Genevieve’s Professional Biography

Summary:
Genevieve Schmitt is a leading expert on the subject of women and motorcycling. Through her three decades of writing, giving speeches, and organizing events she has inspired thousands of women to fulfill their dream of riding their own motorcycle. Over the years, many media outlets have called upon Genevieve to ask her expert opinion on a variety of subjects related to powersports. Genevieve is the recipient of several awards and accolades, including being a two-time motorcycle hall of famer, all of which she says, “are a nice validation of the work I’ve been so passionate about over the last three decades.”

Genevieve is perhaps best known as the founder of WomenRidersNow.com, the only large scale all-brands online motorcycle magazine for women and the men who ride with them. At one point under her ownership, WRN was pulling in nearly 200,000 unique visitors a month, far surpassing the circulation numbers of some of the leading motorcycle print magazines at the time. Before turning her attention to motorcycling, Genevieve started her broadcast journalism career in 1986 by working at WPEC-TV in West Palm Beach, Florida, producing the 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. weekend newscasts. A year later she landed her first network job at ABC’s “Good Morning America” (GMA), where she worked as a segment producer for three years. It was during her time at GMA when Genevieve was exposed to motorcycling. She was assigned a story on “more women riding motorcycles.” Genevieve was hooked after producing the segment and learned to ride a motorcycle. To fuel her newfound passion, she moonlighted on the weekends as a freelance journalist writing articles for motorcycle magazines. In 1991, growing weary of crimes and catastrophes, she moved herself to Los Angeles and transitioned to the “lighter” beat of entertainment news, first as a producer at E! Entertainment Television for four years, followed by three years with the syndicated program EXTRA.

In 1997, disenchanted with the way the news and entertainment television industries were headed, Genevieve left a lucrative producing career to turn her attention to motorcycling full-time. She landed the coveted position as one of the first on-air reporters for Speedvision, a brand new cable network showcasing motorcycling and powersports. Genevieve traveled the globe to cover rallies, events, and trade shows. Leveraging her connections from her entertainment news days, she also produced segments on celebrities who rode motorcycles, which added the “star” factor to this burgeoning network. Speedvision was later renamed Speed Channel. It exists today as Fox Sports Net.

Historical Firsts
Genevieve is the first woman to report from the seat of a motorcycle when she worked for “Bike Week” on Speedvision. Her other claim to fame is being the first woman to report from the seat of an ATV (all terrain vehicle) for the Outdoor Life Network (OLN) where she reported on the burgeoning ATV and UTV (utility vehicle) markets until 2006. OLN exists today as the Versus Channel. In 2006, Genevieve formed her own company to create the first online presence for and about female motorcyclists with WomenRidersNow.com.

In 2017, Genevieve handed over ownership and management of Women Riders Now to a team of esteemed women in the motorcycle industry. Below is Genevieve’s professional biography highlighting a 35-year print and broadcast journalism career with the last 23 years focused specifically on women and motorcycling. To find out what Genevieve is doing now, read her personal biography here.

Awards and Accolades
In January 2022, Genevieve was named one of the “Top 100 Women in Powersports” by Dealernews, a leading powersports industry trade magazine. This comes on the heels of another honor in 2019, being named one of the "Top 100 Leaders in Powersports" by the same organization. Dealership owner and industry veteran Bob Althoff, who led the selection team for the Top 100 Leaders list, wrote this to the recipients: “Your work over the years, today, and on into the future is absolutely crucial to our shared success. Your failure to lead might similarly be the reason we all fail.”  

“I am humbled to be included in these two incredible lists of people,” said Schmitt. “I certainly appreciate the recognition of years and years of hard work making sure women motorcyclists, as well as those seeking to ride, have a resource that speaks to them and their experience. I’ve also enjoyed supporting the powersports industry in a wide variety of ways over the last three decades as it has all been my passion and a labor of love.”

In February of 2019, Genevieve was selected by the board of directors of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) to receive the 2019 AMA Bessie Stringfield award. This award, which memorializes the accomplishments of AMA Motorcycle Hall of Famer Bessie Stringfield, recognizes efforts to introduce motorcycling to new or underserved markets. Because of Genevieve’s endeavors in putting the spotlight on women and motorcycling, she was honored as the 2019 award recipient. 

