Her Story
About Michelle
I started my career in nursing, which I pursued because my parents had always wanted me to. After a few years, I decided that I didn't love that career path and went back to college to get a bachelor's degree, since I only had an associate's degree at that point. I attended Pitt State in Pittsburgh, Kansas, where I realized I was really good at numbers. I originally wanted to be a math teacher, but then I decided I didn't know if I had the patience enough for other people's kids in addition to my own. That's how I landed in finance. I joined my current company in 2020 as a cost accountant, right before COVID hit. We were there for 2 months, and then we all got sent home to work from home. Working from home with no experience was a challenge, but I worked my way up over the last 6 years. I was promoted to assistant finance manager at the end of 2024, and then at the beginning of 2025, I was promoted to Financial Reporting Manager and Inventory Control Supervisor. In my current role, I do all of the financial reporting management, cost accounting management, and inventory control supervision. I'm responsible for tracking all the inventory moves, all the finance dollar numbers related to buying and selling parts, as well as assigning a cost to a value for what it costs us to make those. I supervise all of the cycle counters who do the actual inventory counting to make sure our inventory reporting is accurate and that what we say we have in the building is accurate as well. I get to do lots of problem solving in that role, helping them figure out any discrepancies and then analyzing whatever financial impact that's going to have on our business. I still get to crunch the numbers and do all the fun analysis things, but I also get to be heavily involved with the day-to-day operations and the people, too, so I'm not just stuck behind a desk crunching numbers all day. The environment's new every day, you never know what you're going to come to work and get into, which makes it exciting.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Michelle
01What do you attribute your success to?
I have a willpower to succeed, first of all, but I also had a really good mentor in this position previously. My boss that had retired from this position would pour into me regularly, whether it was daily, weekly. She was always helping me learn the next step, and in that, I could kind of see the direction that I wanted to go. I have just really always been pushed from her to succeed and achieve whatever goals that I set. I really think as career-minded, that has shaped where I've been able to climb to in the last 6 years. She's a fantastic mentor, and she's still one of my really close friends. She just called a little bit ago, and I had to ignore her call because I was on the phone with you. She's just really poured into me from day one.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say, honestly, probably reach for the stars. When I had the opportunity to come on here as a cost accountant, I never dreamed in a million years that in 6 years later, I would be a supervisor on a staff level. Really just not doubting yourself, just being confident and saying, you know, I may not have all the answers, but I'll figure it out. And always being open to learn as you go. Always be teachable. Criticism doesn't mean it's bad, it can be good. Constructive criticism's always a good thing.
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