Fostering True Connections in the Transportation Industry with Whitney Cowell

And today on the show , I'm super excited to have Whitney Cowell , who is Director of Client Strategy at Virago Marketing . She's also a board member here at TMSA . Welcome to the show , whitney . How are you doing today ?

You've kind of gone from one side of like working at a transportation company , now working in a marketing agency , but getting all that really great experience , and so I would love for you to tell the audience just a little bit more about your journey and where you are today yeah , so I've been in the supply chain since 2016 .

It was busy , while also still juggling the SaaS piece A little bit of product , a little bit of event at the same time Um , it was chaotic . It was incredibly fun , though , and from there I yeah , I went to the logistics end of the supply chain . I think everybody should do that .

If you haven't had that experience , I think it'll really round you out , um , as a marketer and as a professional . I think it'll really round you out as a marketer and as a professional , and now I'm on the agency end back working with freight tech and logistics companies . So I you know the second I onboard a carrier .

We do a lot of really fun and wonderful things . You know , we specialize in in a strategic approach and the content to back that up . A strategic approach and the content to back that up . And yeah , there's , there's a couple of us . So every person at the end , every person at the company , has industry experience . So we all come from the industry .

Our chief content officer was at CCJ for 21 years 20 plus years and you know , jenny also comes from the industry .

But I really love that that feel of like you're never bored . You always have something going on . But I really love that that feel of like you're never bored . You always have something going on . There's always something to do , there's always something to learn . So it is a different feel for sure .

I yes , my career has been , I say , in every like wraparound the written word , from like journalism to marketing , to working at like PR newswire processing press releases , to then going to the agency life , to then working as director of marketing at a tech firm that specialized in transportation and now like leading this association that then handles all kinds of

people's sales and marketing needs and helping them to learn and grow . So I love the written word , I love helping people and so , yeah , I think that's great . One of the things that Virago is really tied into outside of the day-to-day is freight movement and its commitment to bringing people in the industry together .

Would love to hear more about that journey and what that means . I know they announced like big news the other week at Manifest , which is awesome , and then you've also been doing , kind of as a part of that , your own local coffee networking .

So let's talk about freight movement and then also your perspective on why kind of bringing these different types of engagements to our local communities can really foster stronger connections and build more impactful relationships in our industry .

But the goal was to create these local events for people to attend that maybe can't go to the large ones , and so I know some people thought at first like , oh , so you're going to do like an event that people can go

there instead of this ? And the answer is no , absolutely not . We do something either the evening of when nothing else is happening or we do something at the beginning .

So , as people are kind of filtering in town and the reason is our events are free , they're free to attend , which means you might not be able to afford the really expensive ticket to the really big event , but you can still have all the perks of networking with those people , of shaking hands , of sitting down , of having real conversations or not .

You know , we had karaoke here in Chattanooga , so not as much talking at that one . It was incredibly fun and it's just more accessible . And I think a really big piece of what we're doing is bringing people together in the sense that it's come one , come all .

It doesn't matter if you're a truck driver , if you're a product manager , if you're in IT , you're welcome , if you're in the supply chain , we would love to say hello .

And I think that that's kind of what makes us stand out , because at industry events there's typically a very certain type of title that's going to show up and it's somebody in marketing , somebody in sales , somebody in senior leadership , every once in a while somebody in operations , depending on your company structure , and this is different .

So that's the foundation and why it started . And as far as what I'm doing , so I don't drink , I don't mind happy hours . But my thought was you know , there are some people that also don't want to go to a happy hour , that maybe want to go home and go to their family at the end of the workday . They don't want to do something like that .

Maybe they can't do something like that , maybe their kids are in sports . So why don't you just come have lunch with me ? I'll buy you a cup of coffee . Let's sit down and have a conversation and those are a lot smaller . There's usually anywhere from like four to eight of us that sit at a table and talk , and I've really enjoyed that .

I've gotten to do a lot in the Southeast and one in New Jersey , but it's been really fun to meet people that have been in my network for a while that I've never met in person , and also to have them invite other people and to add somebody new to my network and we'll have , you know , competitors sitting at the same table having really just candid conversations

about what they see that's happening in the industry , vacations that they like to go on and everything in between .

And I love the concept like you talked about earlier , like , oh , everyone , every marketing person should work at , you know , an actual logistics company or transportation company at some point so that you get that experience .

One of the things I love about the titles being come one , come all is that you get to talk to so I talk to a lot of sales and marketing people , a lot of senior leadership all the time . I don't get to talk to operators all the time or truck drivers or people .

That's one of the reasons why I love going to women in trucking too , because it's more of a mix of titles you know and so you get to hear more about different experiences than what's in your pocket of the industry or conversation . So I love the local networking and people in this space .

That might not be the same title or the main , but you get to hear about what they're doing , what's affecting them , which I think , as a sales or marketing person , is always valuable to hear . Like we should absolutely kind of know what's going on in all pockets of our companies or in the industry , and getting that exposure Love it .

