Emily Duggan began her career in motor sport in 2014, as the first female driver on the Series X3 grid.

Since then, she has gone on to drive in many different categories, including racing as part of the Kumho V8 Touring Car Series, now known as Super3.

In 2018, Duggan was part of the Toyota 86 Series and said she was proud to lend her support to D2BD in 2019.

“Joining the Dare to Be Different family is an honour,” Duggan said.

“I believe humans can do anything and gender has nothing to do with our capabilities. You can see it as a limiting factor or not a factor at all. Coming from a different path into motor sport, I love to encourage girls to chase their dreams regardless of their past, where they come from or who tells them they can’t.”

Emma’s been in the media industry for almost a decade. Starting as Melbourne’s eye in the sky for Channel Ten, she left to pursue her passion for fast cars and bikes.

Her first role in motorsport was with Supercars as their big screen reporter. She then, she went on to report for various other major events including F1 with the Australian Grand Prix team, World Time Attack. and the drift car championship in Sydney, more recently contributing as a pit reporter at the Shannons Motorsport Australia Championships.

After finishing up her four-year role at the Australian Superbike Championship as their host and pit reporter, Emma is now working as a journalist for Car Advice.

"I’m fortunate enough to have grown up around motorsport, it’s in my blood – my father is the co-founder and majority owner of the Australian Supercars Championship’s topflight team, Triple Eight Race Engineering, and I’m extremely lucky to be involved with such an incredible group of people and the sport.

"My first actual job in a race team was as a mechanic when I was 18. After that I studied journalism at university in England, then returned to Australia and Triple Eight in 2012 where I have since worked as media manager, team coordinator and now commercial officer. In 2015, I became a shareholder of Triple Eight Race Engineering.

“Motorsport was always a natural path for me, but for so many girls it would have never registered on their radar, let alone been presented as a genuine career choice. I therefore feel a duty to share our sport with the next generation of young women, welcome them in and show them that they can and should be part of this dynamic, fast-paced and adrenaline-packed industry.

“As a D2BD ambassador, my goal is to reach as many girls as possible to inspire future talent. And hey, even if they don’t choose a career in the fast lane, motor racing will have found some new fans!”

Over the past 14 years, Jessica Nicholson has been involved with motorsport as an official, race car driver and rally navigator.  

After progressing through each level of officiating and gaining experience at events such as World Time Attack, State Circuit Racing Championships, Motorsport Australia National Championships and holding senior Officiating roles at Supercars events, Jessica was appointed as Deputy Race Director for Porsche Carrera Cup in 2020 - the first woman in Australia to fulfil a role of this level. 

A long-time competitor from the grass roots level, Jess has also participated in motorsport as a driver at race events, as well as competing as a rally navigator in dirt rally events in Tasmania and NSW, before moving onto tarmac rally in Tasmania and Victoria throughout 2009 to 2012.
 
Jess got her start in motorsport competing at supersprints in her Nissan R32 GTR in the early days until building Ruby the Mazda RX8 in 2013 - a sport sedan that is heavily modified with a V8 5.7L engine
 
Jessica’s passion is mentoring and training other motorsport officials.

Jessica has been the face of motor sport on Fox Sports for the last decade. She fronts the networks Supercars coverage alongside racing legends Mark Skaife and Russell Ingall. She was the first female recipient of the Supercars Media award in 2016 and has also hosted Fox Sports F1, MotoGP and World Superbikes coverage.

“If you want something badly enough you will always find a way”

Kate Peck, who would be a familiar face to many motorsport fans in Australia, is a key part of Channel 10’s motor sport coverage and has established herself as a media personality in Australia.

The former Australian Grand Prix Ambassador has also worked at MTV and describes herself as a “petrolette”.

Peck encouraged young girls to consider a career in motor sport, saying “I never knew any of this was possible until I gave it a crack”.

---

Krystina Emmanouilides, who dreamed of one day working for a Formula 1 team, she is one of those rare people who are right where they want to be. And belong to be.   
   
From a young age, she wanted to be an engineer, and that desire only grew when she started gaining more of an interest in mathematics and science during high school.   
   
While her family is full of architects and designers, Emmanouilides had the opportunity to follow in their footsteps, but deep down she knew that she truly wanted to work as an engineer in Formula 1. She wanted to create her own pathway.  
   
And so her challenging journey to the pinnacle of world motorsport began upon graduating high school in Australia.   
   
At first it wasn’t easy. The information wasn’t readily available and a clear pathway to working for a Formula 1 team was hard to come by. But she found enough to steer her in the direction of her next destination. The United Kingdom.   
   
From there, she spent four years getting a Bachelor of Motorsport Engineering with honours at the prestigious Oxford Brookes University before completing her Masters at Durham University.   
   
