TIME TO READ: 2 Minutes Women in Print, Q & A with Heidi Bollin

Celebrate Women in Print as a part of Women’s History Month 2022

Here is a Q & A with Heidi Bollin, President of Bollin Label.

Any advice for young women entering the workforce in the print industry?

1. Find your mentor, male or female. The person who will champion you, help you see your blind spots, and introduce you to other key people in the field.
2. Your technical knowledge is the foundation of your work, but the soft skills (EQ, critical thinking, customer service focus, collaboration, attitude, trustworthiness, etc.) is what will make you invaluable.
3. Don’t get hung up on what you thought your life would look like. Things can change and you may find that your old dreams don’t fit anymore. The person you were at 18 shouldn’t be the only one to decide what you’ll be when you’re 40, or 50 or 60! Be open to cross training, looking for previously unconsidered opportunities, and transferring your skills in new ways. Your ability to grow and adapt will make you a key person in any organization. Plus you might just find your happy place that you didn’t know existed before.

How were you helped along the way with career development? And how did your mentors help?

Finding successful colleagues to emulate. I have also learned a lot watching for what NOT to do. Constantly looking for more information to make the best decisions like seminars, compliance updates, articles from relevant sources, third party administrators, peer groups, professional partners, etc. The more you know about a topic you quickly realize how much you DON’T know. Lean on others to help you stay current.

Mentors helped me see what my colleagues were too polite to say. (You can’t grow when you don’t get candid feedback.) They also helped connect me to the right people at the right time to widen my network in the areas that I needed support.

What is the best part about your job?

I love that I get to solve problems every day. An issue might seem contained to a single process initially, but because my vantage point is wider, I can work to find the root cause and influence change to fix a system wide concern. I love bringing different departments together to make improvements and build comradery. I love removing barriers for colleagues so they can be the amazing subject matter expert that they are.

Do you have a question about Bollin Label? Contact us here.