Her Story
About Erica
I've been in this industry for 26 years, starting when I was just 18 years old after having my daughter out of high school. I had to get to work, so I started in customer service at A Clean Portico and worked my way up from the bottom. I moved through quality assurance, then sales, then accounting, then office manager, and then I went out in the field doing operational work - I learned how to pull trailers and move equipment myself. I've done every single role in this company because I wanted to really understand the business inside and out. For the past 15 years, I was operations manager for San Antonio, Laredo, Eagle Pass, and Harlingen. About two and a half years ago, A Clean Portico sold to Fusion Site Services, and they promoted me to market leader for the state of Texas this year. Now I handle all operations - I make sure everybody gets everything done, I set up routing, manage dispatching, and handle hiring, firing, payroll, everything that has to be done. My greatest achievement is the team I've built - I have team members who have been with me for 15 years, 12 years, 10 years. In sanitation, nobody wakes up as a kid dreaming of pumping toilets for a living, so for people to stay in this profession for that many years, it's about the culture I've built and the relationships, not just the paycheck.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Erica
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to building the team I've built. I have team members that have been with me for about 15 years, 12 years, 10 years - they stick with me. A job is just a job, it's just a paycheck, and it's not like that to me. My achievement is the fact that I have been able to keep a team and continue to grow a team that wants to stay with us. In sanitation, we're pumping toilets - nobody wakes up when they're a kid and says they want to go pump toilets for a living. It's not their dream job. So for people to stay in this kind of profession for the amount of years that they have, it's because of their manager. It's not about the pay, because honestly, our pay is not that high. It's about the culture that I've built with the company that I've grown with. My team has been my greatest success - it's them.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I received came from my mentor Michael Perez, who really made me who I am today. He showed me how to respect what I'm bringing to the table, understand my value, and not settle for anything less. He taught me that I know this field inside and out, and he broke me down to bring me up. It was tough love - he was really hard on me in the beginning. He would challenge me, like when I was doing quality assurance and gave someone a score of 10 when it should have been a 5, he'd say 'You gave that score, Erica? How could you give that score? You're gonna make it that score that you gave it, right?' Looking back, I know that's the only reason why I became the individual that I am currently. Now I know I can walk into a business and I'll sell it - it doesn't matter that I'm selling shit, they're gonna say yes. It's because I know what I'm selling, I know what I'm doing, and I know the team that I have behind me. He got me where I'm at and built me up.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Go into this field being confident. You've got to learn the field - you need to understand the ins and outs. You need to go out there in the field and do the job that you guys are doing, so that you don't have to feel like you can't earn respect. The guys need to know you know what you're speaking of, that you know what you're talking about. Don't just sit behind the desk and want to give out orders or tell them 'this is how' - because you won't know unless you actually get your hands in it. Get your hands in it, learn it, and then you'll be unstoppable. You need to get involved and really understand it from the bottom, and grow with it. If you really want to move up to this type of position and want to continue pursuing a career in this field and growing with the company, that's what you have to do.
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