Today we’d like to introduce you to Heidi Maxwell.
Hi Heidi, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The business started with my step father, Max Maxwell in 1994. Max, a 27 year veteran of the Memphis Police Department Motorcycle Squad, as well as five years on the Memphis Police DepartmentsOrganized Crime UnitTeam #7 and has taught anti-terrorist techniques for the FBI Hostage Resolution Team as well as the Memphis TACT unit. Additionally, Max is a professional stuntman and has worked on many motion pictures including “Hustle & Flow”.Max is a graduate of the University of Memphis with a BPS in business and psychology. Max, the chief executive director of Maxwell Motorsports and Driving School, utilized his teaching skills and intense driving training to begin the business. He married Lisa Maxwell in 2015 and since then, the driving school has evolved into a family business. In 2023, Max and Lisa invited their daughter, Heidi, a registered nurse, to step into the Executive Director role as they approach retirement. In this role, I am preparing to continue the business in their honor, focusing on expanding our programs, building community partnerships, and creating opportunities to serve more students. In 2024, Lauren Cook joined the company as the Assistant Executive Director, and together, she and Heidi have focused their energy and passion into the Differential Driving Program tailored for the neurodivergent learner, providing an opportunity for those who are more challenged due to diagnoses such as autism, ADHD, anxiety disorder, etc. Max and Lisa have been very encouraging and supportive of Heidi and Lauren’s progress and it has been a very rewarding experience thus far.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Thanks to a great team of instructors, it has been a very smooth road. Our focus is to maintain the quality and personal attention to detail that Max is known for, while knowing he can never be replaced. Lauren and I bring the unique perspective of being mothers to teenagers, understanding that each student deserves patience and that not each person learns the same way. My first goal was to diversify the team, hiring more female instructors. When I first joined the company, I was the only female driver and I wanted to change that. I want the students to feel like they have a choice in who suits them. I want them to feel safe and understood and I felt it was very important to add new representation to the all male team at the time. I am fortunate that our lead driving instructor, Nic Garrard, has been with us for almost 20 years and was here to make the transition even smoother. I did struggle in the beginning, personally, bc as a nurse I needed to feel like I had a purpose and still wanting to have a positive impact in people’s lives. I decided to take my experience and compassion from nursing and apply it to creating our Differential Driving Program. I was able to see that our traditional classes just didn’t suit everyone. Fortunately, Lauren and I have worked together like a perfect puzzle….we both have the desire and compassion necessary for the program, but Lauren brings an incredibly organized approach.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are a driving school offering teen and adult driver education classes, private lessons, court and employer ordered classes, the Differential Driving Program, and specialized lessons such as parking lessons and interstate lessons. What sets us apart is that we don’t believe in the one size fits all approach. Every student learns differently and we have built our programs around that idea. One thing we are ostensibly proud of is the Differential Program as we have seen first hand how life changing it can be for families. We also incorporate simulation training, real-world driving experiences, and a strong focus on confidence. We don’t want to just prepare them to pass a test. We want to truly prepare them for the road.
What are your plans for the future?
We would love to gain funding/access to grants to help provide to the community of students who are physically challenged, but with the right equipment, would be able to drive. With the specialized equipment, we could provide a very rewarding service. Additionally, we are working to incorporate more interaction and hands on involvement this summer for our teens classroom lectures, including activities such as drunk driving simulation using gold carts, utilizing our crash impact simulator, and taking advantage of our law enforcement officer employees to help teach encounters with the law related to driving.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://maxwelldriving.com
- Facebook: Maxwell Motorsports and Driving School
