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Debbie with her family on vacation at Yosemite National Park.
Howdy all! Today on The Works we’re going to switch it up a bit. Instead of posting about fabric, patterns, and sewing tutorials, let’s take this opportunity to put the spotlight on the amazing people that work here at Clothworks. Most of you reading this blog already have some form of contact with maybe one or two of the team members. You may know us by name–that person on the other end of the phone line or that person you email with back & forth on a daily basis. But have you ever wondered what we look like and what type of a person each of us is? At the end of each month here on The Works, we’ll showcase a different team member in this special segment highlighting the behind-the-scenes world of the Clothworks team members. Allow me to introduce you to the Wonderful Folks of the Works!
Family: it’s a word synonymous with our tightly-woven team here at Clothworks. We spend a big chunk of our time together delivering classic, high quality fabric, assisting with your fabric orders, shipping your fabric in a timely manner, and helping you keep your account current. And much like a family, we cook & eat together, take care of each other, carpool together, do the crossword together, and most of all, have fun together! Family is also very important to one of our team members at Clothworks. I’d like to introduce you to Debbie, the Shipper.
About 6 years ago, Debbie was working at her previous job that demanded her to work weekends and evenings on top of her regular day shift. All of the overtime was starting to cut into Debbie’s personal life, especially the precious time she spent with her family. With her daughter being just a toddler, Debbie was concerned she’d miss out on all of the lovely moments watching her daughter grow. This was a motivating factor for finding a new job at a company that allowed for a healthy work/life balance. After doing some research, she found that Clothworks provided an environment allowing Debbie to easily juggle her roles as mother of a 2 year old and employee in a fabric wholesale company. It was a win-win situation: Clothworks was a good fit for Debbie’s lifestyle and Debbie’s can-do spirit fit well into the Clothworks work ethic.
Upon joining the Clothworks team, Debbie became a picker & shipper, but over time, has taken on many more tasks that are not specifically shipping-oriented. Her main responsibility at Clothworks is to ship out fabric orders to all of our customers–from your favorite mom & pop quilt shop to the distributors dotting the globe! She picks the fabric, boxes it up with our free patterns, and arranges shipments with the freight carriers. Not only does she manage the shipping end, but she keeps the upstairs warehouse tidy & well-organized, also assisting customers who come by to shop the warehouse. Debbie is not a force to be reckoned with—she is a Multi-Tasking Powerhouse! I have seen her pick orders of 100+ fabric bolts, as well as run around the building doing maintenance repairs, all in a day’s work! On typical days, you’ll always see Debbie running around in her tennies, tackling whatever the day throws her way. No matter what kind of day it is– fast-paced or relaxed, Debbie faces it with a get-‘er-done attitude! Watch out! The girl has moxie, muscles, a drill, and is not afraid to use them!
You’d think with all that running around and lifting of heavy boxes, Debbie would be pooped at the end of the day! Not such the case here! In her free time, Debbie is a quilter and currently working on 2 projects. I guess that explains her favorite part of working at Clothworks– getting first dibs on sale fabric! Reading is another activity that Debbie enjoys– I always see her in the lunchroom with a book in her hand. But above all, hanging out with her family is Debbie’s most favorite activity. And if she was stranded on a desert island, the one thing that she could not live without….would be her daughter Reegan!
Debbie’s current quilt blocks shown as a collage. Can you spot the Clothworks fabric?
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Very fascinating portrait. I love to read about people from the industry and their lives. Makes for a very interesting perspective. Really enjoyed your account of Debbie and look forward to the next post in this series.