The Untapped Billion

Gen Z to the boardroom. The boardroom to Gen Z.

I love a rebrand

Hello. I’ve been quiet over here because I’ve been working on so many projects - new shows, a new podcast, a column, rebooting Sunday Fangirls collections, and lots of filming for other platforms… And I can’t wait to introduce each project to you all. And then there is everything else I work on - including the daily videos and weekly newsletters. These daily and weekly stories deserve a proper home because, after all, they are the constant reminder of why I do what I do.

This feels like an opportunity for a reboot and a reintroduction to my work, my beliefs and my platforms.

Idée Fixe

This newsletter was called “idée fixe”, a term coined by the French composer Hector Berlioz in 1830, and introduced by another Frenchman, the novelist Honoré de Balzac, who used “idée fixe” in Gobseck to describe an obsessive idea. Over time, “idée fixe” was embraced as a literary term for a persistent preoccupation or delusional idea that dominates a person’s mind.

In the most simplistic way, an idée fixe is an idea that dominates one’s mind for a prolonged period. Nowadays, this has come to include both the delusional and the pedestrian obsessions that we may encounter. Today, I’m saying goodbye to this name as the title of my newsletter, but I continue to embrace the concept of delusional ideas that dominate our minds and keep us obsessing over what fascinates us.

The Untapped Billion

Insert, the Untapped Billion - a concept that has been almost a footnote and tagline to so much I do and talk about, but I want to bring to the front.

You, we, me… are all the Untapped Billion of the sports industry. We are changing the industry for the better. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I’ve found that too often we celebrate young women in so many industries - music, fashion, art, film and sports… - without actually acknowledging them. We shy away from pointing out what actually makes them incredible. We chase their relevancy and want their economic power. And yet, we still don’t respect them. These are the Sunday Fangirls I’ve celebrated for years. And not only should we be paying close attention to them as they are actively shaping the future of so many industries, including sports, but they also deserve our time and our respect.

Every story that piques my curiosity, every moment I want to highlight, and every space I shine a light on are part of this Untapped Billion.

Gen Z to the boardroom. The boardroom to Gen Z

In part because of my age and in part due to my previous jobs, I often find myself in boardrooms explaining who the Untapped Billions are and why they cannot be ignored, and I spend just as much time breaking down the complexity of the tech and the business of motorsports to Gen Z. As such, my days are spent bringing Gen Z to the boardroom and the boardroom to Gen Z. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Growing the pie and multiplying the eyeballs, aka my why

For the past six years, I’ve seen myself as a stand-in for the viewer and the motorsports fan. My curiosity has gotten me into rooms, a seat the tables, and in spaces most motorsport fans dream of. I realise I’m very privileged to have access to these spaces, and while I’m here, I want to learn as much as I can, and bring you all along for the ride.

Love it or hate it, I’m not an over-rehearsed TV professional sitting in front of a desk talking down to an audience. I am the audience. I’m not performing intimacy between myself and the people I talk with, surrounded by cameras and lights; it’s just me, an iPhone, my mics, my notes and my endless curiosity.

This space, like many others, has struggles with a pale, male and stale problem. I’ve been on the receiving end of ageist and misogynistic comments way too many times to count - all of them problematic - no matter how small or big - and all of them so incredibly boring.

All of the above is why, in 2020, I embraced the creator economy. The creator economy and influencers in sports democratised this space. They levelled the playing field for all; the content and the stories were no longer in the hands of the few but rather the many. And with that came a whole series of issues and problems we are still getting to terms with. But far more importantly, we experienced an industry-wide reset in who gets to tell the stories. Because whoever holds the mic and owns the platforms is just as important as the content itself. The new creators and show hosts impact the stories we tell, the places we look, the people we interview, where we point our cameras and who we give a mic and a platform to.

I have no boss, but the internet has an opinion and keeps score on what I write and what I talk about. That’s both freeing and absolutely terrifying, but I would rather have the internet hold me accountable - the people who live and breathe the culture and the sport I report on - than a board of directors.

I just want more eyeballs on a sport I’ve loved for decades. And the only way I know how to do that is by leaning into my curiosity and asking endless questions to understand the why, how and what of the sport. Three thousand videos later, I’m more curious and driven than ever to keep bringing the untold stories to motorsport fans everywhere.

I hope to forever convey my curiosity through these mediums, and I hope you always leave feeling informed. My aim is not simply to inform, but rather to bring you along into the spaces I get access to and, in doing so, help improve our all our understanding of this sport, and so many others. It will forever be about the stories, the moments and the people beyond the track.

Toni