We bring you the second part of our interview feature of our first ‘Women in Motorsport’ series, spotlighting a trailblazer and ambassador of sustainability, Izabella Rekiel, currently the Extreme E Impact Correspondent. We dive deep into Extreme E, sustainability and smashing the gender barriers in motorsport.
With the first instalment of this unique motorsport in Saudi Arabia at Al-Ula for the Desert XPrix, we asked about Izy’s experience of the first race and if it matched her expectations. Izy replied that she ‘had no expectations going into the ship and to the desert.’ Neither the videos she watched or knowledge she gained from the team could have prepared her for it.
Asking about her travels in Saudi Arabia, Izy described how the St Helena ship docked in Yanbu where she was for around 2 weeks and then in Jeddah where they had to quarantine for 2 days.
Extreme E at Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia (Extreme E Media)
Having the race weekend as a 2-day event was something Izy was very grateful for, ‘only on the second day was I able to really take in the majesty and grandness of the location, it was just insane. It's what I guess or imagine landing on the moon would be like, It's so still, peaceful, and really beautiful. I can't describe it in words, I don't think words can do it justice.’ When questioned further on the desert landscape, Izy replied how much in awe she was of the location, ‘it was unbelievable and amazing, so beautiful! Every morning getting there at about 5:30am, the colours of the landscape, not just the sky, were changing. The rocks and shadows, depending on where the sun hit them. It was stunning! I wish I could just sit there and watch that time lapse of the whole day’. Just seeing all the photos from the crew and drivers there during the weekend, we can definitely say the images were exquisite.
Being the avid traveller she is, we were interested if she would visit again to which she said absolutely. I'm definitely going back and taking my mom, so I can spend at least 7 days because the time we had, obviously everyone had work to do. So, we didn't really have time to take it all in, but it's really a magical place and I would definitely go back.’
On the environmental and sustainability aspect of Saudi Arabia, whilst it was beautiful, the country has its challenges. One thing Izy noted was the amount of ‘trash in the desert’, to which she was ‘extremely perplexed’. When speaking to the Saudi locals, it was said this was due to tourism. However, it seems more apparent that there is a lack of education on both the locals and tourist parts. There is no standout on who or why for the amount of plastic she says but ‘it needs to be worked on and people need to be educated, because how can you throw trash in such a beautiful place, it was just blowing my mind every time I saw it was just everywhere.’
Positively, Izy reveals that Extreme E's aim there was to create awareness and change in this environmental aspect, which she believes has left a mark. She recounts a story from her weekend where she saw her driver ‘trying to throw stuff out of the window, I said what are you doing and explained to him why, so hopefully I had an effect on him.’ We have no doubt she did being the determined environmentalist she is. From Izy’s stories in Saudi Arabia, one main challenge it seemed she faced stemmed from awareness and encouragement of sustainability principles in their community. Though, she says ‘they're not the only country or culture that does that. It's perhaps maybe down to respect for the environment. It’s just easy, like the saying, out of sight out of mind. By just throwing it out the window, you don't see it again. It's harmless right? But then again, that's education! Hopefully we had a positive effect, we did a lot of beach clean-ups. We also had this little beach next to the ship that we were going to a few times, like snorkelling with the Professor where he was showing us the corals. We were cleaning that up and there were some Saudi locals there who saw us doing that so hopefully we made an impression.’
They way to counter these challenges, Izy advises ‘spreading the awareness, highlighting the issues and what needs to be done.’
As mentioned earlier in the first part of our interview feature, the COVID-19 pandemic gave many the opportunity to slow down and time of reflection. A topic that came to the forefront during this time is that many have become more aware of environmental issues. Izy reflects that ‘it depends on the people and the generation. The younger generation are definitely more in tune with the environment and the effects.’
