Michelle Pendenza

I've been working in digital marketing for over 20 years, having worked for several startups that became pretty successful companies. In 2009, during a really tough economy, I was recruited by a Toronto-based parent company to run their Florida business after they had acquired a company I had previously helped build. They offered me the position after meeting with other former executives, and I only agreed to come on if they promised not to lay off any of my people. We set a lofty goal of 35% month-over-month growth, which I knew I could hit because the business had been neglected for at least a year and I knew it inside and out. I met that goal, but unfortunately after about 10 or 11 months and a CEO change, they offered me a relocation package to Toronto and told me they didn't need my team anymore. I had taken out a home equity line of credit for the potential move, but instead of firing all these people I had worked with for years, I decided to start my own business. I was already running everything - HR, bookkeeping, marketing, all of it - so I picked up my guys, the ones who didn't find more gainful employment, and started my own company. We started hiring by month 3, were profitable by month 8, and it became a multi-million dollar business by year 3. After running my own company for 16 years, I wrapped it up in 2016, and now I'm looking to find another company to work with. After all that time, it would be nice to just take a beat and work in another organization, even possibly someone else's startup, and let somebody else have the autonomy.