An Interview with Jody DeVere

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Have you ever felt intimidated, or worse, been made to feel stupid, when buying a car or dealing with a garage mechanic? The website AskPatty.com was set up as a safe place for women to get advice on car-buying, maintenance and other related automotive topics. In addition, the company has developed a network of Certified Female Friendly retailers across the U.S, who are held to a high level of customer satisfaction for women consumers.

Jody DeVere the President and CEO of AskPatty.com is a passionate advocate of empowering women, but it was the challenges in her personal life that led to her becoming the fearless woman she is today.

The Basics

1. Name

Jody DeVere

2. Web/Blog address if applicable.

http://www.askpatty.com

3. Where do you live?

   a. Are you from there originally?

   b. Where else have you lived?

Los Angeles, California and lived in Montreal, Quebec

4. What is your living situation?

   a. Partner?

   b. Kids?

Live alone, single by choice. Have three grown children all married and six grandchildren ages 1- 9 that live close by and are my entertainment committee. 

5. Job?

   a. How long?

   b. What other jobs have you had?

President and CEO of AskPatty.com, Inc. for 4 ½ years. I am a serial entrepreneur and started my first business at 19. I’ve owned many companies, bought and sold them and some even failed. I love being a business owner and master of my own financial fate for better or worse (she laughs out loud).

The Tough Ones

1. Summarize your entire life in 10 words or less.

'Let no one or nobody say I can’t do that because…'

2. Tell us what your typical day is like currently.

Nonstop fun and excitement. Helping women empower themselves is something I am very passionate about, my days do not feel like work most of the time. Traveling to speak, attending lots of great conferences, doing radio interviews almost daily, TV spots, speaking with clients, serving my staff, writing and social networking fills each day to the brim. I lead a busy, productive and exciting life these days.

3. Tell us about the person that has had the most profound impact on your life:

   a. During the last five years

   b. From the very beginning

My son Joseph DeVere has been my inspiration for the past 5 years. He has secondary progressive MS and a spinal cord injury due to a car accident in 2005, yet he is remarkably positive and lives life to the fullest as a paraplegic. He takes other spinal cord injured on white water rafting trips, snow skiing and has even been surfing. It’s hard to feel down with him in my life doing so many amazing things.

From the beginning my two parents were and still are my Rock of Gibraltar and the foundation of who I am today. They are both still alive and have been married for 65 years. They are the most loving, stable, happy and wonderful parents any child could wish for, even when you're 54. They are my #1 biggest supporters and cheering section in life.

4. What is the greatest trauma you have ever experienced in your life and how did that impact you?

My husband was killed in a car accident when my three children were young. This life-changing incident propelled me to become the independent, entrepreneurial, fearless woman I am today. As a mother I was willing to do what needed to be done to provide for my children. They were the three greatest motivators to help me take charge and get over it and get on with it!

5. What is the greatest joy or achievement you have ever experienced in your life and how did that impact you?

As a business person my biggest achievement was being featured by the New York Times Business Section for the first time in October 2006 at the age of 50. This vaulted me permanently into the media spotlight and has transformed my company and my lifestyle completely. Who knew that an up-until-then virtually unknown woman over 50 would become a women to watch in marketing to women, and a media darling in the automotive industry?

In my personal life my greatest joy is that my three children are all happily married, educated, having families of their own and doing well in their lives. Being a single mother is a big challenge and seeing them become such wonderful, responsible and loving parents and successful at living life is the real joy in life for me. 

6. Let’s pretend your life is a blank slate for 1 year – no partner, kids, job, and baggage of any sort. You can reinvent yourself completely and take a year to do exactly what you want without any consequence to your current life. How would you spend that year?

I have been thinking about this very question quite a bit recently. I would take a sabbatical to travel extensively, without my BlackBerry or laptop, to see parts of the world I have yet to experience and write that book I need to write. These travels might include a month each exploring in Alaska’s Denali National Park, the Amazon River basin, the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, Patagonia, Galapagos Islands, Africa, Iceland and northern Europe. Places of natural beauty both on land and under water. I would love to camp, hike, river raft, scuba dive and be in nature as much as possible - except the final month. I would stay in a lovely villa in Spain or Mexico and just be pampered and relax and finish that damn book I need to write. I think it would seriously revitalize my life, my body and super-charge me to take on the next 30 or 40 years of life’s challenges.

7. What (if anything) are you able to do better now than at any other time in your life?

Experience IS the best teacher. I am at my best to be a mentor for other entrepreneurial-minded women right now.

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