Category: Q&A

On The Job – Mike Gillespie

Mike Gillespie

Professional pooper scooper

Mike Gillespie is the franchise owner and operator of Pet Butler NH, a pet waste removal service.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I own and operate a Pet Butler franchise in southern New Hampshire. Our tagline is ‘We scoop poop.’ All that translates into owning a pooper scooper service, managing a couple of ‘pawesome’ employees, managing the business operations and, of course, scooping poop.

How long have you had this job?

I started the business in 2019 and began scooping in January 2020. I left my health care career in January 2021 to operate the franchise full-time.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

I needed a change from health care, and this was an opportunity to start a business with minimum investment.

What kind of education or training did you need?

You need to have an understanding of business. I’ve had a couple of other small businesses over my lifetime, so personally my business training has been on the job, along with support from the franchisor.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

We dress for the outdoors and the weather. For me, the most important thing is the shoes, to keep my feet dry. Lawns can be very damp in the morning, and having wet feet all day kind of stinks.

How has your job changed over the course of the pandemic?

We started right before the pandemic, so we had no idea what would happen. It turns out that our business was needed, especially with all the Covid dogs that were adopted. We were fortunate to be deemed an essential service — animal care — so we stayed working. Business is picking up and has been pretty solid.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?

What we do is pretty simple, but despite being a dog owner for many years, families with two, three or four dogs have a lot of poop in their yard.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

It’s a pretty good job if you like working by yourself, can work with minimal supervision, like dogs, enjoy being outdoors and take pride in what you do.

What was the first job you ever had?

A couple of my high school teachers had a landscaping business, so I worked for them at the end of high school.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

‘It’s just poop in a bucket.’

Five favorites

Favorite book: I’m not a big reader, but I enjoyed reading the original Spenser: For Hire books.
Favorite movie: Young Frankenstein
Favorite music: Rock ’n’ roll music from my youth, which I guess is now called ‘classic rock.’
Favorite food: I love me a tasty steak
Favorite thing about NH: Having four seasons

Featured photo: Mike Gillespie. Courtesy photo.

Peace of mind

Broderick discusses mental health book, webinar series

John Broderick, senior director of public affairs at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and former Chief Justice for the New Hampshire Supreme Court, discussed his new book, Back Roads and Highways: My Journey to Discovery on Mental Health, coming out at the end of this month, and a year-long webinar series about mental health called “Heads Up,” which he is organizing in partnership with Dartmouth Health.

What is the Heads Up Series?

The Heads Up series was started during Covid … [to talk] to the New Hampshire community about Covid-related mental health issues, for children, for families, for the elderly. It was very successful. … For the next year, we’ll be focusing on mental health issues … covering a number of topics. … There will be some virtual forums on these various topics that will be available to the public at no cost. Some of those forums will have Dartmouth Health people on them and many other folks, too. … The goal of this series is really to increase awareness and start a different conversation around mental health.

What topics will it cover?

A lot of it will be focused on adolescents. … Some of it will relate to social and cultural pressures that young people are feeling before, during and after Covid. We’re going to talk about social media, athletics, stress. … There will be a number of topics that I think will hit a broad audience over the next 12 months.

How did you determine those topics?

They’re topics that I’ve raised in the book I [have been writing] for the last six years with the help and support of Dartmouth Health. … I’ve been traveling all over New England and talked to 100,000 young people in grades 6 through 12 in 300 gyms and auditoriums about mental health awareness. Of those kids, probably 4,000 of them have talked very privately and confidentially to me about what they’re seeing and experiencing, not just during Covid, though a lot of it has been exacerbated [due to Covid].

What is your personal interest in mental health?

It comes from my own lived experience with my family. … I’ve been very open about my family’s journey. … Two decades ago, while I was in public life, I didn’t understand mental health at the time, and I didn’t see it in my own family for what it was. I made mistakes; I see them now. It took my family on a really hard public journey that I wouldn’t wish on another living soul. The good news is, my family came through it. We’ve healed, and we’re in a very different place now. … The reason I’m doing what I’ve been doing is because of my own ignorance and the unintended harm it had in my own household. … Over the last six years, [mental health] has become acutely personal in a different way. … When I go to the schools, I’m honest with [the kids]. I’m vulnerable in sharing my family’s journey. I’m asking for their help to change the culture and the conversation which we have avoided for generations, and kids respond to that.

What is the book about?

