Women bring a lot to the auto retail industry, including a strong work ethic, empathy for their co-workers and customers, and a variety of communication styles. That’s just a few of the reasons why, “the future is female,” according to the women at Maple Hill Auto Group in this NADA Women Driving Auto Retail video.
“What women are bringing to the table is a culture shift inside the dealership,” said executive director Randi DeSantis, who started working in the industry in 2004. “Men see what women here are doing and how they’re doing it so successfully, and they’re learning from that.”
“The best part about women joining the automotive industry is that I get to work with so many of them now,” said Abby VandenBerg, who works in the dealership’s Human Resources department. “Working with this many talented and forward-thinking, excellent women is so inspiring to me.”
The women at Maple Hills Auto Group—who can be found in almost every department, including parts, service, marketing and sales—are hoping to inspire the next generation of auto retailers as well. “My daughter was really into a cartoon when she was little that had to do with fixing cars and it always portrayed men doing it,” DeSantis noted. “So, when I brought her here, she saw the girls taking the tires off and doing the tire rotations. I know it’s inspiring to my little girl and I hope it’s inspiring to more little girls everywhere.”
In honor of Women’s History Month, NADA is honoring the many women in auto retail who work every day to make dealerships a great place for women to develop a career and succeed professionally. NADA’s Women Driving Auto Retail initiative was created to amplify the voices of women working in the automotive retail industry, as well as increase female employment in dealerships by providing dealers tools and expertise.
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