Kendra Sommer: She Quit Her Reporting Job To Build A Motorsports Media Career

Welcome To Women In Motorsports

Welcome to the Women's Motorsports Network Podcast, the show that puts the spotlight on the incredible women who fuel the world of motorsports. From drivers to crew members, engineers to fans, and everyone in between, we're here to celebrate the trail drivers, dreamers, and doers shaping the sport we love. In each episode, we share inspiring stories of females of all ages from every corner of the motorsports universe, past, present, and future. It's a journey through the seasons of life filled with heartfelt moments, laughter, and a whole lot of horsepower. So whether you're a lifelong fan, a racer yourself, or simply curious about the extraordinary women behind the wheel, settle in, relax, and enjoy a fun and uplifting ride with us. This is the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, connecting and celebrating women in motorsports one story at a time. Let's hit the track.

Kendra’s Roots And Reporting Years

Hello everyone. This is Melinda Russell with the Women's Motorsports Network. And my guest is Kendra today. And Kendra's going to tell us a little bit about herself. So, Kendra, I want to welcome you to the show. Thank you for taking time to do this. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Yeah, well, Melinda, thanks so much. It's great to reconnect. I grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Green Bay Packers, and my dad was a big gearhead and spent a lot of weekends hanging out with him in the garage. And then I was a news reporter for a very long time and quit my job to go to SEMA. And that's kind of who I am and how I got started. Okay.

So it there's usually somebody that has introduced us to motorsports. It's not often, especially as a woman, that you just find the track on your own. And so you know, your dad was interested. He got you interested. And you were a reporter for a long time. Tell me about that. What what kind of a reporter were you? Where did you what what did you do in that area?

I was a reporter for about two, three years. And it they I was what they call an MMJ, which is a multimedia journalist. And you know, everybody thinks being a reporter is so glamorous, but they would send you out with a camera and you'd have to figure it out, get the story. It was very, it was a lot. So quitting that was pretty easy.

Okay. Yeah. Probably a lot of travel, and you know, you just never knew what you were going to encounter.

It was well, that, and then I used to call it a thousand ways to die because they would regularly, I know they would like the TV show, they would regularly put you in situations that were so impossible. Like one time the news station put me in a car and it was raining, and the car didn't have working windshield wipers, like or or sending you to like rural Wisconsin at like 10 p.m. at night by yourself. So it's definitely different than what people think.

Yeah, it sounds like it. And you know, that that's just not safe. So no, I don't blame you for leaving there.

The Leap That Led To SEMA

And so you went to SEMA.

Yep. So I went to my news director. I was finding all these great motorsports stories. He kind of poo pooted and said, Nobody really cares about motorsports. So I said, Okay, well, you know, I need to go and have time off to go to the SEMA show. And then uh he said no. So I quit my job and I went.

Yeah, good for you. Yeah, you know, you have to take a leap of faith sometimes. You do definitely, and and that's what you did. So you went to SEMA.

Had you been there before? I hadn't I had never been to SEMA, I didn't know anybody, and honestly, I had zero business experience or money, so it was pretty scary.

Pretty scary, but again, uh that leap of faith. Somewhere inside you, you knew that this was the right thing to do.

Yes, you have to take big risks to get big rewards, otherwise, what's the point, you know?

Yeah, I I agree. I I just took kind of one of those. I besides what I do here with the podcast, I'm also a huge crafter. I make a lot of like motorsports things, craft stuff, and anyway, so I wanted to, I had an Etsy shop, but I'd never really done anything with it, and so I cleaned it out and I'm taking a course about how to be successful on Etsy, and it's amazing. I'm learning so much, and so it was a leap of faith because you know, I'm not I'm not 30 anymore, and so you know, learning things and and doing something different and adding it to my plate with this, but it's something I really wanted to do. And obviously, motorsports was in your blood, or SEMA is not where you would have gone, especially had you not been there and you didn't know anybody, right?

Well, congratulations on taking that leap. I'm excited to see what you make and where it goes. Yeah, thank

Building Credibility And Landing Clients

you.

So, Kendra, what do you do at SEMA? And tell tell us like, how did you get a job at SEMA just by going to the SEMA show?

