Shelley Preslar

I grew up in Minnesota and really didn't want to stay there. I wanted to travel and do different stuff, so I started in the Army National Guard as a motor transport specialist, qualified to drive anything up to a 14-ton tractor with a 40-foot trailer. I wanted to go active duty and do more, but they said no, so I ended up moving into the Marines. I was supposed to be linguistics, go into code-breaking and super awesome secret spy stuff, but the day before I left, my recruiter switched everything around and I ended up being a heavy equipment diesel mechanic in the Marines. Unfortunately, I got hurt and got out. My degree choice was Marine Biology, which took me to Florida, then to North Carolina, where I've been for my entire career. I was in grad school and saw job openings and got hired right away because of my military background. I've been here ever since, so it's actually kind of random, but I'm really excited about where I landed because patient safety is why I get up every day and why I do what I do. Just anything that ever came up, wherever I went, if opportunities arose or challenges presented themselves, I immediately rose up and said yes please, and it just kept going. That's kind of what drives me. I just always want to learn and do more and help more people, and I've been very lucky to be able to do that. I work with manufacturing companies to ensure they're doing everything the FDA requires and they're doing their due diligence to make sure the processes work. It's very rewarding what I do. I'm always about trying to give back and help people get better and do what I can to share what I've learned over the years to help other people get better at themselves, and to learn from them at the same time.