Mompreneur: Erika Fish and the Car Mama Blog

It goes without saying that most publications that review new cars aren't geared toward moms and their particular concerns. Marin mom and automotive enthusiast Erika Fish aims to help this situation with her new blog Car Mama. A car nut since childhood who was voted "Most Likely to be Editor of Car & Driver" in high school, Erika drives and reviews a wide variety of vehicles with an eye toward the things that matter most to parents, zeroing in on things like family-friendly features, car seat attachment points, and cargo space.

We asked Erika to tell us a about herself and how she started a car review blog especially for moms. Visit Car Mama at mamascar.blogspot.com.

Please tell us a little about yourself. What's your background?

I'm a happily married mother of two grade-school aged children and one adorable Golden Retriever puppy. After college, I worked as a writer for a tech company and a creative marketing assistant for a textbook publisher in the Midwest. In 1996 my husband, dog and I moved to Sonoma to work for a small magazine publisher. I found a great job as the manager of technical writers at a Novato-based software company and got very good at breaking down developer's instructions so that "regular" people could understand them. It was difficult to resist the urge to pepper the instructions with jokes and sarcasm, but I channeled my inner bore and survived.

After leaving full-time work when our son was born in 2000, I did contract work with other tech companies and started a home-based business marketing and selling dermatologist-developed skincare products. I love writing and creating the marketing materials, but not the sales.

Where does you passion for cars come from?

I spent my early years on a farm in Montana and played Matchbox cars with my older brother all the time. As I acquired toy cars, I got more excited about the designs and details on real cars and poured over car magazines. I collected Matchbox cars through high school, and with my dad's encouragement signed up for auto shop, but I chickened out and dropped it. But I helped my dad work on our cars and drove a 1956 Chevy pickup that always needed a tweak here and there. My passion for cars earned me the title "Most Likely to be Editor of Car & Driver" from my friends in high school. (And I learned not to give in to social pressures!)

What inspired you to start a car review blog from a mom's point of view?

The road to a car review blog for moms wasn't a straight one! I never lost my interest in cars, but as a stay-at-home mom I didn't indulge my car passion much and I didn't go car shopping for fun—I always had the kids with me. I had knee surgery this past summer, and in the surgeon's waiting room I saw a Car & Driver magazine with one of my favorite cars on the cover: an antique Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing. In the weeks after surgery, I spent a lot of time "resting" and thinking, and the image of that Gullwing kept popping into my head. So I combined it all: cars, motherhood, writing, humor, passion and came up with my Car Mama blog.

What do you hope readers get out of your blog?

I hope readers of Car Mama find useful information about the cars I review, along with practical evaluation tips and humor. I want to create a great resource for mom's as they create a list of family cars to check out.

Women make the majority of the purchasing decisions in US households, but most moms are extremely busy and they need quick access to practical information when doing research. Most car reviews are written by men for men. Women can certainly understand torque and cubic feet, but busy working moms need information quickly. They  may want to know how easy it is to transfer car seats in and out of the back seats, and if the cargo space will hold a golf bag, stroller, and four suitcases.

What are your family's favorite things to do in the Bay Area?

We love living in the Bay Area—the easy access to the ocean and the mountains is perfect for us. Our favorite things are hiking and biking on Angel Island, Mt. Tam, and around Novato; eating all the fresh local food from land and sea; drinking local wine; and skiing at Squaw Valley over winter weekends.

What do you love most about living in Marin?

As a farm girl, I love open spaces and Marin has great open spaces and good access to agriculture and wildlife. Every time we hike or bike, or even drive down our street, we see hawks, lizards, steer and horses. Staying connected to the natural world helps us keep our perspective.