Women Of Influence
Sutton-Ford, the dealer principal of Sutton Ford in Matteson, Ill., says, “As a young girl, I used to say, ‘I want to do this — to run the dealership.’ Sometimes, you don’t take the time to recognize what you are actually doing; it’s hard to realize it’s a reality. It’s a true blessing.”
When young women ask for career advice about the auto industry, Wanda Howell tells them this: “There are a lot of opportunities here. Maybe it’s not the first line of work they were thinking about, but there are great opportunities,” she says.
Today Herrera is founder and president of IDEA Auto Group and its three Austin-area dealerships. Reflecting the career she has built, she was nominated for the 2025 Time Dealer of the Year award, representing the Texas Automobile Dealers Association — where she is a district director. She also is a board member of the National Association of Minority Automobile Dealers and the Toyota Lexus Minority Owners Dealership Association.
Elsa Foley sees herself as a puzzle solver. The industrial engineer wears multiple innovation hats at Nissan North America.
Marisstella Marinkovic was born in the former Yugoslavia — on an island in what is now Croatia — immigrating with her parents to the U.S. when she was three and a half years old. After an award-winning career in the advertising and marketing world, in March 2023 she was named vice president and CMO for Nissan U.S., overseeing marketing communications and media, customer experience, brand and product marketing.
Lisa John: “When you do a good job, that becomes your brand. People get to know you for what you do.”
Click to watch video. Kate Fabian, director of marketing communications at Hyundai Motor America, talks about how women should not be afraid to take on challenges, but rather see them as opportunities.
Claudia Marquez: “I wasn’t afraid of challenging the status quo. Because I wasn’t supposed to be there, my mindset was always that I didn’t have anything to lose.”
Dhanashree Kad: “It’s not just about my job and the products we make; it’s the impact I’m having on a broader scale, on future generations. It’s for everyone breathing the same air as me.”
Michelle Primm: “My belief is that if you speak from fact and speak from knowledge, it doesn’t matter what you look like — if you know what you’re talking about, people listen to you.”
