How Amanda Golka Turned Fangirl Energy Into a Sports Media Takeover
Amanda Golka didn’t grow up in a racing household. In fact, her family is all about baseball. But when a friend introduced her to Formula 1, it was game over. She fell in love with the speed, the drama, and the culture. Now she covers F1, IndyCar, hockey, and baseball with the same energy, and she doesn’t feel the need to prove herself in the male-dominated sports world. She’s not trying to carve out a space. She’s just doing what she loves and bringing people along for the ride.
While most people still think of Twitch as a gamer’s playground, Amanda proves it’s much more than that. Her channel blends live reactions, sports talk, and the kind of off-the-cuff humor that keeps people coming back. Whether she’s streaming an F1 race at 4 AM or diving into pop culture midweek, it’s the live interaction that makes it special. Fans aren’t just watching her. They’re part of the conversation.
Of course, Amanda’s journey hasn’t been without challenges. After experiencing Bell’s Palsy nearly ten years ago, she admits the anxiety of it coming back still lingers. But her dog Hermes makes sure she doesn’t push herself too far. He forces her to unplug, get outside, and reset. He’s a reminder that balance matters, even for a self-proclaimed workaholic.
One thing Amanda loves talking about is what she calls the “fangirlification of Formula 1.” If you’ve noticed F1 edits, memes, or fan accounts popping up that feel more like K-pop stan culture, you’re not wrong. Amanda points out how this new wave of fans is reshaping F1 and doing better promo than most marketing teams. It’s authentic, it’s creative, and it’s changing the way people connect with the sport.
At the end of the day, Amanda isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel. What makes her stand out is her curiosity and her willingness to learn out loud. She’s not afraid to ask questions, research what she doesn’t know, and create content that feels real. In a space where viral moments often overshadow the actual sport, Amanda’s approach is refreshingly different and exactly what keeps her audience coming back for more.
What drew you to F1 and sports, and how did you carve your space as a woman in a male-dominated fandom? My friend Hannah got me into it! I’ve always loved fast paced sports but my family are not motorsports people at all so it really was a whole new world for me. I just fell in love with it. My family is a hardcore baseball family honestly. I really don’t see it as carving space because I don’t feel the need to carve space or prove myself as a fan or as a creator in this space. I love F1 and hockey and baseball the same as anyone and I talk about things I love, so I make content about it. Maybe because I have been making content for years but there is no such thing as too much good content so I don’t really feel the need to prove myself, if the content connects with people it connects, but otherwise I like making it and that’s what’s important.
How has Twitch evolved beyond gaming, and what opportunities does that open for creators? It’s funny because I know Twitch is the live gaming site, but for myself as a viewer I always gravitated to just chatting and IRL creators. I think livestreaming is such a great tool for connecting with your audience, especially as a long form video creator myself. You get that live interaction with your audience that you often only see once you have completed a video and reach the comments, and even then it’s not always a back and forth.
How do you balance humor, pop culture, and live sports reactions in your streams? I’m delusional and think I can do it all. Honestly it’s really not difficult with the motorsport calendar. I currently mainly do live reactions to F1 and Indycar races. Indycar is currently done for the season but when it is happening often F1 is hours before the Indycar races. If anything the struggle is my sleep schedule since I often have to be live at 4 AM my time. And that’s just on weekends, the rest of the week my chat and I talk about all kinds of things and even game when I feel like it. Basically I bring my audience in on my YouTube research.
How has your experience with Bell’s Palsy shaped the way you work and create? I would love to tell you it made me less of a workaholic but that would be a lie. I’m coming up on ten years since I had it and I still think it’s going to happen again every time I get a twitch in my eye or my anxiety gets ramped up for whatever reason. Having my dog Hermes helps actually, he makes me take time to log off and go on walks and play with him. Huge help in forcing time to recharge.
What advice do you have for women breaking into sports media today?Honestly I’m still figuring it out. Sports content is still definitely my hobby right now. If anything I encourage you to look at what you can do differently in the space, same with every type of content genre. Don’t try to be the new *insert woman in sports here*, be you and bring your own expertise and interests to the space and you will find opportunities and an audience that believes in you.
What’s the most surprising way fans are changing F1 culture? Oh I love talking about the fangirlification of F1. I’ve been a proud lifelong fangirl for many artists, fandoms, and athletes so it’s not hard to see the influence of that side of the internet in the growing fanbase in F1. It is not uncommon to see new fans share how they used to run fan accounts for KPOP groups or One DIrection or 5 Seconds of Summer, and now they are making fan cards of Fernando Alonso or hate memes of their favorite team’s current car. Some people don’t like it, but the reality is it’s such a good marketing strategy when fans are doing outreach for free simply because they love their athletes and teams, the same way they do for their favorite artists.
Where do you see live sports content and streaming heading next?Honestly I hope we move away from the “just ask whatever will go viral” bit we are in right now. I am a TikTok user and creator but I can’t deny I have seen the negative side of the viral interview clips from creators and actors and musicians, and unfortunately we see it with athletes and sports content now too. Respectfully I want to hear about the athletes stats and how they are performing this season and the like, not what they think of a celebrity break up they have never mentioned before. Or a viral toy trend. I’m hoping for both interviews and live commentary the space finds a happy medium between getting new fans interested and also going deeper on the sport and the athletes.
The definition of Contrast is “to be strikingly different.” What makes you strikingly different? It’s funny to think about that when I don’t know exactly what I’m being compared to. I think for myself it’s that I am always trying to learn and be curious, I’m not afraid to ask questions or do research when I don’t know something. I don’t know how strikingly different that is but it has served me well in all spaces frankly.
Michael D. Monroe
Founder and Editor-in-Chief, Contrast Magazine. michael@contrastmag.us
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