Ep. #34: Alyssa Correale

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We look forward to working with you To our listeners . That's it . Let's get the show on the road . All right , we're back . Welcome back to another episode of the Prey Pod . I'm your host , andrew Silver . We've got a wonderful guest today , someone who was recommended multiple times .

I put a post out on LinkedIn recently about wanting to change up some things , try different things , and got a lot of feedback . I appreciate the LinkedIn community , all the listeners who commented and said try this , try that . One name that was brought up a number of times was Alyssa Correal , and she joins me here today . Welcome to the show .

How are you doing ?

Just there's a memory I have a distant one from like nine years ago , where he told me that you specifically were one of his favorite customers in the industry , and I just want to put that on the record before we start .

So just kind of walk us through that and then we'll get this show .

So grew up in a family business , so Giovanni Foods is a manufacturing company primarily focused on tomato-based products . So as the youngest of four kids , I of course went to the sauce factory every single day as a kid and after school during the summers et cetera .

So I had a lot of time to digest what it's like to be a manufacturer and a shipper um and use that um as a , as a director for for what I wanted to do , um , moving forward in in in the working world um , and not only um in college as well . So I I studied to um go into food marketing and business management .

So the goal was always to go back into the family business but had the opportunity to join Niagara immediately after college . So a fun story there is . I actually met Niagara in Chicago at the Private Label Manufacturers Association trade show A great trade show to find those shippers out there that are manufacturing private label .

That was when Niagara was tiny , right Association trade show a great trade show to find those shippers out there that are manufacturing private label .

That was when Niagara was tiny right had one facility in Ontario , california , on Concourse Street , didn't even have the Philly Street facility and ironically enough my dad , my brother and I at G-Bunny Foods were exhibiting in the back corner of the show across from Niagara Bottling .

So got the opportunity to meet the legendary Mr P at Niagara and a few other folks and just hit it off and ultimately was able to join the Niagara team . So spent almost 10 years at Niagara and we'll dig into that space , I'm sure . Following that followed my dream and my husband's dream of moving to colorado .

Moved to colorado and joined the fantastic team at molson coors , so made the move from water to beer , which was was really , really fun . Um , following that , I I joined a company called microstar logistics , so continued into beer , this time focused on the logistics of kegs Microstar you could call it the pellets of kegs , where we leased out kegs to brewers .

Following that , I joined the team at Redwood Logistics in actually a commercial-facing role , went from being a shipper , managing operations and procurement , et cetera , to a broker , the tech arm of a broker .

One of those folks that recommended me for the podcast , bob Chabius I know he's a well-known name in the industry . He gave me a call .

But things change and what I've learned is is you definitely need to always be looking out for number one and don't hesitate to act and take risks and bet on yourself .

It's a phenomenal way to connect to the community and I couldn't recommend folks at any point in your career , but certainly in the beginning part of your career , especially now that we're in this like remote environment getting out in front of people , especially people you don't know it just it enhances your skill set to communicate and build relationships , and so I

recommend look in your community . Do you have a local transportation club , whether it's even like a CSCMP , an Apex transportation club , et cetera ? Get yourself out there , meet some new people . You may just make some friends , which is great , but you also can also do business as well . So it's a blast to run the organization .

The board that runs it with me is super fun . We strive to be the premier networking organization for the supply chain logistics community in the front range . So golf tournaments September 19th come on out .

We're gonna probably go somewhat chronological , because I want to touch on all of these businesses that you've been a part of . They're all unique and interesting in their own way , um , and then we've got some topics I want to hit on as well . So let's take it back to the family business first of all . Uh , what did you do when you were like what ?

At what point did you actually start working in the business ? What were the things you were doing ? Did you enjoy it ? And clearly enough that you wanted to be , you know , working in a similar type company yeah , that's a great question .

So I mean from the beginning , of course , as a kid I'm the youngest of four , I'm tagging along , right , so I am going to the plant with the rest of the family after church on Sunday , right , where I'm just messing around with my sister and , you know , my older sister and brother getting put to work .

But truly , when I got old enough to actually help and not be a nuisance , you know , I did things like entering orders into the system . You know very , very old system . My favorite to be honest this is kind of weird as a type , A individual my favorite was writing bill of ladings . Favorite was writing bill of ladings .

So before you had them all printed easily with all the fields from the system , you wrote them by hand .

And so when we would have , we used to supply the government with a lot of what were called number 10 cans , so the large cans of spaghetti sauce for prisons , for schools , et cetera , and we'd have a large order of those and my brother would just be like here's the bill of lading , um , so I got to go through every single order and write all of the

information for the bill of lading . Of course we all know what's on one of those , um , and so that was , you know , one of the things . So , um , I would work on , you know , inventory , so understanding the spices and the amount of tomatoes , etc . And just be responsible for counting things like that .

Um , I spent a lot of time sitting in my dad's office listening to whatever he was working on and you know , there was no computer , big computer on his , on his desk it was a yellow notepad that he would write down , whether it's a memo to the employees or things that he had to do . And then I would also help my mom out .

So my mom did the back office , so to speak , so she was able to quote , unquote , stay home with us as kids , but of course was was working and was the cog behind the wheel of the family business . Ultimately , as I got older and during the summers of college , I would help out my brother .

So , my brother who runs the family business now his name's Lou Dement . He has grown it tremendously over the last 20 plus years and when he was not the CEO of the organization which he is now , he ran all of our commercial activity and I was his assistant .

Quite , quite honestly , um , I would help him in the summers , you know , make sure that he keeps track of the RFPs , and if I could help him in the pricing in any way , um , or help manage his calendar et cetera . So I would just I would help him out in any way I could .

So I was kind of a utility player but I leaned certainly into the operations aspect of the business .

I was like I'm going to go sell , it's going to be more , and they had a program that was geared towards what I wanted . So , going back into the agribusiness , right , business management , food marketing . However , when I met Niagara , I thought what a great opportunity to go to a different , family-owned private label manufacturer . So I should back up .

Do you Buy ? Foods is primarily a private label manufacturer . So , for example , one of their , their largest brands , is trader jokes , um , similar to niagara . Right , niagara is their kind of costco , kroger you name . It's all private label , um .

And so when I met them , I'm like this is the perfect opportunity , not only as a 22 year old to move to southern california like this is cool but to learn how someone else ran a business , because I only knew how my dad and my brother were running and my mom were running the business . I didn't know how anyone else ran a business .

