Moments in Time
Moments in Time a weekly series featuring recollections of area residents. To suggest someone to feature in Moments in Time, please contact Mary Jane Grenzow, editor, at editor@themonroetimes.com.
MONROE - Nikki Matley constantly reaches for the top. The outgoing, people-person simply found her calling at Woodford State Bank, where she's able to take her hard-working approach to doing what she does best - connecting with people while helping her community.
She was raised on a hog and dairy farm just west of Argyle and attended school there. Matley was required to help out on the farm, but milking was a duty for others. She has fond memories of her task, which was picking up and washing and drying the eggs from the hundreds of chickens her family kept to sell to the local grocery store. It's likely where her work ethic - which has stayed with her throughout her career - was born.
In high school, Matley was an involved student. She was a basketball cheerleader, played volleyball and looked after neighborhood children to earn extra money. She remembers also being on the yearbook committee - something that would spark a passion for a scrapbooking hobby she still enjoys today.
The 1992 Argyle High School graduate was at the top of her class and at that time, Gov. Tommy Thompson allowed all valedictorians a paid scholarship to any four-year Wisconsin school. After looking around, Matley felt a calling toward the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
"It felt like home," she said of the college. "It reminded me of Monroe."
Since Matley could drive, she'd been working weekends at Monroe's Pizza Hut. She hung on to that job throughout college, driving home on weekends to work. She also had two other jobs during the week.
When she first began school, Matley was undecided and leaned toward business and marketing, but soon her college roommate suggested she jump on board with her - and that's where her marketing and public relations degree started. In 1997 Matley graduated from UW-Whitewater and knew she needed to reach out to some connections to land a job close to home.
"When we meet people, I believe they affect us even when we don't realize they're going to," Matley said.
That was certainly true for her. She had interviewed John Baumann for a college course and decided to reach out to him to see if he had any leads. Sure enough, he hooked her up with a job in the human services department at Swiss Colony (now Colony Brands.) She worked with two women she described as the most incredible women she'd ever met.
Her job was to set up booths at fairs and other events. While working one summer day, she met a man who told her that one day, she'd be working for him.
Sure enough, that man did come back asking for Matley, and together, the two opened Badger Water in Stoughton. She jumped on board with the very long days and weeks to spearhead her career.
"I learned so much about a grass-roots business," she said, noting that she worked 70 to 80 hours per week. "There was no part of that business that I didn't have a hand in." She said her boss would joke that she owed him money for college tuition because she learned so much there.
But in 2002, Matley was pregnant with her son, and she knew that with a family, she couldn't continue those long hours. She applied at Moore Business Forms (now R.R. Donnelley) and the day before her water broke, she was offered the job. She said it was the final piece of the transition for her, and she was very excited.
At Moore, she served as a customer service representative and was a leader with teams in several locations and loved the work and the people.
But out of the blue, Matley received a phone call. It was Jeff Anderson, with the board of Woodford State Bank, telling Matley the bank had created a position in marketing and business development - and they wanted her for the job.
The position was exciting, something to challenge her and that she could create and make her own. But saying yes wasn't easy.
"It was one of the hardest decisions I'd ever made," she said, noting that starting a position that left no shoes to fill and no previous employee to learn from was hard - but also motivating.
She served at Moore just under eight years and said she learned to be a leader there. At her farewell party, she received a plaque that still hangs in her office: "Leaders don't force people to follow. They invite them on a journey."
Today, the position at the bank that Matley has created revolves around community involvement - a perfect fit for the vivacious, hard-working mom.
"My passion is people," she said. "I love helping people find what makes them happy."
Five years into the job at Woodford State Bank, the board hoped for a greater presence in the community, and Matley has most certainly answered the call.
Matley is a member of Future Forward, a group that works to attract and retain people to work and stay in Monroe. She is also in her second term as the Monroe Kiwanis president. Matley said she's very excited about the group's recent increase in numbers and loves the amazing things the group makes happen.
She's also very involved with the Chamber of Commerce and is a past president. She served as president at a time when the group lost its executive director, began a new search and also had the administrative assistant leave. Matley said she's proud that the chamber is thriving now.
Matley also serves as the vice president of the Green County Development Corporation and has been on the board since 2012. She completed the Green County Leaders Program in 2007-08 and now co-chairs it.
"I'm extremely proud of the all of the Green County leaders in our community," she said. "I encourage everyone to go through (the program)."
She is on the board of directors for the Monroe Medical Foundation. The executive director is retiring and the group just hired a new person, something she's also thrilled about.
"Getting to know the people and being part of the organizations has been one of my greatest joys," she said.
She takes care of all of the marketing and outside business development and handles the employee and community gatherings for Woodford State Bank. Matley is proud of the recycling event the bank held in the past and its annual customer appreciation day in July.
The position is, in many ways, still blooming, Matley said, and she's looking forward to the future.
"I took what I knew - which is people - and I started connecting," she said.
Matley enjoys spending time with her fiance, Kevin, and her son, Tyler, and daughter, Abigail.
She spends lots of time at her children's extracurricular and sporting events. "They are my hobby," she laughed. Each summer they all take a family trip together. She also enjoys scrapbooking, crafting, working out and mostly, she enjoys volunteering with community events.
She also has a deep faith and believes things in life happen for a reason.
"I think it's so important for us to give back whenever we can," she concluded.
