five in five* with jolene tanner, director of hr and finance

Jolene Tanner has been to Disney World at least 85 times in her (relatively) short life so far. She’s not only a diehard for Mickey, she’s the maven that makes all things human resources and finance operate smoothly at Interrupt. A former bean counter (literally—she worked in the agriculture industry before coming to building materials), when she’s not in Orlando you can find her at her desk, crunching numbers.

We cornered Jolene for a conversation of five (or more) questions for the Five in Five series, our monthly blog post where we get personal with an Interrupter to get to know them beyond their kick-ass professional skills.

we’ve heard you live with a lot of animals—how many exactly?

Right now, five dogs, six cats, eight chickens, and two ducks. Add all those animals to my human family—two kids and a husband—and my quiet life in the countryside is not so quiet anymore.

you’ve been married for more than two decades now. how did you meet your husband?

I was a college student, working at the makeup counter for Estee Lauder at a small mall in Adrian, Michigan. He was in loss prevention. I saw him walk around the corner and said to my co-worker, “I’m going to marry him.” And I did!

how did you get into your work in human resources and finance?

Shockingly, I grew up hating numbers. Math was my least favorite subject in school. But I love computers and technology, so mastering the automation that’s involved in accounting now pumps me up. I’m not doing ledger sheets by hand, I’m learning how to use all kinds of programs, and that feels like a piece of cake.

you’re a Disney diehard, the person in our office most acquainted with the Magic Kingdom. why do you love it there so much?

I think it’s the tradition—it’s what I grew up doing. My mom loved Disney. She’s not with us anymore, but she started the Disney obsession in our family. It feels meaningful for me to share it with my own kids now in memory of her. It’s a safe, happy place to us.

what is your favorite thing there?

We enjoy the original rides that they have not done a ton of changes to. Spaceship Earth at Epcot is one. Pirates of the Caribbean is another. The oldies but goodies, essentially.

*Five in Five is where we catch up with an Interrupter to ask five questions in five minutes. It may have taken us (way) longer than five minutes to have this conversation. But it shouldn’t take you longer than five minutes to read it, so we think it still counts.