And then , you know , I joined Niagara in 2006 . And I think many of us know what happened over the next , I mean until now . I think many of us know what happened over the next I mean until now but at least the 10 years that I was there . I mean we just took off like a rocket and I held every single role imaginable in the supply chain at Niagara .

And I was just calling my brother , I'm like you'll never believe this . And I'm like look at all my new machinery . And he's like I'm jealous , I want new machines , you know . So that's I mean really it , it . It was that making that decision to go work for Niagara kind of set the stage for the rest of my career .

But don't get me wrong , we've talked about it and it just has never worked out .

So I mean one of the things that happens when you join a company that experiences kind of fires needing to be put out and feeling the impact of you putting the fire out and like helping advance from day one to day five to day ten to now we've got carriers set up .

Now the loads are picking up , and now we open a new facility and look , now those loads are picking up . It's like there's something really just rewarding about that and so I understand how maybe you walked in the thing . Yeah , I'll learn a little bit here . And next thing you know it's nearly 10 years have gone by .

Is that kind of how you would explain that period for you ? I mean , tell me a little bit more about what that was like being an early employee at a fast growth company like that and what that experience was yeah , I'm smiling and laughing because addicting , I haven't called it that , but that's what I'm using moving forward .

We had just started shipping our first loads to the East Coast via rail and we learned what happens when bottles of water freeze on the train . And I'll never forget when Andy Pickoff came in and said this is what a frozen bottle of water looks like . And we're like , shoot , we should figure this out .

So I mean , it was the beginning days we were learning so much .

And then , secondarily , when it thaws , the condensation then ruins the corrugate tray and then the pallets just like they just fall . And then the pallets just like they just fall . Additionally , the top , because when it freezes it expands , the top of the of the water can pop off , the label can start coming off . They're thin bottles .

I mean they're not as thin . They weren't as thin then , but they were still thin , right , so the whole package is compromised .

How did you think about that as you were building out a carrier network and thinking about ? You know relationships to carriers and brokers and such Kind of help me understand how .

Um , and we , when I , when I joined , I started in actually in raw material uh , procurement and quickly moved into more of the core logistics and transportation piece , because I realized how important transportation was to ensuring that I get my materials into my facilities on time . So I started when I was buying .

I started then saying , hey , I want to call the carrier and talk to them and find out what the issue is . Why is it so difficult to work with this shrink , wrap or corrugate supplier ? How do we smooth out the deliveries to make sure I have them ? And I gained a lot of interest in the transportation side of the house .

Additionally , what pushed me into transportation was that after about almost a year at Niagara in Southern California , I wanted to move back east . So while I was so excited to be in the sun , in the fun , in the beach , my family , my now husband , who was my significant other at the time was all back east .

And , coincidentally , this was when Niagara was putting up our first east coast plant , which was the one the notable one in allentown pennsylvania , um , and so in order to prepare to move back east and basically run supply chain for the allentown um facility , I got the opportunity to train in the concourse shipping office .

So that's when I got my first real dose of what like day-to-day operations at a plant looks like and dealing with drivers every single day and all the problems that we had right , I mean , loading delays are not a thing that started later on with Niagara . Like it's always been , we are loading off the line .

It is a very high paced environment and so starting to learn what it's like to talk to a driver understand , you know , how our our deficiencies were impacting the rest of their day and how much money they're making and seeing their frustration and the idle time , et cetera .

Working that 4amm to 4 pm in the Concourse shipping office in preparation to go back east started that evolution of how I thought about partnering with carriers .

But then , especially you know , when I went to , went to Allentown and you know we opened up that facility with , with really only a concrete pad that was right before the dock door , so we were shoveling rocks to make sure each truck could get up onto a carrier started to shape the way that I thought about procuring transportation . Now , don't get me wrong .

At that point we were still emailing carriers saying , hey , will you take this load for tomorrow ? There was no procurement strategy whatsoever . And once we started to build up that volume , our small but mighty transportation team came together and we were like , okay , we need to divide this up between operations and procurement .

My colleague Rocky , who's still at Niagara today , she ran operations , I ran procurement . And a third gentleman , ryan , who is at Niagara today as well . He was responsible for building the technology to be able to support our operations and procurement .

You know , was there a thought like , hey , maybe we need to slow down and cut back a bit ? Or you know what was it ? Just it was the vision of the organization to run , run , run . I mean , help me understand , kind of that thought , yeah , that's a great question .

So we all know water is a penny's business and Niagara was absolutely and still is absolutely leading the way when it comes to innovation the best equipment in the industry , always running more bottles per minute than their competitor , being completely vertically integrated by creating their own preforms , which is the bottle before it's a bottle , before you blow it into

a bottle , the ability to blow mold your own bottle . So , innovation , speed , efficiency , volume is the name of the game when it comes to the private label water industry , and Niagara was going to continue to push that envelope because that's how they became so successful .

Um , and it's also like the I mean growing pains of starting up a new facility and starting up new lines is a real thing . Um , and demand exceeded supply . Demand continues to exceed supply . Uh , for , for niagara , the years I mean , and I would say now as a carrier for them . They have done incredible things to improve their ability to forecast .

They've reduced loading delays . They introduced drop trailer . I mean , we were live load only way back in the day . I started figuring out drop trailer for them before I left . But none of it like degrading a carrier experience is not intentional for any shipper Like I can guarantee you that Of course . What's going on inside those four walls .

I'm so glad I have that experience now being on the carrier side saying , okay , guys and girls , they're not trying to be jerks , let's talk to them , understand what's going on inside their four walls . What can we do to help them solve those problems ? Because they don't want this either . They don't want the problems .

Exception management is the worst and that's what takes all of our time . So , yeah , I mean the company is all about growth , efficiency and speed . Just when you're growing at that pace , you're going to have a lot of hiccups , and that's where a really strong procurement and carrier relations strategy is required . And that's what I learned .

Right is I was pissing people off every day , not just the carriers , but the police in the local community .

How do you be a shipper of choice , how do you be a good partner to carriers , knowing you can't offer them the juicy race that they're necessarily looking for ? And volume is certainly part of the answer , but help me think about that a little bit .

So I have a great example of one of our key customers that we were trying to figure out how do we reduce the total cost of ownership from the manufacturing line to the store shelf Because we were the highest volume .

