Larisa Walega was appointed vice chair of the International Franchise Association’s Women’s Franchise Committee in February, which she describes as “literally one of the honors so far of my career.”
Walega, who is vice president of marketing at car care franchise Ziebart, admitted to being blown away when Robin Gagnon, co-founder of We Sell Restaurants and chair of the committee, asked her to be a leader.
“I joined that committee for a specific purpose; it was to just surround myself with very positive, driven women,” said Walega, who got involved with WFC about five years ago.
“It’s such a wonderful committee. We are dedicated to the idea of inspiration and encouraging women in franchising with a number of different networks and subcommittees, but it’s all about strengthening their success in franchising.”
Headquartered in Michigan, Ziebart has about 400 locations—only 84 of which are in the U.S. The chain specializes in automotive aftermarket services, including auto detailing, paint protection, window tinting and external body rust proofing. The company had $180 million in systemwide sales in 2021, an increase of 5.9 percent from the year prior, according to Franchise Times Top 400 data.
Walega attributes this growth partly due to being deemed an “essential business” during the pandemic, and also due to the broader shift “within the automotive sector recently of not being able to get new vehicles, which means people are holding onto vehicles longer and are more interested in the appearance and protection of their vehicles,” she said.
Walega is the only woman on the executive leadership team at Ziebart, which is fairly typical in the male-dominated industry. Though women are nearly half of the U.S. labor force, they represent just 26.1 percent of the automotive workforce in 2020, according to Catalyst—a fact that Walega says is “slowly changing.”
Walega appreciates being a part of the WFC not only for the comradery, but also for the opportunity to “look from a difference lens sometimes,” she said.
“Whenever I’m looking at myself, whether it’s from an individual or career standpoint, I’m always self-assessing,” Walega noted. “Where are there opportunities to round myself out? What do I not know that I could learn more about, or add diversity to the group of people I consider my network and close group of peers to make myself even more well-rounded?”
In her new role as vice chair, Walega will help drive more involvement from the two dozen local chapters of WFC called Women’s Franchise Network.
“That’s really important to me,” she said. “We want to bring those big conversations happening down to the local level to keep everyone involved—franchisors and franchisees and suppliers as well.”
Walega is also involved in the newly-launched Women in Franchising Club on the Clubhouse app, which meets every Wednesday at noon Eastern time to discuss everything from labor and operations to development and leadership and is open to women who are passionate about franchising, regardless of IFA membership status.
“For us, it boils down to content that’s relevant. How can we empower future women leaders in franchising and keep them engaged, motivated and just help them succeed like the committee has done for us?” Walega said.
Walega is mom to two twin girls in high school, so she attends their track and volleyball games and choir recitals in her free time. “I try to be the best role model as I can for them, showing them that hard work and dedication does pay off,” Walega added. “I already see that in both of them.”
Look for more on how Walega will help women franchise leaders in her new role in the FT June/July issue.