The Winner's Circle Podcast - Women In Transportation: Stories of Growth in Houston

Welcome to the Winner's Circle, a podcast about the Averitt culture and what makes our team unique. Don't forget to subscribe on your podcast app of choice. And now your host of the Winner's Circle, Amos Rogan. Hey, everybody. Welcome to another edition of the Winner's Circle Podcast, and we thank you so much for joining. One of the reasons why I love doing this podcast is just really showing our culture, why we do what we do, and just some of the great stories that we have within our Averitt team. And it's not just LTL, and it's not just, you know, while we pick up and deliver freight, those types of things, but there's always always such great backstories when it comes to our culture and how we thrive within our culture. First, have Skyler Hamilton, who is a frontline leader for us out on our platform. Samar Gowarji, who is our admin inside of the office, and Lithenia Callaway, who is a sales transportation associate with us on. And it is so cool to have them all within one facility. I think it's a great representation of what we have as far as ladies on our team and just the diversity in which their backgrounds are and being able to come up through the ranks of our team. And that's kind of what I wanted to talk about first, ladies, is let's talk a little bit about your career path and where you got to be, where you're at today in Averitt. So Skyler, why don't you help us out and tell us a little bit about yourself and your career path starting out with us? I started on the doc here at Averitt, So I was a full time doc associate. Didn't last very long, I was killing that production real quick. So I was moved up to operational support for about two years and I recently moved over to the frontline theater position as an operational support. Was doing the inbound plan for a good long minute and now I'm helping with starting up Relay and shutting inbound down. When I was in Houston not too long ago and was first introduced to you, you could always tell that you were talking to me but you were always kind of keeping what was going on back behind you as far as the dog productivity goes, which I appreciate a whole lot, but you could always tell us you're incredibly focused on that. And how well have you been able to learn that inbound position? Man, there's so much that I have absorbed since moving over from inbound to the relay position just in itself. And even from moving from the dock position to the operational support, all the background that happens, a lot of stuff going on there. Flow of freight to start with, getting it door to door, that's just main position. It's really hard to get timed just right, but somehow we manage every day, even with all those lovely arrival times. And we do a great job at it too, you're a big reason why. Samar, we'll go to you. Tell us a little bit about where you got to be, where you're at today on the team. And for me, it's like a different story. I moved here in Houston two years ago and I go in a company, it's called Indeed Felix, as I work with them as a TAM. They didn't tell me it's Averitt. They didn't tell me anything. And I would just get there and I say Averitt and I was like, oh wow, okay. So I started in August twenty twenty two. I worked with Averitt and I tried to, like, to get a full time DAC associate. And I did it in January twenty twenty three. And I do a lot of things, forklifts, claim, inventories, a lot of stuff, you cannot imagine, for six months. And I moved here, I transferred from Houston Portside to here, Houston Service Center, in July as HR admin. I didn't know how I called this, but I did it. I didn't know why I did it. Well, know, I think, and I believe just in speaking with you a few weeks ago when I was down there, coming up as a doc associate inside of our Houston Portsmouth facility and doing everything that's done inside HPS and our Averitt Distribution and Fulfillment group, it does prepare you for just kind of understanding how freight flow goes, all that sort of stuff, the people who are needed and necessary in order to do that. So when you transition over to the Houston Service Center, you obviously were a shoe in and did a great job and still do do a great job at that. So we're very, very glad to have you on the team. LaCenia, I know that you didn't start out maybe as a doc associate with us. You came in a little bit differently. But why don't you tell us a little bit about your path to Averitt? My path to Averitt started as a college student. I studied supply chain and logistics, and I took that candlestick with me and worked for Frank Borders for about four to five years. And then I was introduced to Averitt in January of twenty twenty two when my colleague, my now colleague, texted me, Hey, would you, are you interested in transportation sales? And I said, Sure. And that's when I was introduced to Averitt and I started in April of twenty twenty two. And I'm here now as a transportation specialist and I love everything about Averitt. So, and I'm glad you just said that because that was kind of going to be my next question. You all have obviously been on the team for a little while. You've kind of understood what our team culture is, things like that. Tell us how our team culture, the Averitt culture, just the way that we do things, how has that helped you kind of be able to flourish within our company? And, LaCenia, I'll ask you that first. Yeah, so the way Averitt allowed me to flourish with them from the beginning, they