I am going through their supply chain and that's a big number , right , if we're going through their DCs and then going on their route trucks to their stores and they're just doing this multiple times a day with water's silly . So how do we ? How do I be ? So ?

What I was , what I did , was I was like being transparent with my carriers , my issues with my customer and , ultimately , my main carrier . Myself and my customer spent multiple weeks devising a new direct to store program that created more opportunity for that carrier and reduce the total cost of ownership for both Niagara and our joint customer .

So it's just one example of where transparency just leads to and the carrier feels bought in . They can tell their driver like that's the thing , the driver piece right . They can tell their drivers the why . They can tell their drivers oh , we're going to do this new thing to help with that bad thing and you're going to benefit um .

So I mean transparency , I can't say it enough and and being being authentic I think goes hand in hand with that um to always . And then , last but not least , being available for your carriers .

I think we've all probably experienced where a customer may not be as available as we need them to be , but I always thought that it was wildly important that , if a carrier reached out to me , that either I got back to them right away or somebody else on my team and I made sure that they were taken care of .

So you made the move from water to beer and spent four to five years at a company that became one of my favorite customers in the last few years . Let's talk about your time at Molson . How are things different ? What did you learn in your time there ? What did you , what was your role , to give us some of that ? Absolutely .

And my husband and I were hell bent on living in Colorado and living the mountain life and it came to a point where we were like , if we don't do this , if we don't make it , take a risk and take a jump , we're just never going to do it Like we just we have to , we have to .

We've been hammering our careers for nine , almost 10 years and and I this drives somebody , my husband , kind of crazy Sometimes .

I'm a , I'm a big , I'm a firm believer in good things happen to good people and I'm like it'll be fine , we're good people , you know , um , and so we , we're good people , you know , and so we , we made the jump , went to , went to Colorado . I got super lucky . Niagara said , hey , just come here a lot until you find it Like .

We know this isn't going to be forever , but I stayed with Niagara for just over a year and went to Ontario almost every other week for about a year . So the love is strong there for sure . But then found the opportunity at Molson Coors and what I'll say as well is I took a big step back career-wise and so this was a really hard decision .

So at Niagara I was responsible for all carrier relations , all carrier procurement , big spend . I've had a lot of visibility in the organization . Absolutely , you know , really , really on a good track . Um , at niagara , mostly course , really great opportunity to learn tons of new things .

But I was responsible for two breweries just over the road transportation , um , and so it was . It was a really hard decision for me . Um , I'm like , am I really stepping back ? And that's when I started to learn about , learn to lean into what I call like unofficial mentors .

So I know people talk about mentors all the time and some people struggle to , like , you know , ask somebody or have a cadence with them . But what I , the mindset I've taken is I can have a lot of mentors if they're unofficial , right , and if I stay in touch with them periodically and ask them questions .

And that's what I ended up doing to help me make the decision to move over to Molson Asking a lot of different people about , like , how does this look right ? I was still thinking about how other people would see this change .

Perceived it look right , I was still thinking about how other people would would see this change and me being this the face of niagara procurement , right to like going down , and I got a lot of really good , good advice about the company . Culture at molten cores is fantastic . You will , you'll be super happy .

Um , it's an amazing opportunity to join a public , a public company . It'll give you lots of different experience . It's so different than than water . I'm like sure , sure , sure , like it's heavy beverage . I it's an amazing opportunity to join a public company . It'll give you lots of different experience . It's so different than water .

I'm like sure , sure , sure , like it's heavy beverage . I can do that . I'm not supposed to , you know , but they were all right and I'm so glad I listened to them . I have lasting friendships at Molson .

As far as my role , I started , like I said , over the road transportation outbound beer for two breweries Irwindale , california , which is no longer no longer operating , and then Albany Georgia , albany , georgia . I learned so much down there that one's you smirk a little .

No , at least for the few years that I was pursuing . And I spent three years personally reaching out to her and she would let me participate in the mini-bids but never award me any loads . And so each mini bid and this was every month or two , maybe every two months I would get another mini bid and I would bid normal rates . I would lose .

And so next time I'm like I got to go more aggressive . I bid a little more aggressive , I'd lose . And of all the facilities and this is before I knew anything about the freight right , I mean I only had the OD pairs . I never hauled for them and this is just kind of a thought on on brokers and pursuing business .

But I spent two and a half years bidding on these mini bids and progressively pricing cheaper and cheaper and cheaper . Until , uh and albany , georgia , was the facility , I thought this is going to be the easiest one for me to cover freight out of um outside of produce season . You know , southern georgia , like there's , you know not a ton of freight down there .

And so , like I was at a point where I was pricing like albany , georgia to florida , for you know it was like 300 miles and I was pricing like 500 , all in knowing I was gonna get my ass kicked . But I was like just get me in the network , uh , and it took three years .

Ironically , I do remember I'll never forget this because she made a point to tell me she's like well , we only let one broker in recently , it was convoy , and you , you guys aren't like different enough like them . And I was telling her at the time , I was like we're different from them , but in a , in a way that you're not realizing yet , like it's .

And so there was a little bit . When she finally let us in , I gave her a little bit of an . I told you so because I think convoy got kicked out for for , you know , failing or whatever , who knows what didn't work with them . But and then obviously we know what , we know what happened after that . But but I mean , I , I respect most .

Of course there's a lesson in in in just shippers in general and it's typically the harder it is for you to get in with the shipper , the more time and effort you have to put in to earn an opportunity , the better partner they end up being .

I mean it speaks to they really respect the relationships they have with their carriers and their brokers and they're not just going to nilly willy , add somebody new because you send them an email and it's it's the respect for incumbents that I think those of us that have worked in this industry and worked really hard for our customers , that's what we really

appreciate . And you know there's two sides of that coin because there's a non-incumbent um . It just takes a lot longer to become an incumbent and to get an opportunity . But once we we did , I remember it was like hair on fire . They had a lot of challenges out of , uh , colorado with um .

I can't remember what the issue was , but like overnight we were doing like a ton of volume for them out of there , just as like a last minute support and um . I love that part of the brokerage is is when you get an opportunity and a shipper really needs help and it's like who are they going to ?

And you raise your hand at the right time and then all of a sudden they're coming to you and you're just showing up and your team's getting fired up at these new opportunities .

I mean , that was my favorite part of brokering was the hair on fire last minute opportunities , and not because you could like make more money in them just because you got to play hero , and not because you could like make more money in them just because you got to play hero . I think that's like part of how I fell in love with this industry was just the .

