The Shriver Report – Kathy Tolleson
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Kathy Tolleson

I am a sixty-year-old grandmother who started a motorcycle business specializing in women riders in 2008.  The name of my business is ROAR Motorcycles, Inc.  As Chief Executive Officer, I am responsible for casting corporate vision, company development and performance, business and marketing strategies, and team building while also acting as a company spokesperson.  ROAR’s purpose is to empower women.  ROAR made history by establishing the first motorcycle dealership in the world specializing in women and designing a modular motorcycle with ergonomics for women.

My passion for motorcycles and speed began as a young girl on the dirt roads of Minnesota where I grew up riding and racing, snowmobiles, cars and motorcycles.  Over the years, I have worked as a counselor, business consultant and have had the opportunity to travel to numerous countries for humanitarian and ministerial purposes.  When I started ROAR, I also established the ROAR Global Foundation created to reach oppressed women around the world with training, education, cottage industries and the support of sisterhood.

In 2008, I was chosen by Martha Stewart as one of 11 finalists in her Dreamers into Doers Contest and was featured on Martha’s television program.  In 2005, I was chosen as the Woman of the Year by the Volusia/Flagler Women’s Attorney Association.  After starting ROAR, I authored a book called, “Hear My ROAR, Women, Motorcycles and Mental Health.”

I live in Daytona Beach, Florida and am happily married with two daughters, three stepsons and thirteen grandchildren, and I still love to ride.

Gender Equality Is a Myth!
By Beyoncé Knowles-Carter
We need to stop buying into the myth about gender equality. It isn’t a reality yet. Today, women make up half of the U.S. workforce, but the average working woman earns only 77 percent of what the average working man makes. But unless women and men both say this is unacceptable, things will not change.  → Read More
Breaking the Mold
How I Opened a Woman-owned Motorcycle Dealership and Became “Mama ROAR”
Ten years ago, if you had told me I would be answering to “Mama Roar” at a motorcycle dealership that I owned – while dealing with techs, painters, air brush artists, custom seat designers and a variety of other vendors and staff – I would have thought you had lost your mind. But here I am, storming one of the last male bastions we have in America, the motorcycle industry. How did it happen? Here’s my story.  → Read More