power racing championships, which I never would've thought I would've gone into this job thinking.

After working through both of them all of last year, I can say that it is so much more rewarding for these smaller series where you get more access, you get more credibility, you get more freedom, less red tape, and you build up closer relationships because teams are smaller, there's less people in the paddock.

You have more fun. In F1, for example, the paddock's massive. There's so many people around. Too much red tape. Like you can't film so much stuff. In terms of approvals as well, there's a big approval process because it's F1... it's the pinnacle of motorsport.

In these smaller series, there's a whole other ball to play with. There's no big competitor that's bigger than everyone else. Everyone is fighting for the same thing and they're all on equal ground as well, which is just insane.

I think it has been interesting because especially with E1 series, it's a mix of people from the motorsport industry and the powerboat racing industry, especially sailing as well. I would've never have thought we'd all come together and that is just an infusion of different ideas, different content.

It's incredible to see, and it's just overall really rewarding. I would highly recommend it to anyone.

‍

Want to learn more about other professionals across motorsport series? Then check out all of our Fast Lane interviews, or jump right into one of these:

No items found.