We even so Jenny Malofrino and me live about a half hour apart here in the Cleveland Ohio area , so we do quarterly coffee chats now too , and we have one coming up in March which I'm excited about . We had one in December that seemed , it seems like it was yesterday , but also now I'm saying that it was like two months ago , but I do .

I love it and bringing people into your network , getting to meet other people that you didn't know were local , and I think it's great .

I do think that it it can be isolating , thinking that you just live by yourself or you're just doing this thing here and then you go to industry events and you get to connect with people , but like , oh , there are a lot of people typically in your area that you might have never known about .

We've actually partnered with a lot of really great organizations in the industry within the first year , like it's really taken off , and so we're we're going to be at a lot of the really big events this year and then , you know , we've also partnered with broker carrier summit .

So we'll be doing 12 , 12 events throughout the year and I'll be at some , jenny will be at some , aaron will be at some on the Farago end and on the GLCS , and you know Nate will be at some . Aaron will be at some on the Farago end and on the GLCS end .

Um , you know Nate will be at some and , um , I think the next one that's coming up is um , tia . So Bain and I will be there . Join us , I will be there too .

But that's either here or there , but I love that . I also want to go back . You said that you had a karaoke event . What's your go-to karaoke ?

However , this year so I did not go to Manifest will be there , I think next year uh , because I'll be at tia this year , so it'll be my first time at that at that event , but I definitely agreed with two other women to be the pre-halftime show , so yeah , so I definitely definitely sang and danced a whole routine and I think that's probably the last time I'll

ever do something like that .

I'm like not that that was for 100 years and I did something special , but um , that the pressure to to do that is substantial and I should not have put that on myself , but it was everything I wanted it to be , so I'm okay with it . But I love karaoke .

My best friend also is not a singer and at my bachelorette party we did karaoke and I sang Bohemian Rhapsody and she interpreted , danced it next to me and it was one of my favorite moments of the whole thing , and I would be the one doing the interpretive dance . So it was , it was great , but that was all good .

So we just touched a little bit on TMSA , elevate . But so you are a board member here at TMSA and you actually do a lot of different things here and but one of the bigger things that you've been doing over the past few years is serving on the education committee and what do you think attendees can expect from Elevate this year ?

It's something that as a board , we've identified as a committee , we've really been intentional about as we're putting together the agenda . And then there's going to be a few more panels this year than there were in the past ,

and I also think that's incredibly exciting because you get to hear different perspectives of people . I know we typically do like a shippers panel at at least one event each year . I'm excited to bring in other types of panels that are relevant to both sales and marketing , and , of course , I think it's going to be a lot of fun .

The extracurriculars also are very fun . And then , per usual , as of the last three years , there's going to be a give back to kick off the whole event , so you can come in , network , give back to the community that's hosting us , and then , you know , the awards are always incredibly fun .

And then the content this year , I think , is going to be a little elevated , as it has , and I think it's evolved over the years , but this year in particular . After looking at the agenda , which hasn't quite been announced yet , I'm really excited about the speakers we have joining us .

We just had our education committee meeting . We're recording this on February 21st we had it yesterday and so we'll be able to publicly announce some of the breakouts soon .

Our keynote speaker's name is Kate DiLeo and she's talking about not just storytelling but story selling , because if you're not , you can tell the best story ever , but if it's not to the right person at the right time in the right space , it's not going to take you very far .

And so really , really excited about that and you mentioned him earlier , but this is not public news , but I will have it by the time this goes live . But Robert Bain will be taking the stage at TMSA and we're talking about because we talk a lot about personal brand in the industry .

We have a lot of these like freight influence service , but how does that translate to actual business ? So our strongest man in logistics will be taking the stage in a 15 minute power session talking about how that has actually leveraged business for him .

We had a lot more last year because we also had some people telling like their stories to TMSA because it was our 100 year . This year we'll just have a couple but really hone in on great stories and how to really tactfully take something and pull it out . It's something that we're passionate at .

Tmsa is to have a mix , like you said , a lot more panels , a lot different perspectives . We still have the breakout sessions to do heavier dives .

We have these 15 minutes to just kind of break up that like , oh , we have a lot of longer stage time and then our closing panel this year is actually going to feature south by southwest , which I'm so excited about . The moment that we knew that we were coming to austin , I started like emailing everyone I could to try to get them .

So we actually have their like just recently , um retired chief brand officer , their , their VP of event operations and their logistics partners coming about and talking about the magic behind South by Southwest in both like a sales , marketing and logistics viewpoint , so I'm so excited getting to meet with them and stuff . You were on that , that planning call .

find the right people , which I also was really excited about , because you don't want it just to be like oh , here's a person representing . Yeah , let's use the name Like no , we actually want it to be really valuable for our , our members and our attendees .

So , and then you did mention the community give back , and so that is a passion project for you that you launched and started . So if you want to talk about that a little bit more and let people know what the give back is this year and how they could potentially get involved , yeah .

