Delane Pickel is a staff accountant at Optima Office who describes herself as something of a Renaissance woman. Multitalented and with backgrounds in both engineering and business administration, Delane loves the company’s dedication to building a positive organization with integrity, and she is a valued member of the Optima team.
Delane grew up as a self-proclaimed “Air Force brat,” which brought her to Warner Robins, Georgia; Limestone, Maine; Chicopee, Massachusetts; and Los Angeles, CA, before settling for 15 years in San Diego. Delane moved to Montgomery, Alabama after getting married when she was 24 years old, and she stayed for 30 years before moving back to San Diego to help her mother in her declining years. She graduated from National University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, and from Auburn University with a Masters degree in Software Engineering, so she considers her education to be reverse from the “normal” engineer migrating into business administration.
Delane stumbled upon Optima Office through a professor at Miramar College, where she attended accounting and taxation classes to reenter the accounting profession. She had previously spent 15 years in the technology industry, where she loved the problem-solving and detail of working with computer software. “I suppose life is like that,” she says, “We try to be masters of our universe, and we end up being masters of turning chaos into a semblance of order.”
Outside of work, Delane loves to swim, ride her bike, read books, paint, sew, and build relationships with her diverse set of friends. Her family and friends are the center of her world, but unfortunately, she says they tend to be spread across the country, in Maine, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Utah, and California. Delane wishes she had endless resources and time to pop in and visit them all every few months.
Delane’s favorite philosophy is to enjoy each moment and situation for the gift it brings. She draws upon this philosophy to keep things positive and invigorating, and feels accomplished when she successfully integrates this philosophy into all elements of her work and life. Delane is known to execute tasks with diligence, integrity, and an engineer’s perspective of constant improvement—and simply stated, she says her biggest goal is to share her favorite philosophy with everyone she encounters.
