Nasty hate comments fuelled Supercar Blondie’s extravagant online career

Queensland-born Alex Hirschi has built herself an empire with her Supercar Blondie brand, but it wasn’t smooth sailing when she was starting out.

She’s “that girl with the cars” with more than 70 million loyal online followers who’s built a lucrative empire on her love for motorised horsepower.

But while Alex Hirschi, 36, has built a successful social media brand as Supercar Blondie, her online career had a bumpy start.

Now, in the lead-up to International Women’s Day, Ms Hirschi has joined more than 100 Australian women in sharing the obstacles they’ve had to overcome to achieve success, and what she faced will come as no surprise to other women in male-dominated areas.

When she left her job as a radio host in 2017 to pursue social media full time, there was a vocal group of critics that took issue with Alex’s perceived lack of expertise in cars — she wasn’t taken seriously from the start.

“I got a lot of hate from car journalists, saying I didn’t have the right to talk about cars because I wasn’t an expert,” she told news.com.au.

Alex Hirschi’s brand Supercar Blondie is the biggest of its kind. Picture: Instagram/supercarblondie

Her unique approach, however, ended up being her point of difference, and ultimately what attracted audience numbers in quantities never seen before in the online car community.

“I spoke in a relatable way, like anyone would if they were given the keys to an incredible car,” she said.

As she gained increasing prominence online, angry internet trolls began to fill up her comments sections with vile insults.

“I don’t think anyone is ready for the onslaught of attention you get when your videos start to go viral. I have some videos with over 500 million views. When that happens, you get opinions about absolutely everything from every country in the world,” she said.

One troll threatened Alex with legal action after she posted a video of herself doing a burnout in an empty car park in the desert, telling her they would make it their mission to tear her down.

“They wanted to take me to court, and the whole thing was a very stressful ordeal. I went through a period where I really couldn’t sleep, and I was so worried that I’d quit my career for something that was about to end abruptly,” she said.

The hater’s threat ended up having the opposite effect, and instead of ending Ms Hirschi’s career, they unwittingly propelled her forward to successes she may not have experienced otherwise.

“In order to take my mind off what was happening, I went out and filmed way more every day than I otherwise would have. During this time, I had my first viral video that got hundreds of millions of views, and I don’t know if that would have happened if I didn’t have the drive that came from distracting myself from this hater and this situation,” she said.

“So I guess what seems horrible at the time can actually be a chance to become even more successful, and that’s proved to be the case in several situations over the years.”

While now she gets far more positive comments than negative, she said some of the early, nasty reactions were difficult to ignore.

Alex has been faced with her fair share of obstacles. Picture: Instagram/supercarblondie

Trolls have motivated her to work hard and surpass her own expectations. Picture: Instagram/supercarblondie

“At first I would believe all the hateful comments, now I just ignore them. I remember when someone said I had a horse face. Now I laugh, but a few years ago it would’ve hurt.”

Part of remaining resilient in the face of unavoidable online criticism and the burnout associated with travelling for 300 days of the year was having a trusted close-knit team, Alex said.

“The one thing I’ve learnt is most important to get through your obstacles as they come, is having a really close group of people around you,” she said.

She started her business with her husband, Nik Hirschi, who is the CEO of the company, and hired her sister and brother-in-law as two of her first employees.

The Supercar Blondie team, which works out of an office in Dubai, has now grown to 30 employees and has “big goals to grow further”, having recently launched its own news site.

Someone once said Alex had a ‘horse face’, but she’s able to laugh about it now. Picture: Instagram/supercarblondie

For women contemplating a career in a predominantly male-dominated field like Alex, she said it was imperative to be prepared for how “tough” it would undoubtedly be.

“When you expect the blows, they don’t affect you as much. There will be some men in the field who make it their mission to bring you down, but there’ll be a lot more men who will be there to support you,” she said.

Women entering a male-dominated field should expect it to be tough, but not let that stop them. Picture: Instagram/supercarblondie

“Spend as little time as possible thinking about the haters, and more time thinking about how to improve yourself, and you’ll move up the ladder so fast that you’ll never see them again. They just won’t matter.”

It’s clear Alex has listened to her own advice and jumped over the obstacles that stood in her way – she’s the proud owner of four supercars and is currently contemplating what to buy next.

“It’s just crazy when I think about it. It’s all so exciting and I’m enjoying the journey.”

Originally published as Nasty hate comments fuelled Supercar Blondie’s extravagant online career