Yeah, just flew out there on a whim and you know, I didn't have a job or any money, so that was a good motivator to meet as many people as possible. While at the show, I met one person who was able to kind of help me meet more people, you know, one of the core people at SEMA, and then he did a lot of introductions. And I was working it as cruising with Kendra. I had to create a media title to get credentialed. And then from there, it just kind of morphed into my our production company. And, you know, people meet you and they say, Hey, how can I get video work from you? So it just kind of all comes together. It's really cool.

It is really cool. So what was some what were some of your first jobs that you did with your new company?

Well, one would have been the Hot Rod Power Tour. And that's that was fun. It was fun, and that was working with a manufacturer, and it was one of my first paid jobs, which was extra fun. And I remember we got on it really late, and every hotel in Kentucky, like it was in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and we ended up having to book at this once one and it was like a half-star motel in Horse Cave, Kentucky, and it was called the Horse Cave Inn, I think. It was still pushing that they had colored TV and like in it, and it was memorable.

It sounds like it, you know. I went to a race one time, kind of similar circumstances, and I was in a motel with a number at the bot at the end. I won't say it out loud, you know, one of those, and oh, never again, and but you gotta stay somewhere, right? You had to figure it out.

You have to start somewhere too, and you know, it's kind of how it goes, but good stories.

So when you do when you did that for that manufacturer, then they use it for what advertising, social media, that kind of thing.

We had a film crew with us too. So the film crew, so it was like myself, the film crew all staying at that rinky dink motel, and then we would film the manufacturer as they were going on the hot rod power tour. So we'd be getting in different cars with different, you know, brand reps and filming and just kind of documenting it.

That's really fun. I well, and and I think what you do, it's not the same thing over and over and over, right? So is SEMA where you get most of your work from, like people that you met there?

I think that a lot of because we go to SEMA every year, we do the PRI circuit too. And I think that having that FaceTime is so valuable and being able to show people, look, I'm more than just the LinkedIn profile.

Yeah, absolutely. It nothing beats meeting face to face. I mean, this is kind of the second best if you can meet through Zoom or StreamYard or something, but that meeting face-to-face, you make lifelong friends by doing that part because we just don't do that like we used to. We're so so spoiled with technology.

It's so true. And everybody, I think, is craving that face-to-face time. So it's like the cherry on top if you can do it.

Yeah, absolutely. So, what's been your favorite job that you've done? Do you have one?

Wild Shoots From Saudi To 175

I would say that there are two. One was going over to Saudi Arabia. We worked in Riyadh with the Crown Prince, they flew 400 of us over there, and our team was in charge of doing the featurettes from a car show that the Crown Prince and the government were putting on to get more western car interest in the area, which was really exciting. So that was neat. And the other one would have to be I worked with Brunswick and they own Mercury Mercury Racing. And we went down the Miami coastline with the CEO of Brunswick going 175 miles an hour on a boat. On a on a what did you say? On a boat. And and when the boat has the seats have handles on the boat, like you know you're gonna go fast, but yeah, I was not ready for 175.

Wow. The and I would hope that the water was fairly smooth because at 175, that's that's crazy.

Yeah, no, it was. It was it was very fast, and honestly, I don't remember if the water was smooth because it all felt pretty bumpy.

Yeah, and and so I've interviewed some women that race boats. That to me, that's crazy. Some of the flips and stuff they do. Yeah, yeah. Somebody said to me, Well, if you if you're a racer or you love, you know, that kind of thing, you have to be just a little bit off in the head. I would agree with that. That's probably more true than I want to admit because I've I've done the Richard Petty driving experience where I rode with a guy and it was fast, but I was just sitting there with my arm on the window and just enjoying it. He said, You're uh he said something to me about well, you're not nervous, and I said, Yeah, is this as fast as this goes? And he, you know, and we got done, and he said, Most most women are not gonna be comfortable going. We went 170 something, yeah. So, so it takes a different person, you know, to do that. Yeah, so yeah, good experiences.

How She Plans A Full Production

What what is the you know, like when you say you go and you record in that, tell me a little bit more, like in depth, you know, what do you have to prepare ahead of time and then what do you do when you get there?

