Her Story
About Melissa
I started my career as a cosmetologist, but as a single mom, I couldn't work weekends because daycares weren't open. A friend working at an oil and gas company said they needed people in their quality team, and I took the leap even though I knew nothing about it. I started at FMC Technologies with really good mentors who helped me, but I quickly noticed it was a male-dominant industry, and that challenged me - it made me want to learn more. Quality means you're always going upstream, and that challenge kept me driving forward. Being in the greater Houston area with so many oil and gas companies, I found that quality is the face of the company. The more I learned, the more I got hooked. I love collaborating with people and taking problems to come up with solutions, having that mindset that we're making improvements to help not only the individuals who work there but the organization as a whole. In quality, you have to have integrity - it's real easy to want to cut corners or band-aid processes to get product out the door, but you have to make the right decision at all times, not just when it's convenient. That's what really made me want to dig even more and learn more. For going on 19 years now, I've been working with several different types of standards and certifications, including ISO 9001 and API 20E. Now I'm in an enterprise-level role collaborating with 8 different sites, working with each quality team to get our quality management system aligned and functional while keeping us in compliance with ISO 9001-2015.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Melissa
01What do you attribute your success to?
My reactions and my response to everything is a testimony in itself. Most importantly, I don't know who's watching me. I don't know whose life I'm impacting, and it's very important to me to pour into other people. Not everybody is born with the drive, not everybody has a good support system, and I didn't. That's what it is for me - being an encouragement to those that may be a single mom, being an encouragement to those that may be going through cancer, being an encouragement to women that may not have a mom figure to look up to. My drive, 110%, is because what I do with my life also impacts other people, and if I can help one person who's watching me, then it's worth the pushing, it's worth fighting, it's worth the drive that you have to pull from your gut, that determination, getting up when you don't want to. Somebody is always watching, and I think that often goes unnoticed. I didn't have a support system, so I've had to learn how to navigate a lot on my own, and I think that's why it's so important for me to help others and to pour into others.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
One of the best pieces of advice I ever received was from a boss who told me, Melissa, you don't have to be the loudest voice in the room. You just need to be consistent.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
You belong here, first and foremost. Stay open to learning, stay grounded in your value. Quality is not just about systems, it's about integrity and action. When women lead with that kind of consistency, courage, and faith, we don't just participate in that industry, we actually help elevate it. And I would say integrity over convenience, consistency over comfort, and value over validation.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I always tell my team: integrity over convenience, consistency over comfort, and value over validation. Faith is also huge in my life - I'm huge in faith.
Being an encouragement to others - that's what drives me. In quality work specifically, you can't just go in and make changes because it looks good on paper. You have to be on the floor, you have to build rapport, you have to collaborate, you have to get their buy-in. When you start pouring into the people first and then you pour into the system, that's how you become more of a quality mentor and leader versus just somebody who's managing a system. I don't want to be the reason for someone to wake up and dread going into work. I want to see what's the best practice for not only the business, but for the people that have to get up and do it every day.
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