Her Story
About Jade
My career in supply chain began after graduating from New Mexico State University, where I also played basketball. I entered BNSF Railway's management trainee program in their transportation sector, and after three months became a full train master at the Corwith Intermodal Facility in Chicago. In that role, I managed all three seats of train master positions and oversaw the engineers and conductors who operate trains at an intermodal yard that delivers anything ordered online through Amazon, UPS, FedEx, and other expedited goods. I gave them their daily duties, communicated over radio, provided safety briefings, and handled all safety-related matters. One of my most notable achievements at BNSF was pioneering the sending of 10,000-feet trains to San Bernardino, California, and I was chosen to be featured in a people leader training video shown to all BNSF managers during their three-day training sessions in Fort Worth. I then pursued my MBA at Texas A&M University, graduating in December, and during that time completed a global supply chain internship with AT&T on the business side and an operations and transformation co-op with Nokia on the space and defense team. Now I work full-time with AT&T as a senior supply chain planning analyst on the business side, where I handle logistics and planning for AT&T Business Voice, AT&T Phone Business Advanced, and Managed Internet backup services. My typical day involves planning inventory, forecasting, ensuring warehouse partners receive and configure orders correctly, and making sure products reach end customers on time. I focus heavily on process improvements to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of our existing processes.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jade
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my bosses, specifically my first bosses that I had at BNSF, my first job out of college. I think having great leadership is so important to your career and your company, especially when you're just now starting out. I had great bosses that trusted me so much and spoke so much life and positivity into me at BNSF, and now I'm not scared to talk to leaders and I'm always confident in myself and my decisions moving forward. I also attribute my success to my mom and my brother. My brother is the one who got me into supply chain because he's in supply chain and he really set out the path for me. He actually worked at BNSF before I joined, so he's the reason why I changed my major and got into supply chain, because I saw how much he really enjoyed it and all the success he got from it. My mom has pushed me and my brother since we were young to always just be the best at whatever you do, and that mindset has made me feel successful in my career life and outside of that as well. The people in my personal life who are very close to me are also important because they can listen to me when I've had a bad day at work and I need to vent. Those people are most important because they feed back into me so that I can produce at work and come in with a clear head and do what I need to do.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I received was from my manager during my internship at AT&T last year. I had to present at the end of the summer in front of a lot of people, and my manager told me that when you're getting in front of a crowd of people, you may be nervous because you're presenting in front of leadership or whoever it may be, but just always remember and know that you're the subject matter expert on this. You're going to know way more than what anybody else would know, so just always go into the room confident and not nervous, always feeling like you belong and you're supposed to be there.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Always feel like you belong. Never let anyone make you feel like you don't deserve to be there or you're not supposed to be there. Obviously, you're put in a position for a reason. Always communicate, communicate, communicate, and treat everyone with respect. Always value relationships because relationships are so important. That's what made me very successful in my professional life.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The biggest challenge right now for the telecom industry is hyperscalers that are purchasing large amounts of data. There's just not enough data to go around, and so it's making it hard for competitors that are competing against Meta and these other big companies that are using all this data, the AI companies. It's putting us in a bottleneck with a lot of things.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My number one value is communication. Good communication is essential because I hate being in a position, whether it's personal or work, where something is an emergency. I also value planning stuff ahead of time so you're never in a bottleneck or have to deal with emergency situations. I mean, emergencies come up, but a lot of things can be avoided. Respect is also crucial. You have to treat everyone with the same respect. It doesn't matter what level they're at, you must treat everyone with the same respect. Plus, you never know where somebody's career is going to go, so they might be your boss one day. So respect, communication, and planning are my core values.
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