The fifth grade girl whose advice Tesla CEO’s Elon Musk is taking is a martial artist and aspiring politician who hopes to galvanize change when she grows up, her father said Thursday.
Bria Loveday, 10, of Michigan, penned a letter to Musk on Wednesday, suggesting the business magnate launch a homemade commercial contest with incentives. Within the hour, Musk responded on Twitter, praising her idea as “great” and promising to implement it. “We’ll do it!” he wrote.
“She was pretty shocked,” her dad Steven Loveday told Fortune. “She was elated. She said, ‘Already he responded?’ And then her next question was, ‘Am I going to have to do interviews and stuff?'”
“I was floored that it came so quickly,” he added.
Bria wrote the note with very little help from her parents after she learned how to write formal letters and mail them in school. She chose to write to Tesla mostly because she cares about the environment and appreciates Tesla’s green-friendly initiatives. Her father, who is a freelance automobile writer, had introduced her to the company’s work along the years.
Steven said Bria, who is almost a brown belt in karate, told him and his wife about six months ago that she wanted to run for public office when she’s older. (Bria is opposed to President Donald Trump, he added.) Her father said he suspects the political frustrations expressed from his wife, who is a teacher, and his recent pieces about the environment may have played a role in her decision.
“When she sees things that maybe bother her, she doesn’t understand why people like her can’t go out there and make a change,” Steven Loveday said. “She really likes to be heard. She definitely speaks out and she likes to write. I think it’s a great thing.”
Bria’s father said his hopeful daughter constantly thinks up ideas, even if they’re not always considered “good” or even feasible.
“At her age, she thinks anything is possible,” he said. “That’s why she wants to get into a position later in life where she can make her ideas possibly a reality.”
