Page 62 - enLIGHTenment Magazine - August 2017

ALA CONFERENCE

she joined manufacturer Access Lighting and
worked her way up to Commercial Sales Manager.

“I really learned a lot there,” Tatro notes. She was
came onboard at AFX two and a half years ago

and is based in California.
Colleen DeStefano got her start in the industry

35 years ago when she worked for a uorescent

component parts agency that supplied parts to
OEMs. She has been with AFX for 16 years and

is based in Illinois. “You have to earn respect as
a competent woman,” she remarks. “I think the

men in the industry today have more respect for

females in the business and there are now more
women in lighting than ever before.”

While acceptance may take time to be earned,
this team says it’s worth staying the course. “I’ve

always felt respected,” DeStefano comments,

but adds, “although I have had to prove myself in
the industry. As a woman, you have to work that

much harder. I never felt disrespected; maybe
that’s what has kept me in the business. I liked

the challenge of proving that I am competent and

knowledgeable in what I was selling.”
Winters, who was raising an infant and ba ling

cancer while repping, agrees. “My son was just a
baby when I had to go to China for 10 days on

business,” she explains. “I think the respect level

for women reps has increased, particularly when
it comes to our product knowledge. Still, I’ve had

to prove myself over and over again.”
Those who snicker that an all-female sales man-

agement team would lead to constant “cat ghts”

would be sadly mistaken. “We’ve heard the com-
ments, but it’s just not that way with us,” they say.

“Our friendship goes beyond business,” Win-
ters notes. “You know that saying, ‘A candle loses

to Market, I was one of the few women sales reps.” nothing by lighting another candle?’ That’s how we

In those early days of women taking on a more are.”
visible role, there was some skepticism among “We back each other and empower each other.

male colleagues and customers about their cred- We help each other out all the time,” Tatro states.
ibility. As a result, females found themselves “The three of us have been in lighting for so long

downplaying femininity and emphasizing their and have experienced the same circumstances

knowledge. “I had my own agency and when I that it’s easy for one of us to pick up the phone
called on electrical distributors, I wore jeans and
and call each other and ask for advice,” Winters

drove my truck,” Winters recounts.
remarks. “We’ve got a lot of years of combined
“You have to prove yourself,” adds Julie Tatro,
experience; we’re a force to be reckoned with!”

who came to the lighting industry a er graduating For this trio, there’s no other industry they’d

high school and taking a job as a receptionist for rather be in. “We love what we do,” they say in uni-
a lighting sales agency in California. “I started o son. “There’s something di erent all the time and

answering the phones and segued into handling there’s always a new technology or code changes
quotes. I fell in love with it,” she explains. Later
to learn. It keeps things interesting.”
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60 enLIGHTenment Magazine | august 2017
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