The award was presented to her at the American International Motorcycle Expo in Columbus, Ohio, in September 2019. In her acceptance speech Genevieve thanked God for directing her steps to success during her prolific media career. She then went on to explain how the seeds were planted for her to focus her motorcycling journalism career in the women's space. She then compared women in motorcycling to men in the kitchen, ending her comments with, "Let's make women and motorcycling as commonplace as men in the kitchen." You can hear her full 20-minute speech by visiting her Awards page.

The AMA honor comes on the heels of her induction into the Las Vegas Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 2017, again in recognition of her journalism work and marketing efforts in raising awareness of women and motorcycling. This induction made her a two-time female motorcycle hall of famer, a distinction held by just eight women in motorcycling history. 

Genevieve's first motorcycle hall of fame recognition came in 2001 when she was inducted into the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame, an honor that preceded her creation of WomenRidersNow.com. At that time, Genevieve had really just begun what would become a hallmark of her journalism and media career, creating a motorcycle magazine / media resource dedicated to the female rider. That same year, 2001, that she was inducted into the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame, she had just started work on Woman Rider magazine. To read more about Genevieve’s honors, visit her Awards page.

How It All Began
A longtime professional television and print journalist, Genevieve began focusing her efforts in the "women and motorcycling" space in 1998 when she was asked by a motorcycle magazine publisher to turn around a fledgling women's publication it had just purchased called Asphalt Angels. This magazine was the continuation of the first ever female motorcycle magazine called Harley Women, which began in 1985. After working with that publisher for two years to stabilize Asphalt Angels, that company was sold along with the magazine. It was now the year 2000. The women’s motorcycling market was gaining momentum. Genevieve convinced the new publisher, Ehlert Publishing Group, to rebrand Asphalt Angels magazine by renaming it Woman Rider to capitalize on the growing female demographic. Genevieve would go on to edit the quarterly national magazine for five years and expand it to include all motorcycle brands. Ehlert Publishing Group, by the way, is the same company that published the long-running Rider magazine.

Four years later, Ehlert Publishing ceased publishing Woman Rider saying the magazine could no longer sustain itself. “What they were essentially saying was that they saw no viable market for women motorcyclists,” says Genevieve. “I saw things differently as evidenced by history over the last two decades. The female motorcycling market exploded with women representing 1 out of every 4 riders or 25 percent of the motorcycling population.”

Genevieve viewed the shutting down of the magazine and her eventual layoff from the company one year later as an opportunity to grab hold of a vision that had been stirring in her soul for years—to work for herself. “My pity party for getting ‘the pink slip’ lasted just one short day. I soon realized I was handed an incredible opportunity with this lay off. I could use the severance money to finally realize my dream of starting my own business.”

Genevieve was proud of the work she did on Woman Rider. She redefined motorcycling for women, showing them in a fun, nurturing environment, enjoying life with other riders. It was an incredible experience, she says, learning how to essentially write, edit, and produce a magazine, while giving her the opportunity to plant seeds in the motorcycle industry all while serving a passionate paid subscriber base of 20,000. Those seeds gave her the confidence to branch out on her own in 2005 forming her own company, Solitude Ranch Communications, LLC, with a vision to be a leader in all things related to women and motorcycling. This included staying on top of the latest news and trends, consulting with motorcycle dealerships and powersports companies on how to reach the female market, and conducting market surveys of women riders. The results of those surveys were are the only surveys known to date to have polled women riders on a large scale.

In 2006, Genevieve launched WomenRidersNow.com (WRN), the first online motorcycle magazine for women using the seeds and resources she gained during her time at the helm of Woman Rider magazine. With Women Riders Now quickly becoming the leading provider of news, information, and reviews for and about female motorcyclists, Genevieve used the platform to organize seminars, events, and panel discussions for lady riders as well as industry leaders. There was much buzz in motorcycling at the time on how to attract the female demographic to two wheels and Genevieve, with her new business and knowledge was poised to capitalize on that interest. She was invited to speak at more than 50 motorcycle consumer dealership events, rallies, and dealer-only shows over a period of five years. During that time, Harley-Davidson even promoted Genevieve through their dealer network as a preferred and “approved” speaker for their female only Garage Party events.