Well, I am very OCD when I'm planning and normally so we operate in two different facets. I have my my reporting brand where I'm like interviewing people running around like a crazy person covering the industry, and then we have our company, CWK Media, and that works with clients. And you know, maybe we're doing something with like a Mercury or something like that. They would reach out and say, Hey, we want to do this, this, this, this. And then I'm able to go and put together a production book, and that that appeases my OCD. Everything's organized. We know exactly what we're gonna get. Pre-production interviews, schedule for the day, crew gets that. So there's no question. Because sometimes we'll have you know seven to 15 people on set, and it's kind of like wrangling people, making sure they all know what they need to do. Yeah, hurting cats at some point.

Yeah, that's what you avoid by preparing ahead of time.

You would hope sometimes things fall through the cracks and right last-minute fires come up.

Yeah, that's I mean, isn't that true in life? That's just that's just what we live a lot of times day by day. And the better you get at putting those fires out, the more relaxed and and organized and that that you can be for sure. So is there is there an interview or a video, some something that you know you've seen done, but you you'd like to be the one doing it next time? Do you have anything like that, like a bucket list?

Automotive True Crime And Getaway Car

Well, one thing that I'm doing with our brand, I'm expanding into automotive true crime cars. And I'm finding that is really exciting to me because I'm such a true crime nerd. I'm always watching those programs, the documentaries. And then I live in LA most of the time, and I'm going to these places where the crimes happen, just like on the weekends, just to look at it. And I'm like, well, why not combine my two loves?

That is really cool. I would, and so is it gonna be like a podcast, or what's it gonna be? How would how would we listen to it or watch it?

So we just started posting it on our Instagram. It all kind of started by reporting on the Nancy Guthrie situation, which are you following that? Oh, yeah.

So I love Savannah. I watched the today's show, so yeah, very much so following that.

Yeah, it's just it's such a crazy case, but there's vehicles involved. And then I started posting some content on my Instagram, and one of them got a million views, and I was like, oh wow, okay, so there's interest here. And and since then, we're calling the segment Getaway Car. And we just did one on Jim Morrison's Mustang and how it had connections to the Manson family, which is really cool.

Well, how do you find out about all that? Is it from the things that you've already like listened to in the past and and read, or is there like somewhere you go that has a website or something that has all you know? How do you find out about Jim Morrison's car?

Just like I I like love researching and learning, so I know a lot of this stuff, but like the documentaries, things like that, just kind of being in car circles, people will be like, Oh yeah, I have the Zodiac car, or like just like things like that. And it's been really interesting.

I would think so because I haven't heard of anybody doing anything like that, and that you know, you have to do something different, and that I think is really cool. I a couple of my daughters listen to the podcasts, like those true crime podcasts, and I'm not sure I can sleep at night if I listen to those, but but they do, so I know that that's really popular for sure.

Yeah, it it's like I know it's weird, but like I like it because I love like learning, like, oh okay, like, oh wow, that happened to this person. Like it that's interesting, you know, and like how do you prevent it from happening to you? And it's in like the cases are interesting, the investigation, like it's just really cool.

So when you find a story like that that you're going to talk about, do you find people to interview? You go and obviously visit the place if you're able to where it happened. So, how do you you know you just look up and see who you might be able to interview?

Well, it's kind of weird because being in LA, like a lot of people have connection to true crime. So I was talking to one of my friends at a car show, and he goes, Oh, yeah, I used to date Rebecca Schaefer. And she was the case where she opened the door and a fan ended up shooting her here in LA. And he's like, Yeah, I dated her right before she got shot. And I know who was that actor that was on SNL? Oh, Phil Hartman. My other friend is a stunt man, and he was one of the people who, after Phil Hartman, who was on SNL, was shot by his wife, his that wife went and talked to him. So, like, I just for some reason I have all these friends who are in like uh connected to true crime cases, which is really wild.

Well, and the fact that they know that you're doing it, so you know, that helps too that they they know what you're up to, and then it it you know the light bulb comes on, like, oh, you should talk to so and so. That's really how that all works, isn't it? You should talk to so and so, and then they tell you to talk to this person, and and yeah, yeah, it's cool. I think it has their share of crime, so you should be busy for a while.

Yeah, yeah. Well, it's um, I think the most important thing is the reason why I'm doing this is growing up, I had a relative who was involved in a true crime situation, and they were almost abducted, and just kind of hearing that story growing up, it's like I feel like you know, bringing these stories to life from different perspectives is really important.