Matley holds dear a saying from one of her first bosses, back at the water business, and tries to live by those words and instill them in her children:
"Never stop learning. Never stop growing. Because today's peacock is tomorrow's feather duster."
She was raised on a hog and dairy farm just west of Argyle and attended school there. Matley was required to help out on the farm, but milking was a duty for others. She has fond memories of her task, which was picking up and washing and drying the eggs from the hundreds of chickens her family kept to sell to the local grocery store. It's likely where her work ethic - which has stayed with her throughout her career - was born.
In high school, Matley was an involved student. She was a basketball cheerleader, played volleyball and looked after neighborhood children to earn extra money. She remembers also being on the yearbook committee - something that would spark a passion for a scrapbooking hobby she still enjoys today.
The 1992 Argyle High School graduate was at the top of her class and at that time, Gov. Tommy Thompson allowed all valedictorians a paid scholarship to any four-year Wisconsin school. After looking around, Matley felt a calling toward the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
"It felt like home," she said of the college. "It reminded me of Monroe."
Since Matley could drive, she'd been working weekends at Monroe's Pizza Hut. She hung on to that job throughout college, driving home on weekends to work. She also had two other jobs during the week.
When she first began school, Matley was undecided and leaned toward business and marketing, but soon her college roommate suggested she jump on board with her - and that's where her marketing and public relations degree started. In 1997 Matley graduated from UW-Whitewater and knew she needed to reach out to some connections to land a job close to home.
"When we meet people, I believe they affect us even when we don't realize they're going to," Matley said.
That was certainly true for her. She had interviewed John Baumann for a college course and decided to reach out to him to see if he had any leads. Sure enough, he hooked her up with a job in the human services department at Swiss Colony (now Colony Brands.) She worked with two women she described as the most incredible women she'd ever met.
Her job was to set up booths at fairs and other events. While working one summer day, she met a man who told her that one day, she'd be working for him.
Sure enough, that man did come back asking for Matley, and together, the two opened Badger Water in Stoughton. She jumped on board with the very long days and weeks to spearhead her career.
"I learned so much about a grass-roots business," she said, noting that she worked 70 to 80 hours per week. "There was no part of that business that I didn't have a hand in." She said her boss would joke that she owed him money for college tuition because she learned so much there.
But in 2002, Matley was pregnant with her son, and she knew that with a family, she couldn't continue those long hours. She applied at Moore Business Forms (now R.R. Donnelley) and the day before her water broke, she was offered the job. She said it was the final piece of the transition for her, and she was very excited.
At Moore, she served as a customer service representative and was a leader with teams in several locations and loved the work and the people.
But out of the blue, Matley received a phone call. It was Jeff Anderson, with the board of Woodford State Bank, telling Matley the bank had created a position in marketing and business development - and they wanted her for the job.
The position was exciting, something to challenge her and that she could create and make her own. But saying yes wasn't easy.
"It was one of the hardest decisions I'd ever made," she said, noting that starting a position that left no shoes to fill and no previous employee to learn from was hard - but also motivating.
She served at Moore just under eight years and said she learned to be a leader there. At her farewell party, she received a plaque that still hangs in her office: "Leaders don't force people to follow. They invite them on a journey."
Today, the position at the bank that Matley has created revolves around community involvement - a perfect fit for the vivacious, hard-working mom.
"My passion is people," she said. "I love helping people find what makes them happy."
Five years into the job at Woodford State Bank, the board hoped for a greater presence in the community, and Matley has most certainly answered the call.
Matley is a member of Future Forward, a group that works to attract and retain people to work and stay in Monroe. She is also in her second term as the Monroe Kiwanis president. Matley said she's very excited about the group's recent increase in numbers and loves the amazing things the group makes happen.
She's also very involved with the Chamber of Commerce and is a past president. She served as president at a time when the group lost its executive director, began a new search and also had the administrative assistant leave. Matley said she's proud that the chamber is thriving now.
Matley also serves as the vice president of the Green County Development Corporation and has been on the board since 2012. She completed the Green County Leaders Program in 2007-08 and now co-chairs it.
"I'm extremely proud of the all of the Green County leaders in our community," she said. "I encourage everyone to go through (the program)."
She is on the board of directors for the Monroe Medical Foundation. The executive director is retiring and the group just hired a new person, something she's also thrilled about.
"Getting to know the people and being part of the organizations has been one of my greatest joys," she said.
She takes care of all of the marketing and outside business development and handles the employee and community gatherings for Woodford State Bank. Matley is proud of the recycling event the bank held in the past and its annual customer appreciation day in July.
The position is, in many ways, still blooming, Matley said, and she's looking forward to the future.
"I took what I knew - which is people - and I started connecting," she said.
Matley enjoys spending time with her fiance, Kevin, and her son, Tyler, and daughter, Abigail.
She spends lots of time at her children's extracurricular and sporting events. "They are my hobby," she laughed. Each summer they all take a family trip together. She also enjoys scrapbooking, crafting, working out and mostly, she enjoys volunteering with community events.
She also has a deep faith and believes things in life happen for a reason.
"I think it's so important for us to give back whenever we can," she concluded.
Matley holds dear a saying from one of her first bosses, back at the water business, and tries to live by those words and instill them in her children:
"Never stop learning. Never stop growing. Because today's peacock is tomorrow's feather duster."