Hilary Nauta

Honestly, my sister. I would say my sister's been a huge role model. She is a doctor in education, and she's just always kind of shown me that you can do anything. Our family had no education, so we had nothing to kind of look up to, and she showed me the path of honestly just being women-empowered. We can do anything we want, you have to just set your mind to it and do it. And so, she's been a huge inspiration to my career, my home life, everything. She started out as a high school social studies teacher, and now she has a doctorate and works for a small tech ed company. She's really showed me that light.

Honestly, to not be intimidated, because I'm in a world of men, and it can be very intimidating to be a female when you're surrounded by lots of older males - seasoned older males who know what they're doing and have been doing this for decades. Just being confident, and if you don't know, you don't know. Keep asking questions, learn, and then one day you're gonna be that person that someone else is looking up to. So just being confident and keep trying, because that's what I've been doing the last seven years, and it's been working. I have an amazing manager, and she's really showed me that light. One of her best quotes is, you know, just don't get intimidated by a man. There's nothing that we can't do. We're also not doing rocket science or surgery on anyone, so no one's gonna die. We're gonna figure this out. Just be patient with yourself, and you'll figure it out.

Stay strong, motivated. If you feel like you're not doing a great job, you just have to keep trying. Take a walk sometimes, I just need to get out, you know, go do something for yourself. But we can do anything a man can do, in any industry. It's more of just going through that trail and trying to navigate it for future women as well. I have an amazing manager, and she's really showed me that light, and one of her best quotes is, you know, just don't get intimidated by a man. There's nothing that we can't do. We're also not doing rocket science or surgery on anyone, so no one's gonna die. We're gonna figure this out. Just be patient with yourself, and you'll figure it out.

The opportunities are growing with the company in different directions if I wanted to, so there are lots of opportunities for movement and changes. If I stay in the 3PL channel, there will be other positions available once I get my master's and a little bit more experience under my belt with logistics. At XPO, there's a lot of ability to go see your customers, so I have that flexibility to book a flight and visit them in two days if they're having issues at a terminal that we can't resolve remotely. Having that flexibility is huge, and those are opportunities where I can have hands-on experience to help my career. When you go to a terminal, you learn a lot more about what's going on and all the processes, so sometimes it just helps you understand everything a little bit more.

It's really making sure that I'm having those customer relationships and making sure that I'm getting with everybody, because ultimately, if I'm doing good at my job, I'm able to provide for my family, be a good mom, be a good wife, and support all the needs that I need to. Just making sure that I feel covered. When I close my computer at the end of the day, I know that my customers are taken care of, and now I can take care of my family. So it's kind of just circling that loop - taking care of my customers so I can take care of my family.