Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Carol Altieri of Bob’s Watches On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
Learn how to navigate conflict in the workplace. A woman, actually anyone, should handle all situations in a thoughtful manner, and not sound off, or overreact. I have seen a backlash on women who sound off that does not apply to men.
In the United States in 2022, fields such as Aircraft piloting, Agriculture, Architecture, Construction, Finance, and Information technology, are still male-dominated industries. For a woman who is working in a male-dominated environment, what exactly does it take to thrive and succeed? In this interview series, we are talking to successful women who work in a Male-Dominated Industry who can share their stories and experiences about navigating work and life as strong women in a male-dominated industry. As a part of this series, we had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Carol Altieri.
Carol Altieri is the Co-Owner and Chief Operating Officer of Bob’s Watches, the world’s largest online pre-owned Rolex exchange. She handles day to day operations as well as product pricing on both the buy and sell side of the business.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood “backstory”?
Born and raised in Los Angeles
Can you tell us the story about what led you to this particular career path?
Nothing led me, I got stuck. My husband started Bobs in 2009 and after 4 months he was not coming home, so I went in to assist, and in turn, I never went home; here we are 12 years later. We started with 3 people and have grown the business together to what it is today.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
There are so many individual stories, but it’s the overall story that I find interesting. The growth rate of the secondary market, and the frenzy that comes along with it. We have customers that want to trade watches and will literally ask us to hold their watches until the desired model comes in. I have been a hamster on a wheel for 12 years, trying to keep up on pricing. In the beginning, our buy/sell prices were set for months with no changes, then the window started closing and we would change pricing monthly, weekly, and at the height of the market we were changing prices daily to keep up with customer demand.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Don’t let up — there is always someone waiting to take your place.
Put the customer first — this is obvious, but our business is C to C. Every customer we buy from will tell 10 others. Every customer we sell to, will share with 10 others. There is no better PR than word of mouth. This is how we built our business.
Good HR — a positive, supported, staff, creates a positive environment, and this transcends to our customers.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. Can you help articulate a few of the biggest obstacles or challenges you’ve had to overcome while working in a male-dominated industry?
I honestly do not find any obstacles with working with men. It’s all I know after working in film. The obstacles I have faced are listed below, and coincidentally involve men.
Working with my husband, who happens to be a man. When you work your ass off, and you are called “Bobs wife” — Bob’s name is actually Paul, by the way- it can be a bit depleting. I have learned to laugh it off. Once they work with me and witness my work ethic — whether man or woman — the attitude changes and the obstacle is overcome.
I am in a male dominated business, but the larger challenge is that it is an old school business, again which happens to be male dominated. Bobs Watches was a disrupter in the industry. The old schoolers pushed back and we had to overcome that with new ideas, and staying the course. Men — 40 and up, have always been the largest sector of the marketplace, but women who are a success in their own right, and the millennials, regardless of gender, are the future of our business.
Can you share a few of the things you have done to gain acceptance among your male peers and the general work community? What did your female co-workers do? Can you share some stories or examples?
Whatever the gender, I am always one of the hardest working people in the room. I am a scrapper and will simply figure it out and offer resolution. I am sure there are men out there that may look at me differently, but they have yet to tell me, so I just keep pushing on.
What do you think male-oriented organizations can do to enhance their recruiting efforts to attract more women?
Be vocal about your commitment to supporting women in business and their success. Lead by example by putting women in leadership roles. However, I would never suggest offering a role because of gender, but rather because it was deserved. We are not doing anyone any favor by giving them a role they are not qualified for.
I also think there needs to be an understanding as to women in the workplace that also parent. I do have a few single moms that work for me, that are simply amazing in their roles, but do need understanding and support as our kids come first. This clearly would be afforded to single dads as well.
Ok thank you for all of that. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are the “Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry?” (Please share a story or example for each.)
1. Confidence. Speak up, even if it’s to ask why. I guarantee many in the room will want to ask the same question. I have seen it happen.
2. Educate/Read. This offers information; information is key to success. There is much written out there by successful people. Learn from them. One book that made an impression was Blitzscaling which offered me insight into the challenges of a quickly growing business w/ respect to hiring, competition, etc.
3. Challenge yourself. Again, this is leading by example. If you are complacent, there will be no growth.
4. Learn how to navigate conflict in the workplace. A woman, actually anyone, should handle all situations in a thoughtful manner, and not sound off, or overreact. I have seen a backlash on women who sound off that does not apply to men.
5. Collaboration/put away the ego. — Working together not only props one’s self up, but those around them as well.
If you had a close woman friend who came to you with a choice of entering a field that is male-dominated or female-dominated, what would you advise her? Would you advise a woman friend to start a career in a field or industry that’s traditionally been mostly men? Can you explain what you mean?
Of course. It never stopped me. If the company aligns with your career goals and values, you belong there and have a lot to offer, regardless of if you are a man or woman.
Have you seen things change for women working in male-dominated industries, over the past ten years? How do you anticipate that it might improve in the future? Can you please explain what you mean?
I have two kids 25 and 30. Boy and girl, both successful. I can tell you that they do not see or speak of gender or race. I believe this is true the younger generations. They are the future, so yes we have come a long way
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
It would be so hard to pick one. But I get the most out of meeting those that started something from nothing. Last month I met a married couple that started a large cabinet company. Nothing sexy. They sat up at night trying to figure out how to ship closets across the country, and now they ship all over the world. Their conversations remind me of me and my husband’s conversations. We are in so deep; it’s nice to know we are not alone.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Thriving As A Woman In a Male-Dominated Industry: Carol Altieri of Bob’s Watches On The Five Things… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.