Michelle Nielsen

Profile of Team Member – Michelle Nielsen

“Building an exceptional company is the result of building exceptional teams with exceptional people.”

Team 1 Plastics, a plastic injection molding company for the mobility industry, has been and continues to be a successful company because of our exceptional team. Today, we will introduce one of these exceptional people, Michelle Nielsen, as we continue a series of articles profiling our team members.

Name: Michelle Nielsen

Current Position: Warehouse Assistant

Other Positions Held: Production Assistant

Date of Hire: 1/23/2018

What is your favorite story or memory during your time working at Team 1?
For Michelle, it’s the people at Team 1 that are memorable.  “The people are just great and very family oriented. I really like that about the company.”  She shared an example, mentioning how Marcus Battin helped her on a day in which she was struggling. “I was having a bad day, and Marcus came up to me.  He made sure I was okay and then he made me laugh.  That just made my day so much better.  Marcus is a great guy and very caring.”  She said that this particular incident was so memorable because “it made me feel like I was part of a family. It was really nice.”

How has Team 1 helped your personal and/or professional development?
Michelle shared how working at Team 1 helped her personally after the death of her youngest daughter.  “Team 1 was the first job that I had after she passed away.”  She explained that for a year following her daughter’s death, she had become like a hermit.  “I wouldn’t work.  I wouldn’t go anywhere.  I wouldn’t talk to anybody.”  Having the job at Team 1 helped her get out of the house, and became an important step in the healing process. “It was like a step forward for me.  It was the next step of progression to move on.  It was really nice to work somewhere, and I started to open up and become social again.”

What is your favorite aspect of working at Team 1?
“I like my job.  I like the people I work with.  I love to work there.  For me, it’s always, I don’t want to go to work, but then you get there, and it’s okay.”  She said that at Team 1, there’s always somebody to encourage you.  And, it’s the people that she’s missed while she has not been working during Michigan’s “Stay Home, Stay Safe” order.  “I just miss the people that I work with, and I’m definitely itching to go back!”

What do you want to share about your life outside of Team 1?
Michelle has two adult children – a son who is 21 years old and a 19-year old daughter – whom she describes as “awesome kids.”  She also has “five bonus kids and ten bonus grandkids.  They are fantastic! They are my heart. They just make me so happy.”  Michelle is a crafter and makes a wide variety of items.  For instance, she just finished a tabletop that was made out of bottlecaps, and she “makes a lot of things out of Mason jars.”  She and some friends were planning to sell their wares at craft shows this year.  Unfortunately, most of the shows have been canceled due to health safety concerns surrounding Covid-19.  Other interests include reading, kayaking, paintings, and attending semi-truck races.  She plans to attend the Big Rig Challenge in Onaway, Michigan, later this summer.  But, it is music that she describes as her “outlet.” “My dad used to play guitar, and we’d wake up every Sunday morning with him playing the guitar for us.  So, music is a huge, huge part of my life.”  Although she listens to all types of genre, classic rock is her favorite, especially Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Do you have any advice and/or encouragement for future Team 1 team members?
Michelle’s advice for new Team Members, especially Production Assistants, is to “learn as much as you can, and pay special attention to the details.”  She said that the position of Production Assistant is “not really a hard job.  It’s really not.  You just have to learn it.”

Now for a totally random question:
If you could learn any language fluently, what would it be?
“French” was Michelle’s answer because, “That is my background.  My mother’s side is French.”  She said that she does know some words, but “I don’t know enough.”  Her mother had a French dictionary that has been passed on to Michelle, but she admitted that she doesn’t look at it because “it’s like, how would you say that word? I think it’s a very romantic language, and I love to hear it.”  Then, added laughing, “But, it may not sound that romantic coming out of me.”