Alicia Baker

I go back to my parents. They really worked very, very hard to give us the life we had growing up, and me being able to take that work ethic into my career now has really shaped myself as an individual and kind of shaped my career path. I put in so many hours, late nights after high school, early mornings on the weekends, working as much as I possibly can, and I think that really helped me put myself out there and get my name out there.

Most recently, someone I consider a mentor at the company I work with told me, you know, don't ever say no to an opportunity. Whether that's a promotion that you think you might not be ready for, a job offer that you're not sure is the right move, or even something like this interview, if you say no to an opportunity, that may never come back around. Even if you don't have faith in yourself, that person or company reached out for a reason, and they think that you're worth it, so do it anyways, and you'll see that you're actually built for that type of thing.

I always try to get anybody who's a female that works for me to understand the bigger picture, that it can be a career. You really get the best of both worlds, especially in the beginning when you're just starting out in the workforce. You learn how to work with your hands in a demanding environment, whether it be cold, hot, wet, whatever it is. You have to be hands-on, working with your hands, fixing things. But you also need to learn how to think on your feet and make very fast decisions. Car washes are very quick - it takes like 3 minutes to get through a car wash, and if something happens in those 3 minutes, you have to be able to make those decisions on the fly and be able to fix whatever's happening. It's also very customer-focused and team-focused, so you learn how to build those communication skills very early on, how to talk with customers, de-escalate any issues that come up, and you're learning how to work with people very closely every single day. It's kind of the best of both worlds, and it's really good for people just starting out in the workforce to be able to understand what you want to do in the future. If you are really great with customers, then that's how you're going to learn, and then that's where you're going to put your career at, towards customer-based and people-focused type of thing. If you really like working with your hands in the business, then you can do that and start trade schools and those type of things.

I think the biggest challenge is finding and keeping the right type of people in the industry. It's a very demanding job, and some people just aren't fit for it. If I'm interviewing somebody that's not really able to deal with fast-paced moving things and work out in demanding environments, it's not really for everyone, so it's really hard to find and keep those really good people. At the same time, there's a lot of potential. The opportunities, especially for leaders, and even more so for women leaders that want to get into a new industry - everybody in this industry says that women are the best managers. We're able to see things differently, we key into very specific things, small details that we do. We're very empathetic, usually, and we know how to listen to our team. So the biggest challenge is finding and keeping the right people, but the opportunities are there for anybody to come in and become great.

At this point in my career, I value honesty over comfort or anything else. Not everything works, and not every idea is a good idea. But I think it's important that I can talk to people, and they can hear my side of view, I can talk to them and hear their side of view. No one's getting offended if somebody says no to one of my ideas, and vice versa. I really respect people that can have those real conversations so that we can solve problems. And I always say the goal isn't to be right, it's to find the right solution.