In Frederick County, women are driving innovation, economic growth, and positive change in the manufacturing industry. Their leadership, entrepreneurship, skills, mentorship, and community involvement are instrumental in shaping the manufacturing landscape of the county. Let’s celebrate some of the remarkable women who are making things happen in the manufacturing industry!

Melissa Van Der Hulst works as a Customer Success Manager/Quality Manager at Kiosk Group Inc., a manufacturing company located in Downtown Frederick. Kiosk Group has been designing and manufacturing interactive kiosks used in education, healthcare and retail for 30 years.

Melissa began her journey with Kiosk Group as a Client Success Manager, bridging the gaps between sales, production and shipping, and client satisfaction. She quickly began to take on many roles within the company, eventually to include Quality Management. Melissa aided in setting up quality standards for the products created and to ensure they could provide products as efficiently as possible.

Melissa first started working in manufacturing 32 years ago, beginning in customer service. After taking some time off to start a family, she returned to the industry, working in sales. She has “always loved the energy that can be found in a manufacturing company.” She finds the entire process exciting, from seeing the design in engineering meetings, working with customers, inspecting raw materials and watching them work their way through the manufacturing processes, and then inspecting the final product before it ships to the customer.

Although Melissa makes it sound easy, she, like many other women in the manufacturing industry, has faced challenges throughout her career. Through adversity, she chooses to uphold a positive attitude in every situation. She uses a “four P’s” approach: prioritize her goals and the goals of the company, plan and create to-do lists to keep herself on track, surround herself with hard working and positive people and remember to celebrate her progress.

As a woman in manufacturing, Melissa advises to other women, “Follow your passion, surround yourself with people that will push you to be your best self, take advantage of every opportunity, celebrate your wins, and learn from your losses.”

You can learn more about Kiosk Group by visiting www.kioskgroup.com.

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