My freaking father like forced me to be the guy . Because it's like who are you going to , who are you going to force in your company to show up and work on Fourth of July ? Probably your kid , who's sitting in the pool right now messing around having a beer .

Like get that all the office and go cover those those coke loads , because I can't just ask a random employee to do it . But that you know I'm on a rant here .

I love that so much Because , on the flip side , I loved calling for favors and that's the relationship piece , like I said , like the authenticity , the transparency I mean , even though , like I was over procurement , but because I had such good relationships and I wasn't that procurement person , that was like your rates suck email , right , like I was in conversation ,

and I'm not trying to like generalize , but right , like you do get feedback . That's pretty black and white . I loved calling carriers like who's that ? Be like oh my God , you know , because I mean we had those 400 load Fridays . I mean you guys know it and we were just smiling and dialing for trucks .

Then you did the same , and that's part of to your point , that's part of the addicting piece .

And the other thing that resonated with me when you said hair on fire , literally like the day I walked into Molson Coors my actual boss's boss at the time who now is over at Constellation he said , like your hair is on fire , you're going to need to tone it down at Coors . Like we're not running around like crazy people .

Like you were at Niagara , cause I was just like well , we can do better with these rates and the service and the thing and the that cause . You know , I mean at Niagara we were just hammered and while I I felt strongly about relationship , most of course taught me a whole nother level of loyalty .

I mean they had carriers that were carriers built off of beer distributors , so like over a hundred years of a relationship that I needed to be patient with and learn about and not be calling the shots Right . So that was like my . One of my big learnings of going to Molson Coors is to one douse the hair on fire slightly . You still need it .

I still have it , don't worry .

But take time to listen a whole lot more and super again , super valuable lesson and I , quite honestly , not only learned it on the trucking side of Molson Coors , but most of my career at Molson Coors was in a space that I had no experience in opportunity to be what we called our multimodal manager , which covered intermodal boxcar cross-border ocean and our

reusable asset management , so both the purchase and the maintenance of kegs and pallets and dunnage that we reusedused , but also the reverse logistics of it . So a space .

I had no clue what I was doing and came to this experienced team I mean , I had three people had that have been , at most , of course , for 35 years and take a back seat and listen and learn , um , but then also the expectation that it's going to be improved , right , right , we're going to ship more intermodal .

The breweries are going to be super into blocking and bracing loads . We're going to do more boxcar like we used to do . Right , we filled in the rail pit at Albany , but we're going to do more boxcar out of Albany . So lots of challenges . So not only learning the people and having patience for that , but learning the modes .

And trust me , as a female in the industry going to talk to a railroad , I was shaking in my boots . Right , I didn't . I didn't know , I didn't know enough about the railroads and just being very much outnumbered .

This is definitely an industry that is , by the numbers , way more male than female , and I think that's true at every level at the executive level , at the front lines , on the brokerage side , especially on the shipper side . I would probably say two as well . Yeah , I would say not as much , not so much like go ahead .

Yeah , not so much like at an organizational level , like Molson Coors . It's not like those companies are more male than female . I mean , maybe they are a little bit , but not as strong as in the freight part of the business . Yeah , and I'm just curious is it more challenging as a female , inherently because of that dynamic ?

And so I was super fortunate at Niagara and Molson Coors to have an environment that they I mean I didn't feel like I didn't have the same opportunities as my male counterparts . Honestly , I felt like I maybe even had more opportunities because I was different and of course , again to your point , it was a shipper environment .

So it was a little less I don't know if aggressive or rough around the edges is the word than your other side of the fence , the service provider side of the fence .

But I would say that I was extremely lucky with the co-workers , the bosses I had , essentially the family that I had at both Niagara and Molson Quarters that , let me be authentic , be aggressive without judgment , you know , exhibit those more male type behaviors without any downfall that I really saw . It encouraged me to be in those environments .

I mean certainly meeting with carriers . All of them are men . I certainly had many poor experiences , but my peers and my boss and my colleagues didn't make a thing of it , right , it was just no . Alyssa still has this responsibility . She's still going to make the call . That was shitty , but we're not going to dwell on it .

Let's move on and continue to develop a really strong strategy and move forward with it .

at the same time , I think this is interesting to talk about and worth talking about in our industry , and that it is a generally male dominated industry .

But that doesn't mean that males should have more opportunity or should be able to act a certain way , that a female shouldn't be able to act and they should be seen one way or a different way . So I am just curious , like what is an example of what a poor experience looks like and how do you deal with it ?

side , neither of them would look at me or address me , even though I would answer questions and address them back .

And that certainly put a fire under me with a few different reactions and within the meeting I did not express , you know , any any type of outward communication around my disappointment , um , or or how I felt in general about how they treated me , um , but you know , following certainly was was pretty vocal internally about this type of behavior , because it , you

know , it wasn't the first time and it wouldn't be the last time and , to be honest , I was at a point in my career where I wasn't really sure how to navigate that , except to continue to do like behave the way I thought I should , versus taking a step back . And I think that's what happens a lot is .

Women experience something like that , especially early on in their career , and they don't have that support system around them , so they just they kind of take a step back the next time and they don't think that they should have that seat at that table , that they should have that seat at that table .

Then you either succumb to the insecurity and let them create a reality that's not really true , or you say fuck that , like I am here because I deserve to be here . And you know I'm not going to let your belittlement or your idiocy , you know , take away from that .

And I continue to work on that today in my current role . I think that most I would say many women in art are provided that opportunity and are continued to be supported along the way , which is tough right , Because I know I speak for a lot of women in this industry , but we love to be surrounded by each other .

I mean , I'll be on a call at Uber Freight and there's five women and we , you know , high five for a quick second , then get to business , of course , but it's pretty darn cool . But I mean lots of you if you listen to , like a women leadership panel , everyone .

Ultimately , the topic of we all lift each other up comes up right and we can't knock each other down . And it's hard when you're fighting for for a few , a few opportunities in in a particular organization or in in the industry as a whole .

I guess women like roles in logistics where women have moved into , or recruiting . But I do think that there's a major gap still on the operations side of the house . It's very hard to grow up in operations and continue to climb the ladder in operations .

I think if we all just kind of look around and think about like leading organizations in our industry , we would it would be hard pressed to find a female leader on the operations side of the house . And I mean like I can .

