Jacki Lutz on Visibility, Authenticity, and Leadership
Your brand doesn’t just live on your website—it lives in your people. In her WIA2025 session Power of Our People, Jacki Lutz, Director of Content at Auto Care Association, helped attendees discover the influence of employee-generated content and the confidence that comes with claiming their personal brand. In this insightful interview, Jacki shares why women in automotive need to be seen and heard, how to tell your story without feeling salesy, and why empowering voices from the inside out may be the most powerful marketing strategy of all.
Picture this: You’re at a Women In Automotive conference session in Nashville, and 75% of the room raises their hands when asked who’s actively working on their personal brand. That’s exactly what happened when Jacki Lutz, Content Director at Auto Care Association and host of Carpool Conversations, took the stage at WIA 2025.
But here’s what struck me most during our conversation after her session—it wasn’t just about being visible online. It was about something deeper: the courage to show up authentically, especially when your management might be watching, your colleagues might be judging, and that inner voice keeps telling you you’re being “too much.”
Sound familiar?
When Leadership Says "Don't Rock the Boat" (But You Know You Need To)
“I always get the most nodding when I talk about leadership and management concerns,” Jacki shared with me, still energized from her session. She knows the struggle firsthand—the fear that if you start putting yourself out there on LinkedIn, HR might think you’re job hunting. Or worse, that you’ll get your hands slapped for “self-promoting.”
But here’s what Jacki wants you to understand: There’s still this lingering stigma around LinkedIn as just an HR platform. In reality? It’s become a thought leadership platform. And the difference between those two perspectives could be the difference between staying invisible and becoming invaluable.
One attendee approached Jacki after her session with a concern we’ve all probably felt: “What if our salespeople are out there building personal brands and it’s just not very good? What if they’re putting out videos with terrible lighting that don’t represent our brand well?”
Jacki’s response was refreshingly practical: “I’m not advocating for employees to create their own product videos. If someone wants to do a selfie video with bad lighting saying ‘I just went to this event and it was amazing, thanks to my company for sending me’—if that video is blurry, nobody is judging the company on that. It’s not a product video. It’s an experience.”
The Real Difference Between Branding and Selling (And Why Your Boss Needs to Know)
Here’s something that might revolutionize how you approach your online presence: It’s not about selling. It’s about branding.
“That’s the hardest thing for leadership to get through their heads,” Jacki confided. “Because if you’re going to spend your time doing something, they want to see numbers and ROI with it.”
Remember when colleagues would ask Jacki to post about their latest tire pressure monitoring system special on her LinkedIn? Her response was pure gold: “People aren’t following me because they want to learn more about tire pressure monitoring systems. They know I work for a company that sells them. And if my brand reaches somebody who needs one, they’re going to reach out to me.”
Think about that for a moment. When three people from the same company all have strong personal brands, love their jobs, do speaking engagements, and are involved in their communities, what does that say about the company? It shows they’re building an incredible culture with remarkable people. And that attracts better talent than any job posting ever could.
Why Your Values Matter More Than Your Voice (But You Need Both)
During our conversation, Jacki revealed something that made me pause: “People want to start putting content out and working on their personal brand, but they forget the values piece.”
She explained it beautifully: “People buy from people they know, like, and trust. The beautiful thing about LinkedIn and having an online presence is that more people than ever will know you. Not everybody’s going to like you, but you’re going to start building an audience that does.”
But here’s the catch—if you say one thing over here and do another thing over there, you’ll lose people fast. “I thought that person was always talking about being kind to people, but then they just commented on this guy’s thing, and it was rude,” Jacki illustrated. “That stuff doesn’t line up.”
Your personal brand isn’t just about what you post. It’s about ensuring everything you do aligns with your core values. And if something in your life doesn’t align with those values? Well, as Jacki puts it, “another direction is to be had.”
The Video Truth Nobody Wants to Hear (But Everyone Needs To)
When I asked Jacki about underrated platforms or tactics for women in automotive, her answer made the room collectively cringe: “They’re gonna hate it, but video is huge.”
“Do you ever get over hating how you look on video?” I had to ask.
Yes, you do eventually,” she assured me. And then she shared something vulnerable: “I showed a photo of me in my first post ever. I was covering my face with a hat. I felt so stupid even showing my face on LinkedIn.”
