6 minute read
IN POLE POSITION
Best known as the face of Channel 4’s Formula E Championship, the electric street racing series, TV presenter and journalist Nicki Shields, Class of 2004, turned her back on a high-flying career in finance to pursue her dream job in motorsport.
Nicki has built a reputation as a talented broadcaster and passionate advocate for electric vehicles, fronting several environmental programmes for the BBC and CNN. Shows such as Supercharged, Going Green, and Saved by The Future, have raised the profile of sustainable transport and zero emission travel. She is also the Co-founder and Associate Editor of digital platform, electrifying.com.
“I’ve always enjoyed sports, but I didn’t have a clear vision about what I wanted to do when I left school. Motorsports was always a passion, but I never in a million years thought of it as a career. The beauty of LEH is that it’s both very academic and very sporty. Our sports teachers were very inspiring, and we really looked up to them. Several of them played for England on the Lacrosse, Rowing and Netball squads.
In my early years I was especially keen on netball, but as I got older, I got more and more into my rowing for the LEH Squad at the East Molesey boat house. I had several close mates who decided to get into rowing, so I tried it out and absolutely loved it. We really threw ourselves into the training and it was exhausting. I’ll never go near a rowing machine again!
the importance of turning up on time (you got extra drills if you were late), of sticking to a schedule, of looking after the boat, taking care of yourself, and looking out for the team. There was a real 360 approach, which we all really enjoyed.
Beryl Crockford was one of our rowing coaches (she was a World Champion and Olympic rower who represented Team GB from 1975 to 1986). She was always so full of energy and enthusiasm - the life and soul of the Boat House – and a great inspiration to all of us. Her energy was relentless. I can picture her now standing on the riverbank shouting encouragement.
Many memories from school can start to blur as the years go by, but those times really stand out. The competition element was really enjoyable. I remember the Heads of the River race and the first National Championship. We’d get together at each other’s houses the Thursday night before a big race and have pasta parties. The idea was to load up on carbs to give you lots of energy for the race, but we usually ended up eating more marshmallows and Haribo than were good for us!
The beauty of rowing is the way it combines everything, honing both your individual fitness and team spirit. All that ergo training with intense targets to hit really developed your personal physical fitness. You’d never know in advance if you’d be rowing by yourself or as part of the squad. If you were in a single, you had only yourself to blame. I recall vividly the first time my parents came to watch me compete and I somehow managed to capsize. I can still picture the look on their faces!
The team spirit in the squad was incredible
But if you were rowing with a squad, the team spirit was incredible. You need to be so in sync with each other. The technique is all-important, and it really incentivises you to push hard, knowing you are going into a competition together. You do not want to be the weakest link in the boat. Six of my best friends today are from my school days and we’re still really close – we’re godparents to each other’s children and just have so much shared history.
It taught us such great discipline – it engrained a strong work ethic in you: I found out about Formula E back in 2012 or 2013 after doing a series on climate change. At first, I couldn’t see how it would work – a racing championship with electric cars and no noise! But the more I thought about it and the sustainability the more excited I got. I’ve always loved motor racing, so it seemed to combine two of my great passions and I knew I’d found the right thing.
NICKI’S ADVICE TO PUPILS
Don’t worry if you don’t have it all mapped out – it will become clear. If there’s something you want to do and it seems unattainable, don’t be put off. Make opportunities for yourself. It’s not about being in the right place at the right time. It’s about being in lots of places, lots of time and it will happen.
If you follow your passion, you will end up somewhere you want to be. Make sure it’s a subject that you love and enjoy. Focusing on something which fascinates you will really help drive your success. Once you find the industry you want to work in, study really well for it so once the opportunity arrives, you’re ready to make the most of it.
Always be polite. Show compassion and be as proactive as possible. Send people an email if you’re looking for help and don’t be put off if they don’t reply the first time. We’re always so busy, so a polite reminder is always welcome. Work hard and remain focussed on your own goals. Motorsports is still a relatively maledominated industry but it’s getting better all the time. When I first started working in Formula E, there were just two women in my TV crew and 58 men. Now, about six years on, I look around and there are 20 women, so things are dramatically improving, and that change is right across the field.
There are always going to be some people in every industry who are stuck in their ways and have certain opinions by default, an unconscious bias. They end up directing their conversation to the men in the room, or they give the job to the men on speed dial in their phone. But the opportunities that motor racing has brought far outweigh any sexism I might have encountered.
FIA is working hard to encourage women from a grass roots level – for example with the all-female karting circuit. It’s part of their ‘Girls on Track’ initiative which I’m proud to be an ambassador for. The project is driven by Motorsport UK, the governing body for UK motorsport. It organises school and networking events to ensure girls and women feel there’s a valuable place for them in the motorsports industry. In July we invited some girls aged from six to 16 down to a Formula E race in London so they could experience the whole thing behind-the-scenes. A small opportunity like that really can change someone’s career completely. You don’t always get a chance to meet fans of the sport face to face, so it was a fantastic opportunity to engage a younger generation.
While I’ve seen a great improvement in the number of women in the industry, there’s still a way to go. But that can actually play to your advantage. FIA want it to be as diverse as possible so there’s lots of opportunities. As you build your career it’s important to build a strong community of women to support and champion each other.
If anyone ever asks me why or how I got into motorsport, particularly as a female, I always say that you need to have a passion for it and you need to be tough about it. Know the sport, watch the sport. Do your research, do your studying and most of all give those boys a run for their money!”