I mean my second example I can jump onto real quick was my experience following most , of course , like all this isn't like super widely know , but I was fired for being too disruptive .

Second of all , you want to come work here ?

Um , but to go back to the experience , I was behaving like the , the , the person , not just the female , but the person that I had been the what almost 15 years of my career prior , acting , being authentic , speaking my mind , desiring to make change , sticking up for my team , doing all of those things that had been celebrated in those other organizations but was

considered threatening , even though my peers , as males , could do those things , but it was considered threatening at a different leadership organization . So I learned a heck of a lot there . That was my , that was my first . Like whoa , being a woman in this industry can really hurt experience .

So I reached out to you on LinkedIn after Bob had put your name out there , and someone else maybe too , and I just said , hey , want to do an episode . And you said , absolutely , let's get it . And within a week or so you sent me an email with a pitch of this is what we should talk about . Here's my bio .

Here are topics this would make a great episode for your audience . I've never had that and I've never had that , and I just think it speaks volumes to kind of your character and who you are and how you advocate for yourself , which is a term or a concept that I've heard a lot , especially as related .

I mean , everyone should be advocating for themselves , but I feel like it comes up a lot more for women , because in our industry they don't always have someone advocating for them . Can you talk a little bit like is that intentional or this was just by happenstance ?

That's , or this is just how you've developed your skillset or your approach to life and business and relationships ?

And quite honestly , a lot of that too is my life at home with my husband . I mean he knows what I face . I mean we've been together since we were 21 years old , so he's seen this little girl go through this industry I mean I'm 40 , like for 20 years and go and be a monster shipper right With all this power and kind of .

Of course he hears everything that I've experienced , the ups and the downs of being in the industry , just generally . But then of course , as a female , and he doesn't let me get away with not advocating for myself , which I mean I couldn't . I wouldn't be where I am without without that , without that type of support .

But you got to have somebody that's pushing you . And then the other person that I'm going to reference again is Bob . I mean coming into Uber Freight , he , I'll say he's taught me a lot of things , but one is the art of the pitch and he is a grand .

I'm sorry , I'm just kidding . I have to reiterate this . Bob is a good friend of mine and the nature of our friendship , and a lot of our friendships in this circle , is just constantly ragging on one another and talking shit .

Um , and I had the opportunity to go to Uber Freight or to go back being a shipper and my my experience at MicroStar Redwood , I was like they're just not , it wasn't terrible , but it wasn't like amazing .

Right , I had amazing Molson , coors , maga , right , I was like maybe I just need to go be a shipper again , do what I know , you know , and the world is in a very bad space . No-transcript , I'm signing the deal at Uber Freight and I'm declining the offer from one of my old most , in course buddies to go be a shipper at another place that he moved to .

And then you were getting this whole new kind of brokerage maybe brokerage , maybe not , kind of different , very different thing with Uber Freight . And I just want to talk for a second , because your life has been a series of foregoing on what you're comfortable with , to attempt something new .

The devil on the shoulder is always going to say I don't know that it's the devil , but the anti-growth thing on your shoulder is going to say , hey , stick to what you know because it's easier , it's more comfortable . But growth doesn't happen in comfort . Growth happens in discomfort and trying new things .

And I just want you to talk a little bit about how you , how that applies to your life , um , and how that the impact maybe that you know you've been to six companies plus , you know , taking an important role in the Denver transportation company .

You're a busy person and have done a lot of things , taking a lot of chances , advocating for yourself , bet on yourself . How has that impacted your life ? How should our audience be thinking about betting on themselves and taking new chances and opportunities ?

I don't think you're just kind of , I mean , maybe some people are born with it , but I personally had to , had to work at it because I am I always been a less of an outgoing maybe that's the right word outgoing person .

So I mean , I remember my mom saying you need to call to order pizza , like you have to call , and I'm like no , I'm not calling , it's scary , it's so scary . And like who's going to give him what if they ask about toppings ? Who's going to give him the money when he gets here , like you know ?

But then I mean I owe a lot to niagara . Like you use sink or swim , they expect excellence . I mean that I'm sure everybody you've met there they are just tip top , not only super smart , super capable , um expect excellence across the board . And I mean you can't just like skirt around , you have to dive in .

And once I started diving into these new experiences , it started getting addicting to your point doesn't mean everyone isn't hard or scary . I mean I'll go back and reference the last couple of years of Uber Freight . I've been given the opportunity to do a lot of panels for women .

I've spoken at our customer conference , our carrier conference , et cetera , before each opportunity . You know I'm nervous , I'm preparing opportunity . You know I'm nervous , I'm preparing and it , yes , has it gotten a heck of a lot easier , but it's still something that I have to push myself for .

But I know , based on all of these previous experiences of pushing , that it really helps . So , like when I referenced , like get out and find your local club , that's how you start , right , it's like you put yourself in an uncomfortable situation of meeting new people and then cool things happen .

Right , you make a new friend , you find a new business partner , and then you do . You just have to do it over and over and over again . So I just like that's why you see all the moves , probably is because I just try to put myself out there and you just see what happens . So you can always say no .

And lastly , on this , on this thread here is Action is always better than inaction . I can't say that enough . So , if you like , I recently read the book the Confidence Code , which holy cow boy did . I wish I read that , like read that 15 , 20 years ago .

I'm still glad I read it now and I encourage I mean men as well , but certainly women at any point in your career . Read that book and you know what you get out of it is , in summary , is think less , act more and be authentic . You build confidence because you're taking action .

And I cannot stress that enough , because you'll get addicted to it and good things will happen .

One are fast growth companies young , fast growth companies and two are and I don't know the right way to describe this it might be crazy CEOs or crazy leaders or over the top , but like people who demand excellence because it puts you in an environment . One where there's high expectations of you .

And two where there's a lot going on and a lot of opportunity in front of you . That is where greatness is molded Like I have seen it , because we had this at MOLA .

We had a very high expectation of our people and , like I used to get feedback that it was like some people were like , yeah , you're kind of scary , we were a little afraid of you , but at the same time , we just didn't want to let you down .

And what it does is it like forces people to be at their best and it like tests you and like you've seen this for people who play sports like playing on great teams with great coaches who demanded the most of you Like that's how people grow , playing on great teams with great coaches who demanded the most of you Like that's how people grow .

And so people became stronger and better at their their , whatever their , their practice was or their art was .

