I began my professional career as a juvenile court intake and filing secretary, which parlayed into a legal assistant's position then into legal office management and billing. After 5 years of work in the legal field preparing files for litigation, transcribing legal documents, research, billing, scheduling, data entry and general office tasks, I moved away from law to retail.
I started at the bottom in a local super center and was a department manager within a year. My duties entailed inventory management and tracking, customer service, cash handling, labor management, price adjustments, ad change-overs and sales.
With the financial decline of the super center and my pregnancy, I took time off to free lance working for an automotive retailer in inventory and sales and again working in law putting together Estate Planning Guides and litigation files.
In 2001 I took a position with a small local software development firm as a sales representative. Over the next 4 years I moved from sales, to managing payroll taxes and customer service to end user experience development and technical writing. A year prior to the division and sale of the company, I had taken the position of General Manager which entailed managing our office, sales, presentations, marketing, advertising, PR, website copy writing, management and development as well as traveling to industry trade shows and networking events.
During the last quarter of 2005 this firm was divided among shareholders and moved to Chicago. I chose not to relocate and was laid off while the company cinched up operations in Tennessee. Over the next 18 months I worked with a real estate agency and consulted for small companies such as a local wireless franchise and a men's health website based in Florida. While I enjoyed the freedom of my own schedule and a widely varying array of tasks, raising a child beckons more financial stability.
As luck would have it, one of the contacts I had acquired through networking events such as Chamber of Commerce breakfasts and local community theater, had a position available at one of her family's companies for an accounting clerk. I accepted and came to the swift realization that accounting was just the tip of the iceberg. I was soon provided with a plethora of projects to work on from website editing to sales to improving product purchases and curbing waste. After 18 months of employment I became the sales and logistics coordinator for this pallet manufacturing facility. My duties also grew to include hiring, workers comp administration and human resources.
A declining economy bit harshly into the company's profits and cuts were eminent. My position was cut, but I was transferred to a new venture within the same family of companies to fill a new opening as Operations Manager for a new furniture division. This title says it all. I managed most all operations within the facility from sales order entry to production scheduling to purchasing/inventory control & management, shipping/receiving and human resources. With our quick expansion, we soon needed more staff to focus more on those areas and I was relieved to have one title - purchasing agent. However, I was promoted to Project Coordinator in an effort to support and facilitate projects geared toward new product development, new process/ERP implementation and new customer acquisition. Due to the unforeseen loss of an existing product line, my position was eliminated after eight years with the same family of companies.
Prior to joining MTI/delfort in August 2019 to implement the new ERP system, I managed a small technology office in which I performed an array of tasks such as website development, payroll, taxes, purchasing and inventory, cost control and budgeting, sales and accounting. While managing this business, I finally completed my degree (graduated Suma Cum Laude with a BSBA), cut costs 10%, added additional services (such as web development and social media marketing) and helped implement a new monthly maintenance program. With MTI/delfort's new ERP implementation project complete, I began training in Customer Service in January 2020. In March I took the reigns as full time sole CSR following the retirement of our longest tenured and most valued CSR, Brenda Gibson. I look forward to working with and getting to know the companies that have supported this business for years and those who will take MTI/delfort into the future.