On the other hand, we asked Izy’s thoughts on reasons for the lack of care for the environment which she believes is ‘accessibility, laziness, lack of education.’ Education is a huge part of discovering how to become more sustainable, as Izy conveys many ‘don't understand the harmful effects of plastic as plastic is not just an article or a piece on the floor, it seeps into the ground and soil. It releases toxic chemicals which then contaminate the water source. Or if an animal mistakes that for food, it'll then contaminate that animal, it'll ruin the reproductive system – so there's a chain of events.’
Despite the challenges, Izy desires ‘to be hopeful as people are learning, it's a slow process but I think people are learning’.
With her love of sustainability and travel in mind, we were interested to know if any destinations Izy had visited where she was impressed with their sustainable living. Some examples that came to mind were ‘the Japanese are just super tight and tidy, no one will throw rubbish on the floor, they will keep it in their pocket or in a bag until they can find a bin. New York has a lot of things they're doing really, really right. I think the UK as well and definitely London. I've never seen so many vegan options than I have in London and I think that goes hand in hand with sustainability. Germany's very good at recycling. Generally, I think everyone, every country, has their challenges and things that they excel in which comes from a cultural perspective and their education.’
Legacy Projects
A true visionary of motorsport, Alejandro Agag, CEO and Founder of Extreme E, has truly transformed motorsport. Watching Izy interview him and hear his opinion of how Extreme E has been faring so far was really refreshing to observe. I particularly loved hearing his advice on critics. Curious how working alongside such a changemaker like Alejandro has been, we asked how Izy’s experience has been. ‘Long hours’ she jokes and we laugh.
Though, in seriousness, Izy expresses how inspiring he has been, crediting him as one of her mentors. One characteristic she praises is his risk taking, which as many know, without risk, there’s no reward. ‘I've never seen a person take so many risks like he does and that's something that I've always wanted to work towards myself. So, I hope that's going to rub off on me.’ Another attribute she admires is ’he always says yes to everything, something I've always strived for in my life as well. You can always say no later on but just say yes, take that opportunity, take that risk.’ Personally, she describes Alejandro as ‘so sociable, he loves meeting people. He's amazing to work with, we really have known each other for 10 years now so I hope there's another 10 years down the line.’ We wish both of them well and are excited to see what these two individuals would do further to change the game of sustainability and motorsport.
Alejandro at Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia (Extreme E Media)
Pondering how the positive reaction to Extreme E and legacy projects have been so far, Izy articulates that after the audience saw the first race and legacy project, they can see that ‘we’ve put our money where our mouth is. This is not for publicity; it’s actually happening and we are behind this. This is what our purpose is and what we're striving for.’ While the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, we do know as with anything, there is criticism on their message and purpose. Though negative, Izy voices ‘you need that criticism to keep you on your feet, to do better next time. If you just constantly get praise all the time, you never really learn from that, you don't see where we go wrong or how we can improve.’
Sustainability and the legacy projects are a key part of Extreme E. We wondered how the particular focus of the projects came about and how Izy has been involved with them. Izy explains, ‘the legacy projects were always the key driver for Extreme E. Without the legacy projects, Extreme E wouldn't exist because that's our purpose.’ When asked how her role influences this unique motorsport series, she defines ‘I help our Sustainability Coordinator, Louisa. We also have some climate panels on the ship, I forged a really good relationship with some of the scientists, so I help in spreading the message.’ A way Izy has been doing this is through interviews where she translates their scientific language to be more understandable. I urge you to go onto her Instagram and watch as they are very eye opening and insightful to listen to.
Izy clarifies that, as each of the legacy projects are different to one another, including being in different locations,’ you need different resources to which everybody has different skill sets.’
During our time interviewing Izy in Valencia, the Extreme E committee were currently still discussing Senegal. Whilst they have the main legacy projects, they have smaller projects alongside to partner with. Like in Saudi Arabia, they had desertification as their main project, however they also ‘spread awareness of the turtles.’ So, with the planting of the mangroves in Senegal, we’ll see a few more projects in collaboration alongside, like the climate education project at one of the local schools.
