For the 11th year in a row, Print & Promo Marketing is proud to present its annual “Women in Print and Promo” feature. In honor of Women’s History Month — and every month — we are sharing the transformative paths these women have taken to help drive the industry forward. Find out what motivates them, where they’ve succeeded, and how companies can advance female talent. Stay tuned throughout the month for more profiles, and check out the March issue of Print & Promo Marketing for the full feature.
Michelle Longueira, vice president of operations for Fully Promoted (an affiliated brand of United Franchise Group and part of the Starpoint Brands family of franchise concepts), West Palm Beach, Florida, discusses her journey from nonprofit to the promo space, and how adversity fueled her eventual success.
Is the glass ceiling — or even a concrete ceiling — an illusion? Michelle Longueira is too busy to find out. She doesn’t believe in failure, but she does believe in reevaluation. Her nominator describes her as a “steadfast advocate and business coach who [thinks] teamwork and communication skills are integral to effective leadership and enduring growth.” Here is her story.
It was 1991. Some of the ’80s fashion trends, including biker shorts and oversized sweatshirts, weren’t ready to leave closets. Soon a new style consisting of baggy, worn-out jeans, flannel shirts, and Doc Martens would effortlessly take over. For Longueira, embroidered apparel was everything.
At the time, her father-in-law owned a dry-cleaning business in Manhattan, with five locations, and he was outsourcing his clients’ garments for simple embroidery. He suggested Longueira and her sister-in-law — two people who had never even seen a machine — start their own business. And that’s exactly what they did.
They signed up for a one-week training course that taught them how to operate a single-head embroidery machine and hoop the garments for embroidery, Longueira says. The two sisters-in-law were ready to open the doors — of the family garage. But in a world where everyone is selling something, how could they get the word out and build a customer base? Think like a marketer.
They first turned to their local bowling leagues. Many of the members wore embroidered apparel. It worked. From there, they opened a small retail location, then contracted with the Staten Island Mall to launch a permanent kiosk.
“Once we moved to the small retail location, we purchased a book of designs to embellish clients’ apparel,” Longueira says. “Our first customer was the owner of the local taxi company next door. He purchased a jacket and had the name of his business embroidered on the back.”
What started as a two-person operation in a garage, eventually grew to two retail locations — one in Staten Island, and one in New Jersey. The sisters-in-law also added a warehouse with 16-plus heads of embroidery and on-site screen printing in Staten Island.
Unfortunately, due to rising costs, both mall locations closed in 2002. Between that and other personal changes, Longueira sought out different opportunities.
She accepted a director of operations role at a nonprofit, working with mentally disabled adults. She taught her students embroidery operations from the ground up to prepare them to enter the mainstream workforce. Longueira was passionate about advancing inclusion and promoting equal opportunity in the industry, which, according to her nominator, “serves as a testament to the servant leader she is.”
Longueira discovered another side of the business that she was excited to explore: digitizing logos. Having an art education background, she felt that digitizing fed her need for creativity. “In my quest to possibly start my own digitizing company, an ad for operations advisor with United Franchise Group caught my eye and I decided to apply,” she says.
Since accepting that operations advisor role for Fully Promoted’s northeast region, Longueira climbed the ranks and currently holds the title of Fully Promoted’s vice president of operations. She is responsible for driving franchisee profitability and managing the daily aspects of operations, including training, support, business development, and marketing.
Her Proudest Career Achievements
“Building the team for our brand. There is no ‘I’ in team and so I embrace the fact that our achievements have not been attained by me alone, but with the skill set and loyalty of the team that is Fully Promoted. Our internal operations team at Fully Promoted is passionate about helping our franchise owners meet their goals and they work together every day to make that happen. I could not be prouder of my Fully Promoted team — our franchise owners deserve the best and that is what our team is.”
How Failure Taught Her Resiliency
“For me, failure is truly not an option, so I don’t see anything that has happened throughout my career or in my personal life as a failure. If I don’t succeed at reaching my goals, I reevaluate and utilize other resources to get back on track. I think having this mindset is resilient in and of itself because it doesn’t give space to accept or wallow in defeat. If something doesn’t work, I pivot and keep going.”
Her Most Significant Barrier as a Female Leader
“I’ve found that the only barriers I’ve faced are ones I imagined in my mind, which I quickly realized and let go. During my tenure with United Franchise Group (UFG), I can state with 100% certainty that no barriers have ever been placed in my path to stop my growth.
“Since joining UFG 16 years ago, I’ve advanced from a regional operations advisor to manager and director positions within support and training, all the way up to my current position which allows me to leverage my experience and strengths to make an impact on Fully Promoted franchise owners and our greater organization.”
How She Thinks Companies Can Attract and Retain Female Talent
“Incorporate a culture that allows, recognizes, and appreciates the growth of women who bring to the table the excitement and thirst for growing the industry. Within Fully Promoted, some of our very best team members and franchise owners are women, and we strive to empower them and recognize their success. Last year during our annual brand convention, we honored nine women franchise owners for their outstanding performance and contributions including Michelle Bottino, who owns two Fully Promoted franchises in Illinois; Tina Pouliot, who operates a Fully Promoted with her husband in New Jersey; Cristina Bertero, who won awards in two categories: Team Player and Mentor of the Year; Alice McCalla, who is the owner of one of our franchises in Houston; Jo-Anne Reeger, another franchise owner in Texas; Dina Slain, who runs our Fishers, Indiana franchise with her husband; Michelle Monhollen, one of our franchise owners in Ohio; Kathleen Mawanay in California; and then Maude Swearingen, who took home our Humanitarian of the Year Award alongside her husband.”
Her Job Advice to Women
“What an exciting and ever-changing career path! I am 32 years in and still learning. My advice [is] to fully embrace the opportunity and remember that the only limit is the one you place on yourself.”
Her Upcoming Goals
“Acknowledge our ever-changing industry, stay ahead of those changes, and continue to engage and encourage our team to utilize their skill sets (and mine) to always support our franchise owners on their business journey. Staying empathic to the different paths that life leads all of us on while maintaining the goals and growth of the brand and company.”