Yeah, it's kind of like you know, warning people about a certain scam or something, too. You know, the more knowledge we have to be safe is better. So your stories kind of bring out the you know, the important things of locking your doors and not things that you know, years ago you never did. Right. And now, I mean, I don't always lock my car in the driveway because we we live on a street that's not busy, but I probably should, you know. So yeah, so the yeah, you you mentioned the Nancy Guthrie case. So yes, I have been following it closely, and just like you said, you know, you have to learn maybe from things that have happened to other people. And I said to my husband, she's 84 years old. Why would somebody want an 84-year-old woman? Well, there's a lot of you know, we're not gonna talk about that reasons that they take an a body or something, but it just makes you stop and think she lived in a really nice neighborhood and all those things, and no one would expect that to happen, especially just an older person. And you know, I'm 70, my husband's 71, and so it does just stop make you stop and think that crazy things can happen, and so bringing um I you know to the forefront, and and people saying this is what she, you know, she had a ring camera, but it was no subscription, you know what I mean.

So those are things we should be doing, right? And everybody should have a security system, like things like that. Wow, Kendra, what do you love about your job, your business?

Designing A Life Around Motorsports

I mean, I would say there are so many facets of it. Like growing up, I never thought that I would be traveling so much. Like now my life is bicoastal. So I live in LA and I live in North Carolina, like I split my time, and this it's cool because I feel like I have designed the life I always wanted as a kid. So I it's just kind of shows that if you go after what you want, you can make things happen.

Isn't that the truth? And if you if you ignore the noise where people don't don't encourage or they think it's crazy or whatever, and it's hard to put that out of your mind, but if you can ignore that and just focus on what you want and your dreams and that, it nothing can stop you if you put all that away.

I definitely agree, and also ignoring the voice in your head sometimes that says you can't do this because it's not just external, it's also you know, internal to your self-doubt.

That's true, that's true. You know, somebody cancels their their you know, event or whatever it might be, and it's it can be probably frustrating for sure. If you live in North Carolina, do you do uh anything, any motorsports stories that we would be able to watch, or do you ever do anything with Netflix, any any streaming services, anything like that?

NASCAR Access And The Streaming Shift

Well, I just interviewed Jeff Gordon and Richard Petty, that was really great, and that was at a NASCAR event. We go to different NASCAR events with clients and different things. I haven't done anything with Netflix yet, but it's on my list.

Yeah, I thought it would be because that you know, so big streaming services and that too. And there's so many good documentaries out now. I mean, used to be that you couldn't find even on um YouTube, you know, you can find really great little short stories. I just interviewed Destiny Spurlock, she's young black girl that is in racing, and and she's got a little, I shouldn't say little, she's got a show, and it's on YouTube with the company that sponsored her. And it's it's such a good platform for people who don't have a business or just want to get their name out, and then of course, Netflix, look what it did with F1 and all that.

I know, and everybody's doing F1 collabs, I swear, like Tommy Hillefinger, like all these commercial brands. It's wild how it just blew up.

It did blow up, yeah. But I can see why, because if you if you watch television uh now, right now, the new episodes have started, but for the last what three months or so, everything's a rerun. And I'll say to my husband, he'll say, Oh, let's watch this. He'll turn off say, Mark, we've seen this, it's a rerun. So then where do we go? We go to Netflix, we go to Prime, we go to a streaming service to watch something different, and so you know, they've become so much more popular that having something on there is going to be seen by a lot more people now than it would you would have done in the past.

No, I definitely agree, and I Like they are now getting live events, which is wild because that's really gonna shake up the whole cable landscape.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. The live events are awesome, and you know, even for me, like I don't really do any live Facebook anymore. I did for a while, but I need to, I need to get back and do some live Facebook things, and then like TikTok. My granddaughter was here yesterday and we were talking, and she says, Mama, why why aren't you on TikTok? Because you could show the stuff you make, you know, even if it's just for your crafts. Show say, Hey, I'm I made this cup and it's got motorsport, you know, whatever. And I'm like, Okay, Maddie, I'm gonna have to get on TikTok. So there's lots of opportunity for people for sure. Definitely.

