Working from Home (with Kids!) — A BioProcure Employee Spotlight on Diandra Valentin

At BioProcure and Prendio, a positive and encouraging company culture is the key to our success.  Our teams are staffed by the most helpful and skilled people in the accounting and procurement service industries.  They also happen to be some of the kindest people around!  And while Covid-19 has certainly had an impact on what a normal day at the office looks like, our work force has pivoted seamlessly to maintain productivity while staying focused on our main goal: excellent customer service for clients.

Today, we are shining a spotlight on Diandra Valentin, mother of two and valuable member of the BioProcure Accounting Support team.  Before coming to work with us Diandra was employed at Mass General Hospital, where she worked as a staff assistant for the surgical residency program.  When she started her job at BioProcure, she was commuting to our Woburn office forty minutes each way four days a week, and working from home once a week, a perk that is enjoyed by every BioProcure and Prendio employee.  Then Covid hit.  Now Diandra’s daily routine looks a bit different than it did before!

Diandra, how long have you worked for BioProcure?

It’s actually going to be a year next week, on September 16th!

Wow!  Happy Anniversary!

Thank you!

What department do you work in?

Accounts Payable

Who are some of the clients that you have helped in your role as an Accounts Payable Support Specialist?

I have supported Ambys Medicines Inc., BioNTech, Pairwise Plants, Triplet Therapeutics, Locanabio, LogicBio Therapeutics, and Stride Bio, Inc.

Which one is your favorite?  (Just kidding!!)

Haha!  I like them all!

What is your favorite part about your job in Accounts Payable?

I like that I’m free to manage my own time.  I get to decide when I need to go into a different account, and I have the freedom to prioritize what needs to be done for each of them.  I like that I can get my job done at my own pace, while still doing everything that’s needed for each account.

We have all had to make some adjustments to our “normal” due to the Coronavirus pandemic.  You’ve opted to work from home full time for the foreseeable future.  What does a typical workday look like for you right now?

From home, it’s a bit different!  I get up literally fifteen minutes before I have to start working…sorry about that, but it’s the truth!  I get up and brush my teeth and change, but I stay in bed and I work there for the first hour.  When my daughter wakes up, she usually climbs in bed and turns on the tv and starts watching something until she gets hungry.  We’ll go downstairs to the kitchen and she’ll eat her breakfast, and I’ll continue working while I eat my breakfast.  Then she goes back to watching some more tv, or sometimes she goes out to play.  She has a lot of friends in the neighborhood, so that’s great.  At lunchtime sometimes I do some yoga, a quick thirty minutes to relax and just stretch a little bit.  Then I just keep working, taking a bathroom break or a break to get some snacks when I need it… that’s pretty much it!

It sounds like you have a really great work-from-home coworker!

I do!  My daughter Zoe, she just turned six.

You’re a mom to two daughters… what is your other daughter up to during the day?

My other daughter, Valerie, just turned two.  My mom takes care of her during the day.  I don’t think I could do anything if she didn’t!  She’s very needy!  On Fridays my husband is off work so he stays home with both girls, and I can usually hear Valerie crying from the other room, so I have to leave the kitchen and find a quieter place!

Do you have any furry coworkers?

No…but I have some air plants that I hang by the window, and I’m always spraying them with mist water…I do keep a lookout for those guys!

Anyone who has worked from home with kids knows that there are definitely some unique challenges to that kind of work environment.  But what do you consider to be the best part about your work from home situation?

There are a few best parts!  Getting to sleep a little bit more is definitely great.  I don’t have to commute, so I’m saving time, and I really like that.  Time is valuable for me with two girls.  I like that I don’t have to spend an hour and a half or more in the car commuting.

Those are some great upsides!  Even so, there must be some moments when you miss being in the office…what do you miss the most?

Definitely my desk–my dual monitors and being able to stand up at the standing desk.  Right now I’m in the kitchen, which is where I usually set up my laptop, and sometimes I stand but it doesn’t feel the same.  So I definitely miss my desk, and just seeing people.  Right now I’m so lonely.  My daughter is here, yes, but I don’t have a lot of people to talk to.  I really miss seeing people and being with my coworkers around the office.

We feel the same way!  There are a lot of things we miss about having everyone together in the office!  What is one of your favorite memories of pre-Covid office life? 

I loved Fridays.  The catered office lunches were just so nice, and it was great that we could have a little beer or wine and just eat together with everyone. It was so cool.  Every week I miss those social Friday lunches!

Us too!

Last question—what is something interesting that you’d like to tell us about yourself?

Well… when I had my second daughter, when I got to the hospital, I was already dilated nine centimeters!  I pushed her out in thirty minutes!

What?!

Yes! It was so painful!  I said, ‘I need the epidural!’ and they said, ‘You can’t have that, you’re already giving birth!’  I started feeling labor pains at seven in the morning, and by nine she was out!

Thank you for your hard work and dedication to your team and to the clients you serve, Diandra Valentin!  It was a pleasure interviewing you for the BioProcure Employee Spotlight!

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