The book is not really autobiographical or a story of my family. That story is already public; I share it every time I go and speak. The focus of my book is … everyone else’s family. I wrote the book because I wanted people to come with me at my elbow, into the [school] gyms and auditoriums all across New England, and to feel and experience what I felt and experienced. I want people to realize the nature and scope of the problem, and to understand that we can fix it, but only if we talk about it. … My book really is [meant] to drive a new discussion about the needed change in America’s mental health system, and to say to people that treatment works; it’s not hopeless. We just need to expand the system and allow people to access health care when it relates to something going on above the neck.

How can mental health be improved in New Hampshire?

The numbers of families and people dealing with mental health and substance [issues] is enormous, and we don’t have a system in this country to deal with either problem. … We don’t have enough psychiatrists … or nurse practitioners who deal with mental health issues. We don’t have enough psychiatric social workers … or mental health counselors. It’s not because people wouldn’t go into those careers; it’s because we don’t incentivize it. We don’t pay them. Psychiatrists, for example, are among the lowest-paid members of the medical profession. … Also, [mental illness] is still stigmatized. People are still ashamed. I know because the kids have told me that. They don’t feel that way when they have a broken ankle or a bad back. [Kids] feeling like they’re letting someone down or are defective in some way because they have a mental health problem is on all of us. … We need to let people know that it’s an everywhere, everyday problem, and not the result of some personal deficiency or weakness.

Featured photo: John Broderick.

On The Job – Jennifer Gange

Jennifer Gange

Outdoor sensory play equipment designer

Jennifer Gange of Pelham is the founder and CEO of Earth Craft Creations, which builds custom children’s outdoor sensory play equipment for home and school settings.

Explain your job and what it entails.

Earth Craft Creations builds amazing outdoor sensory toys for home and school settings, [like] mud kitchens [and] oversized acrylic framed easels. … Working one-on-one with customers to determine the best fit for their needs and wants is something … I really enjoy. … I’m also able to work with schools to create custom sensory play stations for their specific outdoor spaces. I love the creative process involved in helping to see their visions come to life.

How long have you had this job?

I launched Earth Craft Creations almost two years ago during the early-ish months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

My love of playing outdoors and a predisposition for very involved daydreaming.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I needed all my prior life experiences to get me to this point. In my former work life, I spent years working in different roles with children and adults with disabilities. From these exceptional people, I saw the immeasurable value of living in the moment and the wisdom of finding joy in simplicity. I also became familiar with the multitude of benefits on well-being and all areas of development with engaging in sensory-based recreation activities. For a time, I [worked] for my father Anthony in his insurance business. … While working for my father under his very organized office manager, I was able to learn and practice some of this using record keeping and billing systems that would later allow me to create key elements of the systems I use now to manage the daily operations of my own business. … In addition to my prior work experiences, my formal education is in social work, education and counseling psychology. Different pieces of all of this aid me in the different roles I currently fill.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Most days I wear leggings, my favorite L.L. Bean sweatshirt and sneakers.

What was it like starting during the pandemic?

Amazing. Like many people, I think the changing circumstances we were all faced with brought some things into focus and perspective, including the idea for this business, which I had been working on for a year prior to launching.

What do you wish you’d known at the beginning of your career?

I can’t really answer this. A lot of the enjoyment I have found in this career change adventure has been in learning as I go. I’m not someone who needs to have all the answers before starting a project. Inspiration, flexible thinking, good work habits, a bit of direction and faith in the creative process are more important to me.

What was the first job you ever had?

My first job was scooping ice cream.

What’s the best piece of work-related advice you’ve ever received?

A dear friend of mine, an amazing woman and business owner I worked for while I was in college, told me, ‘It’s better to work smart than to work hard.’ At this point, I’m certainly working hard, but I like to think I’m also working smart. At least in overseeing an entire operation, I can now say I know exactly what she meant by that.

Five favorites

Favorite book: As far as fiction goes, I adore all of Jodi Picoult’s writing and am a fan of historical fiction. I enjoy nonfiction as well, in particular studies in spirituality, religion, culture, positive psychology and neurodiversity.
Favorite movie: The Last Unicorn
Favorite music: Fleetwood Mac, Smashing Pumpkins and Snoop Dogg are a few favorites.
Favorite food: Thai food and ice cream.
Favorite thing about NH: I love that we are surrounded with so much beautiful nature. Walking in the woods or being by the ocean are instantly healing and uplifting.

Featured photo: Jennifer Gange. Courtesy photo.

All smiles

NHTI dentistry student receives national recognition

Brieana Comeau of Nashua, a soon-to-be graduate of NHTI’s Dental Assisting class of 2022, has been awarded the American Dental Assistants Association’s Student Achievement and Merit Scholar Awards.

