No One Asks “Who is Rayne?”
A short dive into my childhood and my life’s mission statement.
I’m in first grade and have just gotten back from a yearly trip I would take to Wisconsin to visit my dad’s side of the family. It’s show and tell for your summer holidays and I bring in a hand drawn map of Wisconsin and an “iCarly” branded remote the character Sam would use. I put on a performance, narrating exactly what I did at each park with pictures and sound effects. No one cared but I had so much fun creating the poster and performing my little one man show. Performing was a huge part of my childhood, from little presentations like I described above to playing the Giant’s wife in our kindergarten performance of Jack and the Beanstalk. It was a love for creativity and having people feel something when I was on stage.
These early moments in my life are some of the most important when I look back on how I became who I am today. I can see glimpses of my current love of video games through the memories of my childhood. I can see me in my excitement one Easter day when my mom handed me a care package with Lego Indiana Jones for the Playstation Portable; or my continued grudge from when I was actively trying to 100% Jumpstart Artist, a children’s creativity game that I was obsessed with, only to come home one day and find my father had wiped all the data off the computer, save file included. My childhood was an ever changing set of circumstances, constantly moving houses and schools and the introduction of the internet into my life and all of them shaped who I became now and my experiences now will shape who I become.
I love writing, so starting a blog was almost a no brainer. This first post was an interesting one to ideate on. This whole endeavor is both professional and personal; a way to show of my skills in writing and analysis covering different topics I hold a huge amount of passion for while also being a more vulnerable place for me to share. I was never very good at being vulnerable, emotions and sharing never came easy to me as an only child with a penitent for academia. I would rather read about my feelings than actually talk about them! So this first post was meant to explore who I am and how I came to be this way, focusing on the what I expect to be the main topics of this blog; entertainment, video games, and motorsports.
Firstly, why performing? Why do I want to be entertaining, I’m an introvert for Christ sake! Wouldn’t it make more sense to focus on producing and behind the scene rather than being the one shining in front? Well, selfishly I want to be the name people see. I’ve always been incredibly independent and as an only child I never competed for anything in my own home so I started at a young age trying to be noticed outside of the home. I was a gifted kid in elementary school, I was participating in every talent show I could, I was reading books where the heroine was like me. Just a normal person who ends up being something. That kind of idea stuck with me, I want to be the change, I want to be something notable.
I started live streaming on Twitch during the Covid-19 pandemic. This was a time where everything was uncertain, people weren’t happy, everyone needed something. I remember getting my first live viewers during those early days and the absolute joy I had when I was helping them feel better in a dark time. What I was doing wasn’t something that mattered on a large scale, I was playing Minecraft in my bedroom for about 3 people to see, but it was mattering on a small scale to people who needed a laugh. Seeing that I could make a small difference like that so easily over social media set me off on my college degree in Marketing, that I have now obtained, and hit home just how important it can be to connect with people positively over social media. Now I have lofty dreams of helping connect with young women who feel out of place in male dominated spaces, like the video games industry or motorsports, and show them that they have a place there too.
Some of the wonderful creators I met at Twitchcon San Diego 2022
Speaking of motorsports, this passion is relatively new but it is clear to me that I found something that connects with me on an incredibly deep level. I watched my first Formula One race in 2024, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. I remember because it was Ollie Bearman’s debut in a Ferrari. My dad had always been trying to get his only daughter into sports with him, but my fierce independence streak refused to let me enjoy Football or Basketball with him in the way he wanted. He had been watching Formula One for a few seasons at that point, and I had made fun of him how all people make fun of motorsports fans; they just drive around in circles, what’s so cool about that? I can admit my faults now, they aren’t always circles. After years of making fun of him, I sat down and watched one with him and I was hooked. I couldn’t tell you what got me that first race other than the spectacle. Formula One specifically is such a diverse set of top level athletes competing for a single spot out of twenty and the raw emotion of competition must have been what finally drew me in to the sport. What followed was a long season, the best of Formula One’s recent memories, and as someone determined to go all in at every opportunity, I had purchased tickets to take my dad and I to the Las Vegas Grand Prix that same year. Skip forward to now where I survived the dry spell that is winter break and I have plans to see the Austin Grand Prix.
My dad and I at the Las Vegas GP 2024
While my focus in motorsport lies with my first love, Formula One, I do watch other series when I get the chance; my google calendar only looks full because of weekend racing. I love the drama, the competition, the people surrounding the sport. I currently am reading Adrian Newey’s How to Build a Car, which I got as a lovely graduation present, and throwing myself constantly into the more technical aspects of the sport…as much as I can without the brain built for aerodynamics after all. I also see space in motorsport, both on and off track, for more female representation and action. I devoutly follow Formula One Academy and support any and all active female drivers and team personal I see on the spot. The times have changed now with the F1A series helping to bring the racing bug to young girls and with 2025’s introduction of the first female race engineer, Laura Mueller from Haas. There is always more to do however when it comes to diversity in these male dominated areas and I have always fought and pushed to be the representation I wanted to see as a child.
So that’s me. I am a race car loving nerd with a desire to entertain. But I am so much more than just that, everyone is and while I don’t have the time to share here I hope you follow along on my personal blogging journey as I discuss the topics I am passionate about and I hope you all find the time to start working on your passions!
Till next time!
