Her Story
About Carol
I've been in logistics for over 25 years, and I'm currently in my third year with EFW as an enterprise account manager. In this role, I support both the sales reps and operations, bridging the gap between the two teams. I spearhead onboarding new clients and handle any project work that comes up within my assigned accounts. I'm basically a referee, making everybody play nice in the sandbox. I'm the org-facing team member to our customers, and with enterprise accounts, they're usually either very complex or very large. Several of my accounts include Applied Materials, Nintendo, and Blue Origin, just to name a few - they're pretty high profile. I also help the sales reps with QBRs and MBRs. I got this role through connections with people I've known for years in the industry who knew I was looking for something. I was looking for a role that was still management but where I wasn't managing 25 people like my previous job. Previously, I was district manager at Pilot Sacramento. What's been really rewarding for me at this point in my career is giving back to my teammates. My closest teammate in age is years younger than me, and we've got a lot of people on our team - I think we're up to 11 people now, and 75% of them are under the age of [AGE]. I get a lot of questions about how to approach situations or how to handle challenges. This job gives my husband and me the lifestyle we want, where I'm not 24-7 anymore like I used to be. At 5 o'clock, my emails stop, which is great. I get to work from home with my dogs, and I've told my boss that if I can retire from EFW, that's my goal.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Carol
01What do you attribute your success to?
At this point in my career, I would say it's actually giving back to my teammates. My closest teammate in age is years younger than me, so working with them and getting them to the next level and being the support for them has been really rewarding for me. It's something I talk about with my manager quite a bit, because they keep asking me if I want to go back into management, and I'm like, no, I'm really good right now. We've got a lot of people on our team - I think we're up to 11 people now, and 75% of them are under the age of [AGE]. I get a lot of questions about how would you approach this, or how would you handle this, or have you ever had to talk to somebody about this before. That's been really rewarding, working with a really young team.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Always ask questions. Always ask for help if you need it - it's not a weakness. And don't burn bridges, because you never know who your next boss is gonna be. Literally, my first boss at Ford Air was my last boss at Ford Air 12 years later, and I had like four bosses in between. Especially in industries like logistics, I mean, it sounds big, but it's actually pretty small, and especially when you've been in it as long as I have. I had somebody text me the other day asking if I knew a person, and I was like, yeah, don't hire that person.
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