Toni Reece: Hi there. This is Toni Reece, and welcome to the Get Inspired! Project for Berks County Living Magazine. Today I have Sarah Gingrich with me. Hi, Sarah.
Sarah Gingrich: Hi.
Toni: How are you?
Sarah: I’m great. How are you?
Toni: I’m just great, too. Thank you for being here.
Sarah: Thank you for inviting me.
Toni: So, take a moment and tell us a little bit about yourself.
Sarah: I am the Director of Communications at Maple Grove Raceway. Being a female in the racing industry is a tad bit different, but I grew up loving racing. My mom is what got me into it, and it was ever since I’ve been a little baby. I just love racing, and I wanted to do that one day. I can't race because I have brittle bone disease, but my mama always told me that just because you can't race doesn’t mean there’s not other things you can do in racing. So I thought, “I like talking to people. I like solving problems, so why don’t I try doing public relations and communications field?”
I went to Kutztown University. I majored in sports and leisure studies, and then double minored in PR and communication studies. I interned at Maple Grove Raceway. I needed a position, and I didn’t really know where to go. Auto racing around here, if it’s a dirt track, it’s great, but sometimes your bigger fields and your bigger tracks, it’s either Pocono or Maple Grove, and then you start to go a little bit of a distance. I went to Maple Grove when I was little, and I saw John Force go down, and it just hooked me. I was fascinated by how much power was in these cars.
I still remember, I was sitting in my wheelchair, because I broke my back that time, and it was my mom and I. We saw the cars go down, and all I did was start to giggle. There was a crew guy that said to me, “This is your first time, isn't it?” I said, “Yeah.” My mom goes, “How’d you know?” He goes, “Well, that usually happens the first time somebody sees a car go down.” That’s when I knew that NHRA was a little bit different for me, because they are about the fans, and they could tell that just that little bit of fan interaction, that one team guy made a difference in my life.
I look back, and if you would have told me that five years ago I’d be where I’m at now, I would have laughed at you and said, “That’s completely crazy,” but I’m super grateful for where I am. I’ve had a lot of opportunities working where I am, and one day I just hope that it turns into something that I’m happy, and I look back on my life and say, “It didn’t happen the way I wanted it to, but everything happened for a reason.”
Toni: Fantastic. I can't wait to hear how we’re going to go into this Project now. Thank you for that. What does inspiration mean to you?
Sarah: Inspiration means to me that you’re working hard, you’re giving every situation your best effort, you’re getting creative to solve problems, and that you’re constantly working forward in your life. You’re constantly moving forward. It’s okay to make a mistake. Nobody’s perfect. It’s just how you bounce back from it. Do you learn something from it? Do you pick yourself up?
The biggest question I want to ask myself every time I keep myself in check is that, “Can you admit that you are taking responsibility for your actions, that if you did something wrong you own up to it and not just push it off to somebody else?” because that’s the only way you’ll learn from your issues and your problems.
Toni: So you are inspired by accountability, it sounds.
Sarah: Pretty much. I am pretty hard on…I mean, I like following the rules and things like that, but this is different. This is self-accountability.
Toni: That moves you forward.
Sarah: It does.
Toni: So, how do you take that definition of inspiration—which, by the way, I’ve done hundreds of these interviews, and that’s the first time someone has defined it that way, so that’s pretty cool. How do you take that definition of inspiration and apply it here in Berks County?
Sarah: Like I said, I’m not perfect and I never claimed to be, but I pride myself on how I live my life with how I define inspiration. I began with Maple Grove because it was something that I needed to do in my life. I needed something to get my credits at school, and it was something that started out as just calling somebody up or emailing. I kept moving forward to the position I’m at today.
I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way, and I’ve learned rather quickly that when you admit that you made the mistake, you learn something, and you don’t do that again. That’s the only way you can get better. I say that, and that’s how I do my relationships, when I talk with my sponsors and things like that. I build those relationships because that’s how my off season is spent. I want to make sure that those connections in Berks County are meaningful, and they’re not about the money. They’re about building a bond with somebody.
Toni: You’re inspired by the work that you do. How about the accountability as far as you personally, outside of work? How do you apply that outside of your job?
Sarah: That’s actually a good question. Just because when you have your career that you’re so into, it just becomes your life, but when you take a step back, which is what I’m trying to do this year, is when nobody’s looking, when you’re at home, are you going to get up and are you going to spend time with your daughter? Are you going to spend time with your family, even though you really don’t want to or you don’t have the time, but you have to make that time? You have to make sure there is that time for you to put to your personal life, and realize that work is always going to be there, but your family might not.
Toni: Okay. Who in Berks County inspires you?
Sarah: I know this is cliché, but I have to say my mom, just because ever since I’ve been little, it’s always been my mom and I. She’s taught me a lot about how I want to be as a person, and just some things that when I’ve fallen down, she hasn’t babied me on the way up. She does the tough love and says, “What did you learn from it? Are you going to do it again?” I’d say, “No.” Sometimes she’ll say that everything happens for a reason, and I think that’s why I’ve gotten the way I am today.
Sometimes I’ll still call her up and I’ll say, “Mom, what do I do?” and she goes, “Listen.” She does this really tough love thing to me. It’s almost like a verbal slap in the face where it’s like in the movies, and it’s what I need. To other people, it sounds harsh, but it just gets me on the right track again where I’m like, it’s what I needed. It gets you back in the game, and your head focused that you can do whatever task you’ve set out to do.
Toni: It’s interesting, because you’ve described inspiration as accountability that inspires you; self-accountability. When asked who in Berks County inspires you and you say your mother, she’s your accountability stick.
Sarah: Yes. I always joke and say, “She’s just an older version of me.” It’s a good and a bad thing, depending on how you look at it, but yes.
Toni: What do you want your legacy to be?
Sarah: I want my legacy to be that I made a difference in this world or I made a difference in somebody’s life just because of something that I did in their life, that inspires them to go on and do something else in somebody else’s life. It’s almost like a pay it forward train, but you don’t always have to know about it. I don’t know if I ever made a difference in anybody’s life. I would hope to, and I wish I do, but it’s not about that. It’s not personally gratifying to know that I made a difference in someone’s life. Yeah, that’s great, but it’s all about if they were inspired to do something great for somebody else.
Toni: Well, Sarah, someone’s legacy is, most of the time, living. You’re living your legacy. I can only imagine with the passion and dedication you have for your career, the way you speak of your mother, I can only imagine that you touch lives every single day. Thank you so much for showing up for the Get Inspired! Project today.
Sarah: Thank you.
