Her Story
About Josie
I got my degree in supply chain and started in the industry in 2008. My first role was with Adidas, where I did purchasing for the retail company, buying product from factories and managing the buy plan all the way to the retail stores. Then I jumped into the golf industry, working on the demand planning side of supply chain, specifically doing the buy plan for golf balls. After that, I moved into the sales side of the business, doing retail sales and helping stores plan their inventory, manage sell-through, and handle product purchasing. Now I work for UPS, where I've been for about a year. I focus heavily on supply chain for shipping and product management, working with large enterprise accounts across the western Montana market. I make sure their supply chain is efficient and operating appropriately, and I manage that business for those accounts. What I love about supply chain is that it gives me a broad understanding of every area of a business. I get to work across teams, from factories all the way to customers, and I think it's fun to learn about the business from beginning to end. I'm really good at building relationships, and I've been able to lean into that strength within supply chain. I've had to be brave in my career - I've left cities for jobs, moved for opportunities, and even spoke in front of Amazon and Apple executives. Looking ahead, my goal is to stay with UPS and move into a manager-style role where I'm managing a team of people on the account management and customer-facing side, or potentially move into training people on what UPS does in supply chain.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Josie
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to finding your stream that resonates with your spirit or your soul, like you as a human, and then pushing forward in that no matter your obstacles. It's about having resilience within something that resonates with your personality, something you're passionate about and care about, but also having a lot of strength to push yourself to the next level. I've had to be brave - I left cities for a job, I moved for jobs, I spoke in front of Amazon and Apple, in front of executives. You have to be brave and accept the criticism, and you also have to trust that you're in your right career path. For me, I didn't wake up and say I want to be in supply chain. I'm really, really good at building relationships, so I was like, okay, why don't I lean into that in the way that I can in supply chain? But it took a lot of resilience and getting back up during things that I might have failed at. And then just being really passionate about what you love to do, finding what that is. Don't settle. You just take it one chunk at a time, and all of a sudden, you're 20 years later running the UPS supply chain for Montana, which I would have never thought.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say to embrace supply chain as a good career path. I think supply chain is undervalued, but it's becoming more transparent as something that women should go after. There are so many options in it. You don't have to be a trucker or work at a port - I'm all on the business side of it, working with accounts and building relationships, but doing that with a focus on supply chain. Women should be more open to the career options and look into that, because there's a lot of really good careers within supply chain where you can make a niche career for yourself. I think it's fun to learn about the business all the way from the beginning to the end, because you get to work across teams, like with factories all the way to a customer who's having frustrations. I think you can have a lot of fun with it and not make it boring. I just want more women to own it and feel comfortable sharing their supply chain experience. It wasn't the limelight like marketing and finance back in the day, but now people are realizing there's money here, there's stabilization here, and it can be a sexy career. We need to be putting it out there more that there's a lot you can do with it. Be confident in your emotional intelligence, be confident in your voice, and the fact that we do lean a little bit more emotionally driven, but make sure you're pausing and evaluating the pragmatic side of the delivery. Have the bravery of knowing when and how to speak up, and have the confidence to have a voice at the right time and the right place.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · Montana
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.