My journey with WIMA began in 2015 when I joined WIMA Austria and instantly fell in love with the unique atmosphere of the community. Before becoming a member, I mostly rode solo or joined male-dominated riding groups, where the motto was often ‘Let’s get there as fast as possible.’ WIMA brought a refreshing change in perspective: ‘Let’s have fun and enjoy the journey!’
Since then, I’ve been actively involved in WIMA events, both nationally and internationally, and I greatly value the camaraderie that comes from connecting with other national divisions during rallies and meetings. These experiences inspired me to contribute more to the community by taking on a leadership role.
When I was elected international merchandise officer, I took on the challenge with enthusiasm and a strong sense of responsibility. One of my key contributions has been the development of WIMA’s merchandise web shop, which has made official gear more accessible to members worldwide.
I’ve worked to ensure that the shop reflects WIMA’s spirit and provides members with quality merchandise that they can wear with pride.
I’m passionate about continuing to enhance the merchandise offering, building connections across the WIMA network, and contributing to the overall growth and success of the organisation. It’s been an incredible journey so far, and I’m excited to continue meeting WIMA members at future rallies and events.
As always, I look forward to seeing you ‘in good spirit’ at the next rally!
Less than a year after I learned to ride – at the age of 36 – I survived a no-fault motorcycle accident that tragically left me a widow and turned my entire world upside down. Despite the heartbreak, I was determined to ride again. By chance, I crossed paths with a few incredible women riders while buying another bike, and their encouragement and support helped me find the strength to get back on the road. Once I started riding again, I was completely hooked – the passion was back, stronger than ever.
Not long after, I dropped everything, packed up my life, and hit the road on my Triumph Tiger. When I got to Malaysia I unexpectedly found myself sharing the road with the national president of WIMA Malaysia, Nor. We rode together for a few exhilarating weeks, and it was through that encounter that I discovered WIMA and proudly joined. That adventure didn’t just spark a new connection—it completely changed how I travelled. I found a whole new world where the freedom of the open road meets the thrill of discovery and the unforgettable people you meet along the way.
After completing my own 15-month world circumnavigation, I joined in with the Women Riders World Relay finale. Here I met many more WIMA national presidents. I saw how motorcycling had connected and empowered women from all over the world in a powerful and very moving way. Freshly inspired, and having been grounded travel wise by the pandemic, I took on the role of national president for WIMA GB. This proved rewarding for the connections and friends I made doing it. After stepping down I remained on the WIMA GB committee. Among other things helping with the production of the WIMA GB newsletter every month, even though by now I was living in France – because I believe in the importance of the record the newsletter provides. This partly comes from having been able to search through decades worth of rich newsletters to find information for the new WIMA history book.
My role as international historian is about collecting and preserving information about WIMA from the past and present, for the future.
I have been a WIMA member since 2001, which was also the year I was at my first WIMA rally, namely the WIMA rally in Andalusia, Spain. Since then, I have attended most of the WIMA rallies. Currently, I have a BMW R 1200 GS, riding between 8000 to 10000 km per year.
I always try to combine a WIMA rally with a longer vacation, on the motorbike of course! The most memorable WIMA rallies of the last years were in GB 2011, where we performed a round trip through Scotland and in Sweden 2015, which was our starting point for a tour to the North Cape. In 2019, we attended the WIMA GB rally, again extending our visit with a tour through Scotland. A WIMA rally is always a good occasion to meet old friends and to enjoy a week in a new country in the community of women, which share the same spirit.
I plunged into the world of motorcycling and bought my one and only bike at 40 years old, and it proved to be one of the best decisions of my life. In the same year I discovered WIMA Romania, which was at its beginnings back then, and I feel like I have found a new family besides my own. Riding my bike is one of my biggest pleasures, with the girls, my partner or solo, and I hope my son will follow me in this passion, when he’s old enough. Getting involved in WIMA Romania’s activities and being a part of WIMA World as an active member brought me many new friends, a whole community and sisterhood, which I’m very grateful for.
I’m currently Secretary of WIMA Romania, organising the national events and being everywhere I’m needed, and PR officer for WIMA International, in charge of the Instagram and Facebook pages. I’m glad I can give something back to the community that makes me so happy.
International Treasurer since 2024 and Public Relations Officer from 2011-2017
Back in 2004 I bought my first bike Suzuki GS500E and felt that mix of fear and excitement as I revved the engine for the first time. Every ride, no matter how short, made me feel more alive, more connected to the world around me. But there was something missing. I wanted more than just personal freedom; I wanted to be part of a community, to connect with like-minded women who understood what it meant to chase that open road, to live boldly, and to take on challenges that seemed impossible.
