Employee Spotlight: Athena Spencer, Scientist 1 Video Transcript
Employee Spotlight: Athena Spencer, Scientist 1 Video Transcript
Acoustic guitar and piano music plays. QualiChem Water Treatment logo appears on a white background.
Scenery: A woman with glasses and short brown hair in a blue button down QualiChem shirt appears on screen. She is seated before a lab table bearing scientific equipment and computers and she addresses the camera.
Athena Spencer: So, my name is Athena Spencer.
On screen text: Athena Spencer, Scientist 1, Analytical and Product Development Chemist.
Athena Spencer: I’m a Scientist 1 here at QualiChem. I’ve been with the company for nine years, and I have a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Carlow University.
Prior to working at QualiChem, I worked at an independent testing laboratory for six years and have some experience in the field of manufacturing TNT prior to that.
Scenery: Athena wears a white lab coat and does work at her station.
Athena Spencer: I started at QualiChem as a developmental chemist, and I worked my way up in the
Scenery: Athena is sitting before a lab table and addressing the camera.
Athena Spencer: company by taking on more responsibilities and really focusing on different projects that were outside of the laboratory as well. My previous experience was at an independent testing laboratory, so I came
Scenery: Athena wears a lab coat and gloves and pushes buttons on a machine.
Athena Spencer: to QualiChem with a lot of analytical experience, and I was really able to bring more analytical testing capabilities to QualiChem.
Scenery: Athena is sitting before a lab table and addressing the camera.
Athena Spencer: I also, in that prior role, it was an FDA-regulated laboratory, so there was a lot of rigor. So I was able to bring some of the rigor and validation work that was done there to QualiChem.
My day-to-day responsibilities at QualiChem include working on new products,
Scenery: Athena wears a lab coat and gloves and weighs liquid on a scale.
Athena Spencer: helping vet new raw materials and find substitutions for raw materials.
I also oversee all of our analytical instrumentation to make sure that’s operating properly, handling
Scenery: Athena is sitting before a lab table and addressing the camera.
Athena Spencer: any issues that might arise with that.
Scenery: Up close of vials containing blue and purple liquids.
Athena Spencer: Making sure that the samples are getting analyzed
Scenery: Athena sits at a computer and uses the mouse.
Athena Spencer: and reported appropriately. I also troubleshoot
Scenery: A forklift drives through a QualiChem warehouse.
Athena Spencer: any manufacturing issues that might arise, as well as any
Scenery: Up close of liquid being poured into a large industrial mixer.
Athena Spencer: QC issues that we encounter day to day.
Scenery: Athena is sitting before a lab table and addressing the camera.
Athena Spencer: When I came to work at QualiChem, I was just looking to make a change in my life. I was looking to get into the manufacturing environment because I’ve always been drawn to that since I had an internship in college in that field.
When I interviewed here, I knew that the people were really nice and I seemed to just fit in right away. I was drawn to the company because they really promoted a good work-life balance, which was important to me at the time. It’s something that I still value working here at QualiChem.
Scenery: Up close of someone in gloves preparing a sample for testing.
Athena Spencer: I really enjoy the people that I work with, I feel like I’m making a difference and I feel that I’m heard here, which
Scenery: Athena is sitting before a lab table and addressing the camera.
Athena Spencer: is not true of all of my past jobs. So, a few projects that I’ve been a part of that really stand out to me are bringing the filming amine product line to life here at QualiChem. That was a little bit outside of our normal raw material usage, as well as thinking about how to treat the cooling towers and boilers a little bit differently than we normally do.
I’m also quite proud of all of the analytical capabilities that I’ve had a part in bringing to QualiChem. We’re able to utilize those to troubleshoot problems in the field and really help our customers.
I also participated in a project where we took all of our QC data and were able to tie that in to our ERP system. That was a big undertaking, but it really just kind of brings the whole process together in one place.
Outside of the lab, I’m the Director of a local non-profit, Girls on the Run Roanoke Valley. We are a program for girls in 3rd-8th grade that focuses on social and emotional learning skills while creatively integrating running. I got involved in that because I myself am a runner, I’ve run multiple marathons and a few ultras.
Blue background fades in. White on screen text reads: The Blender Matters.
White background fades in. QualiChem Water Treatment logo appears.
Fade to black.
Music ends.