Her Story
About Mandy
I've been in the fire protection and public safety industry for 24 years, and it's truly been in my blood my entire life. My dad was a volunteer firefighter growing up, and my husband is a firefighter, so this field has always been part of my DNA. I'm the operations manager for Maryland Fire Equipment, a small family business where I handle the day-to-day operations, ordering fire equipment for all the fire departments in the Maryland, Virginia, and DC area. I started working here while getting my associate's degree in accounting, because I've always loved numbers and math, but once I started here, I switched to get my bachelor's in marketing. Today, I do all of the marketing for the company, including our social media and print ads. I currently manage 3 to 4 people, depending on staffing challenges. With my marketing background, I've done multiple-page technical proposals that have led to the company winning five-year contracts in our field, which I'm pretty proud of. In a small family business, we all wear quite a number of hats.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Mandy
01What do you attribute your success to?
I would attribute my success to my father, who has been a huge inspiration to me. He's been a hard worker, a volunteer firefighter, and a U.S. Marine in Vietnam. He's always just told me to go get what I want and work hard and live clean. His work ethic inspired me to do what I'm doing now. I also believe in paying attention to detail and caring about what you're doing. The values I lead with are honesty and work ethic - I put 110% into everything I do and I'm always trustworthy. I believe you don't have to have a huge title or work for a large company to be influential. You just need to be yourself and work hard in whatever industry you're in.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is to pay attention to detail and care about what you're doing. The actual quote was to give a shit, but the essence is that you need to truly care about your work and put your heart into it. This advice has guided me throughout my career.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My advice to young women entering this industry is to be yourself and don't compare yourself to others. Always do your best. There's enough out here for all of us, so when we start comparing and holding ourselves against other people, we get nowhere. Just focus on you and your own uniqueness. You don't have to have a huge title or work for a large company to be influential. You can impact and influence others just by being you and working hard in whatever industry you're in. You don't have to go to the moon or be president - even if you just change one person's life, you've made a difference.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I think the biggest challenges in our field right now are the need for more workers and the difficulty in hiring more people, which is weighing on the departments in our area. Another major challenge is the lack of respect that the public safety industry receives today compared to what it used to have back in 2001 or 2011 after 9-11. I feel like a lot of people don't respect the public safety industry as much as they should. People just need to be more kind and know that everybody in the public safety industry is here to help, even if they may not be doing it the way that people want.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The values that are most important to me in my work and personal life are honesty and work ethic. I put 110% into everything I do, and I always lead with being trustworthy. Whether the answer is going to be good or not, I'm always honest and people can count on me to be trustworthy. These values guide everything I do, both professionally and personally.
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