Tina Merkab

I've been working in the logistics industry for three years now, though I didn't really look for it - it found me. Before logistics, I worked in diplomatic settings where I dealt with ambassadors and ministers, which was slower, more bureaucratic, with a lot of paperwork and the need to be politically correct. The logistics world is pretty casual and fast-paced in comparison. My journey into logistics actually started through my art. I had been running an online art company since 2014, and when I needed to ship my artwork to different cities for shows, I came across a shipping company that only shipped arts. I got really interested in how they ship things, and that curiosity led me from domestic product movement to wanting to understand the broader spectrum - like how canvases get here if they're made in China. Now I work in heavy hauling, focusing on big, bulky items that come on vessels through the sea. We do the last leg of the journey - after items arrive in the United States via land, that's when we jump in. A lot of my customers are from Turkey, India, and Asia, and they send their products into the United States. What I do involves account management, customer satisfaction, and some budget work related to my accounts. We focus on giving our customers the proper routes to take their containers from point A to point B, along with all the legalities and logistics involved. We're very involved with the shifts in tariffs and all the political spectrum on the trade side of things.