In addition to managing, editing, and publishing her online magazine, because of the exploding interest in the women’s market, Genevieve was asked by several print magazines if she would write a column. She was extremely blessed by these opportunities as it gave her the perfect vehicle to spread the word about her new website through her byline in these larger established publications. From 2005 to 2012 Genevieve served as the women's point-of-view editor for American Iron, the largest V-twin motorcycle magazine on U.S. newsstands at the time, authoring a monthly column called "The Way I See It." She also contributed motorcycle feature articles and product reviews.

From 2007 to 2009, Genevieve contributed motorcycle business related articles to Dealernews, the leading powersports trade publication at the time, in addition to writing a monthly column called "Selling to Women."

In the early 2000s, while building her Women Riders Now brand, Genevieve was presented with two other opportunities that she couldn’t pass up—being asked to write a monthly column in two separate leading regional motorcycle magazines, Friction Zone, based in California, and Midwest Motorcyclist, each serving large motorcycle populations. Needless to say, Genevieve was very busy writing many articles each month, but she knew she was laying a foundation and promoting her business all while providing valuable information that would help to grow the women’s motorcycling market. To give this timeline context, this was all happening before social media had started. There was no Facebook, Instagram or YouTube. In fact, when Facebook launched in 2006, it took a few years to really catch on as people didn’t understand the concept of social media. However, Genevieve saw the platform as an opportunity to drive traffic to her online magazine so she created the Women Riders Now Facebook page, the first group page for women motorcyclists and regularly posted to links to the many articles she was writing at the time.

Freelance Journalist
Before Genevieve began working full-time as a journalist in the motorcycle industry in 1998, she had already amassed a dense portfolio of articles as she had been working as a freelance writer since 1991. She has contributed articles to nearly every motorcycle print publication at the time, including American Iron, Rider, American Rider, Cruising Rider, Powersports Business, Dealernews, Easyriders, VQ, Harley-Davidson Enthusiast, Hot Rod Bikes, Thunder Press, RoadBike, and Motorcycle magazine. She plans to post some of these in a gallery on this website in the future.

In addition to the hundreds of consumer stories she’s written, Genevieve has authored many business and trade articles that included interviews with top leaders in the powersports industry. She’ll tell you the most exciting part of her motorcycling journalism career though was test riding the many motorcycles over the years for review articles, not only for her own internet magazine, but also for print magazines. Her features stories have covered a variety of topics including rider profiles, motorcycle tour reviews, custom bike stories, as well as hundreds of product, gear, and apparel reviews.

Television Roots
Genevieve knew at an early age that she wanted to work in broadcasting. At 16, she asked her dad to take her to the local radio station so she could inquire about working there. She ended up getting a weekend news anchor position at the station, the CBS affiliate in Kingston, New York, WKNY, during the summer. The news director took her under his wing and taught her the basics of on-air news reporting. This experience fueled her interest to pursue a degree in broadcasting. At the University of Florida, she worked as a news anchor and D.J. at the two college radio stations.

After graduating with a Bachelors Degree in Broadcast Journalism, Genevieve moved to Atlanta after she was selected for one of a few production assistant intern positions at CNN. She worked on the "Larry King Live" and "Crossfire" shows. After six months at CNN, she moved to West Palm Beach, Florida, to be closer to her family, and got her first job working as a producer with WPEC-TV, the CBS affiliate, producing the weekend 6:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. newscasts. 

After just a year at WPEC, in 1989, Genevieve had the opportunity to work for the ABC network morning show "Good Morning America" producing the personal finance reports with Steve Crowley, a well-known syndicated money reporter, based in Fort Lauderdale. At just 26, she was working at a network level, which was considered the top tier for jobs in broadcasting at the time. It was then that she was exposed to motorcycling for the first time. The executive producer at GMA asked her to produce a business related segment on women and motorcycling in 1990 after she’d seen a survey about women and truck ownership. Genevieve called local motorcycle dealerships to help her round up women riders to interview for her story. After meeting the ladies during the video shoot, Genevieve was hooked. She took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation beginning rider course, got her license, and bought her first motorcycle, a 1982 Honda Shadow. She says, “There was such an independent spirit and confidence that these women possessed when they got off their motorcycles. I said, ‘I want some of that.’”