And I just think it was a weird thing as you were talking about that with Niagara , like that , it reminded me of of what we tried to do at Molo , and I think one of the things that our people came to appreciate over time was the , the high bar that was set .

And a high bar with low opportunity is not great , but a high bar with high opportunity is OK . I've met the bar , the business is growing . Now I'm getting promoted because of it and you start to see the rewards of your actions .

Um , I reported to him for a long time and every meeting that I went into with him I was like all right , is he going to ask me a question ? I can't answer , like I . That's when I learned how to prepare early on , preparing for meetings , and he just expected excellence .

But in a way , that was that showed you that he cared and he , he wanted better for for everybody , right ? He , he wanted us all to perform better .

Um , and so we just had that mentality that , all right , if we're going to present something to him , it is going to be our best , and you know what he's going to ask it to be better , ask for it to be better , and that's that was just the mentality . And you know , that's when I started to learn about that behavior .

And then , when I think about Uber Freight , I mean the connection between these brilliant technology minds in these logistics professionals I will say this a number of times to different people is I have to go into work every day with my A game . I have to go into work every day with my A game .

There's no , just like kicking it , especially when I first started , I mean , or Bob , but Bob did tell me he's like your brain's going to be stretched in ways you just don't realize . And I'm like sure , sure , sure , whatever . So I start meeting with the tech team and my brain just starts like expanding for sure .

And I have got to have my shit together to go to these meetings and be super prepared , ready to ask questions . Um , think super critically . All right , what's our next step ? Have a have , an objective of the meeting . And what is like , what do I want my outcome to be ? And that's still how it is today and that's like to .

Your point is , you know , you got to have a CEO . That is I was thinking ambitious when you're going through the words . But I love crazy as well . Crazy ambitious together makes it very positive , crazy ambitious .

The better version is when they do it because they know that those results align to the mission and vision . That achieve further results that benefit everybody .

And it's understanding that when we don't accomplish those things , when we don't do this the right way , it impairs all of us , it prevents all of us from seeing future opportunity and growth in the business . And the latter is what you want . You want someone who , like , clearly understands the things that an organization needs to do to be successful .

And they drive it home day in and day out and they make it clear that if we don't do these things , we will not win , we will not be successful .

And , like when you have someone like that leading the org or a team of people like that , that when you've found a good yeah , you just want to get behind them and you're like heck , yeah , like yes , let's like the team sports thing .

I don't know what to say , but I think most people want to win , especially in our industry , whether you're a shipper , a carrier whatever , whether you're a shipper , a carrier , whatever .

And getting behind a leader that can effectively communicate what winning looks like and how to get there and able to identify where we need to level up to really win , it's just fun . It's just fun .

So this is interesting because I've I've had some communication with the Uber marketing team about doing an Uber episode and we got close and then I got punted and so I want to .

I don't want to get you in trouble , so I'm not going to ask you anything that I might ask Lior , and I'm hopeful that we get Lior on the podcast at some point Well , they all know I'm here .

You've joined a very unique organization that has had a a massive impact on the space , one that undoubtedly has brought innovation to the space . That is something that , um , I you know , I think people mistake . People conflate two things .

Um , one is technology companies coming in and subsidizing shipper costs to grow any means necessary and whether or not that was part of the Uber playbook at some point is irrelevant to this conversation but also is leveraging brilliant minds and technologists , paired with people like Bob and other freight minded people , to drive innovation , and I talked about this with

Rob Haddock on his episode about Coca-Cola . And just as an example of innovation that Uber has brought would be the concept of facility ratings and leveraging drivers who are already on an app that are familiar with a rating type system to give instantaneous type feedback regarding the experience that they had with specific facility .

That is just something that didn't exist before Uber came along , and I believe for sure that that adds value to a shipper and to their facility network . So I'm not coming on here as a hater . I've been a hater in the past . Some could call it maturity and growth , but that's not what we're doing today . So let's talk about your journey to Uber .

You made the decision to join , obviously kind of with Bob , kind of in your ear . What was the role ? You were your ear , um , what was the role you were coming into and what's the role you're doing ?

Ultimately now we are a partner , of course , in Molson Coors , but , um , I distinctly remember being like this is never gonna work um , but look who's here now eating my words um . You call four years later right , let me talk about maturity it's growth maturity very demure um , but even even when I was evaluating coming on , I was hesitant .

So the role that I came on into was running our fleet strategy engagement , and that was as an individual contributor . So going from leading teams for many , many years to just being me driving strategy .

They didn't all say that , but trust me , I , like , valued my part .

There's no , there's not a lot of tools for fleets to partner with them . Brokers in general , like we want to talk to somebody , like all of those things that we all know , right .

So again , another time where not only did Bob pitch me like a star , but I was like okay , I've been able to impact the industry as a shipper , just in my four walls and my facilities , but this is a true opportunity to impact the industry in a big way .

Like you said , it bringing facility ratings , democratizing via upfront pricing , all sorts of things that right , wrong or indifferent . Uber Freight certainly has made a massive impact on the industry and I was like this is cool and I've always been super into the tech side of logistics , so it got me really excited , so came in running our fleet strategy .

So what that means is okay , what are we not doing right with fleets ? From an ops perspective , from a communication perspective , how do we engage them better ? And then , of course , how do we lean in with technology when it comes to integrating with our TMSs via API , et cetera .

So it was super fun spending time with fleets and seeing their operating systems and I'm like I should have done this as a shipper as well Right To see what their challenges are like available loads , available trucks how do I match them up Holy cow , this is so archaic the different tabs , right .

So all of that was super interesting to me , and to lace that all together also with like , okay , I know the problems that they're facing from a shipper perspective , I know that we're a stop gap in the middle to ensure that they continue to drive revenue on their assets . So for me it was like the full picture .

And then I get to like partner with product people that are super smart to build cool stuff for fleets . This is amazing . So that was my initial role and within I think eight or 10 months , I started to build a team and then ultimately led the fleet strategy and operations team .

So everybody that did the managed the day-to-day like day-to-day carrier sales , an area that I was like I knew nothing about .

But day-to-day like day-to-day carrier sales , an area that I was like what I I knew nothing about , but day-to-day carrier sales with our national um fleet partners and our regional fleet partners was was part of my team , so I got to learn a lot about all those pain points , um , and what's required to be a be a broker in from a perspective which again opened

my eyes , because I mean , back in the shipper day I was like , oh all my lanes , that I contract with you , you contract to an underlying carrier and off you go . And that is not true at all .

