Stephanie Travers is a Zimbabwean woman who became the first black woman on the Formula 1 (F1) podium after she was invited by Lewis Hamilton soon after winning the Austrian Grand Prix.
Stephanie Travers Background and nationality
Stephanie Travers was born in Harare in 1994 to Maria and Bertram Travers. Stephanie’s father is Pat Travers, the late chairman of the now defunct Arcadia United Football Club. She is Zimbabwean by nationality.
Stephanie Travers Education
Stephanie has a BEng Chemical Engineering from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom. She further studied for an MSc Chemical Engineering from Imperial College in the United Kingdom (2017).
She also attended Rosebery School from 2008 to 2012.
Professional Career
Before her current role as Petronas trackside fluid engineer in Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes team, she was working as an engineer on a chemical plant.
Travers said she was selected out of over 7,000 applicants. She joined the Mercedes team in 2019 after a rigorous five-stage selection process.
Speaking on how she got the job she said she was picked to be in the final three, which involved a timed race through Kuala Lumpur city centre to find the CEO of PETRONAS and have one final interview with him.
In July 2020 Travers made Formula 1 history by becoming the first black woman to stand on the podium in 70 years of the world championship.
She was selected by the team to receive the constructors’ trophy on their behalf after Hamilton claimed a convincing victory in the Styrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria.
The moment’s significance was celebrated by Hamilton who said:
I wanted to post this because it’s such an important moment. This is Stephanie who is one of my team mates. She is one of our trackside fluid engineers. On Sunday, she became the first black woman to stand on the podium in Formula 1 history.
This is an amazing achievement and I just wanted to acknowledge her for her hard work, positivity, and passion for her job. Like most of the jobs in our sport they are in high demand, and Stephanie was selected out of over 7,000 applicants for her role. Steph said she wants to inspire young black children, and children of colour to believe that they can do it too, and I couldn’t agree more.
Put your mind to it, and you can be anything you want to be. So whilst I really appreciate all of the congratulations, I wanted take the opportunity to lift her up, and share them with her.
Below are some of the roles that she has held in her professional career:
- Asset Care Engineer at BASF (2017-2019)
- Project Manager at PolyGen (Oct-Nov 2017)
- TopShop Topman (June-Sept 2017)
Stephanie Travers Networth
Her net worth is not yet known to the public.