Growing Through Referrals And Strong Reels

So, Kendra, how do people, is it word of mouth? Do you have certain customers that you know they always have you do their things? How how are you growing your business or or how how do you get a job with somebody?

I would say it's evolved over the years. Initially, it was going to a trade show like CEMA, PRI. I mean, we I made our team go to everything, and now it's people will introduce us, people will refer us based on clientele that we've built. So I think it in a in the beginning it was getting your face everywhere and being everywhere. Now it's like just kind of going off of referrals and people seeing you online.

Yeah, okay. I figured it was now referral because and and you know, going to shows is always good because you meet people, but uh referral is is how most businesses get built, really. We're the word of mouth, either good or bad.

Yeah, right. Exactly. I think it's really important though for young people to have if you're coming into this or you want to do something similar, get three really strong pieces of work to showcase, and then I feel like you can build from there.

Yeah, that's a good idea. And you know, you just look if you go to the race, if you go to a NASCAR race, look at all the photographers and all the people that are there. There's hundreds of them, it seems like, you know, and so recording that content, getting the pictures, all that is such a big deal now. That's how race teams are getting people to follow, and and we know they want fans, and so that works, you know, in that respect too.

Dream Interviews And Women In Racing

Is there anybody that you'd really like to either interview or you know, go to their business and you know, do a thing on their business? Anything like that in mind? Michael Jordan. I knew it, I was gonna see that.

He seems he's he's living like this great life, and he continues to reinvent himself, which I just think is really cool.

I knew I just knew I when I asked that question, then I was like, I bet she says 2311 or Michael Jordan yes, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

But I that's been on my bucket list for a really long time to get him or Cletus McFarland or people that are like Frankie Muniz that are coming in from a different perspective and kind of giving our industry a new life.

I agree. And I think Cletus and Frankie are probably would probably be easy, fairly easy to to interview, you know. Michael might be a little harder, but he's so available at the races, you know, like Jamie Little is interviewing the last three weeks after they've won, you know, and and he seems he seems open to that kind of thing, and and that so and then after they won the you know, they won the suit, the law, the lawsuit. I I look at it like they won. You know, there's a lot of things there that you could do a sit-down with him and really really be a good piece of of you know content and a good show. I'd love to see the 2311 shop. I've never been there, I haven't been down there since they built that, but I'll bet it's amazing.

Yeah, oh, it probably is. I mean, I haven't been in there either, but when I get in there, I'll let you know.

Yes. Well, I'm sure they probably let you come and have tours or whatever, and I'll get back down there at some point. But but yeah, you better you better get that in the works, girl. I can't wait to hear it. You know, he I lived, I grew up in Illinois, and so the Chicago Bulls were my team for a long time, but when he left, I was done. Yeah, no, he was Scotty Pippen. He and Scottie Pippen, and then it was like, okay, I'm not a I'm not a Bulls that big of a fan anymore. Once he was yeah, yeah, no, he really made that team. He did, he really did, and he talks about the three, you know, three Pete. Anyone else, Michael Jordan? Anyone else on your list? You know, any women on your list? Or can I I'll send you a list of a couple women, you know, women in motorsports obviously is what I'm I promote because I feel like they don't always get the attention that they deserve or should have. Have you ever done anything on a like a woman or a woman in motorsports?

I have. I've done interviews with Natalie Decker. Oh yeah, trying to think like there's been like a lot of women that I've like done interviews with, especially early on. But I think what Natalie Decker's doing as far as you know, she's she led the press out of Daytona, which I thought was really cool. Oh, she did, yeah. I know exactly. Oh, yeah, she's great. So I thought that was really neat that a woman was leading the press coming out of the event. Mm-hmm.

Yeah. Yeah, I met her quite some time ago, probably 2018 early on, and became friends with her and her mom, and and that. So whenever I would, you know, I went to Michigan a lot to the races and and that, and so I would connect with them. And she raced in Berlin when she was with, she must have been with Arca at the time. So great, great gal. And she she got a lot of negative stuff, and it's like, what, you know, you just you just gotta push through.

I think a lot of it is because she's a woman in a male-dominated space, people just kind of pile on. Uh-huh.

I think so too. And and honestly, I see less of that, like maybe at the lower levels than there used to be. When I first started doing this in 2017, I would say that the that women were picked on, if you will, or whatever you want to call it, way more or not accepted. You know, it's like, what is she doing here? Is that your dad's car? You know, stuff like that. Where now it's much less than it used to be, which is a good thing. We're moving in the right direction, but we still have a long way to go.