What drew you to the dentistry field?

I carry around this little hygiene kit with me everywhere I go, and one day, when I was still trying to decide what I wanted to do, my friend said, ‘You should go into dentistry. You’re so passionate about telling me about how important it is to floss.” I looked into careers as a dental hygienist and as a dental assistant, and I really enjoyed the description for dental assistant, so I applied for the [Dental Assisting] program [at NHTI] … after I got my associate’s degree … in science and general studies with a concentration in health.

How did it feel to receive these awards?

When I heard about the first one, I was overwhelmed with happiness, and it was definitely a proud moment for me. I didn’t actually expect to receive it. Then, when I heard that I had won both awards, it was just so wild to me. When you work hard, you don’t expect to be recognized all the time, so receiving these awards meant a lot to me because it showed me how much my efforts were seen, and that felt really good.

What are you doing now?

I’m done with all my classes, and I graduate on June 25. Right now, I’m doing what we call an ‘externship.’ … I work as a dental assistant at Nashua Cosmetic and Restorative Dentistry. I started out as a sterilization technician for processing instruments. I’ve been working there for a year, and I’ve loved every minute of it. They’ve helped me grow and have taught me so many things. They’ve been patient with me. It feels like a home, and I’m really excited about that, because I was scared, going into dentistry, that it wasn’t going to be something that I felt right doing, but after working there, I know it’s exactly what I want to do.

What has been the biggest challenge so far?

The biggest challenge is definitely knowing all of the little things that you have to do. There are a lot of different types of materials; a lot of things that you have to remember about each patient; a lot of steps in each procedure; a lot of knowing what the dentist wants to have next and knowing what is best for the patient’s needs.

What do you enjoy most about being a dental assistant?

I enjoy talking with the patients and getting to know them. … I fell in love with dentistry because each patient has this problem that they come in for — either something that causes them extreme pain or something that they just don’t like the way it looks — and you get to work with them, whether it’s in just one appointment or over multiple appointments, and see that joy on their face when they finally get that problem fixed. Some of them just have this overwhelming gratitude, and it’s so nice to see that we can make a change in people’s lives like that. … I also just love working at the office that I currently work at. I love my coworkers and my employers. They’re just so supportive and sweet. … I just feel really lucky to have found something that I’m so passionate about.

What is your personal approach to your work?

I just believe that every patient comes in with valid problems. Whether they’re afraid of the needle, or they’re really upset because something in their mouth is hurting, I just tried to put myself in the patient’s shoes and make sure that they’re the most comfortable they can be, and that they’re getting their point across and communicating properly and being heard. … You have to speak up for the patient when they can’t speak up for themselves. … I think that dentistry is about more than just fixing crooked teeth; it’s about [giving people] confidence, as well.

What are your future plans?

I want to work at Nashua Cosmetic and Restorative Dentistry for as long as they’ll have me. Eventually, after a couple of years, I would like to go for my Expanded Functions Dental Assisting certificate. That would allow me to do a couple more things than a regular dental assistant can do, like making sure all the decay is gone after the dentist has carved the cavity, and placing the restorations on and shaping them up on my own so that the dentist can move on to the next patient.

Featured photo: Brieana Comeau.

In the kitchen with Rylan Hill

Rylan Hill is the head chef of New Hampshire Pizza Co. (76 N. Main St., Concord, 333-2125, newhampshirepizzaco.com), which opened in downtown Concord in January. With the overall focus of highlightling locally produced ingredients, the full-service dine-in restaurant features brick-oven artisan pizzas as its centerpiece, along with house appetizers, salads, brunch items and desserts like homemade gelatos, ice creams and sorbets. It’s the latest venture of longtime Concord restaurateur Joel Harris of Dos Amigos Burritos — he opened that eatery’s first location in Portsmouth in 2003 before coming to the Capital City four years later. Hill, who grew up in Somersworth, worked stints at each of the Dos Amigos locations over the years prior to taking over the kitchen of New Hampshire Pizza Co., creating the entire menu and building relationships with local farms along the way.

What is your must-have kitchen item?

A chef’s knife. I believe I have about 15 knives now, ranging from utility and paring all the way up to a cleaver.

What would you have for your last meal?

That’s the hardest question ever. … I guess I would chalk it up to a hot tin roof sundae. Just your standard couple of scoops of ice cream, with hot fudge, whipped cream, walnuts and a cherry.

What is your favorite local restaurant?

