Women's History Month 2024

A lifelong resident of Rocky Mount, NC, and dedicated Ilco employee for 35 years, Brenda Hill’s career remains a cornerstone of excellence within the Ilco team, continually exceeding expectations. In 1989, Brenda began her career with Ilco as a key packer. She worked hard in this role, until 1995 when she transitioned to the plastics department. Brenda’s years of experience made her the perfect fit for the quality department, becoming an inspector in 2002. She continued to demonstrate her skills and was made a team leader in 2020. Learning and growing has kept Brenda motivated and helped her to excel in her career. “Challenging work that allows me to learn and grow, and knowing that my hard work will help me achieve greater success, is what motivates me,” Brenda commented. In 2021, Brenda was promoted to her current role as Key Systems Supervisor. Through the years, Brenda has enjoyed working with her team and the company as a whole. She treasures the relationships that have grown over the years. “We have a great team with a lot of knowledge and respect,” Brenda expressed. Although rooted in Rocky Mount, Brenda is partial to traveling, especially to places she has never been, where she finds inspiration and a sense of adventure. Yet, it is when she's with her children that she relishes the chance to shower her grandchildren with love and attention.

As a recent high school graduate, Angela Evans was ready and eager to begin her career. Seeing her family thrive at Ilco for more than 20 years, she considered it the ideal place for a lifelong career. In September 1994, Angela joined the Ilco team as an injection mold operator, learning the ropes of injection mold operations from scratch. Over her 16-year tenure in this role, Angela gained valuable experience and expertise, becoming highly skilled in the field. Recognized for her dedication and leadership qualities, she was promoted to department lead, a position she held for 11 fruitful years. In 2022, Angela embarked on a new chapter in her Ilco career when she was promoted to Key Value Stream supervisor, overseeing all key departments. Angela takes great pride in this promotion and the hard work that led to it. "Never be afraid to learn something new, try something different, and convince yourself that you have no limits," Angela remarked. Angela celebrates her 30th anniversary with Ilco in September 2024. Three decades of commitment, growth, leadership, and accomplishments make for an incredible career. She finds motivation both in leading her team and being an integral part of it. Angela cherishes the learning opportunities that enable her to grow and take on greater responsibilities, fulfilling her potential. However, it's the relationships she's built with her team that she finds most rewarding about working at Ilco. In her free time, Angela enjoys spending time with family and friends.

Ingrained at an early age, Tonya Lamberts’ passion for health, safety, and the environment (HSE) stems from growing up on the family’s horses and cattle farm in the Pacific Northwest. The farm offered many lessons in injury prevention and nature conservation. Working alongside her father, Tonya learned to look at every problem and give three ways to resolve the issue. A skill she uses to this day. Implementing change is a part of what Tonya does on a daily basis. Throughout her career, she has developed software tracking systems, facilitated ISO certifications for multiple companies, and collaborated with the US Military to create assets for field use. “I am proud to be known as a change maker and my goal is to come into a company and make changes for improvement to get the company where it needs to be in HSE," Tonya emphasized. When Tonya started her career, she would naturally volunteer to take on responsibility in HSE and quality. Moving from Atlanta, GA to Rocky Mount, NC to join Ilco as the HSE Manager in 2016, Tonya brought with her, over 20 years in quality as a HSE manager. Tonya enjoys the positive attitude and longevity of the employees at Ilco. But it is the support of women in management by the overall company she finds to be an important part of the culture at Ilco. Beyond her duties at work, Tonya finds solace in yoga, puzzles, and reading while spending time with her cats. When the weather is nice, she can be found enjoying the great outdoors hiking, cycling, or a nice walk to check out the sights in the area.

In 2012, Eugenia Boykin started her Ilco career as a planning assistant. She was learning new things and working on challenging projects requiring strategy and logical thinking, both of which provided her with satisfaction.. When she was promoted to a production planner, she knew she was in the best career for herself. Over the years, with hard work and unwavering commitment, Eugenia’s career continued to grow and was promoted to senior planner. Her career continued to grow and with her latest advancement, is now in the role of Planning Supervisor. She is proud of the team her area has built together and that the team is willing to come together to work out whatever they may be facing. In fact, it is one of the things she enjoys about working at Ilco. Eugenia stated “My job keeps me interested and challenged to do what is best for our Team.” From childhood to the present day, Tarboro, NC has been her home. Whether it's grilling with her family or fishing and canoeing, Eugenia enjoys spending her time away from work outdoors with family and friends.