It's an uphill battle.

Uphill battle for

BMW Women In Motion And Sponsorship Talk

sure. Kendra, what do you have coming up that's exciting? Anything you can share?

So next week I'll be. Is it okay to date this or oh yeah, it's fine. Okay. So next week, BMW's flying me out for their women in motion speaking event, and I'll be on a panel talking about women in the industry. That's awesome.

Yeah, that's and so that's a like a conference that people pay to go to. Is that what that is?

I think it's where they my understanding is they fly in their dealers who are fem who are women, and they have like a female focus event at their plant in South Carolina. Nice.

Good for BMW.

Yeah, that's good.

That's great. Yeah, I can I can I can see other manufacturers and really other companies where they have, you know, their products are mostly motorsports related or whatever. They need to talk to the women more because who makes the purchases? A lot of times a purchasing agent is going to be a woman, or especially in the home, who makes the decisions in your house about what you buy? You know, you go to the grocery store and you pick these green beans over these, that kind of thing. And so 80% of the purchases made are made by women.

Yeah, it's I think it's greatly overshadowed for sure and overlooked.

It is, and and the women that race have a harder time getting sponsorship, and so some of these grocery store chains and that need to take a look at you know the impact they could have on their products and everything just by being on them on a race car for a weekend. Look at the casino that was on Tyler Reddick's car. Nobody had ever heard of that casino, at least, not you know, a lot of places, and now everybody knows it. So it can be a huge benefit, can't it, Kendra?

The grocery store idea is really good. You should reach out to like high V and have them on your show.

Yeah, I should because you know what they sell that I love, they sell stursing potato chips, they're made in Iowa. So I used to live in Illinois right across the Mississippi River from Iowa, and there's a company there called Sturzings, and they make my mom used to say they make the greasiest potato chips, but they're just different. And oh my gosh, I love them. So anytime somebody's coming to Michigan and they come, they're driving and they come through Iowa, they bring me bags of stursings, so I should reach out to them and talk to them about yes, yeah. I think I will.

Yeah, and hi, I mean high view would be a great sponsor. You should get them on the show.

Yeah, I definitely will will check that out, Kendra. I hadn't thought of that.

Where To Follow Kendra And Final Thanks

So anything that we haven't talked about, Kendra, that you'd like to share or you want to share more about what you do, or or that, and then how do people get a hold of you? What you know, what social media or or where should we get a hold of you if you we want to do uh something with your company?

Yeah, I I think we covered everything. I mean, our production company, CWK Media, and then our brand, just Kendra Summer on Instagram is where people can find us. Um, it's across all social media, just Kendra Summer. Okay, easy enough to find that, then isn't it for sure?

Definitely, yeah. Well, Kendra, thank you for being on. What's the weather in LA today? It's like 50 so cold. Okay, so it's gonna be 60 something here tomorrow in Michigan and hard to believe. So I guess I'm okay being here then because the sun's even out, and you know, having sunshine in Michigan this time of year is few and far between.

It totally totally is. Well, it's short weather in the Midwest when it's in the 50s, but here in LA, it's like get your parka on. It's so funny.

Yeah, true. Well, Kendra, I hope you have a good rest of the day and and this week, and I hope you'll stay in touch. If you have some interviews that you think would be great for me to share, I'd love for you to, you know, let me know, email me or whatever, because I always love sharing what other women are doing, and I especially think the crime, the crime deal is really cool. I know some people that would really get into that. So please stay in touch and uh and have a good rest of the week. You too. Thank you so much. All right, just hang on a second.

Subscribe Share Review And Closing

That's it for this episode of the Women's Motorsports Network podcast. We hope you've been inspired by the stories I shared today and feel more connected to the amazing community of women in motorsports. Remember, whether you're behind the wheel, in the pits, or cheering from the stands, your story matters. And together we're driving change and celebrating every milestone. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who loves motorsports as much as you do. And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for updates, behind the scenes content, and more incredible stories. So until next time, stay inspired, stay connected, and keep racing through life. This is the Women's Motorsports Network podcast, where every woman's story is worth celebrating.