Her Story
About Maggie
I've been in municipal government for 18 years and in my current role in utility billing for 14 years. When I started at the city, I was just the receptionist, and then as opportunities arose, I took them to gather knowledge. I eventually ended up back in the department where I started, but as the manager. Before working in municipal government, I worked in the sheet metal industry with Barrage Manufacturing, who does all kinds of sheet metal, so that was really cool to see how that was. Right out of high school, I worked at a daycare, and I learned more about interactions with people from those sweet little children than I could have ever imagined learning from any other means. My main area of expertise today is customer service and utility billing, working with water usage with residents and commercial businesses. I collaborate with my team about the right way to handle residents, and if a resident makes it to me, it's because they are out of options and very unhappy, so I've got to try to find a way to not only follow our policy, but make sure that our resident is happy by the time we get off the phone. I work alongside my finance director to make sure that we are billing properly and charging properly, and with our utility techs to make sure meters are in the ground and functioning, so that we can not only get billed from who we purchase our water from correctly, but bill our residents properly.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Maggie
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to having a good circle of people around me. I'm very close with my sister and my mom. My aunt was in municipal government, so she absolutely set the stage for learning about this kind of life. I have an amazing husband who is with me through my ups and downs. My grandparents are very important to me, and I have a good group of friends in my field that we share our frustrations and our celebrations together, and it makes it that much more special.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've received is to try your best to let it roll off your back. It's so important to remember, because people are mean, and it's hard to not take it personally when they're having a bad day.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Take it a day at a time, and there is nothing wrong with showing emotion. It makes you human.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenges I've faced are being a woman in the field of water, even though I'm on the administrative side of it. It's really difficult. I've been doing this a lot of years. I can look at a leak and say that it's more than likely it's a toilet, or it's probably a sprinkler system, and until, unfortunately, a man comes up and says the exact same thing, I don't get believed. That's really hard. And college education is so important, but it's not the only way to be successful, so a lot of people automatically assume I'm not, I shouldn't be at the table because I don't have that college education. But I've done the work, even if I don't have a piece of paper saying I'm smart. I know I'm smart. As for opportunities in our field, it's just the growth. We have so many new things that are happening, especially in this area of Texas. We're growing like crazy. Lots of things that we have to be prepared for. My team is growing, the city that I work for, what it looked like when I started 18 years ago to where it is now, we've almost quadrupled in size of staff. So, just learning the ins and outs, and working towards possibly getting a water license, so that when this chapter of my life is over, I can start something a little different, but still in the same field.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Accountability is huge for me. It's something that, over the last few years especially, I've really, really taken to heart, and then integrity, making sure that I am showing my son what both of those values look like, so that he can be a functioning member of society, so that my peers can say, you know what, if she can do it, I can do it too. Holding each other accountable, making sure we're doing the right things, holding ourselves accountable. Whether people are watching or not, doing the right thing, because that's important, whether there's an audience or it's just you.
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