Laurie Penfold has served as a Customer Service Representative in Peckham’s Contact Center Solutions social enterprise for the past seven years. As a CSR, Laurie manages and assists customers with calls in one of Peckham’s federal inbound call centers. After becoming blind later in life, she had extensive training at the Vocational School for the Blind in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where she received training in the JAWS screen reader program, Braille, and mobility. Upon entering the workforce with her new skills, she became the first CSR at Peckham to use a screen reader in the call center. Laurie also serves as a member of the Peckham Self Advocacy Team, a team created to provide leadership and advocacy training to team members who wish to make a difference at Peckham, in the community, and the world at large. To date, more than 30 workers who are blind have been hired after her initial employment, and the program continues to expand. Laurie is a life-long resident of Michigan and is married with two children.