International Women’s Day – Celebrating Women Across Apogee
International Women’s Day was celebrated earlier this month on March 8 to recognize the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. Apogee is especially grateful for the women within our organization—who have made meaningful contributions within our business, and in their families and local communities. We wanted to take this opportunity to highlight a few of them to call attention to their success, leadership, and inspiration. Thank you to these women – and all women across our organization – for delivering tremendous value and playing a vital role in our success.
Keyera, Project Manager
What is the biggest factor that has helped you be successful?
Asking questions even when they seem silly and putting myself out there to help with tasks that may be outside my comfort zone so that I can learn and grow and next time maybe not have to ask the question.
What’s one key lesson you have learned in your career?
Put your ego aside and ask for help when you need it. I never pretend to know more than I do and I will ALWAYS ask someone who is more experienced for help so that I can make sure whatever I am doing gets done right!
What is your favorite quote?
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” ~Milton Berle
What is something people might be surprised to learn about you?
I have my own business – I am a pediatric sleep consultant.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I enjoy crocheting and knitting outside of work as well as spending time outside with my son.
Maggie Kirchoff, VP of Finance
What is the biggest factor that has helped you be successful?
Having a strong level of authenticity, ownership, and accountability in what I do – I try to always deliver on doing what I say. Walking the talk.
What’s the best professional advice you’ve been given in your career?
Very early in my public accounting days, I was told that my job is to do anything I can to make my boss’ life easier. I think about that comment all the time – I think it scared me at the time, but it planted the seed for me to bring a solution-oriented mindset to my problems – to focus on bringing forward solutions, ideas, find ways to help, etc.
What’s one key lesson you have learned in your career?
I am learning every day – my mindset is one of continuous improvement – I try to apply this to everything I do to ensure what my team and I are delivering is adding value to our organization’s goals and priorities.
What is your favorite quote?
It’s hard to narrow it down to one, so here are a few: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” ~Wayne Gretzky “Success is never final; failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.” ~John Wooden “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” ~Ferris Bueller
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
After a year of pandemic life, I truly started to focus more on my mental health and well-being about a year ago – I try to do some form of exercise every day (I love my Peloton), I read to my kids every night, and I love to cook, read, and spend time with friends and family. But most of my time outside of work is spent driving my kids and their friends places and cheering them on in their various activities.
Shelby Froehling, Advanced Engineer
What is the biggest factor that has helped you be successful?
A strong support network. This includes my family and friends, as well as manager and colleagues. Being successful at work has been made a lot easier with encouragement and solid advice from those in my personal life.
What’s the best professional advice you’ve been given in your career?
Trust, but verify.
What’s one key lesson you have learned in your career?
I’ve learned that people will respect you more for owning up to mistakes rather than pretending to never make any. Also, the “silly” question you don’t want to ask in a meeting is probably on someone else’s mind too, so go ahead and ask it.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Volleyball, soccer, paddle boarding, or anything outdoors when the weather is nice. When Minnesota winters are in full force, I enjoy playing piano and gaming online with my husband and our friends.
What is your proudest accomplishment in your career?
Completing development work to achieve solutions for expanded geographical VTS (Viracon Thermal Spacer) offerings.
Kimberley Kupreisis, Director of Operations
What is the biggest factor that has helped you be successful?
Positivity. I believe that pride is a consequence of positivity, practice, and praise. “Positivity & Pride is a contagion; be infectious!”
What is your favorite quote?
“Communication whether favorable or unfavorable is at least heard; what is done with it, is up to the listener.”
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I create cooking videos of dishes I like to prepare. My children, nieces, nephews, brother, sisters, and many others look to my videos for family recipes. Preparing a meal or dish without a recipe is possible by just watching one of my videos where it’s easy to follow along. Whatstewingdotcom.com on YouTube. One of my videos has over 107,000 views.
What is your proudest accomplishment in your career?
“The Liaison Program” is an in-depth program that encompasses the entire team and unites every person in the program, while creating personal, organizational, and professional engagement, including improved accountability and sustainability. The Liaison Program equally, yet serendipitously causes the CI Program to maintain itself with minimal guidance. The McCook team has been successfully utilizing the Liaison Program for the past nine years.
Aga Kadej, Director, Business Relationship Management
What is the biggest factor that has helped you be successful?
There are really two parts to it – I genuinely enjoy learning new things, and I can adapt to change quickly. I also recognize that my success is always part of a bigger team effort, and good teams are built on trust. So when I say I’ll do something, I always try to keep my word and build that trust with the people I work with.
What’s the best professional advice you’ve been given in your career?
When you encounter a complex problem that you can’t solve right away – learn to step away and take a break, then give it another try. Sometimes when you’re desperately trying to solve something, it’s hard to think clearly. Taking a break and coming back to it with a fresh mind works like a charm every time.