But here’s what happened when she pushed through that discomfort: “Because I did so much video, it helped me with public speaking. I saw myself so often, heard my voice so often. I hated it, but I started getting used to it. It makes you more confident on video eventually. It makes you more confident when you’re in front of people. It makes you more confident when you speak up at the meeting.”
She’s made videos with no makeup on. She’s left in the mistakes, the trailing thoughts, the “ums.” And you know what? The algorithm loves it. More importantly, people connect with it.
Why Women Are "Trained" to Stay Small (And How to Break Free)
I had to ask Jacki something that wasn’t on my official question list: Why are we so hard on ourselves?
“I think we’re trained to pay attention to how we look, how we feel, what people think of us. People-pleasing is kind of bred into the generation,” she reflected. “I remember when I first got started, there were a lot of people that were like, ‘I am so sick of seeing Jackie on LinkedIn.'”
That stung. Jacki was used to people loving everything she did. She wasn’t trying to ruffle feathers—she just wanted to try something new. But not everyone loved it, and that was hard.
“The people that want to hear what you have to say are the people that you ultimately want following you,” she realized. “Not everybody’s gonna want to learn about personal branding. Imagine a world where not everyone cares about that.”
The Authenticity Advantage: Why Your Failures Matter as Much as Your Wins
When I asked Jacki what one piece of advice she hoped attendees would carry forward, her answer centered on authenticity—something she believes women excel at when they feel safe to express it.
“I don’t talk about a success without talking about the failures,” she explained. “Like our podcast—we just reached a year, which only 10% of podcasts achieve. But I didn’t just say ‘yay for us.’ I said this was really hard. We had to learn a lot of software. We had to learn how to make the sound right.”
This kind of storytelling—bringing people in on the emotion and the journey—is something Jacki believes women have as a natural strength. “The more authentic I am online, the more private messages I get. Like, ‘Man, I’ve been there too.'”
Your Personal Brand: The Asset Nobody Can Take Away
Jacki always ends her sessions with her own story of being laid off and how her personal brand literally carried her through that time, helping her land a new job immediately.
“If you’re not going to do it for the industry and you’re not going to do it for your company, just do it for yourself,” she tells every audience. “It’s something that you’ll have in your briefcase for the rest of your life. That’s going to be your differentiator between someone with the same exact resume and experience as you.”
Think about that. In an industry that’s constantly evolving, where companies merge, positions disappear, and entire departments get restructured, your personal brand is the one constant you control.
The Bottom Line: If Nobody Knows You Did It, It Might as Well Not Have Happened
This hit me hard when Jacki said it: “If nobody knows that you did it, it might as well not have happened. If you’re not willing to talk about it and show people the work that you did, you’re just not going to get credit for it.”
But here’s the key—there are ways to promote yourself without needing “humble pie.” Talk about the project, but also talk about how hard it was, how many people were involved, what an amazing team you had. That shows you’re a team player, that you can lead, that you give credit where it’s due. It shows all those soft skills that never appear on a resume.
From Conference Room to LinkedIn: Making It Real
As our interview wrapped up, Jacki left me with this thought: “Taking those risks and learning how to be yourself despite what people might think is one of the best things we can do. Because you’re gonna end up falling into your passion. If I had just done what I thought people wanted, I would never be doing what I’m doing today.”
She’s living proof. Working on her personal brand is what led to her role in content strategy at Auto Care Association. It’s what got her the opportunity to host Carpool Conversations. The very thing some people criticized her for—being “too visible”—became her greatest professional asset.
Your Move: Three Steps to Start Today
- Define your values first. Before you post anything, know what you stand for. Everything else flows from there.
- Start with one authentic story. Not a success without the struggle. Not a win without the work. Share something real, even if your hands shake while typing it.
- Remember it’s not about selling; it’s about connecting. You’re not promoting products. You’re sharing experiences, building trust, and showing up as human in an increasingly digital world.
As Jacki would say, not everybody has to like you for you to be successful. But the people who need to hear your message? They’re waiting for you to be brave enough for you to share it.
Ready to elevate your automotive career and build your personal brand? The Women In Automotive community is here to support your journey. Join us for more insights, connections, and the courage to claim your space in this industry. Because your voice doesn’t just matter—it’s essential.