Nevada Week In Person | Nevada Week In Person | Pilar Harris | Episode 86 | PBS

Fueled by bringing positive lasting change to Southern Nevada through motorsport, Pilar Harris of Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix is our guest this week on Nevada Week In Person.

♪♪♪ Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt.

Welcome to Nevada Week In Person.

I’m Amber Renee Dixon.

Having worked on social impact projects in Africa, India, South America, and Europe, she now finds herself in Southern Nevada as Senior Director of Corporate Social Responsibility, Sustainability, and Government Relations at Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Pilar Harris, thank you so much for joining Nevada Week In Person.

(Pilar Harris) It is a pleasure to be here.

Thank you.

-So as I mentioned, you have been hired by Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix to bring lasting positive change to Southern Nevada.

How does one do that?

-Yeah, well, I moved here about 15 months ago from New York City.

And the reason why I took the job opportunity was because I was told that in Southern Nevada, anything is possible.

And I’m 15 months in now, and I have found that to be true.

Really, my role is to make sure that our project has some meaning beyond Race Week.

Everyone’s excited about the cars.

Everyone’s excited about the drivers and the show.

But this is our forever home now, and so the work that we’re doing as a team is to make sure that there is a clear benefit back to the community and to folks who’ve lived here for decades.

-We talked off camera that when you are speaking with people in the community about being with Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, the first thing that comes to their minds is the construction.

-Sure.

-So what are you saying in response to that?

How are you getting them to come around to this idea that we’re here to do something good– -Yeah.

– –in addition to this Race Week?

-Yeah.

So I think of everyone that I meet around town as a future fan or a potential fan.

Right?

And I think once folks start to see and really understand the work that we’re doing with local nonprofit organizations to benefit the community, I think they’ll have just a greater appreciation for what we’re building here.

The first thing that I always like to remind people of is, hey, by the way, we’re here for at least a decade.

And so that year-over-year impact story will be strong.

And it’s exciting for me to know that after this year’s event, after our first race, people will have a sense of what that is, Race Week.

They’ll also get to go on this journey with us over the next decade.

-Tell me about what you’ve already done within the community.

-Yeah.

So we as a business decided last summer that we wanted to make some sort of offering to the community, understanding that there are folks who live here that are still very much feeling the long-term economic impact of COVID.

Right?

So one of the things we really wanted to do something about was hunger relief.

And we found that in Southern Nevada the rate of hunger relief is growing so much faster than the national average, and yet there’s nothing but food excess here.

And so we really wanted to do something special that says, Hey, we’re here for the long haul.

We want to be good partners in the community.

And we set a goal we would be able to donate 1 million meals to Three Square.

And so as the bigger food bank here, we thought Three Square was a fabulous partner because they’re trusted in the community.

And so we set that goal of being able to distribute a million meals, and we didn’t know how long it would take us to be able to raise the money that we could give.

We had a thought maybe we’ll do this in a year.

Maybe we’ll do it in three or five years.

We were actually able to hit that target in about 26 hours– -Wow!

– –which was astounding.

And so even for us, it was great information for us to have on our ability, right, to really be responsive where there’s critical need.

-That goes back to in Southern Nevada, anything is possible.

-Anything is possible.

-What else?

I understand STEM education programs?

-Yeah, yeah.

So if you think about us as a sport, we are a technology-driven sport.

I always say that Formula 1 is the world’s greatest and fastest research and development lab.

It really is more like a space program on wheels.

And so we think a lot about how we can take F1 and the concepts, the STEM concepts that are a part of our sport, and really bring those to young folks who might have some curiosity about motorsport but no real exposure.

Right?

And so over the next decade we’ll build the right partnership, gather the right folks around the table, to make sure that we have STEM education programs that are– that are robust and that are innovative, but are also accessible.

We want to make sure that any program that we roll out can be equally accessible to all families and all students here in the Valley.

And that’s something we’re really looking forward to.

-How accessible do you think the race itself is to the average person in the U.S. or even here in Las Vegas?

-Yeah, we have a lot of growing to do in terms of bringing more people into the fold so that they can touch it and feel it and really be a part of what we’re bringing.

We recognize we’re not a household sport yet.

And so, certainly, there’s this underlying goal that we have in everything that we do to engage the community to bring folks closer to our sport.

We’re not an every Sunday night thing.

We’re once a year.

So it really will be a matter of looking at opportunities year round, so even when it’s not race week, for people to come and experience what we do.

Some of that we’ll be able to achieve through our pit building, that 300,000 square foot structure, where we’ll be able to bring in community and program that year round and really give folks a taste of what it’s like.

-You have said in interviews that this was not a sport you grew up watching– -No.

– –and prior to the job opportunity, didn’t know much about.

Have you used that to your advantage?

-Use what to my advantage?

-That you did not grow up knowing much about it.

-Sure.

-The lack of familiarity with it.

-Yeah.

So I did not grow up in motorsport, and I did not set out to have a career in the sports business.

I have a human rights background.

And most of the things that I’ve done have really been driven by advocacy and policy.

It just so happens that there’s a place for me, someone like me on a project like this, where we’re thinking about what the next decade of impact looks like.

But that’s very rare.

I think I bring a very fresh perspective to this business, which is very much an events-based business, and really thinking about not just who we are when we’re racing, but what do we represent and who are we for on a year-round basis.

I think that’s kind of my sweet spot and where I fit into it all.

I didn’t attend my first Grand Prix until the summer of 2022.

And here we are working on what we know will be one of the biggest global sporting events of the year, we hope one of the greatest live sporting experiences of all time.

