This month Palo Magazine is featuring some of the women who work at R.M Palmer a local chocolate company that makes seasonal chocolates for many of the holidays. As a little girl, I always thought how cool it would be to work in a chocolate factory, you know, like the Willy Wonka story. Now as an adult I know that it’s truly a lot of work but it’s still super cool to know that a local company is doing chocolate that is not only sold in Berks, but in the U.S and throughout the world.
However, in this edition which is dedicated to women in honor of Women’s Month, we asked a few women that work in the plant if they could share their factory work experiences with our readers.
We interviewed Maritza Gonzalez, Stephanie A. Burkart, and Jessica Rivera Garcia on how they as women feel about working in a factory and how they juggle their jobs and their families. In this edition, we also feature one of their graphic designers, Jennifer Adames. She is on the cover, and she shares her amazing story. Let’s start out with Maritza.
Maritza Gonzalez-31 works at Palmer for 12 years now.
What do they love about your job? Working with and meeting different people who come throughout the year. Also not knowing what the day has in store as every day is different.
Do you have family and if so, how do you juggle family and work? Yes, I do. Working first shift is a little easier to juggle both. On a normal workday I work until 4 and typically have the rest of the day to do whatever else I may want to do; visit family, go out together, etc…
Do you prefer an office job or a factory job and why? I like a combination of both. Office job you get a little more relaxation, less supervision, and a little more flexibility with timing. Production is much more fast-paced there is not much time to pause. It definitely keeps me moving.
Rosa Julia Parra
CEO & Founder of Palo Magazine
