American businesswoman Mary Barra has always been involved with cars. Long before she was the CEO and Chairman of General Motors, her dad was starting the family interest in the auto manufacturing business while working at Pontiac. Born and bred in the famous and infamous car manufacturing world she started working for General Motors at just 18 years old, and she used her skills in checking fenders and hoods on the line in order to put herself through college. Now, she has risen through the ranks to helm the top position of one of the most well-known and successful automotive manufacturers in the world.
When Mary was looking to buy her first set of wheels, she had her sights on a Pontiac Firebird. She had loved muscle cars ever since she could remember. But her sensible and college-bound side took over and she settled with a Chevrolet Chevette.
Now, as one of the most powerful women in business, she makes sure that car buyers never settle, with a mission to push them toward GM’s top-of-the-line offerings. For her success in the automotive industry and in the business world at large, Barra has ranked in the top 5 of Forbes’ most powerful women in the past half a dozen years as well as being named one of Time’s 100 most influential people.
Running an automobile empire isn’t just about sales and test driving the newest toys (which she does once a week), it’s managing a political climate, fuel prices, unions, and most recently a global chip shortage brought on by the COVID-19 crisis. It also involves sitting on various boards and councils—as she does for Disney, her alma mater Stanford University, and various other clubs and councils.
Despite what is undoubtedly a busy professional schedule, Barra has also emphasized time with her family and is a wife and mother to a son and daughter. Known to involve family in work events and leave the office to catch a soccer game, she seems to have found the work-life balance in it all.