Melinda Aguilar

I attribute my success to my parents. Since I was young, they always taught me that if you want something, you go after it and you get it. You show up to work and you actually are there working. If you call out from work, you better have a very real reason because people rely on you. I've never called out from work from Home Depot for probably like 5 years straight. That work ethic really came from my mom and dad because they instilled that into me at a young age, even when it was going to school. If you're too sick to go to school, you're too sick to play. You're gonna read books or you're gonna lay down. That's how I've always been raised, and it's the same thing with work. My parents have always been, if people pour into your cup, you pour back into theirs, and I feel like that's how I've always operated too.

I would let them know that sky's the limit, it truly is. You do have to have a little bit of thick skin, just because being a woman in this industry is rare, and so people may doubt you, people may say things, and you have to be able to, one, address it, but let it roll off your back when it's necessary, and show up and show out, so show people why you're there. You deserve your name in that space, and let's continue to lift up each other along the way, too.

Some of the biggest challenges are getting to the decision makers that could really get you in the door. We do a lot of networking events, going out and talking to people, and really just trying to build those connections, because the more you have a conversation, the more you care and check in, the more the door will open that you can start to showcase why we are one of the best companies to help you with what you need for your cooling towers and your HVAC. It's hard to get a hold of decision makers, and with our prices, because we take a lot of pride in what we do and we don't skimp on the details, we're not the cheapest in the market, so it's really showing our value of why we may be a little more than another company, and why come with us when you can go to someone that's 20% cheaper. Another challenge is just getting in front of people and being confident with what you talk about and what you discuss. Yes, I'm two months in, but I want to be able to speak to it in a way that people don't second-guess what I'm talking about or what I'm doing. On the opportunities side, being one of the only other saleswomen in this field is pretty empowering. Karen shared with me that there's gonna be a lot of Mikes, Omars, Dans, whomever, that go to all these job sites because it's a male-driven world, and they won't remember their name, but they will remember the woman because there's not a lot of women. I would say using that to our opportunity, because we are doing a lot more of women empowerment in the trades. I was able to go last week to a Fresh Start Women's job fair, and it was to talk to women that are getting OSHA certified, that are going in and wanting to learn more about construction and electrician work. Being there and able to talk about what I do, even though I'm not in the field as a tech, I am still out there, and I'm still on the rooftops, I'm still walking with them, still doing all the things. I think that's the biggest opportunity to show this isn't just a man's world. This can be anyone's world, and how do we continue to lift that up and empower others.

I would say some values that are important to me in work and my personal life is operating with integrity. I am actually in the process of adopting my fiance's little sister. Her mom suddenly passed away the middle of October. She's been living with us since the end of October, and she's young. So really, teaching her ways of life has been very interesting, because she was living a harder life than what it is with us. Teaching her about integrity, about telling the truth when it matters the most, because lies can really impact or hurt or bring down everything around you. It's also about giving back, which is something important to me. How do you help others? When we are having such a good life, like, we are going to go on a cruise this summer, that's amazing that we are able to do that, but there's a lot of people that can't. So how do we give back to others and really help not only people in the community, but also helping animals? I do donate a lot to animal rights and things like that, just because I know they don't have the voice in the world that we have. I just think that as long as we're a good person and we live with the values of treating people with respect, treating animals with respect, that means a lot to me.