Maria Onesto Moran on Being Where Your Feet Are and Building a Business That Lasts

Season 5 of the Badass Women in Business podcast begins the same way every meaningful business journey does. With reflection, honesty, and a willingness to tell the truth about how hard it really is.

Our first episode of 2026 features Maria Onesto Moran, founder and CEO of Green Home Experts, and it is the kind of conversation that sets the tone for everything that follows. Not because it is polished or perfectly packaged, but because it is grounded. Present. Lived in.

Maria’s story is not one of overnight success or tidy growth charts. It is a story of starting anyway, pivoting when things no longer fit, and building a company that works because it is aligned with real life, not despite it.

Starting Before the Timing Was Right

In 2007, Maria launched Green Home Experts with what felt like a strong idea and a clear vision. She wanted to create a green version of Home Depot, offering eco friendly building materials, energy efficient products, and a physical space for people who cared deeply about building healthier, more sustainable homes.

The problem was timing. Or rather, the lack of it.

The business launched just before the Great Recession and housing crash. Retail was already hard. Green retail was even harder. And running a showroom seven days a week, with seasonal swings and thin margins, was exhausting.

But instead of romanticizing the struggle, Maria names it plainly. It was wonderful. It was brutal. And it forced her to learn every inch of her business from the ground up.

For the first two and a half years, Maria was the business. She did everything. Sales, operations, inventory, customer service, bookkeeping, problem solving. Not because it was strategic, but because it was necessary.

That experience would later become one of her greatest leadership assets.

When the Business Outgrows the Model

As the economy began to recover, Green Home Experts evolved. What started as a retail showroom became something broader. A general store. A garden center. A hub for like minded customers hungry for knowledge and non toxic solutions.

Then, almost by accident, opportunity arrived.

In 2011, Green Home Experts began distributing products for a statewide energy efficiency program. What started as a side offering quickly grew into something much bigger. Trucks, pallets, inventory, logistics. Suddenly, a retail showroom was no longer the right container for the work.

Maria found herself at a crossroads many founders face but rarely talk about honestly. The business was working, but it was no longer aligned.

At the same time, she was pregnant with her third child and questioning what sustainability really meant, not just for the planet, but for her life.

So she did something bold. She let go of the showroom. She pivoted. She moved fully into warehousing and logistics, long before pivot became a buzzword.

She did not close a business. She evolved one.

Building Green Home Experts Into What It Is Today

Today, Green Home Experts is a WBE certified company based in the Chicagoland area, supporting energy efficiency programs for utilities and implementers across the Midwest.

Their work focuses on three core services. Pick and pack. Product distribution. Kitting.

If your child has ever come home from school with a box of LED light bulbs, shower heads, aerators, or door sweeps as part of an energy efficiency curriculum, there is a good chance Maria’s team packed it.

Green Home Experts operates as a dependable logistics partner for utilities that need precision, reliability, and scale. Real time inventory reporting. Shipment tracking. Detail oriented planning. Dedicated customer service.

But what truly differentiates the company is not just what they do. It is how they do it.

Workforce Development as a Business Advantage

One of the most powerful parts of Maria’s story is how Green Home Experts built its workforce.

Through a utility funded request, the company added a workforce development component to its operations. That process led Maria to what she describes as the greatest workforce in the universe.

Today, Green Home Experts employs people with disabilities as warehouse associates. They are responsible for packing, scanning, quality control, inventory management, and order fulfillment.

During COVID, when many warehouses struggled to stay staffed or operational, Green Home Experts did not shut down. Their team showed up. Consistently. Reliably. With pride in their work.

This is not charity. It is good business.

Maria is clear about that. When you create a workplace rooted in respect, clarity, and trust, people show up. When you build systems that support humans instead of grinding them down, the business becomes more resilient, not less.

Leadership Without the Myth

Maria does not present herself as a perfect leader. She is candid about mistakes, impulsiveness, and learning through failure. She does not have a business degree. She did not inherit a company. She did not follow the traditional playbook.

What she did have was gut instinct.

She talks openly about trusting that instinct, especially when logic alone could not provide certainty. She also talks about surrounding herself with people who balance her. An accountant who keeps her honest. A warehouse manager who runs operations with excellence. A COO who does the work Maria hates and ensures the business is compliant, profitable, and sustainable.

Leadership, in her world, is not about control. It is about setting clear expectations and then getting out of the way.

She does not micromanage. She cares deeply about the work being done right and on time. She believes confidence is contagious. When the leader is grounded, the team feels it.

Being Where Your Feet Are

The phrase that anchors this entire conversation, and perhaps this entire season, is Maria’s mantra.

Be where your feet are.

It is a mindfulness practice, but also a leadership philosophy. It means paying attention to the moment you are in. Understanding the challenge in front of you. Recognizing the resources you have. Accepting that challenges and opportunities often look the same at first.

It also means knowing when to stop. Maria works from 8:30 to 2:30 most days, aligning her schedule with her children’s school hours. She takes time off. She expects her team to do the same. Family comes first, in whatever form that takes.

This is not a lack of ambition. It is a redefinition of it.

Opening Season 5 With Intention

There is a reason this conversation opens Season 5 and the year 2026.

Maria’s story reminds us that success is not about perfection, speed, or constant growth at all costs. It is about alignment. Integrity. Doing the work. Learning as you go. And building something that actually supports your life, not just your resume.

As we enter a new season of the Badass Women in Business podcast, we are leaning into conversations like this. Conversations that tell the truth. That honor complexity. That recognize leadership as a human practice, not a performance.

If you are starting something new this year, or questioning something that no longer fits, Maria’s story is a powerful place to begin.

Sometimes the most strategic thing you can do is simply be where your feet are.