Have you had any mentors along the way? What did you learn from them? My primary mentor in the car business was my father. He was an amazing world-class retailer and business owner. He trained me, by example, to treat people in a very fair, compassionate, and honest way. It’s a high standard that I always aspire to meet. I think that’s why we have such good community support and a great local customer base — because of being compassionate and concerned about our customer’s needs. When you mentor others, what are three pieces of advice you would share? 1. Hire the very best people you can. A lot of times, you hire people that are smarter than you are. And that’s good. Then you get out of their way and let them do their jobs. 2. Happy employees ensure happy customers. So, we can’t work on customer satisfaction until we work on employee satisfaction. Make sure you take good care of your employees. throughout the U.S. I have worked hard toward a diverse workforce and strive to make sure my practices, my activities, and my community involvement are inclusive, so I was very honored to receive that. This year, we won the Better Community award from the Business Women of Fayette and Coweta Counties, for our sponsorship and for helping them with their fundraising capacities. But I think the biggest achievement I take pride in is the thousands and thousands of dollars I’ve raised in local scholarships for young women in this community that are returning students to fund their college education. Any last thoughts? We are making the EV investment at our dealerships. It’s going to be costly, but it’s so important that we keep up-to-date for our customers. We always want to be part of the progress, the moving forward of our industry. We want to be in the forefront and stay positive, open, and receptive to change. ► 3. As a dealer, it’s important to be proactively involved. If there are problems or concerns, customers should feel like they can come and talk to you. Be proactive about their concerns. What is your biggest accomplishment? Have you won any awards? Last year, I won Buick GMC’s first National Diversity Equity & Inclusion award. I was one of two recipients Wanda and her father Elicia Threatt, ABWA Scholarship winner, with Wanda 17 THE GENERATOR
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