After three years in South Florida, the glitz and glamour of Hollywood was calling her. She wanted to live in Los Angeles and work in the entertainment industry. With just $6,000 in her pocket she moved herself to California to look for work. Two months later, she landed the coveted job as producer for E! Entertainment Television. During her four years there, she was promoted to senior producer and nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her contributions to the show "E! News Daily."

After working at the early days of E!, helping to establish it as the well known cable network it is today, Genevieve moved on to another entertainment program, the syndicated news magazine show "EXTRA" where she worked as a field producer for three years. During her entertainment news career, she was riding a motorcycle as a “hobby” and writing freelance articles on the side as mentioned earlier. On occasion, she’d pitch interesting motorcycle stories to her executive producers, like interviews with celebrity riders for example, which allowed her to shine a national spotlight on the exciting world of motorcycling. No other television news producer at the time was raising awareness of motorcycling on a national news level like she was with her unique insider’s view of the sport like she was. It was then that she began getting invited to motorcycle press events and “treated like royalty” because of her television influence.
Over the years, Genevieve has worked in many producing roles at both local and network television news including segment producer, field producer, and show producer with credits that also include NBC Network, VH1 cable music channel, WCPO-TV news in Cincinnati, and the aforementioned WPEC-TV news in West Palm Beach.

Motorcycle Television
Genevieve left the entertainment television in 1997 when she had the opportunity to audition for the coveted position of reporter with a new cable network called Speedvision. Genevieve landed the job with the one-hour weekly program “Bike Week” hosted by Larry Maiers. For the next six years, she traveled the world producing and reporting on exciting motorcycle events, many from the seat of a motorcycle. She lays claim to be the first female reporter to report from the seat of a motorcycle.

Then along came the opportunity to add ATVs to her reporting resume. The publisher of Woman Rider magazine was producing a program for The Outdoor Life Network (OLN). Genevieve was tapped to be the roving reporter riding an ATV, showcasing how all terrain vehicles were being used for work and recreation. She produced and reported on dozens of segments from 2000 to 2006 that had her traveling all over the country riding ATVs to showcase, for example, a new recreation area open to ATVs, to how ATVs and UTVs (utility vehicles/side by sides) were edging out horses on Montana ranches as a more efficient way of rounding up cattle. No other reporter was doing this making Genevieve the first reporter to ride around on an ATV reporting on the industry.

Genevieve currently owns a 2008 Harley-Davidson Street Glide. Her previous motorcycles include the aforementioned 1982 Honda Shadow, a 1993 Harley-Davidson Sportster 1200, a 1994 Harley-Davidson Dyna Low Rider, and a 1995 Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glide. She moved to Montana in 2004 after visiting the state a few years earlier on her motorcycle. “I knew I had to live here the first time I rolled through. There is no place on earth that has both the feeling of the old west set amidst God’s raw and natural beauty than Montana. I’m in love with the state’s grandeur, its ruggedness, and the people who call it home.”

What’s Next?
Genevieve is excited when she gets calls to participate in motorcycling related projects. In late August 2021, she’ll be featured in a motorcycle documentary on The History Channel discussing Harley-Davidson and its roots. Also in late August, she’ll wrap up shooting on a Harley-Davidson social media video where she is featured along with a young woman whom she’s been mentoring in motorcycling. Sign up to be on Genevieve’s email list so you can be notified when these shows go live.

Genevieve is always seeking opportunities to help and assist others as she loves getting out and meeting new people and using her experience to serve others in love. Get in touch with her here if you feel led to call upon her.

Genevieve is married to an amazing, supportive man and has two step-children, seven step-grandchildren, four amazing siblings, nine incredible nephews and nieces, and a loving father and mother who raised her right. She is passionate about staying healthy the natural way, by eating whole organic foods and engaging in a variety of exercise and activities. She’s a level 1 certified Pilates mat instructor, loves to hike in the summer, and downhill and cross country ski in the winter. She would love to connect with you so please reach out. To read her personal biography and what she’s doing now, visit the Meet Genevieve page.