For the best part of the last two years, Tilly Wilkinson has been working as the Senior PR and Communications Manager for the Envision Formula E Team. She’s worked with drivers such as Sebastian Buemi, Sam Bird and Alice Powell and has had to navigate a plethora of different situations around the globe across a number of race weekends, leaving many wondering just how she manages to balance it all.
It’s Race Week! got the chance to speak with Tilly at the Formula E Season 12 Finale in London back in August and from that, we’re now able to put a spotlight on Tilly in the fourth part of our Formula E Spotlight Series.
What does your role involve over the course of a race weekend?
Yeah, it’s a bit of a mixed bag of lots of different stuff. My role is actually pre-race weekend, normally - not that I totally get to relax on a race weekend, but working closely with, as part of our Race Against Climate Change programme, we tend to run a lot of events in and around race weekends. So, on Thursday, we hosted an AI data centre summit, bringing together leaders across tech, sustainability, energy, in the same room at London City Hall, the Mayor’s office, which just happens to be across the road from where we race. We had about 100 people there, listening to some fantastic speakers across AI data centres. That was in conjunction with, obviously, our owners, Envision Group, the largest green tech company in the world. So, yeah, that’s sort of part and parcel of it.
And then, on the Friday this week, I also held a big press conference to announce our new title partner, Paysafe Envision Racing. So my job involves managing that kind of thing, very much doing stuff in the lead-up to the race weekend, and then it’s up to these guys to do the rest.”
What would you say has been a standout moment for you this season?
“Ooh, the title partnership, that’s been the highlight.”
How long has that been in the works?
“A long time. To get it all done for London Race, you know, and to be able to announce that this weekend has been huge for us. Really, really exciting. I’d say that’s probably one of our biggest highlights. We’ve done other incredible races, climate change events around the world. We did an awesome activation in Atlanta with our driver, Sebastian Buemi, driving an all-electric NASCAR around a NASCAR track. So, just kind of another, trying to show the power of electric across the world and promote electric technologies everywhere.
And another huge big thing that we’ve done this year, I completely forgot about it, we’ve announced that we are going to be planting 500,000 trees in the Sundarbans region, which is a part of India. It’s the largest mangrove delta in the world, with Envision Energy India and with EarthDay.org. So, it’s a huge project that’s going to really transform the lives of a lot of local people. But also, obviously, mangrove trees sequester four times more carbon than your normal terrestrial forest.
And the whole purpose of it is fan engagement and driving awareness with our fan base. So, we encourage fans. The reason why we’re able to do that, plant that amount of trees, is because our fans make pledges on our website. So, our sustainable chain campaign is all about fans making a pledge and then sharing that with somebody and then getting them to make a pledge and starting a sustainable chain. So, that’s been a huge thing that we’ve announced this year as well. So, yeah, it’s been a very, very busy year, but a very, very positive year for Envision.”
What is it about your role that you enjoy so much?
“Ooh, I think it’s probably, like, my background, funnily enough, isn’t motorsport. It’s in sustainability, corporate, tech, comms. So, one thing that I love about my role, specifically, is what this small team can do and the impact that it has. So, you know, there’s not really many other platforms like sports that can connect with people and promote such an incredible message whilst also putting money where your mouth is.
You know, the amount of stuff that this tiny team can do, not just in terms of fan engagement and bringing awareness to fans, but, you know, bringing partners and government and business leaders together in the same room at some of our major events across the year to really tackle some of the biggest challenges. Like, you know, the AI Data Centre Summit on Thursday is a perfect example. We had the people at, like, the front of this next level of technology. Data centres, huge demand, obviously, with AI, continued demand and quite a controversial and hard topic. So having all the people in one room to debate that topic and kind of... And using sport as a really soft power way of getting everyone together to go, we all like this thing and we can use that as a gateway to have that conversation without any aggro.
Yeah, and then with the incredible backdrop of Formula E, the only B Corp certified sport is great. A series that’s been net zero from day one and, you know, also has put their money where their mouth is and is super, super efficient, exciting, all around sustainability, but in a way that is just better, not just good for the planet.”
Check back here on It’s Race Week! soon for more spotlights from the Formula E Season 12 Finale in London.