Driving The Change: Alex Scott On Happiness, Her New Role And Fighting The Good Fight
Alex Scott is happy; radiantly, undeniably, incandescently happy. The source of her happiness is hard to pinpoint exactly, but when a colleague recently remarked that she looked different, she finally – maybe for the first time – admitted that if she looked different, she certainly felt it too. ‘I turned around to her and I was like, “I dunno, I'm just happy”,’ she says over Zoom from her home in London. ‘I'm happy in my life, I'm happy in my relationship, I'm just in a good place. So maybe that's just radiating through for everyone to see.’
Of course, Scott requires little by way of introduction. She has 140 England caps, was awarded an MBE in 2017, and became the first woman to present the World Cup for the BBC in 2018; three years later, she became the first to host its flagship Football Focus show, too.
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It’s been a slow and steady rise to household name status for the former England captain. After resigning from Arsenal in 2021, she contemplated what a life without football would look like. ‘I was frustrated that there weren't many other females talking about sport on TV other than a very select few,’ she says. ‘So, I was like, “Right, if I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it the right way, so no one can ever say anything about me, or that I was just given a helping hand. I'm going to go and do a degree.” And so that's what I did while I was still playing at Arsenal.’
And so, on Fridays – her rest days from Arsenal – Scott would travel to Manchester to present Match of the Day for children and travel back in the evening before resuming training the following morning. Eventually, feeling like she’d finally earned her stripes, she retired from professional football, and in the years since her broadcasting career has unsurprisingly flourished.
It’s with this renewed vigour for life and a continued focus on increasing the visibility of women in sport that Scott signed on to assume a director’s role for BMW’s Living With Electric campaign. She will provide insights and honest advice on the realities of electric vehicle ownership, after findings from a recent YouGov report highlighted the knowledge gap surrounding electric vehicles, particularly among women. The report found that only a fifth of women are considering switching to electric vehicles compared to a third of men.
‘It's always still trying to fight that good fight for women in industries and that misconception. And for me, that is a big part of why I've signed up with BMW,’ she says. ‘When they approached me to be a part of their new campaign Living With Electric, I was like, “Absolutely,”’ Scott says. ‘Anything that fights the good fight in showing women that you can be strong, powerful, and on the other side stylish, cool and, you know, breaks down barriers.’
The campaign will document Scott’s journey and transition to driving the BMW iX2, which launched earlier this year. Commenting on her involvement, Scott is clear: ‘I hold my hands up, I wasn’t sure how an electric car would fit into my busy lifestyle, given the miles I travel and common concerns about charging. However, as someone who supports positive cultural change, I was eager to explore the possibilities.’
‘The BMW iX2 has completely transformed my perspective,’ she says. ‘It's a joy to drive and fits seamlessly into my routine, with intuitive charging options at home or on the go. It's powerful and offers excellent connectivity, which is crucial for my lifestyle.’
Her role in the campaign marks the first time she has worked with the manufacturer but, now just a matter of weeks away from turning forty, make no mistake: Alex Scott is just getting started. ‘The good fight for me will never stop because I never want the other side to win; the misogyny, the racism,’ she says. ‘So yeah, I'm not backing down any time soon.’
For more on BMW electric cars, click here.
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