A Road Less Traveled Podcast · Hilary Haron

Fueling Growth in the Automotive Industry with Savannah Simms | A Road Less Traveled Podcast

·43 min·2 clips

At O'Hare, Savannah felt like she had escaped an abusive, restrictive situation.

Hillary Herron opens with Savannah Sims, an automotive extraordinaire. Savannah says she grew up working in dealerships, moved through different roles, and rose to general manager in automotive retail. Now she is building a new dream and calling herself an experiential architect in this stage. Hillary goes straight to the title because it opens the door to a bigger conversation. The two talk like people who know the industry and know what it costs to stay in it. Hillary brings up the year of yes, and Savannah starts tracing how saying yes changed the shape of her life. She talks about moving, getting clarity, and finding more free time. That space matters because she uses it to keep herself on track when the old noise starts building. She even trained a bot on her own summaries so she can talk herself back toward clear thinking when she is down. Savannah ties that habit to automotive work and family business life, where everything can feel like whack-a-mole. The fires keep coming. She says there is a better way to show up. Instead of giving every bit of herself to one place, she wants to spread her gifts more honestly. Family business still gets her love and her time, and she is clear that it shaped who she is. But it does not have to hold all of her. Hillary picks up the reciprocity in that idea and reflects it back in a way that feels gentle and true. The conversation stays warm and casual, with room for laughter, little self-corrections, and a few side paths. That looseness works because the point is not polish. It is what it looks like to leave a familiar lane, build something new, and still stay rooted in the people and work that got you there. By the end, the episode feels like a practical, generous note on reinvention, loyalty, and making a career that can actually hold your life.

As heard by us

A dealership-to-founder pivot that frames reinvention as an operating question, not a slogan.

Savannah Sims's path runs from dealership roles to general manager and then toward a new identity as an experiential architect. The shift lands as a practical question: what to keep, what to leave, and how to honor a family business without letting it define the whole future.

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Why you'd press play

For when you want a real career-pivot story from inside the auto world.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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