agustina prigoshin

Thursday night I received a tweet from Natalie Lent inviting me to an event for Stand Up To Cancer at the Mandarin Oriental Miami.

Natalie sent me an invite that read “Racing for a Cure. Her invites you to join Alex ‘Pink’ Lloyd for a very special screening of TIT FOR TAT, breast cancer awareness PSA, presented by Her.”

Once at the Mandarin Oriental, I was greeted by beautiful women wearing pink and white tank tops and hats that read “Her.”

Her Energy Drink was one of the hosts of an incredible weekend-long event that I had the honor of partaking in. IndyCar driver, Alex Lloyd, was the guest of honor – he made a quick appearance before going to rest up for his big race the next day.

Natalie introduced me to some of her colleagues from ID PR (based out of California), all of whom were great hosts (Her Energy Drink and Stand Up To Cancer are a few of their clients) and terrific people overall. She also introduced me to a friend who is the co-founder of Modern Mom. I always get a high from meeting brilliant and driven people like Natalie and her friends.

As the night was winding down, Natalie invited me to watch Alex Lloyd race the next day at Homestead-Miami Speedway. The only car races I’d ever been to were when my high school friends would drag race. So, excitedly, I accepted her offer.

We arrived at Homestead-Miami Speedway Saturday, received our VIP credentials and rode a tram through a tunnel and into the middle of the race track. We walked into a massive white tent and was greeted by more beautiful women with pink and white tank tops and hats that read “Her.” We were handed small Her pink lemonade cans with a straw; I used Her to keep me cool for the rest of the day.

The VIP treatment continued when we were taken on a tour of the pits. We learned all about the intricacies that go into racing. The drivers’ weight is equated to the weight of the car and slight alterations then need to be made the parts of the car to weigh in at a specific amount. We were also taken on a tour of the trucks that carry the cars and needed car parts around the world to each of the teams’ races.

After our tour, we headed back to the Her tent for a quick question and answer session with Alex Lloyd before his race.

While he geared up to race, we were all given more credentials that allowed us into the pits during the race.

Standing next to the cars as they revved their engines and took off was an unbelievable feeling. I had goosebumps that refused to go away!

We were told that when the cars come into the pit, they get serviced in a matter of seconds. These guys worked so fast, you can barely tell that they just changed four tires!

Alex Lloyd finished the race in the top ten and everyone celebrated with cheers, high fives and hand shakes.

Standing in the pit while the crew worked and the cars zipped by was truly an amazing experience!

Aside from it being a terrific experience, it was all for a good cause. Stand Up To Cancer gave the Her IndyCar a number like no other. While all the other cars had single or double digit numbers, Her had #40202. If you didn’t guess it, 40202 is a text short code. Anyone who texted “Stand” to that number during the race would have $5 donated to Stand Up To Cancer in the texters’ name.

After the race ended, we hopped over the wall and took a stroll down Pit Lane in the direction of Danica Patrick’s spot. (We just had to!)

Thank you so much Natalie Lent for this experience and ID PR for a spectacular event!