Women's History Month: Interview with Sheila Donatelli

March is Women’s History Month and to celebrate, we are honoring a longtime Rentokil employee, Sheila Donatelli. Sheila started working for Steritech back when the company provided commercial pest control services before becoming part of the Rentokil family of brands in 2015. Read the interview below to learn how Sheila grew in her career and is now a Board Certified Entomologist working for Rentokil on Dr. Nancy Troyano’s Education Training team as the Pest Training Manager. 

Q: How long have you been working at Rentokil?

A: This coming July, it'll be thirty-one years.

Q: How did you get started at Rentokil?

A: I was working the night shift (11 pm-7 am) at a fast food company in a role called night maintenance, so I could be at home with my infant sons in the daytime until they could start school.  During this time I was introduced to Steritech and the pest services they provided. The company I worked for was one of their first major group accounts when they first became established. Part of my job responsibilities included preparing for the pest service, which meant covering and removing all the food items in the restaurant. Steritech would come and perform the service, which included using aerosols and fog to flush the cockroaches. I would wait outside until the service was complete and the air cleared, and I would re-enter the store to clean up and reassemble equipment prior to opening.

After a few months, Steritech asked me to come work for them; offering the same hours and a lot more benefits. At first, I thought it was a strange idea to go work for a pest company. No one really thinks about going into the pest control business. After much consideration, I decided to try it out. It was kind of scary because it was a total shift in my “career” path.

Q: What was your first role when you started and what did the role entail?

A: I started as a pest control Service Specialist for Steritech. We serviced all commercial pest accounts, so we didn't do any residential homes. And for the most part, most of us worked nightshift. I would start anywhere from seven or eight at night, sometimes earlier, and work until the next morning. I serviced grocery stores, restaurants, hotels, and hospitals, as well as food processing accounts.

Q: How long were you in your role as a pest control Specialist?

A: I was in the role as a Night Service Specialist for several years and then I had the opportunity to become a night supervisor, overseeing a group of about 8-10 Service Specialists. While I was a supervisor, I passed the NC Structural Pest Control license exam and became the license holder for the Charlotte branch. Several years later I was promoted to Service Manager for the Charlotte office, where I was still responsible for the Service Specialists as well as the ordering and running of everyday operations.

Q: How did your role as a service manager lead to the role you are in now? 

A: By 2003, Steritech had grown to a point where they needed to have more trainers for the company and launched the Certified Field Training Program. I joined the team as one of the three trainers for this program. My role in this program was to provide 2 weeks of classroom and on-the-job field training in accounts for Service Specialists, Managers, and even the sales team.  During this training, they would learn the basics of the business and our Service Protocols. While I was in the field training role I passed the ACE exam (Associated Certified Entomologist), BCE (Board Certified Entomologist) and earned my business degree. After Steritech joined the Rentokil family in 2016, I was offered a position on Nancy's team.

*Note: The purchase took place in 2015. The actual integration into the company wasn't until 2016.

Q: What is your current role at Rentokil?

A: I am now the manager of the Pest Training Team, one of four teams led by Nancy Troyano. The Pest Training Team is comprised of highly skilled colleagues, Wyatt West, Steph Evans and Mosey Webster. Our team is in charge of the Technical Training Content for the monthly connection meetings, management of the meeting templates and content, developing training content for new pest specialist hires, building and providing additional CE training and any other type of technical training needs that have been identified.

Q: As a woman, have there been any obstacles that you had to overcome getting to this point? (With gender bias or working in a male-dominated industry?)

A: Traditionally this has been a male-dominated business and with that, I encountered gender bias on many occasions. Multiple times I had customers that would ask me “What do you know about taking care of pest problems?” They assumed that since I was a female I was afraid of rodents and insects. I had to prove them wrong and show them that women are just as capable as men when it comes to doing the job, and doing it well! 

Q: As you mentioned earlier, when you first started, the flexibility of the job helped you as a mom. Do you still feel there is a benefit for women joining the pest field?

A: I really think that there is a benefit for women joining the pest field. The pest business has many opportunities and has a lot of flexibility for working women. Not only that, if you start off in the role as a Service Specialist, it can help prepare you for your future career path. I have always compared running a route to running your own business. When you run a route, you learn to take care of your customer’s needs and concerns, run an efficient route, upsell to your customers and manage the day-to-day challenges. This can prepare you for future management opportunities in the business.   

Q: How do you feel being a woman has helped you in your career at Rentokil?

A: I feel that being a woman has helped me in my career at Rentokil because we (women) definitely have the tools, aptitude and fortitude to juggle/manage a lot of things in our lives, such as family, school, and careers.   

Q: What advice would you give to women starting out in the pest industry? 

A: I would say, “just learn as much as you can — there's a lot to learn.” Don’t just stop at the company learning level, challenge yourself to learn more. Take online courses, find a mentor in the business, go to conferences, and read as much as you can. Remember it is YOUR career!!!  Knowledge is power. If you don't have the knowledge when you're going out to perform these services, the customer will catch on quickly.  Especially in today’s time when all they have to do is go online to verify what you have told them!

Q: What is your favorite aspect of your role now?

A: I love building and executing training, and I also like being creative. Nancy Troyano and Rentokil have provided the resources and different training tools that I can use to be creative, and build stimulating, engaging training for our colleagues. In addition, developing new, interesting training content is exciting and challenging.  

Interested in working for Rentokil? Visit our careers page to see our open opportunities.