Crosstalk with Select Telecom (Winter 2014)
Every issue, “Get to Know Select” will feature a different employee sharing their experience at Select Telecom, along with updates about what’s going on at the company. Have a favorite employee you’d like to hear from? Email us to let us know!
It wasn’t easy coming up with a title for Tina Tedeschi, Select Telecom’s HR Assistant and Administrative Assistant to the President. That’s because Tina’s responsibilities and influence are so widespread throughout the company that it’s hard to sum it up in just a few words (the best we could do was eight!).
From scheduling the technicians and answering phones, to benefits administration and other basic HR functions, Tina has a hand in almost everything that goes on at Select Telecom. In addition to serving as a liaison across multiple departments in the company, she’s also in charge of getting new hires oriented, assisting with service contract administration and many marketing efforts, and organizing community outreach and healthy living initiatives. As Tina puts it, “My job is just to help the daily functions here run as smooth as possible.”
Tina first joined Select as a part-time employee in December of 2007, back when she was an undergraduate at Iona College. “I started here part time helping Joe and Peter with organizing their sales contacts, sometimes making cold calls to prospective customers, which was really scary!” As Tina earned her Master in Industrial Organizational Psychology (“fancy talk for the business/non-clinical side of psychology,” she explains), she continued to work at the company when not in class. Upon graduation, she left for a few months to join a more HR-focused role at a large corporation, an experience she described as “eye-opening,” where she learned the ins and outs of how a larger company operates.
However, the siren song of Select Telecom was hard to resist, and she eventually returned to Select under an expanded role and new title that did justice to her varied responsibilities. “Even though I was learning a lot, I came back to Select Telecom because this is where I feel most at home, not only because it’s a family-oriented company, but also because I just didn’t feel like it was time for me to leave here.” Indeed, with her unique skill set and sunny demeanor, Tina continues to contribute to Select Telecom’s success each and every day.
And that’s not to say that Tina doesn’t get some perks as well. “I absolutely love finally getting to see people’s faces that I talk to on the phone – it’s always so fun to put a face to the name and recreate that image I had in my head!” In addition, Tina has taken charge of many of Select Telecom’s community outreach efforts, including recent food and diaper drives for the Food Bank of Westchester and Westchester Coalition for the Hungry and Homeless. “It’s incredibly fulfilling to see how we can come together and make a difference,” she recounts.
Finally, Tina also leads the company with her inspirational commitment to a healthy lifestyle. “I’m very health conscious, and I just took up running this past summer, which is something I never thought I could do. I love to challenge myself,” she explains. She’s also challenged the company to improve their health right along with her, last year organizing a Biggest Loser challenge that prompted the company to shed a collective 76 pounds over four months!
In addition, Tina is a mean cook (fellow employees will attest that she’s dangerous with a rosette cookie iron!) and is currently in the throes of planning her upcoming wedding in April. And whether at work or at home, Tina can always be counted on to bring her winning smile and infectious laugh. Says Select Telecom President Mike Durante, “I may be biased since Tina is my lovely niece, but I look forward to seeing her every single day, and I’m sure everyone else here feels the same.”