That’s when I stumbled upon the WIMA. It was like I had found my tribe, a group of women who shared the same fire, the same longing for adventure and empowerment. I had to be part of that movement. So in 2010, together with my riding girlfriends, we took the leap and joined WIMA during the WIMA International rally in Japan in 2010.
Since Japan, I did attend rallies in Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Estonia, and Australia. I also had a great pleasure to organise a rally in Poland in 2014 and host almost 250 participants.
It wasn’t long before I found myself drawn deeper into WIMA, knowing that if I truly wanted to make a difference – I needed to help shape its future. That’s when I stepped up to the role of international PR officer. For several years, I worked to build WIMA’s visibility. It was an incredible journey, filled with challenges, but also immense pride.
But the journey didn’t stop there. Last year, I took on a new challenge – the role of international treasurer. Managing the finances for an international organisation of this scale comes with its own set of hurdles, but it also means being entrusted with the financial health and sustainability of something that has brought so many women together. It’s about ensuring that every euro, is used to empower our riders, create opportunities for growth, and keep the wheels of this global movement turning smoothly.
“I am honored to take on this role and continue building on the legacy of strong women who have led WIMA. I look forward to working closely with all national divisions to strengthen our global community and support each other in meaningful ways.” — Mihaela Hodivoianu, International President
(October 2025)
International Vice President 2020-2025
In 2020 I was nominated for the international vice president position and I was extremely honoured to be elected. Coming from an Eastern European country with a young motorcycle culture and being in WIMA for only three years, it sounded like a big challenge. And it was – but at the same time extremely rewarding because I got to work with an international team of extraordinary women. I got more connected with what is going on at an international level and gained a deeper understanding of what a community of this size can bring in terms of women’s support, rights and development.
My role consists of assisting the international president in ensuring that WIMA continues to thrive as a cohesive organisation. I am involved in the entire process of attracting new divisions, assisting with the preparation of their application and guiding them to establish a strong national division. I prepare and circulate all documents related to WIMA’s annual meetings of the International Council of National Presidents. I am available for any support required and happy to assist in every matter related to women’s support and empowerment activities. I help with social media, and I collect materials for the quarterly newsletters of WIMA International. I was responsible for the WIMA Ukraine fundraising due to the war situation. I often speak about the great community that we are, both in Romanian and in international channels that have an interest in promoting us.
Israt was voted in as PR officer at the board meeting in Jäneda, Estonia, in 2017. She came on board full of enthusiasm and is one of the few board members based outside Europe. She dedicated her time to bring life to the Facebook page and group by posts and interactions with members.
Her most noteworthy achievement, however, was the inauguration of the WIMA DAY competition. In collaboration with Åsa, who was IP at the time, she designed and ran the video competition in which the members could send in their own videos from their WIMA DAY ride out and she arranged for membership votes for the best contribution. The WIMA DAY competitions have run in different configurations ever since, see the chapter of WIMA DAY for more info on this.
International Public Relations Officer from 2020-2023
I got my motorcycle licence in 2008, after being pillion a few times. I enjoyed riding a lot but got bored of always following the same roads. After a few years of not being an active rider, the bug bit me again when my then partner had the mad idea of crossing Vietnam from South to North on two small bikes (‘It’s so authentic, Livi!’). So, after three years of not having even sat on a bike, I suddenly found myself on a down-ridden 100cc Honda Win in the busy streets of Saigon. But just a day later, it came to me like an enlightenment: THIS is it, this is my kind of riding. Travelling, seeing new roads every day, meeting new people, diving into foreign cultures. Since then, I often try to leave the busy roads, which led me into falling in love with off-road riding more or less voluntarily ;-). I didn’t have a big bike community around me in the past but that changed when I started working for Women Riders World Relay in 2018. A little later, I got a WIMA membership, joined the team and my sisterhood grew even bigger. It’s amazing to have so many like- minded women around the globe!
As the PR Officer, I did the newsletter and supported Cristina and Mihaela with social media if needed (not very often the case), representing women riders off and online, and helping the IP if needed (due to Covid not much in the last two years).
Liv is an honorary WIMA member, awarded lifetime membership for her work for the Women Riders World Relay. The award is featured on the page for WIMA Special Recognition.
I am a copywriter officer at WIMA Romania and international PR officer at WIMA World, so that makes me a people-and-words kind of person at heart, even if I work in tech for my daily job.
I started riding a few years ago because it gave me strength when I most needed it, and I’ve been collecting memories with awesome people and amazing roads ever since.
I am an avid reader, a music addict and a proud mom of a 10-year-old boy who loves stories and travelling as much as I do and I hope we will share this passion in the future.
