By Ashley Reyes
The SEMA Businesswomen's Network (SBN) has named Nakita McGinnis, owner of SquatchCustom, as the network's newest #SheIsSEMA spotlight member.
Get to know McGinnis in her interview with SEMA News below.
SEMA News: How many years have you been with your current company and what do you enjoy most about working there?
Nakita McGinnis: I just started my small business two years ago. I enjoy being able to not only do something that I enjoy by helping others customize their vehicles with decals and overlays but also being able to show my two daughters that you can do anything you set your mind to.
SN: What is the most challenging part of your business or job?
NM: The most challenging part of running the business is simply balance. Being able to balance the needs or my business and my customers, promoting new products and networking, all while still being an involved wife and mother.
SN: How many years have you been in the industry and what was your first industry job?
NM: I have only been in the industry officially for two years since starting to make decals and overalls. However, I've been a consumer part of the industry for over 20 years helping my husband Brandon build and rebuild his vehicles to race at our local tracks, or even in my own vehicle.
SN: What three qualities got you to where you are today?
NM: I'd say three qualities that have helped to get me where I am are tenacity, creativity and compassion. I feel they've benefited me because even when everything is going wrong and it feels like the world is falling apart, I am able to pick myself up, dust myself off and try things a different way. If it's something I truly enjoy, I will do everything possible to keep doing it.
Creativity, because when designing decals and overlays, you need to be able to see things from a different angle, try things maybe others haven't and be fearless in pushing the boundaries. Finally, compassion. In any industry, any career, you have to have a sense of compassion. Whether it's hearing someone's story behind their idea and truly listening, seeing someone who is in a tough spot and could really use a small break on something to make them smile or even seeing a cause and donating your time, energy and products to a meaningful organization like Make-A-Wish.
SN: Being a woman in the industry, what have been your biggest challenges and accomplishments?
NM: I would say that the biggest challenge is just overcoming the still-somewhat-present mindset that women don't belong in the auto industry when we are taking it by storm. My biggest accomplishment was just last year and was actually with SEMA. I was asked by now a close friend, Chuck Graf, to help design and create overlays and badges for his '24 Subaru Crosstrek SEMA PRO Cup Challenge build. While my part was small, seeing my business name on such a main stage was such a huge honor. That would have been the highlight, but watching and hearing Chuck's name winning the PRO Cup Challenge was just the cherry on top, and it has been getting better every single day.
SN: Who are your role models or mentors in the industry?
NM: I have three strong role models in the industry, mostly for their tenacity and their "I-can-do-it" attitude, each in their own era, in their own way, for different feats. From Clärenore Stinnes, who first was only a passenger to her husband's racing, to finally being able to drive; to Wilhelmina Erhaedt who circumnavigated the globe by car; to Jutta Kleinschmidt in the rally world. Each of these amazing women put their minds to something and didn't let anything or anyone stand in the way of accomplishing it.
SN: What is the best career advice you have received?
NM: The best advice I've received and that has helped me is: don't give up. No matter what, keep going and keep trying. There is always a way around any obstacle, you just have to find it. I'd say with that advice I try to embody my names meaning of unconquerable.
SN: Have you always wanted to work in the automotive industry? What keeps you here?
NM: I have not always been in the automotive industry. As of right now it is simply a small business that is slowly growing. However, I'd say I've had a foot in it for 20 years with helping my husband with his cars and car dreams or even for the past seven with my daily job in the trucking industry. The ever-changing trends and ideas are what keep me here and push me to the future. Who knows what will happen tomorrow?
SN: Who was the most influential person on your career goals?
NM: If I were to only pick one person who's been influential in my life it would have to be, maybe the cliché answer, of my mother Diane Nelson. Throughout my life I have been able to see this woman do anything and everything. Watching her put herself out there to make and sell crafts at boutiques and fairs, creating dance costumes for me and my sister's dance team, and just plain being amazing. She has always supported myself, and my siblings, with anything we wanted to try or do. She's been there following our steps and cheering us along the way. Helping to pick me up when I've fallen and feel like it's better to just give up on something, she gives those encouraging words to push on. She has made me the woman I am. She has pushed me to try new things both personally and in my business. She is truly the most influential person to me.
Fill out a #SheIsSEMA spotlight form to submit a self-nomination or nominate a colleague and highlight how you or she is contributing to the specialty-equipment industry. Selected candidates are automatically eligible to be considered for SBN's #SheIsSEMA Woman of the Year award, featured on SBN's social media, SEMA News and recognized on the sema.org/she-is-sema website.