Maria Onesto Moran: Being Where Your Feet Are and Building a Values-Driven Business Artwork

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Badass Women in Business

Maria Onesto Moran: Being Where Your Feet Are and Building a Values-Driven Business

January 06, 2026 • Aggie & Cristy • Season 5 • Episode 1

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Maria Onesto Moran, founder and CEO of Green Home Experts, joins the Badass Women in Business podcast to share the real story of building a sustainable, values-driven company through recession, pivots, leadership challenges, and motherhood.

Maria started Green Home Experts in 2007 as a green building supply showroom just before the housing market crashed. What followed was not failure, but evolution. Today, Green Home Experts is a WBE-certified energy efficiency logistics and fulfillment company serving utilities and program implementers across the Midwest.

In this episode, Maria talks about mindfulness as a leadership practice, trusting your gut without a business degree, learning through mistakes, and building a strong company culture rooted in integrity, flexibility, and excellence. This is an honest conversation about entrepreneurship without the highlight reel.

Key Topics Discussed
• Mindfulness and the mantra of being where your feet are
• Starting a business right before the Great Recession
• Pivoting from retail to warehousing and logistics
• Building Green Home Experts into an energy efficiency partner for utilities
• Pick and pack, product distribution, and kitting services explained
• Workforce development and inclusive hiring practices
• Leadership lessons learned by doing every job first
• Balancing business ownership and motherhood
• Trusting your gut and learning through failure
• Creating a values-driven company culture
• Setting expectations without micromanaging
• Redefining success beyond revenue and growth

About the Guest
Maria Onesto Moran is the founder and CEO of Green Home Experts, a WBE-certified energy efficiency logistics company based in the Chicagoland area. Green Home Experts supports high-performing energy efficiency programs for utilities and implementers throughout the Midwest through pick and pack, product distribution, and kitting services.

Maria holds a degree in Sociology from DePaul University and has nearly two decades of experience in sustainability, green building, and energy efficiency. She is known for building a people-first workplace rooted in integrity, versatility, and excellence. Maria is married to her high school sweetheart and is raising three eco-fabulous sons.

Connect with Maria
- Website: https://ghexperts.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-onesto-moran-b68a756/

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