Jennifer Alonso

I really attribute my success to everybody around me, like my family - not only my husband and dear friends, siblings, and parents, but the entire support system I've had. I was very lucky to be raised in a family that talks about lots of things, and I learned from a young age how to debate, not necessarily in a vicious way, but in a healthy and constructive way, which is obviously really important in management. I learned the value of debate, I learned the value of listening, and still knowing how to hold my ground and see my own opinions. So that's always kept me going, and instead of maybe shying into a corner or just rolling with something I knew was wrong, I know how to express what I need. I think it was just the family I was raised in they're all great at conversation and talking about a variety of things, not just one thing. That's something I think people lack now, is just the ability to sit down and just have a conversation with pretty much anyone. I always joke, my grandpa was a salesman, and the big family joke on vacations was 'where's Grandpa?' He would have found some random person to have a conversation with, and we had to try and leave places 30 minutes early just to get Grandpa to actually stop talking and leave. So I guess I inherited that from him.

The best advice I would give myself, and what has guided me, is to keep going - it all works out. There have been so many times in my life where you just wonder, is this next step really the right one? When I took my current role at Lowry Doors, I just took a job as a sales assistant, thinking I don't want to be a salesperson, I'm not a salesperson. But my husband said, you've done a lot of sales in your life - maybe not as a salesy person you thought about it, but you really have, you've been doing it for years. You've got to be in sales if you're going to have your own gym and do all these things. The company where I am had a great reputation for just being a really wonderful, family-run company, and he said, I just think you'll make your mark there, and you should give it a whirl. And yeah, I did, and then here we are. So the advice is to keep going, take that step forward even when you're afraid, and trust that it all works out.

I would say trust your gut. If there's an idea or something that you absolutely, truly, truly, truly just cannot get on board with, believe yourself. If you see something like, no, no, that's wrong, that's not okay, or that doesn't make any sense, trust that feeling. But also, at the same time, you have to be willing to accept that just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's not good. But there is this really strong rejection of, oh no, no - so when you feel that real, absolute repulsion to an idea, go with it. I think a lot of times as women, it's very easy for us to be like, oh, well, maybe. No, no, no. If you think you don't like it, and you're like, this is just gonna die and fall horribly flat, go with that. Trust your intuition and don't second-guess yourself when you have that strong gut feeling that something is wrong.

One of the things that brought me to Lowry Doors, where I am, is that we do have a shared value. Honestly, integrity is our number one core value at Lowry's, and it's one of mine, too. I really believe in just keeping it real, and being straightforward, and direct, and expressing how you really feel about things, and making sure you're just your true, authentic self with everyone. That's not something you see in sales all the time, so it's important to make sure you're always completely transparent. Having true integrity means that when you have those values, you won't drift from them - things may seem tempting, but you won't drift from those values.