Tonya Montella
-Tonya
What attracted you to work at Cargurus? How did you know it would be a good fit?
There were a number of factors that attracted me to CarGurus, but those that stand out are the company’s dedication to its employee experience, and their investment in learning and development. While the two go hand-in-hand, they attracted me for different reasons. Their dedication to providing an engaging, inclusive, fun, and unique experience to all of its employees from their first day throughout their tenure with the company was unlike anything I had ever seen before. From a robust and even fun onboarding experience (have you ever heard of such a thing?) to continuous perks that have evolved to accommodate us while working remotely, I’ve felt both excited and proud to work here ever since my first day. Their Learning & Development team was the largest I had ever seen in my career, so I immediately knew that they had already established a learning culture, which is often difficult to achieve. When people actually want to learn, it makes jobs like mine a little easier.
What are you responsible for in your current role?
Overseeing our onboarding program for sales and service reps to ensure that it’s a valuable experience that equips them to hit the ground running with revenue generation and account management. I own the communications strategy for the revenue organization, and I oversee the execution of impactful product and skills trainings that are delivered to our reps. In my role, it’s important to foster collaboration across teams, build alignment to ensure proactivity and consistency in the messages that are delivered to reps, and deliver learning experiences that will fuel their success.
What are you working on right now that excites or inspires you?
Building alignment and owning the communications strategy is a focal point that’s currently near and dear to my heart. I’ve seen the value that cross-functional alignment can drive on a small scale, and am excited to expand these efforts across the entire revenue organization. I believe this, coupled with the facilitation of a strong communications strategy will really improve our reps’ experience, and shield them from distraction or surprise. As a business we are customer-centric, and I take the same approach with my customers—our reps! I want to protect them from noise, mitigate confusion, and truly enable their success.
What do you value most about your company’s or team’s culture? What sets it apart from other places you’ve worked?
I have to point back to its dedication to the employee experience. The business is always finding creative ways to engage us, from book clubs and live yoga/meditation to a virtual talent show. It’s the perks and these sort of activities that make me share with my network, “Look what we did/received today!” By perks I’m referring to the items that we’ve received in the mail since working remotely. They’re always so timely and thoughtful, like a snack box of various items from Black- or women-owned businesses, to a branded beach chair and other summer necessities. It’s always a wonderful surprise and again, drives me to show off to others that I work for this company. It’s even sparked folks in my network to reach out and apply!
What’s one thing you would want a candidate to know about what it’s like to work at your company?
Be prepared to learn a lot, meet amazing people, and have a lot of fun along the way. Another standout for CarGurus is its employees. They are some of the smartest, most creative, and driven people I have ever met, and that becomes infectious. It drives you to be the best person you can be—not just from a business perspective but in general, as a human.
How does working at this company allow you to have a work-life balance?
Working remotely since the start of the pandemic has naturally provided work-life balance for me personally. I’m able to spend more time with my family and less time in Boston traffic, and I feel more productive! We have a flexible hybrid model, which makes me feel good that I can still maintain some aspect of the balance that I got while working from home when COVID-19 was at its worst. On top of that, the managers that I’ve had during my time here have always put family first, so it’s never an issue when I have to unexpectedly tend to family matters, and that really goes a long way with me.
Meet Other CarGurus Employees
Wei “Debbie” Croteau
Senior Engineering Manager
Wei leads a team of talented engineers at CarGurus in building next-generation products that are revolutionizing the way people buy and sell vehicles.
Kim Menapace
Principal Product Manager
Kim works with the car dealership side of the business, ensuring CarGurus’ products provide the dealerships with everything they need.