What is your favorite quote?
“You’re not pizza. You can’t make everyone happy.” This quote falls into the “not too serious” category but it makes dealing with competing priorities and/or making hard decisions a little bit easier.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Being active outdoors with my family. Hiking in the mountains is the top of my list, but if I can’t do that, I’ll happily go skiing, camping, biking, canoeing, etc.
Karla Funes, Senior HR Systems Analyst
What is the biggest factor that has helped you be successful?
Determination: I come from a background where females are not expected to be successful professionally. My family and I left my home country when I was in my early teens. I decided that the sacrifice and opportunity my mother had given me for a better future would not be wasted. I’ve pushed myself to be better, grow and learn as much as possible not only professionally but as a person. I’m a firm believer that the challenges we overcome in our lives are what define us. It is up to each of us to be successful or not, no one else will make the opportunity—you have to seek it!
What’s the best professional advice you’ve been given in your career?
I have a received a lot of good professional advice from many of my mentors, but I have three that have stuck with me from the beginning of my career:
- Pay attention to the details to be sure your work is accurate.
- Before you provide advice, put yourself in the shoes of the recipient to suggest improvements.
- Reflect on where you get your energy at work and what type of work you enjoy most to match that with the type of job you seek.
What’s one key lesson you have learned in your career?
To be transparent: leading with openness and honesty builds trust. To err is human, and no one is perfect. Owning up to mistakes and reflecting and learning from those mistakes is what helps us be better. People respect honesty and if others can trust you, you can be a great force of influence.
What is something people might be surprised to learn about you?
I was born in one of the smallest countries in the world, El Salvador.
Lisa May, Manager, Architectural Design
What is the biggest factor that has helped you be successful?
Throughout my career at Wausau, I have been fortunate to have great leaders who have aided in my skill development, provided support and encouragement in my advancement to various roles in Engineering and Sales.
What’s the best professional advice you’ve been given in your career?
Early on in my career, I was reminded that learning never stops and to continuously seek to improve. I embraced that and strive to be the best that I can be by taking it upon myself to seize every learning opportunity and be open to others' feedback.
What’s one key lesson you have learned in your career?
With commitment and teamwork, you can achieve what you set out to do. Whether working on a project or initiative as a team member or leading a team, trust and commitment are necessary for results.
What is something people might be surprised to learn about you?
Before joining Wausau, I worked at Nanik, a former Apogee business unit, designing the specialty shape wood window blinds.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with family. I have three teenagers, twin boys and a daughter, who are active in sports so I’ll probably be found at the hockey rink, baseball field, or volleyball court. When possible, I squeeze in a round of golf.
What is your proudest accomplishment in your career?
I’m most proud that I’ve been able to manage a work-life balance in a successful career that has enabled me to meet great people and work on projects across the country. Also that I’m in a management role, where I can have a positive influence on other associates for a long, successful career within Apogee.
Christy Alvord, Apogee Board Member
What is the biggest factor that has helped you be successful?
As an individual, being curious and always seeking to learn new things. As a leader, building strong, diverse teams and listening intently.
What’s the best professional advice you’ve been given in your career?
To be myself. Honestly, I have gotten far more advice to be someone else — to dress differently, to behave differently, to lead differently — all in ways that would have been inauthentic for me. I’m sure I’m not alone in that experience. I’ve found it best to ignore the superficial items while looking for elements of the feedback that are valid. I work hard to improve upon those things in a way that is effective for me.
What’s one key lesson you have learned in your career?
It’s important to know what you know, and, even more critically, to know what you don’t know. Be humble, ask questions, create an environment where people speak up and disagree constructively. That doesn’t mean that you should lack discipline, direction, or rigor — you need all of that too. But the more senior you get, the easier it is to be out of touch, and the harder you have to work to truly understand what is happening in your business where it matters most: the shop floor and the customer interface.
What is your favorite quote?
There are so many! Given that it is Women’s History Month, here are two: "Fight for the things that you care about but do it in a way that will lead others to join you” from Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And from Madeleine Albright: “There’s a special place in hell for women who don’t help each other,” which she further explained: “… women have an obligation to help one another. In a society where women often feel pressured to tear one another down, our saving grace lies in our willingness to lift one another up."
What is something people might be surprised to learn about you?
I lived and worked in Poland in the mid-90’s.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
This has always been a hard question for me as a working mom. My highest priority outside of work is our kids. There’s only so much time in the day and being present in their lives has been rewarding for me (most days!).
What is your proudest accomplishment in your career?
There were some fantastic operational turnarounds, record-beating years and great business initiatives that felt great in the moment. But, as I look back, it’s all about the people. The thing that makes me most proud is hearing that I made a difference — that people felt valued, that they were able to be themselves at their best, that they felt part of something bigger, and that we had a lot of fun when we worked together.