2019 Women Who Build: Maureen Funke, greenbox-is

February 15, 2019 - Connecticut

Name: Maureen Funke

Position: Director of Business Development

Company: greenbox-is

How many years have you been in your current field? 18

What was your first job and what did you learn from it? Ice cream shoppe. I went from scooping to managing over a 7-year period. Best part, the owner was a retired Army Colonel. I say to this day that I learned almost everything I’ve ever needed to know to prepare me for my careers in that shoppe. Things were a certain way, no exception, no excuses. I carry those standards with me to this day and appreciate those lessons so much. I sometimes think I might have learned more there than I did in engineering school, but that’s probably a slight exaggeration.

What were your biggest fears when you started out in your profession? I didn’t have any. Maybe that’s why I rose through construction steadily and respectfully throughout the years. I didn’t have a huge ego, or try to boss people around, or pretend I had the answers… but I certainly wasn’t afraid. I learned very early that if you confront the hardest issues/problems/phone calls first thing in the morning, each day, that the rest of the day always gets easier! 

Which project, deal or transaction was the “game changer” in the advancement of your career during the last 10 years? I would say it was less a project, deal or transaction and more an ah ha moment. I was in a jail in Bridgeport with a Leadership group attending a tour when I realized that my career at the time was over… and that my new life in Business Development had already begun. I think the reality of what the folks in the jail were facing combined with my own feelings of being unsatisfied with my work at the time was a perfect storm. This freed me to live in the present and jump in a new direction with both feet! 

What are you doing differently in 2019 that has had a positive impact on your career? Being less hard on myself. I never thought I was a perfectionist… and I’m not in the sense of everything needing to be neat and tidy and “perfect”… but I am in the sense that that I hold myself (and others) to a very high standard. One that is probably unattainable at times. I’m usually very compassionate towards others… but have NEVER been towards myself. That’s a change for me this year and I’m already reaping the rewards. 

Who are three women – living or dead – that you would like to have drinks with and why? 

1. Janis Joplin – I think a conversation with her would inspire me more to be my truest self. 

2. Brene Brown – I’m learning so much from her research and writing, but I think (because I’m a slow and impatient reader) that an hour with her would be super effective in jumpstarting my vulnerability journey. 

3. My maternal grandmother, Martha Aiston – she passed away when I was only 15. Now that I realize I am very much like her I have so many questions and wish she could come back for just one more lunch. 

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Heather Conley, Architectural Photographer CT 2/16/19, 11:14 AM

Loved reading your feature here Maureen, well done — and props for putting yourself out there. Here in solidarity on that front! Personal development is as important to your own journey as it is to your business development career.