REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION

July 25, 2022

Special Report by Jordan Vitick

Mim Winter

Sales Representative, Vinyl Division,

Teknor Apex Co.

Before making the switch to the plastics industry, Mim Winter received master’s degrees in international relations and Spanish at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and in acupuncture and oriental medicine from the New England School of Acupuncture in Massachusetts. She also independently started and ran a busy acupuncture clinic.

Winter also worked in talent acquisition and recruiting roles before joining Teknor Apex Co. in Pawtucket, R.I. She joined the custom compounder to work with the human resources team and transitioned to the commercial side after two years, describing the move as “thrilling, daunting, fascinating, petrifying, liberating and overall awesome.”

Women Breaking the Mold

“The learning curve was very steep, but I was hungry to learn and it was a turning point for my career that even years in the future I will forever consider it a highlight in my life,” she said.

Now a sales representative in the vinyl division, Winter manages business with customers across New England and a portion of Upstate New York.

“I’m a liaison between our internal operations and our external customers. A large percentage of my customers are wire and cable manufacturers, and I work on day-to-day interactions with customers on a range of topics from compound recommendations, long-term projects, regulatory questions, quality and processing discussions, etc.,” she said.

Winter also received her 200-hour yoga teacher certification and regularly taught classes in Providence, R.I., while working her corporate career. She even introduced yoga classes to the Teknor Apex headquarters and taught classes to employees.

“Teknor stoked my self-confidence to break the mold as a woman in our industry and to break the mold to change the entire trajectory of my career,” Winter said. “The company, management and employees gave me more support than I ever could have imagined.”