So Powerloop is our power only service offering where we have almost a thousand trailers in our Uber freight trailer fleet . So we long-term these trailers and we leverage our brokerage arm to power those trailers .

So they're responsible for a set of trailers in a specific region . We have a specific carrier sales team for Powerloop as well to partner with the power-only carriers and ensure that we're getting loads both directions , so we're not running empty all the time . We have a specific asset management team that's focused on our telematics and our repairs and all of that .

So we actually have two people commercially focused on power loop . So we have our our own little group of about 35 people that that work on powerloop . But we partner in in the organization um intensely and we built a ton of product within our operating tools to support the business as well .

The challenge for a startup like his that's three years old is it's really hard to effectively operate a fleet of trailers if you don't have thousands of loads a day . The benefit for you is you have thousands of loads a day , maybe tens of thousands , I don't know how many , but it's a lot .

Can you talk a little bit about what are the biggest challenges that you've run into leading Powerloop since you've taken it over ? What are those challenges that someone who's a traditional broker or maybe a shipper wouldn't necessarily be privy to without having this conversation ?

I've taken a humble pill , for sure , when it comes to managing assets and I'm only managing the trailers , I don't have the driver and the truck to worry about but it's given me a brand new appreciation about how challenging it is to be the asset player in this space and how abundantly important that transparency from the shipper is , because revenue on your asset ,

and continuous revenue on your asset is number one . So that utilization piece and figuring that out isn't easy . Trucking companies have mastered it throughout the years , but we all know their operating ratios are super tight . One slip up in how you're managing a fleet or a load that you take into the wrong location can blow things up for a month for you .

So , number one learned a ton just generally about asset management in our industry . Number two , which you talk about , is running an asset business in an automated slash

. Digital brokerage is like has has many challenges but also has many benefits . Like you mentioned , thousands and thousands of looks like easy peasy . We're gonna utilize the hell out of these things , right , we got so much to choose from um , but there's so much automation in there .

You kind of got to break it down and make sure that you are getting the right load , the right appointment and the right payload , and you know the long list of things that you need to make sure you have and you have to make sure you have it consistently . So you have to insert people to make sure . Dear shipper , I'm expecting two loads a day .

You're giving me one load every other day . What's happening when you have we have around 6,000 customers . We have that many customers in your marketplace loads are flying off the board . It makes it really challenging . What's exciting about what we're doing is we have buy in from the entire organization , from , you know , Lior to to to everybody .

That power loop is is a core part of our strategy . We're a small part of the business today , but it's a core part of our strategy . Our shippers want more of it , and so we have the latitude and the capability to work super collaboratively with the partners across the organization to make those changes and make things happen .

We're not we're not like swimming upstream and fighting every day , fighting a fight to try to make it work . We've , you know , everybody understands the task at hand and I fundamentally believe that it's , it's going to be a very large offering from us moving forward .

So when you have this organization that's becoming mature and at least has processes that everyone has been accustomed to and just an SOP , a way of doing things , and you throw in this big investment with a thousand trailers , that is going to disrupt that flow . With a thousand trailers , that is going to disrupt that flow .

It's really important that the organization is end-to-end bought in , because if they're not , you're going to run into issues where , okay , this operations team is not accommodating an appointment change or a necessary ship on this day versus that day , whatever , and I'm not saying you should be sacrificing customer requirements .

That example I just gave might have suggested that . That's not my point . What I am saying , though , is you need buy-in across the org to move something like this forward .

The comparison I'm thinking of at Molo was we had a dedicated fleet that we were able to develop with a carrier , where they gave us I think by the end , it was maybe 25 trucks a day that we owned and we were paying for them , whether we used them or not , and that , to me , speaks to a level of trust between a carrier and a broker that is typically

unheard of or very , very rare . Now , other than that , we were a standard brokerage .

So , you know , to the carrier reps that are working on loads or the operators who are just you know , managing their customers , when you throw in this dedicated group all of a sudden , or this dedicated relationship , it's like , wait a second , we're prioritizing that , like , so I should make changes as a result of this ?

And the answer is yes , it's hey , we're furthering our mission to be the best possible partner we can be with our carriers . That takes making a change , and what you're talking about is Uber being able to further its mission and be a better partner to potential owner ops who don't want to have their own trailers .

It's a way to maybe be more efficient , to manage more drop trailer business . Whatever it may be , you're supporting your network , your carriers , your customers in a better way . But for the individual contributor who's just a carrier rep or an operations rep , they don't get more compensation , they don't get more anything .

They maybe even get a little bit slighter of a headache because they have to make a change to accommodate . That's where it's critically important to have aligned buy-in across the org and for everyone to understand there's a reason we're doing this and we need everybody bought in to make it happen .

And that's quite honestly the first year , and even so now , but definitely the first year was a road show of why powerloop not just externally , mostly mostly internally , and even to like our commercial team right where they're always excited to sell something new and shiny , right , but they're like , are like , are you sure Is this going to work ?

Like rightfully so , right , poking to make sure that they're going to get what they expect and that we can operate it within the constraints of our organization . So , truly a roadshow of building trust within the organization , even though it is coming from the top , which is great , helps so much .

But I mean at each level of the organization we are daily building trust , even when we bring on a new customer that , say , is one of our transportation management customers , right , those are our coveted . I mean all customers are amazing . But like , if you're like a 10-year transportation management customer , that's , that's a , that's a different deal , right ?

Um , and if , if powerloop wins some lanes with them , I mean we have to earn their trust as well , like our internal teammates on the transportation management side . So I mean you hit that , they hit the nail on the head . It's it's a lot of internal , it's a lot of internal awareness and coordination to make it work .

And let me phrase it this way Uber is one of the biggest players in our industry today , One of the most unique . I want to understand from your perspective what's the best thing about working at Uber and what's the biggest challenge about working at Uber . One and one that's a great question .

And I know there's lots of opinions and lots of press good , bad or indifferent about the organization and how we've changed and , like you said , profitability . But I can tell you on the inside I mean I've been there for four years and it's the best gig I've ever had . I mean , I talked greatly about other employers and they were fantastic .

But the opportunity to pave your own way and advocate for yourself , like we've talked about , and try new things and fail and then try again , and the access to the brilliant minds that we have , not just on the on the operations and traditional transportation team wise , but the technology side , I mean I mean these are , these are Uber technology people .

