RE: Melanie Feyerherm (By: Johnny Levy)

RE: Melanie Feyerherm
By: Johnny Levy, Sales Manager, DataJoe LLC

I worked with Melanie Feyerherm from 2008 to 2010 at DataJoe LLC. I was the Sales Manager, and Melanie came on board after me as the Training Specialist, and was later promoted to oversee communications and community development for the company. I have had the opportunity to observe Melanie on countless occasions. We have teamed up to work on many initiatives together. Based on this, I can confidently illustrate the characteristics that make Melanie a unique contributor to the work environment. To sum up, Melanie is an excellent, focused worker who thrives in a team environment. She is considerate, diplomatic, and easy to work with. She exhibits the specific character strengths of orderliness and discretion.


Orderliness is “arranging myself and my surroundings to achieve greater efficiency.” I listed this characteristic first, because I think it is one of Melanie’s unique and rare gifts – one of the principles that distinguishes her from others. Most would think of “orderliness” in terms of physical cleanliness. Melanie strikes me as a cleanly person, but that’s not the “special spark” that draws my attention. Melanie has a strong sense of order. In attacking problems, Melanie is deeply aware of the importance of systems, protocols, and standard operating procedures in achieving greater efficiencies and avoiding confusion. As I write this, no shortage of examples come to mind. For one, Melanie spearheaded an effort, recently, to make sure that all DataJoe documents conformed to a well-defined style protocol. At DataJoe, we write all kinds of content, from software training manuals, to business proposals, to internal memorandums, and so much more. Different departments had written their documentation in the style/format that pleased them – but this lead to a general disharmony in appearance. Melanie recognized this, and acted to unify our presentation and raise our standards of professionalism. She created a standards manual that I now refer to when generating new documents. Another example of Melanie’s orderliness relates to her management of DataJoe’s company blog strategy. Melanie oversaw our entire communications strategy, including social media, news releases, and our company blog. For the blog, she took a major role in developing and administering an editorial system, and coordinating with staff to write and review blog posts on a regular written schedule. The DataJoe company blog became truly excellent – a great source of company news, insight, and interaction with clients. This success has Melanie’s fingerprints all over it. Finally, she wrote and developed many additions and improvements to the DataJoe training manual “How To Guides,” using her organizational skills to deliver process information in a logical, sequential format. This in itself speaks to her gifts for orderliness.

Melanie is someone who will help establish, hold to, and help hold others to standard operating procedures that enhance proficiency, organization, and overall professionalism. She is a force for order, and a help to those around her (like me) who can tend to do things in a “willy-nilly” fashion.

Discretion is “recognizing and avoiding words, actions, and attitudes that could bring undesirable consequences.” I can’t remember a single negative word coming out of her mouth about another person, in the time I’ve known her. She demonstrated kindness and respect for others, and was always positive and enthusiastic in our team meetings. A great example of this can be seen in her coordination of our company blog strategy, mentioned above. She was diligent to make sure that I always knew when I had a blog post that was coming due. I noticed discretion in her reminders – they were simple and polite. There were times when I was swamped, and had completely forgotten that I had a blog post due. Melanie’s gentle reminders helped me, time and again, to meet my deadlines. Even on rare occasions when I missed a deadline, her communications were always positive and productive, helping me get back on the right track. Melanie is a professional, and her discretion makes hear easy to work with, and easy to get along with in general.

Melanie’s character strengths are a great backdrop for some of her skills. She is an excellent writer and editor; in her time with DataJoe she wrote a wide array of content, from software training manuals to news releases. She also has a knack for multimedia, demonstrated in several projects that she took on which required video editing and production. She is a clever, creative individual, and I recommend her for any position for which she is qualified. She is a team player, and will be an asset to the group dynamic.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

Sincerely;

Johnny Adam Levy
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My definitions for character traits come from the Character First curriculum of the “49 Character Qualities.”