Mary Barra was raised in a Detroit family that knew cars.

Her father worked as a Pontiac die maker for nearly four decades, by the time Mary was a teenager, she was following in his footsteps, working for GM at a Pontiac plant to pay her way through college.

Little did anyone know, this engineering student would one day lead General Motors as its first female CEO and the first woman in history to run a major auto manufacturer.

That said, her story goes well beyond breaking glass ceilings.

She’s just one small piece of a larger puzzle that’s reshaping Detroit’s most famous industry for a new century.

Barra graduated from General Motors Institute – now Kettering University – in 1985 and received an MBA from Stanford University with company support.

She rose through engineering and management roles at GM and became known for her toughness, clarity, and engineer-level eye for detail.

Her early career was spent in plant rooms solving production problems and seeing how cars worked.

It gave her the kind of credibility few executives ever achieve – she could talk shop with engineers, wrestle with union reps, and still be a tough cookie in the boardroom.

Barra was climbing the ranks fast by the 2000s, heading HR, product development, and manufacturing before being hired as CEO in 2014.

When Barra became CEO, GM was still rebuilding from its 2009 bankruptcy and government bailout.

Then came the ignition switch scandal, which caused more than 120 deaths and saw Barra testifying before Congress just a few weeks into her new job.

It was tough work, no doubt about it, but Mary didn’t flinch.

She conceded failure, apologized, and overhauled the company’s safety culture in the aftermath.

Barra has led GM toward one of its biggest bets ever: A complete shift to electric cars, with the auto maker pledging to stop making gasoline-powered light-duty cars by 2035 and investing billions in battery plants and EV platforms instead.

This change has seen Barra casting GM as a tech-driven mobility company – competing with Tesla, partnering with Honda, and developing autonomous vehicles through Cruise.

That said, this pivot has not been easy.

Many critics say they doubt GM can reinvent itself.

Regardless, Barra has tied the company’s future – and her own legacy – to the notion that Detroit can be one of the main leaders in the electric vehicle revolution.

Many describe Barra as pragmatic, disciplined, and lacking flash.

Her father’s work ethic and her own early shop floor years helped shape her approach: listen, fix problems, and deliver results.

Forbes and Fortune consistently rank her as one of the world’s most powerful women, and she remains deeply rooted in Michigan – both in its industrial past and uncertain yet ambitious future.

Mary Barra’s career is a Detroit success story.

She’s the daughter of a factory worker, an engineer by trade, and a leader of one of the city’s great industrial giants.

In short: she isn’t just the CEO of GM.

She’s the woman leading Detroit’s automotive legacy into the 21st century – through crisis and change bravely into the electric-car only future.

Victoria Jackson (Editor In Chief)

Victoria Jackson is a lifelong student and sharp-eyed documentarian of all things Detroit, from its rich musical roots and cultural icons to its shifting neighborhoods, storied architecture, and underground legends. With her finger firmly on the pulse of both the city’s vibrant past and its rapidly unfolding future, she brings a deeply personal, historically grounded lens to every piece she writes.

Published on: August 27, 2025