I am in such awe by my two right hand women who work by my side (online) on a daily basis. Nichole is a mother of four, AND home schools her darling daughters. Jessica is mother of two adorable boys, including a newborn! I am a mother of three, my two girls are out of the house in college and grad school, and my son is a senior in high school. I used to work full time in NYC as a young designer but I always had a full time nanny. As mothers we are constantly multitasking, running a household, raising our children, and pursuing our professional careers. When I get a peek of one of Nichole’s little girls during a zoom meeting in the background, or hear a little burp from Jessica’s baby boy, I am reminded of how much they are doing outside of their working hours with Modern Metal. It’s truly inspiring. It is a privilege and honor to run a company that employs such strong and talented multitasking mothers.
This week Modern Metal was insanely busy and all of us were tackling projects, some fires, and lots of new requests. We were juggling many balls at once, jumping from the technicalities of specification sheets, providing rush quotes, and shipping oversized crates of heavy metal across the country. It’s often like this, a lot at once (all in my head at once too) and I am so thankful that Jessica and Nichole don’t even need me to delegate. They immediately pick up the slack without me asking and do their jobs with tremendous skill, care and focus. This week in particular I was in awe, which is why I’m choosing to write about these incredible women.
The Hard Working Moms of Modern Metal
Today, with their permission, I asked them the following question, “How it is working for Modern Metal and being a full time mom? ” Here’s what they shared with me:
Nichole: “I love working for Modern Metal because we are a team of women who understand that we have kids and we’re all working with our children’s schedule but trying to make sure that every clients needs are met in a timely manner. When one of us has some thing going on, there’s always a team member who can help out. The flexibility this job has offered, has afforded me the ability to homeschool my girls and work, has been wonderful. My girls feel like they are part of team modern metal also from getting to see how design happens to seeing projects be shipped and installed they’ve seen it all.”
Jessica: “It’s always been my dream to have a family and a career. Working for Annie at Modern Metal makes that possible, heck, it’s even enjoyable and dare I say FUN! I’m so fortunate to have a loving and supportive home life and I can’t believe I get to say that about my work life too. As a part of the #dreamteam, I am able to design a life that I love, be present for my family, as well as contribute to an organization and hone my skills.
It doesn’t mean that there aren’t stressful days or times I’m not juggling a million ideas in my head – but to me, it’s all worth it for this life that I love and all of the people I get to share my days with.”
If you haven’t had a chance to meet Jessica or Nichole via email, zoom or phone, I encourage you to do so!
Jessica is our Project Manager. This means she handles the technicalities of the project from start to finish. As soon as we receive your order, and often even before, Jessica is managing our CAD team to get a specification sheet to you, and advising our customers on technical issues. Thankfully she’s incredibly focused, as this is very tedious and a crucial aspect to what we do, making sure the measurements, pattern, metal and mechanics work. Metal is not forgiving so every detail has to be precise and well thought out in advance. Jessica is far better than I am at reading architectural plans, understanding construction, framing, welding etc.; I am completely reliant on her masterful expertise. Once a piece hits the production floor, she’s in constant contact with the fabricators and finishers to make sure all is smooth, on time, and correct. Jessica has developed wonderful relationships with our manufacturers, which is reflected in the high quality of the finished product. I am proud to have her as our Modern Metal ambassador for all things production, and without hesitation, always encourage clients to discuss any tricky questions with her.
Nichole is our Operations Manager. She is the person who is behind the numbers! She’s writing out all of our estimates, which is a huge responsibility. This requires a lot of attention to detail, strong skills in math, and advanced knowledge of our computing and billing program. Our estimates are not automatic in any way. Since we are a small company, I am also involved in the process so Nichole and I are always making sure the appropriate discount is applied and trying to find ways to save you money, while making sure we are making enough to cover our expenses. This is truly quite tricky! Her patience is tremendous as I often need her to walk me through the math. Nichole also coordinates all of our shipping. Can you imagine trying to figure out the best safest way to package, ship and coordinate panels of heavy metal? She’s frequently accommodating clients with white glove delivery, discussing options with brokers, and making sure all standard deliveries with FedEx and UPS get delivered safely and on time. She also manages the inspection of product before it is shipped and coordinates releasing shipments once the order passes quality control. It’s a ton of work, and she always has a positive attitude!
As I write this, I’m getting my hair cut and colored, Nichole is at the dentist and Jessica is either picking up her toddler from day care or creating one of her own original pieces of art at The Willits Way. A day in the life of multitasking moms at Modern Metal!
