Michelle Turner has an eye for details.
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Michelle Turner[/caption]
The fourth-generation Washington-area native has spent the last 13-plus years of her career with the USO and currently holds the title of senior manager, accounting. But before she was responsible for tracking the USO’s expenditures, she had to learn how to work with nuances of a different kind.
“In order to get my first job running a printing press, I had to reproduce the John Falter print ‘Ice Skating in Central Park’ with exact precision,” said Turner, a lithographer by trade before earning an accounting degree from Strayer University. “This undertaking included everything from shooting the negative, to printing the four-color copy on a printing press. It was the most nerve wracking, challenging and rewarding thing I had ever done, but [it] also prepared me for parenthood and my subsequent career change.”
Turner – who is married with two daughters – broke into the accounting field in 1989 and joined the USO’s accounting team as a contractor a decade later. Her father and two uncles were Vietnam veterans, so she saw the organization’s cause as a natural fit.
And while she’s seen a multitude of positive changes during her tenure at the USO, the one thing she feels has stayed the same is the camaraderie.
“Having worked here for so long I can truly say that I have never worked with such a great group of people,” she said. “As an organization, we celebrate our triumphs and mourn our losses together the same as any close-knit family would, and that’s an attribute I’ve not experienced anywhere else.”
–Story by USO Story Development
Every day, America’s service members selflessly put their lives on the line to keep us safe and free. Please take a moment to let our troops know how much we appreciate their service and sacrifice.
