We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Zandara Kennedy a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Zandara, thanks for joining us today. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

The best thing my parents ever did for me was not set any limits or state any expectations about what I could or should do. I have no idea what they hoped I would grow up to do and I never heard anything about how women are supposed to behave or what they should do for work.

That lack of constraint meant that I tried anything I was interested because I never considered that a space wasn’t for me or that I couldn’t or shouldn’t try something.

Zandara, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a professional stunt woman turned racecar driver – after building a successful career as a stunt woman, stunt driver, and stunt coordinator (credits include Deadpool, several of the X-Men franchise, Batwoman, and many others), my drive to push my own limits and grow my skill set led me to discover drifting, where an interest gradually became a passion, then an addiction.

In 2021 I became the first Canadian woman to earn a license to compete at the professional level in the sport (Formula Drift), and even though I had never intended to become a professional racecar driver, it felt like an opportunity I couldn’t ignore. So, in 2022 I walked away from a full-time job as the stunt coordinator for a major network television show and began a 20k mile tour of the US, driving and competing all over the country to prepare to compete in Formula Drift.

2023 was my rookie season in Formula Drift, and by the end of that year, I had met so many incredible and inspirational women working behind the scenes, that I approached Formula Drift with an idea and launched a pilot project taking women behind the scenes to meet the women already working in the field – to give women an idea of some career paths that they might not have considered, and to help connect women passionate or curious about motorsport with one another. This project was highly successful and I am expanding it to four rounds of the 2024 Formula Drift season.

I’m very enthusiastic about inclusion and helping underrepresented groups connect with the sport and industry that I love, so I am also launching a series of women’s automotive educational socials for the 2024 season, and working with Formula Drift and some other partners on some LGBTQ+ inclusion initiatives within the paddock – as the only out LGBTQ+ professional driver in the sport, I feel very fortunate to have the support of my sanctioning body to help share this sport with and welcome in a new audience.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I suffer from what I sometimes like to call “toxic independence”. That’s a kind of sarcastic way to say that self-reliance and self-discipline helped me to build my other career and I had bought into the idea that sometimes you just have to work harder, or that hard work is enough. The reality is that nobody can succeed in a vacuum, and racing has really made it clear to me how important having a team and a community is.

I do a lot through my outreach programs to help build that community for others and in the process I am finding it myself – it’s been a hard process to let go of some control and autonomy, but the reality is that beyond a certain size of project, it simply isn’t possible to succeed large scale without a team and without the support of the people around you.

I’m very grateful to have found support in all sorts of unexpected places and I’ve had incredible people show up to help out on and off the track. None of what I’ve achieved so far or hope to achieve in the future was a solo success. Hard work is important, but so is finding the people who will be a part of your journey.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I think one of the most important parts of building and sustaining artists and creatives is not just supporting them by consuming their art or supporting them directly, but also by helping other people to understand why art is important, and helping people who are on the periphery or don’t see the value in the creative space to connect with it.

Sometimes this is as simple as exposure. Good art, good film, good stories – what makes them good is how they make people feel, that they make people feel, and those feelings connect us with ourselves, our humanity and one another.

So – share that thing that struck you, excited you, inspired you, brought you to tears – share how and why it affected you – help it find a new audience outside of the people that already see its value.

Contact Info:

• Website: zeedrives.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeedrives/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zeedrives
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zandara-kennedy-281033223/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyZPrKuGWLQYlmx8w0T1b0w