This is the fourth year in a row that we've published a special report on women in the plastics industry, and we've profiled nearly 100 women over the years. There's no end of interesting stories in sight. We're planning a Women Breaking the Mold conference for October in Chicago and another special report next year.
This project has raised the profile of a lot of bright, ambitious, hardworking women. Their stories have been fascinating and enlightening.
If you could sit in our newsroom the past week, you would have heard a lot of conversations that started something like this: "Did you see this one? She's got a really strong resume."
Or: "I love what this one said about being an engineer."
And: "This company hires a lot of talented women."
But for the team at Colors for Plastics Inc., it's also an opportunity to reflect on a someone who's no longer at the company but who made a lasting impact.
Cindy Verity joined the colorants and concentrates maker started in the late 1970s, a few years after Jack Dalleska founded the company in Elk Grove Village, Ill.
Verity started as an office secretary, but her role quickly expanded to include customer service, sales and just about everything else.
"Jack Dalleska and Cindy hired and trained employees early on and were instrumental in the development of what would eventually become our ISO9001:2015-based quality program. Basically, Cindy was part of the foundation of what Colors is today."
That came from a survey that the staff at Colors submitted, nominating Cindy Verity to be a Woman Breaking the Mold. Verity died in 2017, after 37 years at the company.
