GM FastLane Blog

Chevy's Karen Rafferty Named One of 25 Influential Black Women in Business

(As Chevrolet’s Director of Product Marketing, Karen K. Rafferty does more than just market cars like the Camaro, the Corvette and the Malibu. She also races them, having won four U.S. National titles in SCCA Solo II competition and nine trophy positions since 1987. Talk about walking the walk. Rafferty was recently named as one of The Network Journal’s 2009 list of Twenty Five Influential Black Women in Business. We asked Rafferty, who by her own admission is more comfortable talking about Chevy products than about herself, to talk a little about what receiving this distinguished honor means to her. – Will Stewart, blog editor)

By Karen Rafferty
Director of Product Marketing, Chevrolet

Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that, for me, it’s all about the cars. So much so that my friends call me: “The Car Guy.”

So writing about myself instead of, say, the Corvette, or the 2010 Camaro feels a little awkward. A little self serving.

But being named one of the 25 Most Influential Black Women in Business by The Network Journal is an honor that deserves a few words, if only to remind other women and minorities that it’s possible to gain the respect and admiration of your peers, while doing what you love and doing it well.

I see myself as the messenger. And my greatest hope is that, even though I am proud to be an African-American woman, the messenger disappears and that what gets left is the message I’m carrying about our great cars and trucks.

And if receiving this award – which, believe me, is a great honor and one I’m excited to receive – means that I can help advance that message, then I’m more than happy to talk about it

So it will be with great pride that I’ll travel to New York City – the area where I lived until only recently – to stand with 24 of my fellow honorees and receive an award that honors not only my heritage and my gender, but also upholds the dreams of a younger generation of black women and lets them know that if there’s something that they want to accomplish during their lives, it’s right there for the taking.

But while I’m there, you’d better believe I’ll be talking up GM’s products to anyone who will listen!