Tiffany Sapphire
I started in this field at 18, going on 19, through a Technical Training Project program at Essex County College that was funded by pharmaceutical companies. Coming from the inner city, this gave me an opportunity to see the technical side of things that didn't have to be medical-based. I was very shy then, but this field made me step out of my shell - now I'm extremely talkative. I began as a lab technician doing bench chemistry, working with organic chemistry to review raw materials. Over 23 years, I've worked across pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, food, beverage, candy, and confections. I stayed open-minded to every opportunity, which allowed my career to grow with me. I've held positions at companies like NatureX working with natural herbal ingredients and extracts, and Strasburger Steaks where I learned about USDA inspection and SQF. At my last company, I spent four years going from Quality Manager to Director of Quality, working with macarons, dealing with allergen control, collaborating with marketing on packaging and color schemes, and navigating FDA changes. Now I'm at Schweide & Sons, a three-generation family meat company in Carlstadt, New Jersey, where I've been for almost 4 months. We manufacture different beef burger blends - Wagyu, chuck, brisket mixes, Australian beef, organic, halal, certified humane. I've learned that quality assurance is a vast field with so many applications, and the key to surviving in it is being a lifelong learner. What I love most now is building entire teams, changing cultures in a positive way, and seeing people grow. I see myself in young techs coming in, and I make sure they understand this is an entry-level position that opens doors to many opportunities.
• PCQI Certified
• SQF Certified
• Master's Degree in Educational Design
• Essex County College - Technical Training Project Program
• Bachelor's Degree in Business
• Master's Degree in Educational Design
• Students of Science - STEM Education Instructor
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to staying open-minded throughout my career and being willing to take on different opportunities across nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, food, beverage, and confections. I've been a lifelong learner, constantly recertifying with every new change in SQF and PCQI, and I just finished my master's degree in educational design to better train my teams. But my biggest achievement is really about effective communication and transformative leadership. I focus on building trust within my teams and creating a culture where people feel comfortable and confident. When people feel that way, they want to perform well. I've learned that it's not about having all the answers - it's about being bold enough to ask questions, research, gather data, and analyze it. I make sure to change the culture wherever I am in a positive way so people feel comfortable talking to me and don't feel limited in their growth. My success comes from seeing the results of that approach - the improvement in product quality, better USDA reports, reduction of nonconformances, and watching team members grow and move into supervisor roles themselves.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say to be a lifelong learner, and to maintain your inner confidence by never fearing to ask a question or admit that you don't know something. I think that's heavy on us in the quality field, because we come in the door and people expect us to have all the answers. It's not that - it's that we're the ones that are bold enough to ask the questions and go seek the information when other people don't. We don't make assumptions, we research. We ask questions, we gather the data, we analyze it, and then we do something about it. That's the role we play. It's not that we have to show up and know it all and feel that heavy pressure on us, that we have to figure it all out and make sure that it works. Things work because we put the time into research and to communicate with people to make it work.
Locations
Schweid & Sons
Orange, NJ