There's much more to working in the aftermarket than just vehicle parts; it's an industry focused on people, from the drivers being serviced to the ones servicing them, and those making the parts needed to repair vehicles.

Autumn Lamb is director of marketing and brand strategy at GSP North America, where she oversees all strategic and marketing initiatives across North and Latin America. Lamb found her way into the automotive aftermarket through marketing roles at EGR Group and Gibson Performance Exhaust, before earning her MBA at the University of Redlands and joining GSP in 2019 as marketing manager. She was promoted to her current director role in January 2025 after six years.

Lamb brought something essential to the aftermarket: the ability to connect with consumers. She has been able to identify gaps in aftermarket marketing and create strategies around them that have brought success for both her and the companies she works with.

Exploring Untapped Potential

In school, Lamb studied communication, with a focus on public relations and media studies. Upon graduating, she would return to school after approximately a year to pursue a master's in marketing and an MBA.

Fresh out of college, Lamb fell into the automotive industry when she took a role at EGR in Southern California as a marketing coordinator. There, she began doing hands-on marketing work—social media, email communications, and broader B2B marketing—which became her entry point into both marketing as a profession and the automotive aftermarket specifically.

"That was kind of my segue into not just automotive, but also getting my hands into actual marketing duties," describes Lamb.

Lamb went on to work with Gibson Performance Exhaust before eventually finding her current role with GSP North America, where she has worked for seven years. She saw her marketing strategy catch the attention of other companies, with referrals driving her career growth. The more she saw how effective her marketing strategy was, the more motivated she became to grow in her career.

"It's nice to be able to say, 'Hey, people recognize your work,' and that it's building credibility, and you can kind of see how that plays into the market and how other people perceive you, or even the company," says Lamb.

"Marketing is organized chaos. It's very pivotal, dynamic, and strategy based."

"It's not just arts and crafts. There are a lot of things that go behind it. And I think now with data, AI, and better understanding human behavior patterns and trends, it allows us to strategize and focus on what's important—not just throw out a newsletter or just something in the mail anymore," says Lamb.

As a marketing expert, the biggest change for Lamb in coming to GSP North America was the transition from working with performance products to hard parts such as CV axles, wheel hubs, and ride control components.

"It's definitely a 'need' product, versus a 'want' product," Lamb explains. "Coming from performance, we've always really focused on the wants, and so it was definitely a different experience."

For Lamb, since entering the automotive field, she saw much potential for marketing initiatives that had gone unexplored up to that point, especially in her segment of the aftermarket she was in. Particularly with a globalized brand like GSP North America, she saw the potential for the company to home in on different regional marketing strategies to bolster its presence.

Coming into the industry after school, Lamb had no experience with the automotive field—but she's brought something that is sorely needed for brands to succeed within it: the ability to connect with customers. That's the heart of what marketing is, and without the ability to analyze data and effectively communicate to wide audiences, that's much easier said than done.

"One of the biggest things, especially as somebody entering into an industry, is that you don't necessarily have to know everything about cars," says Lamb. "You can learn things, and you can grow that knowledge and skill set, but it's really about your determination and understanding of how things operate and how a business chain works; and the supply of a store manager, all the way down to an installer, service professional, global manufacturer. You need to understand how those interact and work together."

Finding Support to Grow

As someone new to automotive, entering the industry was a lot for Lamb. She found the support she needed to succeed through industry communities like Women in Auto Care, the California Automotive Wholesalers' Association, Young Auto Care Network Group, and the Aftermarket Content Professionals Network. Through the relationships she made there, she met others in the industry who were more experienced and looking to pass on their insights.

Participating in industry groups helped Lamb grow not just from those who held roles similar to hers, but it also allowed her to interact with individuals in other positions as well. She's used community involvement to connect with people all along the supply chain, which ultimately helps shape her marketing strategy.

"When you're able to connect and learn more about who's touch pointing or where your product's going, it allows you to be able to connect with that experience a lot more and be able to make better decisions at your job. Because now you're learning from people that have these real-life experiences with your product," Lamb says.

The experience she's gained from participating in industry groups has led to Lamb becoming vice chair of Women in Auto Care: an achievement she credits to the mentors and support she's had throughout her career in the aftermarket. That's why she now tries to put that same energy forward with others entering the industry.

"Being able to contribute something to them, maybe just helping them out—whether it's being kind or getting somebody connected—it really does make a difference," says Lamb. "That's always the most rewarding: to know that someone said, 'Hey, you were nice to me, and because of that, it really did change my perspective.'"

Getting involved with the industry is something Lamb recommends for anyone starting their own career, as well as remembering to take it slow and give yourself room to learn and grow. No matter where you're at right now, if you have a career goal in mind, there's a path to find it within the aftermarket. Even if you're new to the field, that isn't something that should cause insecurity, but rather an opportunity to provide a fresh, new perspective.

"Sometimes it can be challenging. But we're all learning. And I think sometimes we can look at failures and think, 'Oh man, this is it.' But sometimes it's a learning lesson," says Lamb. "We're not always going to come out perfect. But that's when we learn, we adapt, we pivot, and we adjust the strategy."