Juliet McGuire is a top South African motoring journalistJuliet McGuire is a top motoring journalist based in South Africa. Juliet brings great energy and vibrancy to her journalism and her YouTube car reviews are legendary! I’m a big fan of Juliet’s work and I was delighted to interview the woman herself for Changing Lanes. In a cool twist, she also interviewed me for her site!
1. Can you introduce yourself in a couple of sentences?
My name is Juliet McGuire and I was born and bred in Cape Town, South Africa. I am a motoring journalist, presenter, voice over artist and pretty much everything else I can be. I love what I do. I sometimes feel like the luckiest woman in the world. I have been doing this for 12 years and have no intention of stopping anytime soon. I spend most of my free time in or near the sea.
2. How did you start your career testing cars?
After completing my honours degree in journalism I headed to CAR magazine (South Africa’s number 1 motoring publication) to complete an internship. I loved it so much that I refused point blank to leave. The rest, as they say is history. Although…it has been one incredible journey. I moved from CAR to being head hunted for a female motoring publication called Women on Wheels, of which I became the editor and then decided to go freelance where I now remain. I absolutely love the freedom freelancing offers. I can write for anyone and everyone and so I get to meet some amazing people and work for incredible publications.
3. What inspires you?
The drive to be the best. This is what inspires me. It is a tough industry for a woman and I think that constantly inspiring myself to be better is what has kept me in the game this long.
The Audi RS 4 Avant gets a place in Juliet’s dream car garage!4. What would be in your dream 3 car garage?
Audi RS4 Avant (for the perfect combo between practicality and performance)
Volvo XC40 or XC60 (for my every day trips to the shops. My practical drive)
Mercedes-AMG G63 (my badass car)
5. Favourite music to drive/sing to?
There are far too many choices here. Anything that I can sing along to. It can range from Post Malone to Taylor Swift to Tracy Chapman to Diana Krall. Depends on my mood and how long the drive is.
6. Best moment of your career so far?
Making it as a freelance motoring journalist. (By making it, I mean being able to afford to feed myself ha ha). But seriously, the feeling of being respected and taken seriously by an industry that can be rather fickle is a feeling like no other. I still have my days where I feel this is not the case, but again, the inspiration to strive to be better kicks in.
7. Favourite place in South Africa for a road trip?
Up the Garden Route to Plettenberg Bay.
8. What advice do you have for anyone who wants a career as a motoring journalist?
Make sure you have creative ways of making money because this is not going to make you a millionaire. ha ha. My serious advice is to ensure you have a passion for writing before you have a passion for cars. It is not all about driving cool cars. Most of the time is spent creating content and you need to be disciplined in this. And no one wants to read sloppy work.
Thank you so much Juliet for taking part in this interview! Now read Juliet’s interview with me over on JulietMcGuire.com:
https://julietmcguire.com/an-interview-with-my-spirit-animal-in-ireland/
You can follow Juliet across social media: