The story of Night Owl cleaning service is truly one of persistence, pushing through when the odds are against you, and being “adaptable”. Arlete Turturro was born in Sao Paolo, Brazil and moved to the U.S. with her parents. She overcame the language barrier in high school and went on to attend Fashion Institute of Technology and majored in merchandising. She took a job at B Altman’s on 5th Avenue. At 23 years of age she had risen to being the buyer in the bridal department. After her daughter was born Arlete received her real estate license. She became a marketing representative and then a marketing director.
You would think a career in fashion or real estate would be her destination, but believe it or not, she ended up in the cleaning industry. As a marketing director, one of her assignments was to hire cleaning firms for the buildings she managed. She realized she could start her own business with elbow grease instead of capital. So she rolled up her sleeves and started working after hours and weekends. She did a good job and word of mouth was her best advertiser. It took three years of elbow grease before she hired her first employee. In 1991 she incorporated her business and in 2004, Arlete was inducted into the Westchester County Business Hall of Fame as the recipient of the “Westchester County’s Women in Business Success Award.”
Key to success was hard work, persistence, willingness to work through challenges, age and gender discriminations and she has earned her successful business. Arlete discovered that hard work works.