2020 Honoree

Raquel Wenger says she didn’t know anything about the aftermarket or care about cars when she first started at CARDONE Industries. After studying English and graphic design in college, she thought she’d work for an ad agency. That was 26 years ago.

“I figured it would be maybe a year or two year, a stepping stone,” she says of her more-than-two-decade tenure with the Philadelphia-based company.

Wenger says about a year after she started, the company hired a sales force of about 100 people, and “all of a sudden they needed all this marketing material and presentations. So, I had the opportunity to get CARDONE going in the marketing segment, running all their trade shows, launching promotions, their first website, and social media presence. There was always something new as the aftermarket evolved and as technology evolved. I got to be part of a kind of pioneering all that stuff at CARDONE. And so I ended up staying because there was always something new and interesting to implement.”

As for her best career advice, Wenger says to speak up. “Not just for the aftermarket, but in general, women should speak up more, be confident in the skill set they have, and willing to raise their hand for new opportunities, even if they may not feel completely qualified. Women tend to only raise their hand if they feel 99.9% sure that they have all the answers and that they know exactly the course of action to take.”