A businesswoman with a distinctive pink Ferrari faced abuse and negative reaction from people after she was involved in a car crash – and wants to speak up about her experience.

Lisa Marie Brown was involved in a traumatic car crash in Cardiff on August 8 and is still facing the after-effects.

She said: “I got rammed side on and it hit me out of my lane and I crashed into a tree. I was unconscious for a few seconds, I had severe whiplash, bad shoulder, bad back, and bad knee where I’d been squashed into the car. It was really traumatic, the whole experience. I had to go to A&E and it was probably one of the worst moments in my life because it was scary and horrific. When it happened the airbags went off and when I came round I saw the car was on fire, I wasn’t even sure what had happened.”

Lisa is the founder of Pinkspiration, a company that offers training, workshops and coaching within the construction industry, as well as the director of P1NK Motorsports and Supercars, which proclaims itself Wales’ biggest supercar community. As part of Lisa’s distinctive branding she wears pink and, until that day in August, drove a bright pink Ferrari that was always easy to spot on the roads of the capital.

She told WalesOnline: “There was so much fake news, like I was drunk driving which is not true because the police did a mandatory breath test at the crash site and it came up zero. Some of my haters and trolls were saying I was filming at the time of the incident which wasn’t true either. They wrote about me on social media, they sent me messages and emails, and I even had an eight page hate letter.”

“Some people said things like ‘I wish she was dead’, it was awful. It was a shock for me, it did take a huge toll on me. I think their behaviour is born out of jealousy and the fact that a young woman has done quite well in life, they wanted to see me fall, that’s what I feel, we’re in a society that looks for a ‘rise and fall’ story.

“But I’m a real person who is constantly working hard to give back to her community for over 20 years via projects and events to bring people together and especially inspiring youngsters and women to get ahead. At the end of the day I’d love to know what these people have been doing for their local community.”

As the months progressed Lisa says she began to sink down to the lowest point in her life, both emotionally and mentally. She said: “I really struggled at Christmas and I nearly lost my business. I was at a really low point, I was just constantly fighting with people, so I got into a very low state. I think I slept for about two weeks almost straight through because I was so exhausted, it was really tough, a real challenge just to get out of bed.”

Despite the danger of a negative reaction of speaking out about online bullying and toxic behaviour, Lisa was determined to shine a light on what happened to her after the crash and also to share how she managed to overcome the abuse. She said: “I used that time as an opportunity to take time out for myself, to rest and try and recuperate and, with the help of some of my family, to just enjoy simple things and not worry about the outside world for a while.

“I managed to pull myself out of it by thinking of the small things that count and appreciating the little things in life. For anyone going through something similar I’d say take yourself away from it for a while and focus on something else. I found walking, swimming, spending time with family, meeting friends all helped.

“But I’m a fighter, so my message to the haters would be to say don’t you realise there’s a real human at the end of these messages that you’re targeting? And if you don’t have anything positive to say, then why even say it?”