Like , technology is such a really big piece of that and , yeah , and the way that our industry is evolving , um , it just felt like such a natural fit . Um , and then , of course , as like a woman who's in the supply chain , I hear you know an organization that's focused on young girls and my heart just soars , but they this year for the gift back .

What we'll be doing is , of course , like partial networking and sorry , my dog in the background , but we'll be doing is , of course , like partial networking and sorry , my dog in the background , but we'll be . It's a networking opportunity where , as we're getting to know one another , we are also doing something for the community .

This year , what we'll be doing is packaging kits for the summer camp that Latinas has . I think it's a six week camp and each week has a different theme and a different focus , and so we'll be packaging kits for the activities for one of those weeks and , of course , some of the people from Latinitas will join us .

They'll introduce themselves , tell us a little bit more about the organization . But we have a page available to go ahead and start learning now . And if people would like to give back but they're not able to make it or they want to give back plus , they do have an Amazon wishlist to buy the supplies that will be in the kits .

So you could give back today if you wanted to and start supporting that organization . But yeah , it's near and dear to my heart , it's . We didn't have a give back with TMSA and I said I think this could be a value point and another way to network and we could just kind of smash them together .

And I was really surprised when the board said , yeah , let's do it , make it happen .

The past two years we made tie blankets and so it's really nice to like have that activity to do , to like calm your nerves a bit . When you're meeting people , trying to talk with people , you're doing an activity together .

And one of the things I'm really excited about too is they said that one of the things that we could do for the girls is like write like positive affirmations for them and like encouraging words . I'm super

pumped about that .

I have in my like past couple of years I didn't have the opportunity this year , but like I've done like women in STEM mentorship programs and stuff like that , and this is so much younger than the space that I'm used to working in , but I do think that really focusing in on STEM at a younger age working in , but I do think that really focusing in on STEM

at a younger age is important , and so I love that we're doing that and that we get to support it , so really pumped about that too , me too , and I'm excited because it's a different type of organization everywhere that we go and that , I think , has been the fun part for me , and the way that I'm able to give back to TMSA , the way that I'm able to help

us just say thank you to the community that's hosting us .

Sober it's a little bit more of a taboo subject and I think people are more inclined to talk about like , oh , you know , sobriety and recovery and healing , and it's like , well , let's also talk about . You know , the reason we're there is because of addiction , and that's the part where people get a little squirmy , and that's okay .

But for those , a little squirmy and that's that's okay . But for those of us that need the resources and and feel very alone , it's really nice to know that there's a community out there . And so that was . It's something that had been on my heart for quite some time and I just didn't know what to do with it .

I didn't know what that was going to look like . I didn't . It's like the seed was planted but I had no idea what the flower was going to look like , and so I gave it the time and space that I felt like it deserved , and when it was time , it was time and I went ahead and launched it .

There is a service that I offer through that that I feel like I just don't talk about very much .

Maybe I should , but anybody that's that's trying to apply for a job maybe get their life back on track and , specifically , if they have like gaps in their resume from where they've taken time to to focus on their life and to to get the help and the healing that they needed , that can be really awkward and really uncomfortable conversation to have , and so the

service that I offer is the resume writing . Let's sit down and talk about what you really bring to the table , because I bet it's amazing , and let's also have a conversation , maybe before you have that interview , of how do you approach that topic . What if they say why is there a gap on your resume which most people don't care ?

But it makes us feel really safe to have an answer to that question anyways . And yeah , so far it's been a very slow takeoff , but there was one person who reached out . We did a resume together and she got a job .

I realized we really weren't talking about marketing very much , even though it was called the Mediocre Marketer , and so I rebranded that to Dry Conversations and it felt very natural and very organic , and I've already got a list of like nine people that I'm going to be recording with over the next three weeks , so we'll have plenty of episodes to come .

It's a question I ask everyone If you could go back in time and advise a younger Winnie anything personally or professionally when would you go back to and what would you say ?

There is a tribe of people who have lived that and are ready to not only tell the tale but hold your hand through it . You know , I there I've experienced a lot of things that I thought would for sure break me as a person and they didn't .

And I think the only reason they didn't is because when somebody told me , like you have to ask for help , I listened and I did . And I think the only reason they didn't is because when somebody told me , like you have to ask for help , I listened and I did .

And I think that that's a really courageous thing to do and I think it's one of the things that's got me this far . I mean , gosh , even getting laid off of a job and just reaching out to my network for help and landing at Virago and having this career . That is beyond my wildest dreams . You know , it doesn't have to be just about my addiction .

There are lots of things that I feel like we face as people and reaching out and it wouldn't be just asking for help , it's knowing somebody will show up . When you do that , that's a big deal . That was a really big deal for me , so I wish I had maybe known that a little bit earlier .

in the industry here at TMSA , and for coming on the show today . It was great to have you and I'll see everyone next time . Bye .