Industry East in Manchester. I love that place. I’ve had a bunch of their flatbreads and whatever they’ve had on special a few times. Last time I went, I had a braised octopus tentacle and, man, that was good. … Lemon Thai, also in Manchester, is great. I think they have some of the best Thai food in New Hampshire.

What celebrity would you like to see eating at New Hampshire Pizza Co.?

I have three right off the top of my head. Anthony Bourdain, absolutely. Also I would say Jack Black, and then … I kind of consider these guys one unit, but the creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker. … Those guys are geniuses.

What is your favorite thing on your menu?

The pan-fried pork chop, which uses the pork from Brookford Farm [in Canterbury]. … I made that one night for dinner, and then the next day I ended up going back to get more pork chops and doing it again for a second night because it was so good. So as an appetizer, that was something that I really wanted to bring on every day. … I would say that, and then I’m also a sucker for the margherita pizza.

What is the biggest food trend in New Hampshire right now?

Mini things, like mini cupcakes, doughnuts and stuff like that. … If I were to be broad, I would say just doughnuts, flat out. I’ve been noticing a lot more of the small doughnut shops opening and they’re doing all these crazy doughnut flavors.

What is your favorite thing to cook at home?

Anything breakfast, or ramen. Those are two things that you can do a thousand different ways.

Basil pesto
From the kitchen of Rylan Hill of New Hampshire Pizza Co. in Concord

¼ cup toasted pine nuts
2 bunches basil (approximately 4 cups), stems and all
½ cup grated Parmesan
1 cup grated pecorino
2 garlic cloves
1 Tablespoon lemon zest
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons sea salt
1¼ cups extra virgin olive oil

In a medium saucepan, toast your pine nuts on low heat, stirring occasionally until golden. In a food processor, pulse your pine nuts, garlic cloves, lemon juice and lemon zest to a paste. Add half the amount of basil and sea salt, and ¼ cup of olive oil, pulsing until smooth. Add the remaining basil and pulse until smooth. Add the Parmesan and pecorino and blend on high, while slowly adding the rest of your olive oil. Once smooth and creamy, you can enjoy it right away.

Featured photo: Rylan Hill. Courtesy photo.

On The Job – Shawn M. Nadeau

Shawn M. Nadeau

Wildlife and pest control operator

Shawn M. Nadeau is a certified wildlife and pest control operator and owner of New England Wildlife Control in Salem.

Explain your job and what it entails.

I do safe and humane rodent and wildlife removal. I remove wildlife and rodents and offer a more permanent solution than just baiting around your home or business. This alternative solution is called ‘exclusion.’This entails going around your home or commercial property, sealing all the necessary openings and essentially keeping the wildlife and rodents from reentering your structure. This also greatly reduces the homeowner’s need for yearly use of rodenticides.

How long have you had this job?

I have owned my own business since December 2021, but I have been in the wildlife and pest control industry for eight years, and I have been a carpenter since I was 18 years old.

What led you to this career field and your current job?

I answered an ad in the paper looking for someone who was not afraid of climbing a ladder, had carpentry experience and wanted to learn a new trade. Little did I know that I would be removing bats and raccoons from people’s homes.

What kind of education or training did you need?

I have my Massachusetts Problem Animal Control license, New Hampshire Wildlife Control Operators license, Maine Animal Damage Control license, Massachusetts applicators core license, Occupational Safety and Health Administration certification and advanced National Wildlife Control Operators Association certification.

What is your typical at-work uniform or attire?

Forest green polo and khaki pants or shorts.

How has your job changed over the course of the pandemic?

With the influx of people working from home during the pandemic, our field got increasingly busier due to people being at home when they typically would not have been. This led to more noises and activity being noticed by homeowners. While we were not able to perform interior home inspections, we had to think outside of the box and have homeowners use applications such as Zoom to positively identify their specific issue.

What do you wish you had known at the beginning of your career?

I would say how much I enjoy meeting people and listening to them.

What do you wish other people knew about your job?

That I am not ‘the bug guy,’ and that I specifically deal with animals and rodents.

What was the first job you ever had?

I worked at Lake Street Garden Center in Salem, New Hampshire.

What is the best piece of work-related advice you have ever received?

Pay attention to detail or you will have a callback. Also, let your customers talk; they will tell you everything.

Five favorites

Favorite book: Self-help books and Being Peace
Favorite movie: Forrest Gump
Favorite music: Everything. I play bass.
Favorite food: Steak bombs and Chinese food
Favorite thing about NH: What’s not to love?

Featured photo: Shawn M. Nadeau. Courtesy photo.

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