April Sargeant, owner of American Garage Door and Openers on the Central Coast in California, has been around the business for more than 20 years ever since her father opened in 1992.

“I was in high school and was not extremely involved in the business, but I grew up around it.”

She learned more about the business from him over the years, but it wasn’t until after he passed away in January of 2015 when she took over and continued what he started.

“I’ve done some things to help get the business more up-to-date such as setting my cell phone up so that people can pay with their credit cards, and I do all of my own marketing and advertising. But when it comes to the people and the business as a whole, I have tried to keep it the same.

“My main mentor, who worked with my dad, still works with me, and he’s helped me out a lot when it came to training me on the installations. A lot of the same people who were around when my dad was here are also still around.”

Owning and managing a garage door company, although in the family, wasn’t always the path April was taking in her career.


“I’ve had a lot of jobs. I taught modeling, worked for Corporate America and worked as a waitress for a long time, but I like what I do now the most.

“My favorite part of my job is the challenge of solving issues that people have when I go on a job. Every job has a different issue, and I like figuring out how to solve it.”

Overall, April likes to stay busy in all facets of her life.

“I am involved in the Santa Maria Women’s Network, which is a network of women who own businesses in the community. We provide support for each other and it provides resources for women to help raise money for things like scholarships.”