We are greater together

What is your name, title, and how long have you worked for QuarterLine? 

My name is Terri Jefferson and I have worked for QuarterLine since 2009 

 

How has your role shifted and adjusted during your time at QuarterLine?   

Yes, my role has shifted and adjusted since I started at QuarterLine in 2009.  I started work as the Director of Finance.  Then, took over as the Director of Operations after my first year and have been working ops ever since.   

 

What advice would you give to a student wishing to start their career in your field? 

For anyone starting out in their career, regardless of what field they are going into, I recommend being willing to hit the ground running, being willing to learn whatever anyone will teach them, learn how everything in the company works, how to break it and how to put it back together.   

   

What challenges have you faced in your career, and how have you overcome them? 

Challenges in my career include working with a very small staff and a very small budget (derived working for a small business the last half of my career).  To overcome the challenges of a small team working with a small budget to solve big expensive problems, I have learned to gain efficiency wherever it is possible.  A little here and there goes a long way.  I have also learned that in order to overcome these challenges such as the ones I listed above, your team also has to be dedicated to keeping up that efficiency goal and working towards the same end result.  Our QuarterLine team, full of assertive and professional women, has always worked very closely towards the same goal, affording our small team the efficiency needed to solve big problems on a small budget. 

 

What do you like to do outside of work?

 I love to be outside.  My favorite hobby is programming excel workbooks (nerd alert). 

 

What motivates you to come to work each day?   

I absolutely love my team and my  job, and the military customers and patients that benefit from our services.  These military members (with the support of their families) protect our freedom every day and this is a very small way that I can contribute. 

 

Who has most influenced you in your life and/or career? 

My granny-May Payne- is the woman in my life that has most influenced my work ethic and in turn, my life and career.  She was a single mother of a toddler in the 1950s.  She worked hard to manage her own career and her son (my father), while also helping with her 18 brothers and sisters’ family’s needs.  She was the next to the youngest child, who lost her father when she was 8 years old.  She survived 3 different bouts with cancer, while working, helping family, and taking care of her own child.  I never heard her complain once, she was always helping someone, and karma awarded her with the ability retire early due to that hard work and dedication.  During her early retirement, she took care of me.  I was exposed to this amazing person and her work ethic daily which makes her by far the most influential woman that ever has and ever will be in my life.