What I love about Izy’s journey showing the audience behind the scenes of the legacy projects is that there are issues we may not know that the particular country is facing. For example, I wouldn’t have known about the deforestation problem in Saudi Arabia if they had not showcased their planting trees project in Hegra, KSA. Inquiring about the logistics and how they will be sustained after the race, Izy provided us with further information, ‘the projects are ongoing, we activate them during the race weekend. We’re still working to clean up that seven kilometre stretch of beach where we're going to try and save for the turtles. So, we won’t go do something and then leave. We constantly keep the projects going either through funding or research. Also, one of the scientists said we've never had such interest in our work before if it wasn't for Extreme E. It's also about creating that awareness, having those scientists give us their information and being able to translate it in a way that everybody is interested in reading about it.’
Behind the scenes of Tree Planting Legacy Project at Hegra, Saudi Arabia
With a background in sustainable projects, you can imagine how exciting these legacy projects are especially with such a valuable purpose. In terms of who would be managing the projects, Izy answers that the Extreme E team would be checking in with the local organisation who would take care and ensure the groundwork foundation started continues. However, ‘it varies for each, for example in Senegal, once we plant the mangroves, there's nothing to do later’.
Learning more about the St Helena ship acting as a floating paddock, we saw there were some labs designed onboard. Curious to know what activities were undergoing in the labs and with the scientists onboard the ship, we found due to COVID and other regulations, this has been limited. ‘We've had to cancel them for this leg (Desert XPrix), it's not going ahead until Senegal’.
Since joining Extreme E, Izy has forged many relationships, one of whom is Professor Carlos Duarte, ‘one of the most accomplished scientists and is such a wealth of information’. If you’ve been following Izy, you may have seen her weekly series with the Professor called ‘Sea Diaries’. Professor Carlos, a marine ecologist and XE’s Climate Change Scientist, will educate and reveal information ‘pertaining to the sea that St Helena finds herself, which has been a really good lead up to our next Extreme E, the Ocean XPrix. Sharing a little more awareness about the ocean, how it's being affected by climate change and by all these man-made issues, like the Suez Canal really affected the Mediterranean Sea. I had no idea about it, it's not something that you read in Wikipedia, so you really need someone who is very well versed in that area to tell you about how it started.’
One video in particular, they unpack and debunk the theories in the Netflix ‘documentary’, Seaspiracy. Inquisitive about how it began, she paints the picture of how and why they captured this on camera.
‘We were talking about this in Yanbu snorkelling. I asked if he had watched Seaspiracy, he said yes, have you watched it? I said no but everyone's talking about it and I want to watch it because I'm thinking about not eating fish anymore.’ Professor Carlos’ response was ‘we need to sit down and talk because it's a lot of false information.’
‘It was quite shocking, I watched and cringed through the whole thing. I didn't think it was a very good documentary and just listening to Professor Carlos, I'm shocked this documentary got funding and released. It's not just one fact that's wrong, it's every single fact is wrong or skewed, it's all distorted to fit the narrative. One fact was that 50% of ocean plastic is discarded fishing nets. That's not true and by saying that you're really taking the blame or you're shifting the focus away from what is the real problem – land-based plastic that is ending up in the oceans, which makes up 80%. If you throw a fact out like that and people say, actually the plastic problem is not that bad, you're not only creating a false fact but de-escalating a problem that is very important and should be a number one priority on governments and regulations. It's misguiding a lot of the community.’
Professor Carlos Duarte (Extreme E Media) & Yanbu Coral Reef, Saudi Arabia
What Izy recounts is sadly true. When many of the audience watch something like this especially with it being a Netflix programme, they’re not going to research that fact. They will take it for face value which can be very problematic.