What we hope through the contributions that we’re making to the community is that folks will begin to get to know us a little bit more.

And then for someone like me, who doesn’t have a sports background, to be able to continue to draw those connections between the future fans and the folks who live here year round.

-What does it say about Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix that they brought you in, someone with a human rights background, as you said.

-You know, I think I was probably the number eight hire on our team, which is rare, again, for someone with my background.

I feel very lucky, very fortunate.

There aren’t a lot of me’s in the sports business.

Right?

But I think if when I was looking at the opportunity, if the story that was told to me about Southern Nevada was that it’s difficult here and there’s no opportunity for change, I wouldn’t have come on this journey.

I just so happened to have landed in the perfect place where there’s a real appetite for sport and a real appetite for change.

-Why are you needed in the sports industry?

Why are people like you needed?

-You know, I think that for sports organizations, especially one like ours that is so tied to where we’re located–we are very much a Southern Nevada business–it’s important for us to be able to demonstrate through our giving what we care about.

It’s a way that we tell the story about who we are.

It’s through our giving and through our impact, and I think that’s why more folks like me are needed in the sports industry.

The game, the big event, those things are fabulous, and they connect people in a really meaningful way.

And then to be able to take those connections off the field, if you will, off the track for us, and really build meaning, I think that that’s what’s most important.

-The sustainability aspect of your job, I think Formula 1, I think gasoline, and I wonder how does Formula 1 even fit into the equation.

-So this is where the innovation of what we do becomes so important and so special.

And I’m really excited that people will begin to learn about our approach to sustainability.

Priority number one is to make sure that we can last.

Are we building a business and are we building an event that over the long haul for the next decade and beyond can thrive?

That’s really our approach to sustainability.

And then we lay innovation on top of that.

And so when we’re thinking about things, for example, like water consumption, we understand that there’s a huge resource constraint here.

The question is not just during Race Week what can we do to reduce our water consumption, but for the next decade, what are some of the investments that we can make in water saving technology that will ultimately be good for the Valley?

So I think it’s a little unexpected, right, because people do first think, cars on track, that that must be bad for the environment.

But for us, as a business, we’re able because of our technological prowess to solve for some really big things.

And so we’re super excited about that.

-Boy!

I think that’s something that if someone told me, You know what– I told them I worked in your line of work, and they said, Oh, but there’s so much construction, I’d say, You know what they’re doing, what we’re really doing?

I mean, to talk about conserving water like that.

And then also the project you’re working on with gasoline, what does that entail?

-Yeah.

So, you know, as a sport globally, Formula 1 is very, very committed to developing the next generation of fuel.

It’s not just the fuel that goes in the F1 cars, but we’re also always thinking about you and me, our road cars, right?

What can we do to kind of move us as a society off of gasoline as we know it and start to transition into something that’s more planet friendly.

Similar to our approach to water, the question is, how does this become good for everyone?

And I think that’s why sustainability will always be core to who we are as a business.

Certainly, there are event-related things that we will do, the cups, the plates, the napkins, the straws, all of those decisions that we get to make about the event are really important.

But again, zooming out and thinking about the region and what the region needs most or what the world needs most, that’s where the power of F1 technology becomes really incredible.

-I did miss this question.

I wanted to ask you at what point in your life equality became so important to you.

-It’s such an interesting question, because I don’t remember a point where it wasn’t.

-Oh, really?

-I grew up in the San Francisco Bay area.

I come from a family that was very active in the community and had a real bias toward making sure that everyone had access to opportunity.

So that’s just been a part of me.

I think the work has been finding where I can be most useful and finding communities and opportunities where there is a pathway toward change and then making myself available to be able to facilitate that work.

And I’ve been lucky enough to do it around the world.

I will say Southern Nevada is probably the place where I’ve seen the most collaboration.

-Hmm.

-And that’s been really helpful.

But I think equality is kind of a part of who I am and how I see the world.

-What are you most excited about in these next 10 years?

What do you hope the end product to be?

-Yeah.

I’m excited for a generation of young folks who are growing up here to have access to opportunity and especially in STEM, in the field of STEM, at their fingertips and for it to just become a normal part of how education is done here.

I think we have a lot to offer on that front.

Of course, we also hope that there are a lot of future fans out there, and that’s how we think about the journey that we want to bring young people on.

But I really hope over the next decade that the story of how Las Vegas Grand Prix came to be is inclusive of our work and our partnerships and relationships with folks in the community.

-And are you watching every Formula 1 race now?

-I try to.

You know, some of them are on at odd hours, and so sometimes we have to get up at 4 a.m. And we’re like huddled with blankets on our couches just watching and seeing what’s going on.

It’s exciting.

It’s also a little nerve wracking because we are the second to last race of the season.

So we know that the cameras are coming.

We know that there’ll be lots of eyeballs on us, right?

And so it’s a little bit of excitement and a little bit of, oh, boy, we better get ready.

-Last thing.

I heard you talk at the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance Forum, and you talked about you hate paper straws.

-I do (laughter).

-They won’t be at the race?

-We’re trying to avoid them wherever we can.

It’s tough.

They’re a great alternative to plastic, but I think that they break down and they get a little soggy.

So we’re looking at all kinds of alternatives, but, again, keeping in mind what the goal is for us.

We want to reduce the amount of plastic waste that there is as part of our event.

I’m hoping I have some folks who feel the way I do about paper straws, for sure.

-Pilar Harris, thank you so much for joining Nevada Week In Person.

And to see more interviews like this, go to vegaspbs.org/nevadaweek.