South Coast Refrigeration & Air
Leading Lady –Vonnette Cook
The team at South Coast Refrigeration & Air are extremely proud to announce Vonnette Cook is 1 of 7 finalists for Woman of the Year in HVACR Award out of 60 women nominated. Vonnette has been an inspiration to the team and people she meets proving that hard work, determination and the continual push for development is the best attributes for success.
CCN ARTICLE
By Sandra van Dijk | 3 October 2018
Meet the Finalists: Woman of the Year in HVACR Award
South Coast Refrigeration & Air managing director, Vonnette Cook, is a bit of a rarity – a woman with her own refrigeration and air conditioning business. She joined the company, under previous ownership, as office administrator in the year 2000.Then in February 2014, Cook purchased the business and two of the four technicians stayed and supported her through the transition. As well as being passionate about the industry, she believes its everyone’s responsibility to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“One way of making a difference is choosing energy efficient equipment; it also saves money in the long run,” she said. “I also believe in the importance of increasing our skilled trade workforce and I can play a part in that by taking on apprentices. I currently employ two apprentices and take every opportunity to build their competencies.” Cook describes success as a team sport. When she isn’t encouraging employees she is pushing herself. She recently employed her very own business coach to extend her business skills and to avoid getting stuck in a ‘bubble’. To see the full article click the link- Climate Control – HVAC AWARDS
Thank you Sandra Van Dijk for your wonderful article and we wish all fellow nominated women the best of luck!
We inspire each other. Success is a team sport.
Vonnette consider herself a motivated, ambitious and strong woman. She has a set of business and personal ethics that she lives and works by. She believes this enables her to show excellence and inspire those around her. Struggles build character, often the moments in our lives that we are SO proud of are the ones that we overcame adversity to accomplish. She demonstrates personal responsibility for making decisions and getting things done, displaying an open-mind to new ideas and proposals from the team – we have an inclusive work environment where she listen to different points of view and incorporate them when appropriate. Ideas are shared on a daily and weekly basis through her open-door policy and through our structured tool-box meetings. The creativity that comes with diversity can help generate new ideas or improve the processes already in place. Vonnette enjoys supporting and encouraging the team to develop their knowledge, skills and behaviors. She believes that every employee has unique strengths and together we are stronger. Vonnette consciously demand excellence from herself and believes this ‘rubs-off’ on those around her. She consistently takes the time to think about what others expect from her and require. She provides and accepts constructive feedback & is always self-evaluating. She learnt from an early age that she needs to pursue opportunities to develop her personal skills and competencies including training and development activities. This is one of the many reasons why South Coast Refrigeration & Air has been a success & why clients stay.
