Sabreen Amin

Honestly, I attribute my success to my mentor when I first started. I always say this to everybody - he is my guardian angel. He literally taught me everything that I didn't learn in school and just in real life. I came into this field as a student and I didn't know much aside from the basics they tell you in school, but he really coached me and taught me about the field in general. He made sure I was ready for this field and really taught me everything I need to know, and helped me apply it throughout the way. He's definitely somebody I attribute my success to, also because he's very much one of the few feminists in this field of transportation, and he would really empower me. So I really attribute a lot of my success to him.

The best advice I've received is just never give up, and just to do it. I have a coach who actually tells me all the time, just do it, just do it, don't be scared. Like, what's the worst that can happen, you know? And just go out there and do it. She really put that in my head. It's funny, we have a joke about Nike, and that's really where the motivation came from - just do it as their slogan. So that's really what I kind of put out too, like, just do it.

I'm in a male-dominant field, so for me it's really important to make your voice be heard, no matter what. A lot of people in marketing tend to feel like there's a lot of pressure on marketing professionals in general, and especially in a male-dominant field, every time we do things in marketing it's kind of overlooked by upper management. So it's really important to make sure your voice is heard and make sure that anything you are saying is not brushed off, it's not overlooked. It comes with the fact that you're educating at the same time, and you're making your presence valued and heard in that room. So any table you come to, you need to really stand tall, make your voice be heard, and that's really the main thing I would advise anybody coming into my field. That's something I would tell my younger self.

I think the greatest opportunities for young professionals in transportation are getting involved with our main association, which is the National Limousine Association. I think getting involved with that is super important, and it's often overlooked in smaller companies, but I think, especially as a woman, you should be at those tables having those conversations. For me, what's worked is just attending networking events. In New York City, we have a lot of them, and it's definitely such a great way to just put yourself out there. Even if you know you're not gonna get business out of it, it's such a good practice tool for women who are practicing public speaking or just socializing and just meeting new people. You really never know who you're gonna meet. And don't limit yourself to who you're branding to, really.

Honestly, organization is my main value. I am so type A - I need things a certain way, and when they don't go that way, I'm like, okay, it's okay, but we gotta reroute and make sure we're getting these things done. I make sure everything is in a file somewhere and just very organized. Aside from that, I like to promote a happy workplace. I like to hear from my associate and make sure that she's okay and she's doing well. I check in with her often because marketing sounds very easy, but it's a really overwhelming job at times. I kind of had that circle in my life where I was like, oh my god, I'm gonna hit myself in the head if I don't take a break, and I just need 10 minutes today. That's really what I try to promote to all my associates - it's really important to just have that 5 minutes and take that break.