The Team Behind the Technology at CBT
An Interview with Deena Flores, Reporting Specialist
Meet Deena Flores, Reporting Specialist from the Accounting Department! Learn about her journey as one of CBT’s first employees and how she balances being a full-time mom and career woman.
Transcript:
Career Path
I began working for Kelly back in 99. And I just immediately fell in love with her and the way that she works and the way that she operated. And so when the opportunity arose for me to join her and her CBT mission, I immediately jumped on board. And I’ve been there ever since. So I was one of the first employees at CBT. And for the first, about 15 years or so, I was on the Boeing account team, which was the client services and would help facilitate business between Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Boeing. But along the way, I would also just kind of fill in, I would help marketing, I would help Kelly on special projects, I would help pretty much anyone in the office that needed anything done. But my current role is the reporting specialist on the finance team.
Watching and learning from Kelly and all the other great people in CBT that have been here; most of us have been here for many years, 10 years or more. And just the flexibility; she’s always assured us no matter what, she’s there, she’ll take care of us, everything will be fine. And that’s how it’s always been. And, we jokingly call her the head turtle. She’s our leader, and has just guided us and supported us through all these years, and many different occurrences and events. And, from starting in a bedroom in her house, moving to a building that had a huge leak a water leak, and then had to go back to the house, we’ve kind of just figured it out along the way and work together. And, I just admire that about Kelly. Kelly has been a huge inspiration. I’ve essentially grown up under her wing, and often referred to her as a mentor and someone that I look up to as a woman in the business world and in her in her personal life as well. And so it’s been an honor to be on her team and be a part of her success for all these years. I think it’s helped mold me to become the woman that I am. I would like to say that I’m a strong, independent woman as well. And, and that’s a quality that I think, especially in these times is something that’s very beneficial.
Core Values
So I want to bring up an example, something that has stuck with me all these years, when I still was on the Boeing account year ago. And I feel that it reaches across all of our core values. One of our Hewlett Packard reps was going on vacation, he was going to be out of the office for about three weeks. And what struck me as such a huge compliment to CBT was he asked the Boeing team if he can use us as his out of office reference. So instead of using someone within his own team or company, he asked us. And I just thought that spoke very highly of CBT and what we deliver for the customer and partners.
Why CBT
As I had previously mentioned, I was one of the first employees at CBT and had known Kelly for a couple of years before that. I just really enjoyed her work ethic and her mission and her goals and I wanted to be a part of that. I was just 21 when I began working for her; I still was in college had worked, a lot of different, part time jobs. But I’ve been with Kelly ever since, and I never wanted to leave after that. So it’s been a long time now that I’ve been with her. But through the years, talking with other family members and friends, they would complain about their situations at work or their offices or, coworkers. It just solidified for me that I didn’t want to go anywhere else. I didn’t want to try and, and Kelly will have to kick me out, because I won’t leave. But it’s just been like a family and for me specifically; I graduated college, got married had kids. So I have essentially grown up at CBT. And it’s just been a second family to have in a professional world in addition to everything else in our personal life.
Work Life Balance
Okay, so this is something that is very near and dear to me. And so, as you’ve heard a couple of times now, I’ve worked with Kelly a long time and about five for six years. After I had already been working with her, I was already married and was now pregnant with my first child And I approached her and of course went into tears because my assumption was that I would have to quit or I wouldn’t be able to keep my job. So she kind of was teasing me for crying; I’m tired of the stigma that women can only either be a stay at home mom or a career woman. And so she said, if you want to work, let’s figure it out. We’ll change your role and we’ll change your position or whatever we have to do, so that you can still have a career and be professional and yet still be with your kids. So we did that for a little while, I brought the baby into the office and would work there and then once the baby began to crawl I worked from home. She was always very flexible and encouraged family time and time with our children. And so then fast forward, my son is now in preschool and I was pregnant with baby number two and my daughter being born healthy, but developed some very life threatening medical issues. And again, Kelly was there and just kind of said, whatever you need to do be there for her, but your spot and your desk will always be here. And it just took a load of pressure off when we were dealing with such scary times with our daughter. But since then, luckily our daughter is healthy and thriving and totally fine now, but all through the years, Kelly has always encouraged all of us to go to the school events, don’t miss sporting functions, award ceremonies, nothing like that and it’s been very very nice to be able to do both.
To learn more about the team, visit our about page.