It's a whole different ballgame . If you're willing to expose yourself and meet lots of people at our organization , I mean the world's your oyster . And so I just we're not . We don't settle . It's how I'll sum it up .

What makes me get up every day and be like we're going to go , you know and my team will resonate with that for sure Like here she is again and I'd say the most challenging thing I mean the integration has been really tough with with Transplace Right and I think it's hard , it's hard Big integrations are really , really hard and that's a billion dollar integration

. It is no joke , and it's been . It's been two years and it's been a long two years for everybody . And to do it in such a terrible market at the same time like , could you , could you have a worse table set , you know ? Um , but the resiliency of of the team throughout it has been fantastic .

I mean of , we've had some rough days and some dark times , but we just like continue to be like hey , remember why we're doing this . It's gonna be great . And I can't say enough about where we are now from a leadership perspective .

I have not never been more excited and I put my stripper hat on all the time , um , because it's super fun to give people a hard time internally .

But when I see what we're creating from a shipper perspective someone that's bought I bought transportation management , I bought tms's , I bought , obviously , truckload intermodal , like I bought all the things and I'm like if we can't sell one of these things that we got to a shipper , then we got problems right Like we really are bringing together a really strong

go-to-market and have a suite of services that we can find something to partner with a shipper on , no matter what . So it's I mean , it's been a journey , but we really are just getting started . I can tell you that .

You were at Uber , or you were just before making the change yeah , so I was at Redwood . How challenging is it to be in an industry like this where you have so much everybody has so much on their plate all the time .

Whether you're at a place like Molson , where you've got , you know , responsibility over multiple facilities , or working in a in a brokerage role , where you've got accounts to oversee . How hard is it to step away for three months at a time ?

And you know , before we hopped on live , we were talking about Charlie from CS Recruiting and how I follow her on LinkedIn and absolutely love everything she writes and she talks about her three boys all the time LinkedIn and absolutely love everything she writes and she talks about her three boys all the time .

But I don't think it's , I truly don't think it's out there enough that being a mom or a parent in general , but definitely a mom with the whole maternity leave thing is is a challenge and for , for for me , coming back was was the hardest part .

Um , not only are you leaving this tiny , but they're still tiny , they're still so small even though they're three or four months old . I mean , I got so lucky at Wilson quarters .

We had 16 weeks of leave , which was really unheard of , except for the places like Uber , um , um , and so I got to be with him for you know , my youngest , my oldest , for just about four months , um , and and coming back to that family oriented environment was , was quite possibly the best setup I I could have had .

I was only commuting 15 minutes out to golden um , for work , and they made it easy to pump and all of the things we had , all of the niceties , but still the biggest thing that you don't see from the outside , like physically , like yeah , maybe she needs to take 30 minutes here and there , but what's going on upstairs ? That's what no one sees .

And you're thinking , okay , did they nap ? Did they eat ? They poop ? Um , like , what do I need ? Like , what else do I need ? Okay , I mean , I had to miss this , I had to miss pumping , so I have to push it this time .

So it's going to impact ounces and I mean you , you're just like constantly the doctor's appointment for the shots and , oh well , how will he react to the shots ? Will he have a fever ? Do I need to stay home ? Will at work ?

I've got this travel like you're just motoring in your head , um , whereas I mean I distinctly remember a couple months after coming back from maternity leave at Wilson Court , I'm sitting in a meeting with all men and I'm like they're all laser focused on this meeting and I have a lot going on upstairs , like I remember being , um , being like having that narrative

in my head while , while , while focusing , and , um , I think that is just , oh , it's overlooked not only by I mean by anybody , not just just , not just men , right , um , and so do I have a solution for that ? No , I just think , like talking about it and might help people realize that that there's , there's so much more than just .

And maybe it's just mindfulness and maybe cutting a little bit more slack in those first couple of months that someone returns from maternity leave , because it's not impossible , but it's a really challenging situation .

It's something that everybody wants to do Not everybody , but a lot of people want to do and they want to come back to work , and certainly working for an organization that has a great paternity maternity leave policies helps . 16 weeks is a lot better than four or six .

I don't know what the minimum is , but I'm just trying to think if there are other things that you would recommend people do or things that maybe helped you navigate through that from the first to the second time around . That , you know , made life a little easier for you .

One is awareness , right , like you said , mindfulness of it , ensuring that people are aware , ensuring that the manager of that person that's coming back is aware that there's a whole lot more going on , because I don't necessarily want to be like like , oh well , you , we're not going to work as hard or be as awesome .

We're actually going to be more awesome because our time is very tight , like when we have care for our kids , we are hammering , um , because when we do , like when they're ours , we are with the kids .

Um , so I there's lots of studies about productivity in parents , especially working moms , right , so it doesn't mean give me less responsibility , because that's not what we want . It means understand that there's I'm going to kick ass still , but there's a lot of shit going on .

And if I have a moment where I'm like , look , way too overwhelmed , it's because I'm digesting what you just said to me as my boss , but also all the stuff that , like , I'm working on , like , oh shoot , I have to move that doctor's appointment or whatever .

But I don't say it out loud because I don't want you to think that I can't handle it , right , so we're , we're doing a lot of internal things , so awareness and then I'm going to go out and say this to the brokerage community improve your maternity leave .

It's bad , I was pregnant at a broker and I called her and I , when I found out what the maternity leave was , I called around to my all my friends at brokers and I was like please tell me , this isn't the standard . And they said this is the standard .

It wasn't worth it , um , which normally I don't do that but I was like I'm pregnant I'm not going to stress myself out even more than what's going on in the world right now , cause it was COVID times et cetera going on in the world right now because it was COVID times et cetera .

But if I could do a call to action , if you brokers really Advocate , do it . All the brokers are like we love women and we want them to be leaders . You know what ? No one is going to stay at your organization during their childbearing age .

If you give them three weeks , they don't have the finances to stay home another 12 weeks or whatever they want right To get to 12 or 14 . If you really mean it , buck up and give them the maternity leave that they deserve . So thanks for giving me the platform for that one . It's been a long time .

That was a powerful way to end the show . So thank you so much for coming on . I fully understand why my father told me that you were one of his favorite customers and people in the industry , because this was , I mean , end to end . You were just incredible .

So I really appreciate all the insights from your various roles at really interesting companies and just kind of your aura as a person . Thank you .