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As a Wisconsin native who grew up not far from Lambeau Field with grandparents who knew Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr personally, Cindy Harp can’t help but bleed the green and gold of the Green Bay Packers.
Harp didn’t live in Gillett, Wisconsin, all that long — her father’s Navy career meant the family moved frequently. But her devotion for the team never wavered.
“It’s always amazing when you fly into the airport in Green Bay and the walls are green and gold,” says Harp in The Lee Group’s Chesapeake branch. “Lambeau is always the first place we drive to when I get back home.”
Fun fact shared by Harp: “My grandmother was at the Ice Bowl wrapped up in blankets.”
Wind chills registered 38 degrees below zero at the 1967 NFL Championship game dubbed the Ice Bowl at Lambeau Field on New Year’s Eve. Cooler still, her relatives hunted with Packer legends Lombardi, considered by many to be the greatest coach of all time, and Starr, MVP of the first two Super Bowls.
“My mother would tell me stories that when she was younger, she would get so tired of hearing about all of it, she became a Vikings fan,” Harp says.
Harp’s only been to one game, though she owns plenty of gear, and she’s hopeful Aaron Rodgers will remain the Packers quarterback for life. Only one team rivals her passion for the Packers and it’s her peers at The Lee Group, her employer for the last 24 years.
“I love coming to work,” she says. “I’d rather be at work than at home.”
She’s not exaggerating. Harp’s favorite word is amazing, and she uses it in describing both her co-workers and the company culture of the region’s premier staffing firm.
“I’ve always been a people person,” she says. “Coming her from the very beginning, the way I was treated, it was like being at home.”
No stone is uncovered when Harp looks to align a candidate with a company. She knows the ins and outs of the person and explores the company culture in-depth, focusing on the wants and needs of both. When she visits a company, she pretends she works there.
“I challenge myself to know the customer so when I send them a person for the position, I send them one person,” she says. “I don’t want to send 10 resumes.”
The rewards of helping candidates succeed never get old.
“I like to help people get positions,” Harp says. “If they’re hired as a temp and go perm, they get the benefits and you get a lot of thanks from them. You’re helping them. You’re helping their family. Maybe somebody goes from working in a non-career job to a career job that takes them to the next level.”
When Harp is done for the day, she returns to her cul-de-sac in a quiet neighborhood over the North Carolina border rejuvenated by her work and eager to keep giving. She’s a tireless rescuer of older dogs and currently owns three — a Lhasa Apso, Suzee; a lab, Luke; and a Yorkie, Harley.
NFL Sundays are still about the Packers. Harp adds, “I’ve come to find out if we’re not doing well at halftime and I turn the TV off and I turn it back on toward the end, we do better. We’re a second-half team.”
