Her Story
About Aubray
I've been in the transportation and logistics space for about the last 7 years, but the first 15 years of my professional career was in FinTech and life insurance. Transportation and logistics is a really complex industry, much more difficult than you would anticipate to get goods from point A to point B. I've always been on the software side of things, or the technology side, working with both shippers and carriers, providing them with software to help make their business much more efficient and to give them insight into their business from a data perspective. I've always been primarily focused on product and engineering, product development, but I actually started a new job last Monday and I'm going to be much more focused on the client success side of things. I'm working really closely with some Fortune 500 shippers, actually globally, to be able to gain more insights into their business and then go back and influence the product. My undergraduate degree is in finance, so it made sense to go into a finance-related field directly out of undergrad. I worked on getting my master's degree while I was at that company and realized I really enjoyed leadership. The way I found my way into transportation and logistics was a bit by happenstance. The fintech company I was working for entered into an agreement with an Indian-based company, a really global company with 800,000 employees worldwide. When I was sending emails, I actually had to put my employee number on every email, and I realized that wasn't the direction I wanted my career to go. So I left that really large global company to go to an 85-person engineering company that was close to home, one that was really focused on culture. They took a bit of a leap of faith in me and started putting me in front of clients like John Deere and FedEx. Working closely with large clients like that helped develop my client-facing skill set and my ability to turn those opportunities into products from a product and engineering standpoint. I was with Trimble at the time I made that transition, and Trimble put me in front of Procter & Gamble. I kind of cut my teeth on P&G from a transportation and logistics industry standpoint, which is one of the biggest clients you can have. I've spent the last 7 years learning the ins and outs of both the shippers like P&G and the carrier side of the business, and also the fossil fuel market. I had an opportunity to leave Trimble and go to a company called Breakthrough. Their flagship product is called Breakthrough Fuel, and it's fuel sustainability for shippers, really helping provide transparency on that side of transportation and logistics to both the shipper and the carrier side.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Aubray
01What do you attribute your success to?
I think a lot of my drive and a lot of my success actually did come from being in sports when I was young and growing up, and kind of just like that competitiveness that it builds, but also, at the same time, the working with a team and understanding that it takes a team in most sports. I attribute a lot of my drive, a lot of my competitiveness, and my willingness to work towards the next level of achievement to just that youth sports growing up. I'm an oldest child female, so birth order has a play in that, too.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My best advice for young women kind of just starting out in their careers is to find themselves a mentor, and to surround themselves with people who listen to their ideas, and to not be afraid to speak up.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
We're talking a lot about growth in alternative transportation types right now. All types of transportation are out there, including renewable natural gas (RNG) as a starting point to transition to electric and then autonomous vehicles. There are several companies in this space that are probably worthwhile to look at from an investment standpoint. I think depending on the administration that's in place, the initiatives really kind of ebb and flow from large corporations around that, but eventually we'll get there, no matter who's in office or what the laws and regulations are. Whether it's 5 years from now or 20 years from now, I'm not really sure, but we definitely have those conversations. At the company I'm at now, we're talking a lot about growth in that space, especially around fuel sustainability and providing transparency to both shippers and carriers.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The people that you're working with all day really makes a difference. It's a really fun company with really, really great people. The longer you're in your career, the more you realize the people that you're with really matter. I'm also really passionate about still pursuing my time, my all-right time, despite having a family. I like to be outdoors, I like to read, I like to travel, and I'm just like an avid exerciser. In the summer, I meet with a group of women at 5 a.m. for coffee and kayaking, and it is the only time that we get that to ourselves. That ritual, those friendships, that camaraderie has been really important. Being out in nature, hiking the mountains, it's the best reminder of what's really important in life.
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