Coming to Ilco in 2018 with a background in the security Industry plus 15 years of sales experience, Jade Holland was seeking a new challenge. Ilco, known for its quality, long-standing history of excellent products and great people, gave Jade the opportunity she desired as the senior regional sales manager for the east coast. In the spring of 2020, Jade was promoted to the Eastern North America Senior Regional Sales Manager position and now covers Eastern US and Eastern Canada for the aftermarket channel. Jade is fueled by the opportunity to tackle new challenges, foster connections, and leave a lasting impression in the industry. Moreover, the sales metrics and seeing revenue growth connected to her hard work and dedication provide additional motivation for her efforts. However, it is the people and culture that she enjoys the most. “Working collaboratively on a team that respects one another with backing and support, is what helps everyone deliver their best performance at Ilco.” She continued, “We are encouraged to be open and transparent, and courageous to take risks.” Unwind time means new adventures for Jade. Summer is an active time, she loves motorcycling, boating, golfing, traveling, hiking, fishing, camping, exploring new cities and getting certified for Scuba diving in Cozumel. Jade can be found hanging with friends, family and her new goldendoodle puppy, Jax. Strong family values, resilience, competitive nature and faith, instilled by her large family and time with cousins on her grandma’s farm in Minnesota, are the pillars of her career success.

From a love of drafting to a degree in Engineering, Lisa Snow’s career was born from a desire to follow in her father’s footsteps. Coming to Ilco in 2016 as a Quality Engineer, she had bigger things in mind, Lisa explains, “I came in as a Quality Engineer and desired to be in Engineering from the time I interviewed.” With Lisa’s tenacity and skills, she earned the position she was aspiring to and became an Ilco Industrial Engineer in 2023. At Ilco, Lisa delights in a feeling of success when she has helped solve a problem or made it a better place to work. However, Lisa also likes to learn and improve herself and enjoys the many opportunities working at Ilco. As an engineer, Lisa has had many successes but considers her work designing fixtures and establishing standardized practices for people who are blind one of her proudest accomplishments. “The satisfaction was experiencing the ownership, pride, dedication, and independence of people who are blind,” Lisa expressed. Lisa is driven by helping others. A native to Nash county, North Carolina, Lisa learned the essence of hard work on the family tobacco farm. A lesson that has served Lisa well in her career. Whether it's her biological family or the close-knit community at her church, family holds significant importance in Lisa's life outside of the workplace. Although, a bit of alone time gives her the opportunity to be creative as she works on her stained-glass projects. Often you can find Lisa, her husband, and four children on the go, enjoying the mountains and beaches of North Carolina.

Being taught to think mechanically and methodically by her father, Deborah Parker saw a career in engineering as a natural path. After obtaining her undergraduate and graduate degrees from East Carolina University, Deborah joined Ilco in 1989 as a junior engineer. During Deborah’s tenure as a Key Machine Engineer, she played an integral role in designing key machines that are still in use in the market today. Through her hard work and dedication, she worked her way up, through various roles, today she is an engineering manager. “To know we produced such dependable, long-lasting products is very satisfying,” Deborah shared. Deborah finds Ilco to be a collaborative environment with exceptional coworkers, and the rewarding work. Being creative and designing out-of-the-box ideas fuel her drive, noting that she gets to see the direct results of her efforts. Having grown up in the Rocky Mount area, Deborah learned hard work in her parents’ business—a quality she still embodies. Off the clock, Deborah can be found spending time with her son, daughter-in-law, and three German Shepherds or traveling with the 12u fastpitch softball team she coaches.

Leading people and solving problems, is how Tracy Wistrand describes her career motivation and drive. Throughout her career, Tracy has sought positions that allowed her to collaborate with people and solve problems. This journey led Tracy to assume the role of Deputy VP of Industrial Operations and Manufacturing Key Systems North America for Ilco in 2023. Working in manufacturing presents a continual array of challenges, and Tracy finds great satisfaction in uniting her team to resolve any issues that arise. Tracy expresses, “I get a deep sense of satisfaction when I am able to bring a team of people together to successfully solve a persistent problem.” An instance of Tracy’s collaborative problem-solving is earning the coveted title of Target’s #1 Supplier in 2011, while working at Northwest Natural Products. Her winning strategy involved meeting with her team at the start of each week to review, brainstorm solutions, and take action. The result was a team dedicated to the daily effort of achieving success. At Ilco, Tracy recognizes her production team to be a fantastic group of long-time employees that are kind, thoughtful, dedicated, and hardworking. This dynamic makes her eagerly anticipate to coming to work every day.

A seasoned customer experience professional, Doris Hamilton is our Customer Service, Supervisor and has been an Ilco team member since 2022. Although, working in the manufacturing industry is relatively new to Doris, as her career started in the healthcare field, management is something in which she is well versed. This expertise shows in her ability to foster an environment where employees in her team can grow and be promoted, which she considers one of her proudest professional accomplishments. When asked what motivates her in her career, Doris said, “The feeling of accomplishment and being respected by my colleagues, staff and Senior Leadership.” She went on to express that being valued by Ilco keeps her driven. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Doris studied at Dillard University in New Orleans, LA, where she earned a B.A. in Business Management. Family is important to Doris and stays connected with her two younger brothers. In her downtime, away from work, Doris enjoys being with her family, especially her fur-baby Sasha.