Influential Woman · Supply Chain

Nadia Urvina

Load Planner, Tree Top, Inc.

Yakima, WA

Her Story

About Nadia

My career in supply chain started somewhat by chance. I was working at the Yakima County Prosecutor's Office, but I didn't mold well to that job - I realize now it was because of my ADHD, which I wasn't diagnosed with until later in my career. I got a part-time job at Berman Pollen Company, where they send out pollen to apple growers. That's where I learned the UPS system and shipping basics. Then someone got a job at Hop Union, and the day she started, somebody else quit, so I jumped at the opportunity. I told them I knew how to ship and understood supply chain from my time at McDonald's. At Hop Union, I started learning international shipments, which perfectly aligned with my love of travel - I've been to Mexico, Canada, Europe, and about 14 different states, half for fun and half for work. I've navigated some incredibly challenging situations throughout my career. When 9/11 happened during harvest season at Hop Union, we had to figure out how to get samples out when everything was grounded for two weeks. During Hurricane Katrina, we had to adapt our operations. I even had a trucking company go out of business with three trucks on the road, and I had to figure out how to get them home. During COVID, I was working in the alcohol industry, making sure we could get product to people during a stressful time while keeping our team safe and ensuring we had coverage when people got sick. Now I work at Tree Top, which is one of the few bigger companies that maintains a family atmosphere. I'm fortunate to be in one of the better departments where my boss, my boss's boss, and even higher up have all done our kind of work - they've been in the trenches. I was a supplier manager for a long time, but I decided to move to Tree Top so I could get better insurance and pay, and so I could start finishing off my bucket list of things I started when I was younger.

Her Interview

Ten minutes with Nadia

01What do you attribute your success to?

I attribute my success to my family and a drive to want to always do better. That's why I went to college, why I do the things that I do. Because I do the things that I do, I get to go experience and learn more, whether it's through life, through family, or through work. My family has been a constant source of support and motivation, and that internal drive to continuously improve has pushed me to seek out new opportunities and challenges throughout my career.

02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?

Learn. Learn as much as you can about everything that you do, even the little things, because the details do matter. Details are one of the hardest things that took me to learn, which is why I learned how to be more organized. I literally read every paper on how to be organized, whether at home or at work. I have ADHD, and I actually wasn't even diagnosed until I got into the workplace. School is pretty linear - you go in, take a class, learn. But when you go into a job, they're like, okay, we're going to do it this way, and a week later, we're going to do it this way now. There's instant change. So I had to learn how to learn in a job versus learn how to learn at school. Pay attention to those details and be prepared to adapt.

03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?

There's a lot of things. Supply chain is everywhere. Look at even when we had COVID - they had to hire people that were supply chain knowledgeable, plus the feet on the ground kind of people, to figure out how to get all the medications that they had available and where they needed to go. They had to evaluate what would work the best, whether it was using UPS or whether they used their own military to deliver it. It just depended on where it went. There was that supply chain manager that was in charge of figuring out how they were going to do all that. The field is constantly evolving and requires you to evaluate problems and figure out a way to make it work, whether it's dealing with major disruptions like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, or COVID-19.

04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?

Honesty and integrity are most important to me. I also value a family atmosphere, which is why I usually work for smaller companies. Tree Top is one of the few bigger companies that has that family atmosphere. I got one of the better departments too - my boss, my boss's boss, and my boss's boss's boss have all done our kind of work. Even though they are execs now, they've been in the trenches. That hands-on experience and understanding from leadership really matters to me.

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