My life philosophy is to find inspiration in every endeavour, and this is probably what led me to WIMA’s dynamic environment that constantly pushes me beyond my comfort zone, nourishes my curiosity, empowers me to easily approach new people and make new friends.
I consider myself lucky in many aspects and hope to be able to give back to the Universe a little bit of the magic it gave me to get this far and do what I most love in life. Riding motorcycles included 🙂
International President 2020-2025, International Vice President 2017-2020, International Merchandise Officer 2012-2014, and Ellen Pfeiffer Award recipient in 2018
Back in 2017, at the WIMA Estonia international rally, a very close friend of mine tried to persuade me to apply for an international committee role and use my management and organisational experience to help improve accountability and transparency within the WIMA organisation. My initial reaction was that I was having too much fun just enjoying the WIMA international family with no responsibility to anyone apart from myself and my loyalty to WIMA GB, whose membership was my access to all of these wonderful new experiences. Her suggestion though stayed with me all the way home and so, when a call was put out for volunteers for the newly vacant international vice president role, I decided to put my name forward and was appointed in October of that year.
After three years I felt that I had successfully completed my goals and was preparing to step down but did put forward a proposal to help improve support for national divisions and individual members – to encourage members to experience the international aspect of their membership and to share those experiences with other members both in their own national division and our new divisions who had joined in the wake of WRWR. I offered to support anyone who was willing to take on the challenge as I saw a need for a younger person than myself to lead WIMA International. The national presidents agreed with my plan but disagreed with my view about age and appointed me international president in October 2020.
In 2018, I had decided that wherever and whenever possible, I would ride my bike to visit as many divisions as I could, to speak with national presidents and members to chat about what they wanted from WIMA and for me to get a feel for their country and any particular problems that they were facing.
Living in Scotland at the time, each visit was a new adventure for me but I managed to meet with newer WIMAs France, Luxembourg, Greece and Romania. Unfortunately when I visited Bulgaria, Violeta was on her round world trip and my visit to Lithuania was cancelled when I was in Warsaw, by the then national president due to her ill health, but I have travelled through and stayed in Lithuania several times and Bulgaria the once. My travels through Italy to Sicily were before WIMA Italy joined. I still have Norway and Liechtenstein on my list to visit before my five-year term of office ends in September 2025. In November 2024 I ventured beyond Europe on my motorcycle to meet with WIMA Morocco on their amazing Atlas Mountains weekend rally.
Contact with members is important to me, with WIMA International rallies being an important source of information, requests and advice from ordinary members – as well as national presidents at face-to-face meetings.
Since 2020, we have seen the introduction of support loans for national divisions to develop their division and grants for individual members to attend an international rally that they would not otherwise have been able to afford. We have seen a growth in divisions inviting members from other countries to join them at their events and the numbers of WIMA members increasing even though the number of divisions remains fairly static, no matter how hard we try to encourage people to join us.
WIMA International officers are now recognised for their service with special pin badges made by WIMA Japan and succession plans have been introduced to help ensure continuity of officers, including the international president and vice president. In 2024 we introduced three regional officers for Americas & Australasia, Asia & Africa and Europe, not as an additional layer of management but as support for national presidents, their management committees and members, especially for those divisions who find attending international events difficult. The regional officers will promote their regions, including organising regional events.
The future of WIMA is looking good so, as we celebrate 75 years since Louise Scherbyn established WIMA, we can look forward with confidence to the next 75 years. Even if the internal combustion engine is to be relegated to history, the joy of riding on two-wheels and sharing experiences with other women interested in motorcycling will remain with us.
(2025)
This is the Ellen Pfeiffer Award nomination that was submitted for Zara, by WIMA GB:
Zara Strange has been a member of WIMA GB since 2008, and served on the committee for several years, as webmistress, and was instrumental in organising our very successful members’ forum. Sadly, with the increased use of social media, this died a natural death. Since then, Zara has remained an active and supportive member of both WIMA GB, and WIMA World, and last year was elected international vice president.
Zara lives in the northeast of Scotland, so every journey to a WIMA event is a long ride! Nevertheless, she regularly supports events in the south of England, attending lunches and birthday parties held for some of our eldest members, usually in the Somerset area. Most of these entail a return journey of around 1000 miles (1610 km). She is always on her motorbike, and arrives quietly but cheerfully at each venue, no matter how wet and cold she sometimes is!
She is also a regular attendee at rallies, both national, and international, including the Dutch international rally in Markelo, and the French national rally in Val d’Ajol. Whilst on its own this is not an amazing feat, what makes Zara unique is the distances she travels to get to each event.
This is what GB members say about Zara: ‘I vote for Zara for her quiet but constant support and leadership by example and her efforts to attend national, international and other groups’ meetings (like France). She’s also very supportive to other riders and never judgmental.’
