Inside The Wild, All-Female Car Rally That Raises Money for Charity: 'We're Driving the Change'
- - - Inside The Wild, All-Female Car Rally That Raises Money for Charity: 'We're Driving the Change'
Gillian TellingJuly 9, 2025 at 2:34 AM
Diana Gomez
The annual CASH & ROCKET event is a wild four-day, all-female driving challenge for charity
Past participants include Emma Thompson, Paris Hilton and Ashley Graham, and this year's event included Selita Ebanks and Juliet Angus
Founder Julie Brangstrup explains why it's such a bonding event, who goes each year and why"driving the change" is part of her DNA
What do you get when you take 60 highly accomplished women from around the globe — actresses, singers, philanthropists, business moguls, Olympians, influencers — put them in a fleet of luxury and vintage cars and take them on a driving tour across a country, all in the name of charity?
The answer is the annual CASH & ROCKET road rally, a mixture of pure madness, mayhem, undeniable fun, food and so much fashion.
"It's a little difficult to explain," Julie Brangstrup, the CEO and founder of CASH & ROCKET, tells PEOPLE with a laugh.
The Danish-British philanthropist and film producer, who had co-founded the Gumball 3000 road rally with her ex-husband Maximillion Cooper in 1999, decided that for CASH & ROCKET, founded in 2011, she wanted it to be just for women and include a charitable element.
Diana Gomez
Julie Brangstrup, CEO and founder of CASH & ROCKET
"No one really gets it until they do it," Brangstrup continues of the four-day annual event. "Every year is a new route in a different country, and every year 50 percent of the women are new faces. It's all about energy and speed, not as a road race, but as a fundraising event. But it's also really, really hard work."
Diana Gomez
Some of the cars featured in this year's Cash & Rocket
To join the event, women pay roughly $10,000 to get a car team together, and then have to fundraise another $5,000 to $10,000 for charity. "You have four days to hit this target and really go out there and help us to drive the change," Brangstrup says. "The women who do this are strong and an inspiration."They're also from all walks of life.
Attendees at past events include Paris Hilton, Emma Thompson and Christina Hendricks, and at the most recent June rally in Italy, where teams drove from Rome to Sicily, attendees included Olympic equestrian Mathilda Karlsson, Ladies of London star Juliet Angus, The Hunting Party actress Melissa Roxburgh, model Selita Ebanks, and Tata Harper of Tata Harper skincare, among other bold-faced names and business owners.
Diana Gomez
Selita Ebanks at a CASH & ROCKET event
They also came from all over the globe: Dubai, L.A., London, South Africa and Australia.
"That's the most unique part of this," Brangstrup says of the women who make up the teams.
"You have so much character, so many different nationalities, and they all come together, and some of the stories you hear along the way are just extraordinary."
Diana Gomez
Juliet Angus at the 2025 Cash & Rocket event
She continues, "They are the kind of women who, whatever they've had thrown at them, just kept going. I think that's one of the obvious reasons they've been so successful in their businesses, or in whatever industry they've come from. A lot of them are running their own companies, and they are mothers, and we all know that feeling of being stretched... working and having children and wanting to do both successfully."
Diana Gomez
Teammates, including Natalie Morrison of Astrea Diamonds (middle) and philanthropist Alison Urquart (bottom)
She thinks the charitable aspect of the adventure (to date, they've raised $4.5 million for charities like Save the Children and Sumbandlia, which educates children in rural South Africa) is another big draw for the drivers, who like to give back but might not want to go to just another event and write a check.
"These are women who love to give back," Brangstrup says. "Who know that it's a privilege to be able to do that, and who make that part of their DNA or business models, and who encourage it in their children. I think that's most important to set an example, because if the kids see their mothers going out there to fundraise while fostering new friendships, it becomes a part of their DNA too."
Diana Gomez
The Hunting Party actress Melissa Roxburgh
She also makes sure to carefully vet the charities they work with each year.
"We only work with charities where we have full transparency of seeing where the money goes," she says.
Ed Kavishe
Cash & Rocket in Italy 2025
Beyond the thrill of driving cars like Ferraris and Maseratis (and in the case of Italy, vintage cars like Alfa Romeos and Mercedes from the 1960s) and raising money, there are also glamorous events thrown into the mix: this year included a a private lunch at the Fendi boutique in Rome, a dance party on the beach along the Amalfi Coast, a rooftop cocktail party at the Six Senses Rome, lunch at and a private garden dinner at the Raito Hotel on the Amalfi Coast.
The chance to unwind after long days of driving is another draw for the drivers, who form unique bonds after living through the chaos and laughter (Broken down cars! Running out of gas!) together.
"I wanted to unite women, to create this solidarity community," Brangstrup says. "It's become a really tight-knit community. And that's been really, really wonderful to watch. Some of these women who were driving together in Italy this year, they first met at CASH & ROCKET 10 years ago. Now they're the godmothers of each other's children."
on People
Source: AOL Entertainment
