We're pleased to feature Nicole Andre in this edition of Flexible Pack's Employee Spotlight. We had the pleasure of sitting down with her recently. It was great diving in to learn more about Nicole both professionally and personally.
We hope you enjoy getting to know her.
Tell Us About Yourself
Nicole grew up in Walpole, MA and graduated from the University of Massachusetts (Dartmouth) with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree. Currently, Nicole and her husband of just over a month, live in North Attleboro, MA with their two cats, Hope and Bindi who are blind.
Nicole and her husband Nick wed in September after postponing the event three times due to the pandemic. They decided to move forward with an intimate, socially distanced ceremony and look forward to a reception next summer with more of their family and friends. The couple met about 8 years ago when they were both Resident Adviser's (RA's) at UMass. They have been together for about 5 years. Nick works in Cyber Security and is a member of the National Guard. Thank you for your service Nick!
What is your role at Flexible Pack?
Nicole is the Quality and Compliance Manager. She has been with the Company just under two years. A big component of her role is root cause analysis. Nicole said it's exciting because essentially she's putting puzzle pieces together to create a full picture. She calls herself "a professional problem solver" and says this is her favorite part of the job. She loves being an integral part of process improvement and implementing best practices based on internal data and trends. Nicole's work is very much behind the scenes at Flexible Pack. However, it's important that we note that it is a key position that requires attention to detail and an unwavering commitment to figuring things out.
What Is Your Proudest Moment at Flexible Pack?
Nicole is currently spearheading a project that involves a completely separate workflow from the normal day-to-day operations. Everything is new from the employees, to the equipment and the processes. The project has been a large focus of Nicole's time for about 5 months and it will continue to require her attention for months to come. Nicole's excitement around the success of the project was unmistakable - even behind her face mask - and we look forward to watching that success continue!
What Do You Enjoy Doing Outside of Work?
"I love artsy stuff". Nicole's BFA's is in design and she minored in drawing. She said that she is forever drawing whether that's doodling or creating portraits, and she clearly has a huge talent as evidenced by the images she shared. It's been a lifelong admiration of hers. Nicole is also passionate about something we learned is called, scratchboard. In its most simplistic form, Nicole explained that she uses scratch marks to create really beautiful, intricate pieces. She provided us an example of scratchboard in her seashell piece.
When we probed a little further, Nicole admitted that she has another passion - playing Animal Crossing. She went on to say that it's lame, but we disagree. Of all the guilty pleasures, playing 45 minutes of Nintendo a day is hardly something to be embarrassed about!
What Is Your Personal Mantra?
"You are where you are supposed to be". Nicole shared that her mom has always reminded her of this..."take a step back, breathe, you are where you need to be, you just need to work through it". It's so clear that Nicole's mom is a huge part of her life, during our chat she said, "I love my mom".
We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Nicole a little more. We're so grateful for her time and Flexible Pack is so fortunate to have an employee like her. Keep up the great work Nicole!