Despite having six years of tertiary education behind her and the desire to work in Formula 1 stronger than ever, her dream remained out of reach, as the opportunities remained scarce.

Soon after the completion of her Masters, she was employed at Jaguar Land Rover as a Vehicle Dynamics Engineer, before securing a role closer aligned to her dream – a CFD Application Engineer at Exa PowerFLOW.
   
As the years went on, she gained plenty of knowledge, stability, experience and contacts at her new job, but the opportunity to go in F1 still eluded her. Until it finally came in 2018 when she applied, interviewed and successfully obtained a role with Sauber Motorsport, whose entry in Formula 1 are the Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN Formula 1 Team, as a CFD Development Engineer.  

The role sees her and her team work in the aerodynamic department and are responsible for the team's aerodynamic simulations – a crucial cog, given aero testing is limited and her team figures out what’s best to test in the actual wind tunnel. 

---

Subaru do Motorsport team driver Molly Taylor became the first female and youngest winner of the Motorsport Australia Rally Championship in 2016.

Growing up in a motorsport family, an interest in rallying was inevitable, with Molly’s mother Coral a four-time Australian Rally Champion co-driver. However, it wasn’t until a later age, working at her father Mark rally school in the holidays that Molly tried driving a rally car herself.

She won the F16 class in the Australian Rally Championship in 2006, backing the victory up again in 2007.

Following that, Molly moved overseas at age 20 with very little money or resources to follow her dream to become a professional rally driver.

Supported by the Australian Motor Sport Foundation’s International Rising Star program, she won three of the six events she contested in the 2009 Suzuki Swift Sport Cup, also becoming the British Ladies rally champion in the process. She took that title again in 2010 along with finished 3rd in the Citroen Racing Trophy.

In 2011 she was selected as one of six drivers globally to be part of the Pirelli Star Driver Program, giving her a scholarship to compete in the World Rally Championship Academy, where she took out her maiden stage win in the category.

In 2013 Molly competed in the European Rally Championship, where she won the European Ladies Championship and her results also elevated her to World Rally Rankings Number 1 International Female Rally Driver. In 2014 Molly took on four rounds of the Junior World Rally Championship. She also became the first female to achieve a podium position in the Junior WRC’s history, finishing third in the prestigious Rally Finland.

In 2015 Molly became the first female to win a round of the Australian Rally Championship and finished second overall in the series. In 2016 she went one better, winning the Championship as part of the Subaru do Motorsport team. Molly’s achievements that year also included winning one of the most prestigious awards in Australian motorsport, the Peter Brock Medal, named in honour of the late touring car legend. 

"It's both an honour and very exciting to be part of Dare to be Different. There's a whole world of opportunities in motorsport, and how far you take it ultimately comes down to your desire and work ethic, not gender. To be able to help other girls experience the thrill of the sport and share that same passion is something pretty special."

Official website: www.mollytaylor.com.au

I was always good in maths and physics but didn’t dare to jump into the engineering world first. I didn’t know what to expect from engineering, what possibilities are out there or if I can succeed in this “man’s world”.  One Sunday afternoon I was watching F1 at home on the TV. I saw the engineers in their work environment and knew I want to be part of that world.

After graduating in Automotive Engineering from Esslingen University of Applied Science in Germany I started working as a data engineer with the Mercedes DTM Team at HWA in 2010.

In 2015 I decided I want to see what motorsport is like on the other side of the world and packed my bags when I got a job with Red Bull Holden Racing Team in Australia. Since then we won two Driver’s Championships. It is very rewarding to know that through my work I made contribution to this success. It is not always easy working in a male dominated environment, but having a goal always helped me to achieve what I wanted.

“Being an ambassador for D2BD I hope we can show girls from young age that there are amazing women in this motorsport world. It’s about opening doors and showing them that they have all the support they need if they dare to be different. I wish someone would have showed me earlier how cool it is to be an engineer. I’m proud that I can the support younger generation with this program.”

“Motorsport is something I have been around for almost my entire life, so it was a natural path for me,” Kiely said.

“For many others though a career in motorsport isn’t something that would cross their minds, so it’s important to educate our next generation of girls about what opportunities are out there for them.”

Kiely, who has been with Erebus almost five years and with over a decade of experience, was promoted to her new role last year.

She is eager to educate girls that the opportunity is there for those willing to take on the challenge.

“I have seen the amazing work FIA Girls on Track have done for many years now, and I am very proud to be named as one of their ambassadors,” Kiely said.

“I hope I can help inspire as many girls as possible to think outside the box and consider a career in motorsport.

“The door is open to anyone that is willing to take on the challenge and we want to see more female participation across all areas.”