Just in time for International Women’s Month, the Philippines now has a voice in the Women’s World Car of the Year (WWCOTY). Genevieve “Gen” Tiu, journalist and video producer at CarGuide.PH, and contributing columnist to this paper’s Wheels section has just been appointed to the WWCOTY jury. Gen is now part of a panel that consists of 64 female automotive journalists from 47 countries.
The objective of the WWCOTY is to highlight the role of women and to give them a voice in the car world. Each year, the jury chooses the best cars of the year. As for the voting itself, the criteria are based on the same principles that guide any driver when choosing a car. The selections do not make it a “woman’s car.” Aspects such as safety, quality, price, design, ease of driving, benefits and environmental footprint, among others, are taken into account.
Gen’s appointment to the WWCOTY jury may come as a surprise to many, but as the one who sought her nomination, it is simply the next step in her career. Even before her foray into the world of motoring, she was already immersed in the car industry largely through business, having grown up in a company that is involved in the aftermarket industry.
Her day job’s tough enough; it entails working on collaborations with carmakers, but also working on PR, comms, and media relations (we’re a tough crowd, trust me), but on her downtime, she has an unbridled passion for writing. This has led me to take a gamble and give her a writing role at my independently run automotive website, CarGuide.PH.
She knows me as someone who’s tough on deadlines (ask her how many times I follow up on a story every day), but in a short span of time, Gen has flourished and grown both as a writer and as a motoring journalist. Although motoring is commonly known as “a man’s world,” she is much more confident in offering her take not just on cars, but on various topics covering the industry as well. This has helped CarGuide.PH become the first (and so far, only) Philippine-based online automotive publication with equal gender representation.
An eager learner, I also found Gen to have a keen eye on video production too. So aside from working on stories, she’s now a producer and director as well. Talk about being multi-talented. And because she’s a stickler for details, she’ll demand perfection from me, the self-appointed leader of Team Pwede Na.
Gen’s writing has also caught the attention of this section’s editor, Manny de los Reyes. She is now a columnist, and from time to time, you’ll see her writing her under column, “Drive and Doodles.”