Influential Woman · Costco Wholesale
Brenda James
Supervisor, Costco depot
Dallas, TX
Her Story
About Brenda
I work as a supervisor at the Costco depot, where we supply everything to the stores rather than the retail locations where members shop. I've been with Costco for nearly 11 years, and I've rotated through several roles to gain experience across the entire operation, including admin, safety, and the chill side. For my first 6 years, I worked on the chill side at 34 degrees, receiving all refrigerated products like meat, produce, fresh and frozen fruit, ice cream, milk, and beverages. While working in that temperature takes a toll on the body, it was quite rewarding here in Texas and gave me a deep understanding of how things flow. In my current supervisory role since November of last year, my key responsibilities include receiving freight back from stores, managing the pallets we use to move merchandise, and overseeing our returns department where we process merchandise that members return. We've had a returns program running for a few years now where we actually make money back on some items, while others we donate or dispose of depending on their condition. I tell my team that our way to help members is to make sure they're getting the correct products in the best condition we can possibly send out of the depot. We don't want to send anything out that we wouldn't want to buy ourselves. Before Costco, I lived in Mississippi working as a sewing machine operator sewing parachutes, but when that job was slowing down, I made a life change and moved to Texas. Costco was my first and only interview, and I've been there ever since. I feel very fortunate to have found a company like Costco where I can make a decent living without a college degree, as I was a young mom who never got to attend college.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Brenda
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is to always be open to learn something new. On any job, you're going to be thrown various tasks to do. Sometimes people don't like change because they get comfortable in their zone and what they're doing - it's like clockwork, it's second nature to them, they're comfortable, they know what they're doing. But then when you send them to something else, it's like, I don't want to go there, I don't know about it. Yes, you don't know about it, but once you go, you can learn about it, and that's something else that you can do to be of help. So I'm always open to learning other things, and I tell other people to make sure you do that, because a lot of times, people just don't like to be bothered, they just want to do what they're doing.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Just make sure that you're coming in with an open mind. Make sure you apply yourself, make sure that you're giving your best and you're all - it's a business after all, and if you were hiring somebody, you would want them to come in and give you their best self. Just make sure you come in and you're giving it your all, because everything is not for everybody. We have a 90-day program where we hire people and have an interview with them. Sometimes after the interview you know they're not a good fit, but if you give people a try and you try to encourage them and just tell them to be open to learn, a lot of times people let their insecurities stop them from blossoming because they're afraid of trying to learn something new. So I just tell them to keep an open mind and just give it a try. You never know unless you try.
03What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Honesty and integrity are most important to me. I'd rather you hurt me with the truth than lie to me to make me feel good. Just let's be honest, let's have that conversation, let's get through it, let's work through it, let's not act like we don't see the big pink elephant in the room. Communication is key to me. All of my bosses and my co-workers know that Miss Brenda's gonna tell you - they call me Miss Brenda because I'm older than a lot of people I work for. If you wanna know, she's gonna tell you the truth. They never question anything that I bring to the table because they know it comes from a good place, and they know that I'm an honest person. If I broke it, I'mma tell you I broke it. There's nothing in there that can't be fixed, so if I did it, I'm gonna own up to that, and then we can move on to the next thing. I always tell people to make sure you have understanding integrity, because then when you say something, people don't question you as much. They don't look at you like, oh, I don't know if I need to believe that or not. That's not a good feeling for somebody to have to go behind you to see if they can trust what you're saying.
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