How old are you and what did you do before this?
I’m 25 years old. I was working on dashboards for Chrysler on an assembly line and had been doing it for about 10 months, but still hadn’t been hired on full-time and that’s what I wanted, so I began looking for something else.
This is opposite of the work environment I used to be in. Here you sit down, there you stand up, here it’s quiet, there it’s loud. Here it’s more concentration, and there it was more hands-on hard work versus using your brain. I like the quiet environment here.
Once I repaired my first watch that’s when I first started really liking it. I mean I always loved it, but once I learned how to actually repair a watch that’s when I knew I had found my calling.
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Inspecting a watch’s movement inside the watch factory.
What do you do outside of work?
I take care of my kids and pick them up from school or drop them off. I have two daughters, who are 5 and 3, Amaya and Ariana.
What is your favorite memory from working at Shinola?
When Shinola sent me to Switzerland that was life changing. I went last March and was there for two weeks. One week we were there to support the company at Baselworld and the other half I was at Ronda (our Swiss partners who provide our movement components) headquarters learning and observing and taking notes.
When we were in Switzerland the main thing I remember is Tom (Shinola’s founder). We had a huge dinner with the owners of Ronda, and I sat in between Tom and Georgio Armani’s nephew. He made us stand up and introduced each of us and he just made us feel like a real part of the company.
Just working at a company and knowing the founder knows me by name, that alone is one of the best parts.
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The final check operation on the movement line.
This interview is part of a new series called JOBS that highlights the people that make Shinola tick. Find their stories right here on The Journal or on our Jobs page.
Nearly all of Shinola Products are Built in the US with US or Imported Parts