Breaking the Gender Barriers
Extreme E, an inspirational series, is a role model in breaking the gender barriers in motorsport. Having both a male and female driver race their Electric Odyssey is a mandatory requirement to compete, which has received very well by the audience so far, With the likes of Catie Munning’s stunning drive, we delved into ask how well Izy thought Extreme E deals with the awareness of social issues like female representation and if enough effort has been made in changing the lack of this. Izy agrees, ‘the very fact that women have to be a pilot driver role is already making a very, very big statement and it made ripples through the motorsport industry. I think people are definitely thinking how we can match that.’
Overall, coming from a different motorsport avenue, we inquired what her views been on the Extreme E season so far. Izy highlighted how groundbreaking this new unique series is, ‘we're breaking so many barriers, for me it's the quality of the female/male driver situation’.
Amazingly, we discovered how much the crew and drivers of all Extreme E teams are one huge family. Racing in the most remote locations of the world and reducing their carbon footprint, the motorsport is closed to spectators.
We’ve noticed this may have had a hand in some beautiful relationships created within the paddock.
Drivers of Extreme E (Extreme E Media)
‘One of the things that I really love about Extreme E, when we were in Al-Ula, we had this lounge called the Explorers Lounge hosting the teams, drivers and sponsors. Similar to Formula E, I was there for about 7 years but didn't interact with a driver till maybe 4 years into it and that's because I actually knew the driver from Japan. In Extreme E, all teams and drivers were sitting together having lunch. The teams had their team areas, but no one really used it. Even rival teams were sharing refreshments, which was really nice and refreshing to see. These rivalries were put away and everyone were just friends, both for the males and the female drivers. So, I think that shows the effect we've already had is becoming one big family and we have to be when we're in these remote locations. Just the fact of making that stand and rule of having a man and woman driver, creates those changes itself, like it's like a trickle-down effect. We do promote it through social media but I think really the way to get the message out there is by living it.’
Izy recounts how she bonded with many of the female drivers like Christina Gutierrez, Katie Munnings and Jamie Chadwick. ‘They're all such beautiful people but also very courageous and very brave. At times I was even thinking they have more balls than some of the guys do, it's really nice they are given a platform to really shine and show what they can do, that women can do the same things as men. Izy credits this being one of the biggest qualities of Extreme E as she was never a motorsport fan previously. ‘Extreme E is different because it’s motorsport for purpose, a sport for purpose. It has much more depth to it than just being another racing series.’
Seeing such a display of inclusivity of this sport is beautiful and such a contrast to Formula 1 or F2. As we look to the future, we asked Izy her hopes on how this motorsport’s prospects. ‘It’s early days but I think we're very much on target with our purpose and what we set out to do. We have so many women also working behind the scenes. In the Extreme E office, we have pretty much 50/50, so many talented women working behind the scenes. I think that shows already that we're on target, if not further to achieve what we set out to do.’
With the Extreme E visiting the most remote destinations in the world, we wondered if a particular place on the calendar Izy was looking forward to visiting or a legacy project she is particularly passionate about. ‘All the legacy projects are amazing and incredibly important, especially since we're working with local communities. I really believe in the ripple effect, helping smaller communities that will then ripple out to create awareness and education for other communities. The location that I'm most looking towards is the Amazon XPrix in Brazil. It's always been a dream of mine to go to Brazil and to go to the Amazon is the icing on the cake!’
As we look ahead to Senegal for the Ocean XPrix in Lac Rose, Izy has been looking most forward to the mangroves planting legacy project. However, she says ‘I don't know Senegal at all, so I have no expectations. I've heard that there's a lot of plastic in the ocean, which I'm not looking forward to seeing. But I hope I'm going to be pleasantly surprised.’
Lastly, with such a background in sustainability and multiple amazing projects not only in motorsport, we asked what advice Izy would give to girls wanting to get to her position and follow a path in motorsport. Her guidance was to always ‘believe in yourself, believe what you want to do and make sure it has a purpose’.
Want to learn more about Izy’s journey with Extreme E throughout their amazing legacy projects, follow @izyofficial where she takes you through life on St Helena and the XPrix weekends.
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