by:
It can be challenging. It can be thankless. Some days, it’s downright overwhelming.
The changes come rapidly, the timelines are short, and sometimes you’re dealing with people who don’t want their file audited, or who are frustrated because you aren’t moving fast enough.
It can be rough, and yes, there are days when you wonder, Why am I doing this?
For me, the answer is simple. I have always had a passion for quality, understanding how to improve something, and helping others understand why it’s better. Quality in everything. Quality in how I clean my house, how I cook, how I pack, how I organize, and of course, how I do my job.
Starting at 10 years old I began professional dancing and learned there is something incredibly satisfying about doing something well. I practiced seven days a week, sometimes until the early hours of the morning. I practiced until my feet hurt and, on some days, until they bled. I would repeat the same step over and over until I got it right.
And when everything finally came together, when the choreography, the music, the timing, the movement and the performance were right, it was worth every minute. It was perfect—at least according to the choreographer and teacher. The audience seemed to like it too, so I’m going to count that as a win!
That mindset of “keep practicing until you get it right” followed me throughout my life.
I’ve stayed up late or woke up early to practice, learn, review, organize, create, fix, improve, and finish whatever needed to be done. Whether it was figuring out how to organize my pantry in the most efficient way, making a costume that looked exactly like young Obi-Wan Kenobi, or attempting to make a Care Bear swimming pool birthday cake that looked just like the picture; I wanted to get it right.
And yes, sometimes I probably took it a little too far.
But that passion for quality has carried directly into my career and, ultimately, into my role as a QA Manager. QA is about so much more than finding mistakes.
This past year, more than ever, I have been challenged to learn more, improve my knowledge, and become better at what I do. And the more I learn, the more I realize how much there is to learn. That has been one of the most rewarding parts of QA.
It isn't just about knowing the guidelines or finding an exception in a loan file. It’s about understanding why something matters, recognizing patterns, asking questions, improving processes, and helping others understand what we are finding.
It’s about constantly looking for ways to make things better, which applies far beyond the audit itself.
Quality is also about how we communicate, how we respond when someone is frustrated, or how we explain an exception. How we work with our operations teams, underwriters, processors, loan officers, management, vendors, and investors.
Because ultimately, quality isn't just about the product, it’s about the experience.
The more I learn, the more I want to know. That might be one of the things I love most about QA. There is always another guideline to understand, another process to improve, another question to answer, another trend to identify, and another opportunity to make something better.
What started as a challenge to learn more about Quality Assurance has turned into a desire to understand the mortgage industry on a much deeper level. And I want to share that knowledge.
Because QA shouldn't be viewed as the department that simply finds what's wrong.
My goal in QA is to partner in making things right, help identify opportunities before they become problems. Educate, communicate, collaborate, and continuously improve.
Is QA challenging? Absolutely.
Is it sometimes thankless? Yep.
Can it be overwhelming? Without a doubt.
But when you see a process improve, when a team learns from a finding, when a problem gets solved, when someone finally understands the why behind an exception, or when you look at the bigger picture and realize that your work helped make something better…
That's the good stuff. That's why I do QA. Because I've always believed that if something is worth doing, it's worth doing well.
And apparently, I've been practicing for this job since I was 10 years old.