Christina Roki on Building Cars, Making Mistakes, and Inspiring Women in STEM

Jim talks with automotive content creator and mechanical engineer Christina Roki, a Detroit native and first-generation American. Roki shares how buying a Nissan 350Z project car during the pandemic and sharing her experience with her trial-and-error repairs helped her normalize mistakes and grow a large online audience. She discusses learning to fix cars affordably for her single mother, her creative approach to customizing cars with bold colors, and how the car community feels like a second family. 00:00 Teaching Cars Online 02:03 Her Origin Story 03:06 First Project Car 350Z 04:35 Family Support And Trust 06:31 Bold Colors And Style 07:29 Community And Influence 10:18 Women In Cars And STEM 13:03 From Programs To TikTok 14:01 Embracing Mistakes Publicly 18:52 Couples Challenges And Fights 23:17 Advice For Ford Leadership DRIVE with Jim Farley is produced by Jesse Baker and Eric Nuzum of Magnificent Noise. Our production staff includes Sabrina Farhi and Kristen Mueller with help from Lori Arpin, Angela Brewer, Max Owen-Dunow, Anne Roberts, Samantha Singhal, Darnell Macon, Brandon Kennedy, and Mark Truby. Follow Jim: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Jim.Farley Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jimfarley98/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@jimfarley98 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-farley/ Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/jimfarley.bsky.social Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/jimfarley98 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices