How she shines: In 32 years, I've trained and mentored 1,500+ employees, many rising from Janitor to Operations Manager or launching their own companies. I standardized operations on Jobber, moved our fleet to hybrid and electric, use only EcoLogo-certified products, and earned Green Clean Certification companywide. I hold ISSA CIMS Expert certification and teach a Building Service Worker program across BC, Canada. I volunteer, lead my team to do the same, and collaborate with local competitors to raise our industry.
Years in the industry: 32 years
Job responsibilities: As a business owner, my responsibilities are to train, supervise, and empower employees to become the best version of themselves. For them to become proud ambassadors of cleaning, I educate them about the importance of cleaning for health to protect themselves, the customers, and the environment. I am also a train-the-trainer certified instructor, and have put together a course called Building Service Worker (BSW), where I teach in various communities around BC, Canada. When hiring subcontractors, my responsibility is to also train and help them become successful in this industry by delivering exceptional services.
To grow the business, I work closely with our company's sales department to train and educate customers about the importance of asking the right questions to get the right company to do the right job and protect their employees and investments. My responsibilities are also to create the standards of cleaning, education, and retention in the company; manage and control the quality of the services we deliver; and come up with new ways of improving our services and customer experiences.
Career path: I moved to Germany with six months to live and no German language skills, and built a successful cleaning business with my husband at the time. We sold it and immigrated to Canada as entrepreneurs in 1999 to start again. In 2004, my marriage ended, and from that heartbreak and a refusal to give up, I founded Cleaning Angels. Twenty-one years later we have touched over 1,500 employees, employed more than 60 people, and serviced over 330 sites. I hold the ISSA CIMS Expert Certification and teach BSW across BC.
Best advice received: The advice I received early on was mostly a question: Why would you leave university to clean for a living? To me, the best advice I ever got came from the books I read. They taught me that turning lemons into lemonade is not a dream, it is work. I took that literally. I paid for every lesson the hard way, and I would not trade one of those experiences. My advice to others is the same: Do not wait for permission. Choose your path, work harder than anyone expects, and let the results answer the doubters.
Fun fact: When I was a teenager, I studied the martial arts for three years and made it all the way to Nationals, taking second place.