In honour of Women's Month, Briefly News is celebrating the women driving change in South Africa's motoring industry through the 2026 instalment of Women of Wonder 2026: Steering the Story in SA Motoring. The project spotlights women making their mark across the industry, from the boardroom to the racetrack, the dealership floor to the pit lane. They are engineers, racers, mechanics, businesswomen and motoring influencers proving that motoring is no longer a man's world. Throughout August, we are sharing their stories and celebrating their achievements.
In honour of Women's Month, Briefly News is celebrating seven incredible women in domestic work through the 2025 instalment of Briefly News' Women of Wonder: The Real Housekeepers of Mzansi. This award-winning special project, in its fourth year, shares the powerful stories of women who keep households running while also pursuing their dreams. They represent mothers, business owners, role models, and the heartbeat of many South African homes. We uplift their voices during August.
Briefly News’ Women of Wonder is back for its fifth year. The project aims to shift misconceptions about who belongs in motoring. Too often, women in this industry are overlooked or underestimated, mistaken for outsiders in a space they have every right to compete in. Through this series, we highlight their skill, sheer motivation, and ambition. We applaud women who are steering strategy, building brands, and competing on the track, often in spaces where they remain the exception rather than the rule.
The motoring industry in South Africa, and globally, remains heavily male-dominated, with women still underrepresented in senior leadership, mechanical, and competitive roles. Yet a growing number of women are stepping up by leading marketing and innovation at major brands, competing professionally in motorsport, and opening doors for the next generation to follow.
We spoke to each woman in depth, learning about their journeys, the barriers they've broken through, and the road ahead. These stories are a tribute to the women redefining what it means to belong in motoring on their own terms.
Kwanele Dlava grew up in Flagstaff, a small Eastern Cape town where mechanics were never part of everyday life, until a curiosity sparked in high school about what was happening under the bonnet, not just the shine on the outside. Now a qualified mechanic in East London, she shares glimpses of her daily work on TikTok, where her workshop videos racked up over 190,000 likes. She's faced her fair share of customers questioning whether she belongs there, but she's learned to let her work do the talking instead.
I'm not here to compete with anyone... I'd just keep quiet and do my job and leave them surprised, and that's how I overcome things.
At 15, Emma-Rose Dowling made history as the first South African girl selected for the F1 Academy Discover Your Drive Programme. She juggles international racing with schoolwork at St Dunstan's, splitting her weeks between long-haul flights, simulator sessions and homework in airport terminals. Usually the only girl on the grid, Emma-Rose has learned the stopwatch doesn't care about gender, only preparation and speed. She hopes her story encourages just one more girl to put on a helmet for the first time.
I've learned that the stopwatch doesn't care whether you're a boy or a girl. If you're prepared, committed and fast, you earn respect.
Stacey-Lee May found spinning as a bullied teenager in Johannesburg, when her father hoped the sport would build her confidence. Twelve years later, she's the only female Monster Energy athlete on the continent, a spinner, drifter and stunt driver who has learned to block out critics who still believe the sport isn't for women. She now competes alongside her younger brother Adam, their partnership built on the same family support that carried her from her very first spin show at age five. For Stacey-Lee, every run is a chance to make more women feel like they belong in the driver's seat.
I've always had a mindset that I can do anything I set my mind to.
Kimberley's Kayla Oliphant started spinning at 14, when her father bought her a BMW E30 Gusheshe after years of watching men take the wheel in her community. Eleven years on, she's one of South Africa's most recognised female spinners, known for her signature Suicide Slide, a manoeuvre that sees her partially exit the moving car mid-spin, anchored by only one leg. She's competed at the Red Bull Shay' iMoto and worked as a stunt double on Showmax's Spinners series, with her sights now set on a career in film stunt driving. For Kayla, spinning isn't just a sport; it's culture, and one she's determined to keep alive.
This is our culture.
Cape Town's Amelia Anne Bishop had waited 15 years for her first race car, ever since falling in love with the sport as a three-year-old watching her brother Tate go-kart. Her parents finally handed her the keys for her 18th birthday, and the Parklands College matric learner and prefect now trains with ANGRi Racing near Killarney Raceway, balancing simulator work, track sessions and gym time alongside her school leadership role. Guided by Tate and coach Clinton Bezuidenhout, Amelia believes the sport is a true equaliser once the helmet goes on. Success comes down to passion, hard work and funding, not gender.
Whether you're male or female, anyone can get started. At the racetrack, when your helmet goes on, you have just as good a chance as everyone else.
At just 17, Chloe Stuart has already spent a decade behind the wheel, going from her first go-kart ride at age seven to becoming the first woman in 50 years to win the Formula Vee Rookie Championship. She's also claimed the Formula M Class C title and now races an E46 BMW 330i in the 2026 NA Cup's BMW M-Performance Parts Race Series. Beyond the track, she runs Classic Cars by Chloe and her own fragrance line, Racer Girl, funding her racing ambitions while balancing high school. Chloe hopes her journey proves there's a place for young women behind the wheel.
I knew what I was capable of; I knew this was where I belonged, and I stayed mentally strong throughout it all.
Since climbing into her first single-seater in 2023, Tembisa-born Simphiwe Mohlahlo has become the only Black female driver competing in both the Investchem MSA4 Championship and with the Formula Libre Gauteng team. Off the track, she works as a professional makeup artist and content creator, refusing to choose between femininity and ambition. For Simphiwe, racing is bigger than the podium — it's proof that talent has no gender or race, and a platform to open the door for the girls coming up behind her.
I wish people understood that women don't have to choose between being feminine and being ambitious... Strength and femininity can exist together, and I'm proud to represent both.
One of South Africa's fastest female drag racers, Razia Cassim once feared speed altogether after losing her father in a car accident in 2001. She turned that fear into fuel, racing the very same Volkswagen Golf 6R her husband Faizel gifted her over a decade ago, and co-founding Northern Natal Motorsport with him to build a safe, family-friendly home for the sport in KZN. The couple race side by side, not against each other, and are now raising the next generation on the same track, their own daughter a three-time go-kart club champion. For Cassim, motorsport was never about proving anyone wrong — it's about refusing to let fear win.
I've learnt that courage isn't the absence of fear, it's choosing to move forward despite it.
Durban's Karen Naidoo, known in the drag racing community as "Sexy Mum Racing," holds the record for the fastest stock turbo Nissan GT-R (R35) in Africa, clocking a 9.7-second quarter mile in a car with its full interior still intact. She broke into the sport despite doubters who didn't believe a woman, let alone a mother, belonged behind the wheel, choosing to let her results do the talking instead. Naidoo built her racing identity around proving that motherhood and motorsport aren't mutually exclusive, and now encourages other mums to chase their own record, whatever that looks like for them.
It wasn't luck, it was hard work and showing up.
When Pamela Mtanga decided to start making Formula 1 content, she had already built a loyal following of over 313,000 as a fashion and lifestyle influencer, and no guarantee anyone would follow her into a new lane. She did it anyway. "Who cares? This is what I want to do now," she said, and seven months later, an invitation to the Austrian Grand Prix changed everything. Under the persona Pam the Paddock Princess, the Eastern Cape-born creator is now building a new voice from the ground up, capturing driver interviews, paddock fashion and post-race breakdowns.
You don't have to be a racing driver or a soccer player as a female in order for you to have a voice in the sport... pick up your camera. The right audience, the right entities, and the right platforms will find you along the way.
Our mission is to celebrate achievements of women (both famous and not yet) daily, as well as inspire our audience for their personal successes. That is why we regularly cover Women Empowerment stories on our website.
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