Influential Woman · International Trade Compliance

Katherine Kuhlman

Trade Compliance Supervisor, Murata

Acworth, GA

Certifications · Degrees · Memberships

Degree Bachelor's Degree in Psychology

Her Story

About Katherine

My career journey has been unique and homegrown. I started at Murata Electronics North America as an admin assistant and worked my way up, serving as an analyst for quite a number of years before moving into my current supervisor role late last year. Over the past 10 years in the electronics supply chain industry, with 6 years focused specifically on trade compliance, I've done the hard work to get where I'm at. I oversee our import and export compliance, working closely with U.S. Customs and maintaining our CTPAT supply chain certification. My day-to-day responsibilities include monitoring brokerage and customs issues, overseeing tariff strategies and mitigation solutions for our customers, and managing our duty drawback program, which took us about a year to implement and results in duty recovery for us and our customers. I have a bachelor's degree in psychology and worked as a vet tech for about 15 years before joining Murata. I had a wonderful woman mentor who helped bring me up through the company, and much of my industry and supply chain knowledge has come through hands-on experience and pursuing learning on my own through webinars and working with other trade professionals. Now I'm focused on building our team and navigating through the chaos of tariffs.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Katherine

01What do you attribute your success to?

I do think there's a level of passion and kind of grit that you need to have. But you also need to have one or two people on your team that have your back and are pushing for your growth and development. Of course, your successes are yours and all the hard work that you put in is yours to own, but you need to find one or two people that truly look out for your best interest. That's what I experienced that has attributed to my success. I've also found that I applied my personal values to my work life, and that's the way I treat people, and that has gone a long way.

02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?

Don't let anybody tell you no. Take the opportunities when you see them. Don't be sorry or backtrack on the decisions that you make in your career. Chase the opportunities and stand up for yourself.

03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

Believe in yourself. Don't ever give up on your values and beliefs. Stay true to who you are. Failure is only failure if you don't get back up and keep trying. No one ever got to a point of success without failing first.

04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

Automation is both a challenge and an opportunity. I think trade compliance and anybody in the industry should be focusing on automating their systems and their information and processes.

05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

You gotta be flexible. There are so many ups and downs, and it's a cliche, but you really do have to try to remain positive. You know, see the silver lining in whatever it is that you do. Keep hustling, keep your head down, and maintain good relationships. Be respectful. Support other people. Just kind of those common basic life skills. I've found that I applied my personal values to my work life, and that's the way I treat people, and that has gone a long way and attributed to my success too.

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