Sonita has been a transformative partner for our team. Providing both strategic and tactical leadership, her insight, wisdom, and breadth of experience has been invaluable. From strategic planning and organizational design to content operations and execution of specific projects and programs, she brings a level of grace and perseverance that delivers a sense of calm reassurance and optimism regarding everything she touches. As a result of her recommendations for improvement across our sales and marketing functions, we have seen continued strong revenue growth and a significant increase in operational efficiency. Her outcomes-oriented approach and attention to detail are simply outstanding. I could not have asked for a better partner to help us take our organization to the next level!
Eric Lecky
EVP & CMO at SageWater
" As a start-up with investor expectations for a quick ramp up, I was focused on selling and fulfilling business. It left little time to think about, or build, important processes, systems or other tools that could help us be more efficient. Fortunately, having worked with Sonita in the past I knew this was an area where could help us. Sonita became, in a sense, the fractional "head of operations" providing a vision and a 6 pronged approach to putting in the infrastructure we needed to scale. It provided us great comfort knowing that she was focused on the details that helped our talent feel more connected and informed about our projects, organization, and the way we operated. Personally, she was the outside voice I needed to push me to take the time to consider important things about our business that I would have missed."
Scott Gillum
Founder and CEO, Carbon Design LLC
I went to Sonita because I was resisting stepping into a greater version of my leadership role since I thought it would require me to spend more time in my business. I didn't want to micromanage my amazing team yet I wanted to infuse my vision to them so they could show up and do the best version of their work. Sonita was able to help me look at things from a different perspective for what I needed to do as a leader in to take my team and my business to the next level. We didn't just look at micro things or macro things; it was a blend of both and how I could do these in stages, which was really helpful.
Melissa Froehlich
Business Growth Strategist + Mindset Coach
"Having Sonita at the lead of your team, you can be confident that she will be prepared, strategic, and an incredible asset to your growing business. She is always two steps ahead of any project or decision at hand, thinking about what needs to be completed, and by whom. Sonita has a way of bringing out the best of each team member so that the best project can be delivered; a job well done. "
Katie Weisz
Weisz Collaborative
"Sonita is extremely easy to work with. She is a great listener that seeks to understand your business and struggles, before seeking to find solutions for you. We were challenged with visibility to the public, promoting our school and providing good communication to our families and to the community. Sonita was able to show us how to use social media to full capacity, to equip us in how to blog and create newsletters and to organize our communication efforts in order to promote and advertise the school with minimal costs.She has a vast skill set that offers you many opportunities to better improve your business. She is a joy to work with, extremely professional and will certainly improve your business platform in many ways."
Babette Arnold
“First by Five helped build our sales team as thought leaders by providing a social content program to them. By arming our sales team with relevant and informative content in the industries they serve, our sales team was able to share and provide their point of view on news that matters to our customers. Our sales team saw an uptick in follows and engagement on their LinkedIn accounts, turning many of them into ‘must-follows’. I would recommend First by Five to any organization that is looking to position their team as thought leaders in the social space.”
Mike Holihan
“First by Five is an invaluable resource. Sonita’s depth and breadth of experience, combined with her sound judgement and analytical skills, mean that we can rely on her to deliver great results across a range of projects. In addition to helping focus and accelerate internal business initiatives, Sonita provided collaborative planning and management support during the final and most intense phase of a large client project. She was absolutely instrumental to the project’s success.”
Zane McGinnis