Women’s History Month: Women in Leadership

We’re proud to be a company that is founded, owned, and operated by women. Our leadership team is over 65% female, so this year for Women’s History Month we’re spotlighting the amazing women at Oncue!

This week, we talked to Erica Schaffel Moschelli. Erica is the Sr. Director of Sales and she’s been with Oncue since December 2020. She’s based in Ferndale, MI (right outside of Detroit) with her husband, Sam and their two dogs, Blake and Dino. Erica is an amateur adventure racer who basically loves doing anything outside! Pre-Covid, she spent a lot of time traveling and going to concerts. Her new covid-life hobbies have included mountain biking and watercolor painting.

Erica started her career as an Account Executive at a startup outside of Philadelphia, where she was quickly promoted to Director after a few months. From there, she went on to be the first ‘Head of Sales hire’ at three early stage B2B sales startups. Now, she’s thrilled to be leading sales at Oncue!

Erica, what has been the most satisfying moment in your career so far?

I’m a salesperson at heart, so closing a single deal that resulted in a $80k commission was a big moment for me! But honestly, I’d say my role here at Oncue is the most satisfying time in my career so far. For the first time, I have the resources and support to move as fast as I want to. After only two months I’ve been able to increase our customer base by 25%, rebuild our entire sales process from the ground up, and hire 7 new sales reps. Having the freedom to make such a big impact so quickly has been incredibly satisfying because, even though I knew I was capable of it, I haven’t had the opportunity to prove it before.

How would you describe your leadership style?

I am building a high-performance sales team that is accountable and I am doing that by basing my leadership style off of trust. Consistent and regular feedback and an encouraging environment is the key to making this team successful. I set realistic goals but I have high expectations and I know that I can trust my team to meet those expectations and propel the growth of Oncue.

What advice would you give yourself just starting out?

Find a female mentor! The BEST advice I’ve been given on how to be a successful leader has come from other women. Only work at a company where being yourself is what makes you successful there. A workplace only feels like a political battlefield when you’re working at the wrong place. A piece of advice that has always stuck with me is ‘it’s better to be effective than it is to be right.’

Who are your role models?

One of the reasons I took this job at Oncue was to be surrounded by strong female leaders, because I’ve never seen such strong female leadership ‘up close’. Growing up, I didn’t have many positive role models in my life. However, I had a lot of models of what I didn’t want to be, and I’ve built my life around that. As an adult, I’ve built a small circle of friends who are the most brilliant, kind, successful women, all in extremely different ways. I would say that these women are my role models.

What would you say are the disadvantages of companies that do not have women in leadership positions?

Diversity of thought is the most powerful innovation tool a company can have. When a leadership team lacks diversity, they don’t have diversity of thought. Talented employees are more likely to stay with a company when they feel like they have a path to success. It’s incredibly difficult to see a path to success when you don’t see anyone who looks like you at the top. Women in leadership positions serve as role models for other women, both in the company and outside of it. Not having women in leadership does a disservice to the many talented, promising female employees who could be learning from women in the top positions.

Finally, how do you see the moving industry changing in the next 5 years?

Our world has been permanently affected by the impact of the Covid pandemic over the past year. One major impact is the shift we’ve seen toward a more remote culture, and I expect that this shift will extend far beyond the end of the pandemic. With a remote culture comes the freedom and flexibility for people to move wherever they wish to live, and with that, the moving industry continues to grow exponentially. With Oncue as a partner to help these moving companies to grow and scale, we will continue to see this industry grow at an extremely rapid pace over the next five years.

Next week, we talk to Falisse Frazier, Oncue’s Director of Engineering. See you then!