Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Palazola.
Danielle, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I am born and raised in Gloucester, MA. Graduated from Gloucester High School in 1998 and went right to Merrimack College in North Andover, MA. I graduated college in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in Business Admin and concentration in Accounting. After college I always worked in towns and cities 30 or more miles away from home. Being young it didn’t matter to me as much, I enjoyed the downtime of the ride to and from work. Finding “back roads” home was always interesting, finding new restaurants, cafes, shopping. I love shopping! I’ve worked for gasoline companies, retail companies (New Balance), medical companies (Neighborhood Diabetes then Insulet), now I work in a lumber yard as the Assistant Controller. Each company learning more and more in my field and moving up the business ladder. I’ve always had a boss that was not only a great boss but an amazing teacher as well. Two years into my position at Neighborhood Diabetes the company was bought out by a much larger publicly traded company, Insulet Corp. Everyone was moved from Woburn to Billerica, and we went from 50 employees to over 150 employees. It was a big change, especially now having to be compliant and under the SEC there were so many guidelines and restrictions. I worked long hours, sometimes being away from home 11-12 hours a day. At the time of the move in 2010, I had my son. In a years’ time him I found myself a single mother and back living with my mother in the home I grew up in. She loves having us! The hours were ruining my mother/son relationship so I was lucky my company let me work part time. The commute to Billerica, from Gloucester everyday was weighing on me too. I think I aged 10 years just from the commute alone. 2012 was a bad year for us, we had a major fire and lost everything, soon after that my grandfather passed away, and a year later I lost my other grandfather. Things were tough for a while, I was commuting, working part time, having to replace everything and paying for child care. I had amazing support in family, friends, and even co-workers. I’ve never experienced anything like a hometown, and business, come together as everyone did. It was amazing, and thinking back on it makes me tear up. There are never enough words to express how much that all meant to us. I went into a hole mentally, but pressed on because I had to, for my mother and my son. In 2016 I got an email from a recruiter for a job in my hometown for a senior accountant. I didn’t even read the job description I just said sign me up, when’s the interview. I felt blessed when I was offered the position. The company was everything I wanted, small (50 – 75 employees), private (so no SEC filings!) and there was the chance to move up in the future. My future boss and I got along instantly and I knew we were going to work well together. After 6 months she left, I was scared! I had just started, still didn’t know everything I needed to know, and now was getting a new boss. That worked out just fine! My next boss was just as great, calm, stress free, and since we were both learning I got to do stuff outside my accounting realm. I was now also Human Resources, and once in a while the IT guy. I’ve had to learn all about HR responsibilities and make decisions I never had to think about before. I was having a blast. Fast forward to today, I’m on boss #3. That came as a shock, I thought “is it me?” Boss #3 is just as great as the previous two were. We work well together and I’m still learning so much about my job, people and personalities, and figuring out where I fit, and who I am. I have the ability to be a dedicated employee, and a great mom to my son at the same time. My commute went from 3 hours a day to 30 minutes a day, and I literally feel like I’m 10 years younger. I have time to hit the gym, or exercise classes, take my son for walks after work, even cook dinner and enjoy it.
Has it been a smooth road?
Having my son in 2010, then becoming a single mother a year later, moving back to my childhood home with my mom. I’ve always had help and support from my friends and family, and my son’s father so I never considered myself a “single mom” I was a non-married mother of one. Then the fire in 2012 and rebuilding after that. Going through 3 bosses at my current job all in a 2 year time span.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I work for a lumber yard that caters to construction companies and builders. There are four stores in MA and about 70 total employees. I’m the Assistant Controller so I handle all the finances and support the CFO. I also handle Human Resources responsibilities like benefits management, payroll, retirement programs, and employee relations. Timberline does a lot for their customers, for instance we do cookouts for the contractors/customers all summer, serving hotdogs and hamburgers at every store we operate. We have had meet and greets for our customers as well so contractors can get together and help each other and also learn about new and updated tools. There’s gatherings for the employees each year which is nice since we are broken out in 4 locations it’s nice to put faces to names and meet new employees. The owner and president is very supportive of families, and helping out employees in need when needed. I seem to have a lot of fun at work, and bring a smile to the office (as some of the sales guys have asked why I’m always smiling).
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
Boston and the surrounding cities are booming but also full of history and historical homes. Since the company I work for is in the construction business it’s great for new construction and renewal projects. I don’t know if I’d recommend opening a chain of lumber yards like the ones I work for as most start out as small mom and pop shops that eventually grow over the years, but I would recommend starting another business within the city.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.tlumber.com
- Instagram: timberlineent
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