Company: Gray Automotive Group, Burlington, Ontario
Company Description: Gray Automotive Group is an automotive dealership in Burlington, Ontario. Gray Automotive Group's core value is to make the vehicle purchasing process exciting and stress free. With full transparency and continuous efforts to ensure comfort and ease throughout all transactions, the dealership has established a reputation of always providing the best care and customer service for all our customers.
Nomination Category: Individual Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Young Female Entrepreneur
 Nomination Title: Jen Gray
- Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
- Which will you submit for your nomination in this category, a video of up to five (5) minutes, explaining the achievements since July 1, 2022 of the nominated woman, OR written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video. If you are submitting written answers to the questions for this category, provide them in the spaces below:
- Briefly describe the nominated individual: history and past performance (up to 200 words):
Total 197 words used.
Jen Gray is currently 25 years old, living in Burlington, Ontario. Jen opened her dealership, Gray Automotive Group when she was 18 years old. She overcame many obstacles and barriers to entry, and ran the early years of her business to fund herself through University while pursing an honours degree in Criminology. Starting with only one car at a time, Jen worked out of her tiny garage and slowly built enough profit to continue acquiring more vehicles. Upon completing her degree, Jen decided to pursue her automotive career full time, and now in 2024, Jen has over 50 vehicles in inventory, and just moved the dealership to a beautiful 15,000sq/ft building and lot in the heart of Burlington. Jen is also a 2-time ice racing champion, and has a 5-car race team participating in the largest ice racing championship series in Canada. Proud to be a woman in a largely male-dominated industry, Jen's life mission is to now lessen the burden on other women and girls seeking entry to the automotive and motorsport world. She continues to seek out young women to mentor, and assist in making their entry to the industry smooth, enjoyable and exciting.
- Outline the nominee's achievements since July 1 2022 that you wish to bring to the judges' attention (up to 250 words):
Total 209 words used.
Jen has exponentially grown her business in the past 2 years, but more importantly, has participated in many different events to mentor other young women to follow their own passions, specifically in the automotive field. Most notably, Jen was invited to speak on a panel at the Empowering Auto Conference in late 2022, surrounded by other inspiring women in the industry, as well as current female automotive business students seeking a career in the industry. She met some amazing youth and has continued to keep in touch with them throughout their college careers and as they're entering the work force to assist them in any way that they need, whether it be contacts, or just general advice and guidance. Jen also was a career mentor at the Women as Career Coaches event in Burlington in 2024, mentoring female high school students and will continue to participate in upcoming years. Jen is a member of 100 Women Who Care Burlington, and is very passionate in supporting many local non-profits in Burlington and Hamilton. Jen has continued to overcome challenges each year in business and has grown in total revenue by over $1m annually since 2022. This year being the most notable, with a current sales increase of 94% in Q1.
- Explain why the achievements you have highlighted are unique or significant. If possible compare the achievements to the performance of other players in your industry and/or to the nominee's past performance (up to 250 words):
Total 182 words used.
These achievements contribute greatly toward the industry, because there is a huge lack of female presence in the automotive industry in Canada. Statistically, women represent about 80% of vehicle buyers (either via themselves, or they are the decision makers), yet there are very few female owned dealerships. Jen's hope is that her efforts in helping women enter the industry, as well as exposure with things such as this award, will show the industry that women are extremely powerful, and will inspire other women to not be afraid of getting their feet wet in the auto industry. It’s taken many women previously to pave the way for the women of today to feel comfortable in the industry, and it’s the hope that the efforts made by Jen throughout these crucial years in business will make an impact on young women to make their own entry into the industry in the coming years. Successful exposure and recognition is what is needed in the industry TODAY, and it's the hope that the exposure through the Stevie Awards will be a step in the right direction.
| Attachments/Videos/Links: |
|---|
|
