Fleet Management News & Business Info | Commercial Carrier Journal
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/592176
Grab your share of the money tree. ITS Financial Services provides a Cash Management Solution designed specifi cally for the Transportation Industry. Call today and learn how ITS Financial Services will give your company the funds you need to watch your profi ts grow. L et's face it: trucking is a male-dominated industry. But so what? Women can still be as successful in trucking as we have been in medicine and law, also male-dominated industries in the past. As an African-American woman, I have oen been the only woman or minority in the room. I did a summer internship on a trading oor at Merrill Lynch at age 19, and then worked in investment banking when I nished my BS degree at Cornell University. When I le Merrill to pursue my MBA at e Wharton School, I think the male:female ratio was 80:20, and very similar for minorities. So I had to learn how to thrive in male-dominated environments. I don't recall ever feeling it was a particular struggle, it just was what it was. en in 2005, I bought a trucking company with my husband/business partner, Louis Biron. Although it was another male-dominated industry, it didn't faze me. As the face of the company, I was responsible for getting out there and generating new business, while Louis did what he does best, the operational side and writing our soware, Stratebo, to run the most ecient back oce. I did encounter many more men than women in our industry. And now it was my own company, so I had to make it successful. Over the years I have identied eight keys to success in a male-dominated industry, and I'd like to share them with you: 1. WOMEN CAN ACHIEVE ANYTHING WE SET OUR MINDS TO. My parents raised me to believe I could do anything I wanted with my life, and I truly have believed it, all my life. So when I entered all these male-dominated environments, it never occurred to me that I couldn't achieve anything I wanted to achieve. Building that condence and belief in ourselves as women is key to making it in a male-dominated industry. I work very hard to instill that belief both in my daughter and my son, as well as the young women I mentor. Believing in ourselves is the rst key to success in any endeavor. L et's face it: trucking is a male-dominated industry. But so what? Women can still be as successful in trucking as we have been in medicine and law, also male-dominated industries in the past. As an African-American woman, I have oen been the only woman or minority in the room. I did a summer internship on a trading oor at Merrill Lynch at age 19, and then worked in investment banking when I nished my BS degree at Cornell University. When I le Merrill to pursue my MBA at e Wharton School, I think the male:female ratio was 80:20, and very similar for minorities. So I had to learn how to thrive in male-dominated environments. I don't recall ever feeling it was a particular struggle, it just was what it was. en in 2005, I bought a trucking company with my husband/business partner, Louis Biron. Although it was another male-dominated industry, it didn't faze me. As the face of the company, I was responsible for getting out there and generating new business, while Louis did what he does best, the operational side and writing our soware, Stratebo, to run the most ecient back oce. I did encounter many more men than women in our industry. And now it was my own company, so I had to make it successful. Over the years I have identied eight keys to success in a male-dominated industry, and I'd like to share them with you: 1. WOMEN CAN ACHIEVE ANYTHING WE SET OUR MINDS TO. My parents raised me to believe I could do anything I wanted with my life, and I truly have believed it, all my life. So when I entered all these male-dominated environments, it never occurred to me that I couldn't achieve anything I wanted to achieve. Building that condence and belief in ourselves as women is key to making it in a male-dominated industry. I work very hard to instill that belief both in my daughter and my son, as well as the young women I mentor. Believing in ourselves is the rst key to success in any endeavor. Vo l . 9 , N o . 6 TRUCKSTOP.COM 17