Words & Images by Loli Azuelo | SiQ Founder
I STILL REMEMBER THE DAY.
Sitting on the family lounge I quietly announced for the first time, what I had wanted to do for a long time - Create a community to help others that felt secluded, different, not under the same ‘car enthusiast umbrella’ that people expect you to be. A car group for women just like me.
I was greeted with laughter and eye rolls from those closest to me. It was the final straw of many undermining experiences working alongside cars, that made me even more determined to build what you are a major part of today.
From a young age I knew I had a serious love for many things in life. Music, photography, travel and cars - Coming from a non car enthusiast family, this was a revelation.
The aesthetically pleasing lines and angles, colours, the sound, the rumble, the hum, it just made me happy.
But what made me happier was seeing how everyone else made their car their own, with even the simplest of modifications or just by taking care of it like family.
FOR THE LOVE OF A LOGO
In 2016, what came first? The acronym or the name? If you thought ‘S.I.Q.’, you’re right. Something short & sweet, catchy, diverse with a touch of pun possibilities (see what I did there?) was needed, and ‘SiQ’ came to mind.
As a visual person, the development of a logo needed to be created first in order to get the words for the acronym juuust right.
Wanting to have an automotive element incorporated into the logo, from a simple phone app, the red speedometer needle came into play. Brainstorming, and moving a few words around, ‘Queen of the Streets’ just didn’t have the right feeling towards what I had hoped for my future group.
In the end, returning to the original acronym, after much deliberation from the confinements of my bedroom, ‘Street’ (global, yet down to earth), ‘Ignition’ (signifying starting something new) & ‘Queens’ (the motivation that women were the forefront of the group) was born.
Jumping on the iMac to further develop the logo, the detailed floral crown with speedometer was debuted along with the grand opening of the Facebook group, becoming the first official community logo. After much thought however, it became too difficult and detailed to print as decals and on tees, so in May 2017 it was simplified to the purple (because it’s my faav colour!) speedometer and the flowers, representing growth ‘grew’ on SiQ. This also was proving difficult to print with the small slogan text, so it was back to the drawing board.
October 2017, our hopefully final logo was created, incorporating one of the most undermined parts of a vehicle though spoke volumes in it’s appearance - the humble speaker, to represent that the women in our community and in the automotive scene as a whole, have a voice that deserves to be heard.
STREET IGNITION QUEENS is all about immersing our community in nothing but fun, positive automotive vibes.
Regardless what you drive, our main focus is to continually welcome, support, educate, inspire and more importantly simply listen to and learn from women from diverse levels of experience, skills and backgrounds.
Always evolving, our team works closely with fellow Street Ignition Queens and industry professionals to create, develop and provide quality content.
Sadly, the common misconception being a female community, it's interpreted or assumed that we're trying to segregate ourselves or prove that we're better than the gentlemen in this field. This is certainly not the case and in fact, we welcome help & support from anyone who is happy to assist and this is evident in our partnerships with various automotive communities and businesses run by both males and females who have the same ideals.
Simply put, Street Ignition Queens is a like-minded, humble community of women who can relate with other ladies inside and outside of the automotive world.
More than just a car club, Street Ignition Queens is inspired by, and created for you, to support you on your journey, wherever this road may lead you. I want to tell your unique story we all have to the world, with the aim of helping someone else out there be aware of their worth and whatever their life goals are, to never ever give up.
Join our SiQ Ladies Automotive Community of over 1k inspiring women and be proud to say you're contributing to a positive movement for equality and diversity in the automotive world.