were very welcoming. Everybody was welcoming. I would meet teammates in Waco, Tyler, different areas, and everybody was welcoming. And then from then, everybody was very supportive. So if I had a question, I could just pick up the phone and call whomever the question was for. So I like that we have that ability to call on hire leaders, service center directors, VPs. They're just a phone call away. So that allows me to flourish and be successful because I have a supportive team that helps me. Sure. Samara, what about you? What have you been able to get from our team culture? I will start to say communication is really good with us. We are a really good team for communication. Like, feel like it's a family thing, you know, like if I call corporate and I ask them, hey, I want us to do this. Like you, to be honest, the first one I start, I told, I emailed him and I was like, this is new process for me, can you explain it to me? Like, I feel welcome and it's really good to support when people, communication with them and you want to grow, that's really good. That's why I love every four. And Skyler, I know that you've been worked with a lot in terms of just learning the process out there on the dock. Tell us about how the culture of that process and learning has helped you. Oh, undeniably, the support system here is great, fabulous. And there is a ton of room to grow and build on your own skills that you brought to the plate, as well as, you know, communication is also a big thing. I would have to say we've shaped up pretty great, even in the last few years, communication wise, between just inner team and inner service center, along with our other service centers, our sister service centers in Texas and East Side, any of that really. And then, yeah, Averitt gives a great, great foundation to start on any path you really want to go to. And they are more than welcoming and sending you in that direction if you just voice your concern. Doctor. Yeah. So, know, a lot of people, I know I have influences and mentors that have been around my twenty six years of being here on the team. I would be very interested because, you know, we recently, last year, got a recognition from the Women in Trucking Association as being a preferred employer, And you all being ladies in the transportation business, would love to know who some of the inspirations were and some of your mentors, whether they were in transportation or not, but what built the ladies that we're talking to today? Samara, I'll start with you on that. For me, I have a lot of mentors people here in Averitt because I was in Houston, Portsmouth, and here in Houston, I was starting in Houston, Portsmouth, of course. When I was in AZAM, it was Ms. June, I was working with her, she's a front leader at HBS. She's one, she pushed me to have a full time and she always talked to me about Averitt, how she loved Averitt and her husband. He worked in here like twenty five years as a driver. So, it's great. She pushed me to Eric. He's a front leader too. I get started with, teach me dev inventory, teach me ABTF forklift and all these skills. So, Deanna, she's the site manager there. She's the one, believe in me. She's like, okay, you can do it. You can go to the HR, you can do it. I was like, okay, she's the one too. I have Scott Harris too. He's one, when I tell him like my story and how I become from and I'm a lawyer and he was like, Oh wow, okay, like we need you here, glad we have you here. Last and the least, changed year. He's continued to grow my career for Averitt and he pushed me a lot to grow more and learn more here. Like a lot of people push you to grow and sex is, if you want a like good career, the people, they're yeah, you can do it, encourage you to have it, you know? Yeah. Lisenia, what about you? So my mentor would be Sandra Ballinger. She is the one who introduced me to Averitt from the beginning. And she has pushed me since day one, literally. And everything she tells me about Averitt, it always encourages me. She helps me with some different problems and how to navigate things via Averitt because she's been with Averitt in two different locations in the span of fifteen years. So she's very seasoned and she always makes sure that I am headed in the right direction, I have the right resources and things like that. And my mom, my extra mom is also an inspiration to me because she instilled in me many different characteristics that I have today to be able to be a people person, a great salesman, a courageous and virtuous woman. And she's retired as of last year. So I want to be just like her and retire around sixty years old. So I've got a couple decades to go, but I want to be a successful and retiree with Averitt in about thirty or so years. There you go. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Mama's got to get her props, that's for sure, right? So, Skyler, what about you? I I would have to say my mentors actually started outside of Averitt with my past boss of my most recent job. He, I wore a lot of hats at that location. And that was mainly because I had to. But he pushed me a lot to learn a whole bunch of different things in a very short amount of time, which I then applied here, which helped me a lot with, you know, starting out with Averitt. Inside of Averitt, I would have to say Shane Dear as well supported me a lot throughout my phases with Averitt. So he recognized me from the doc, you know, my productivity being so high to start with. He recognized that I could do more with this company. And so he pushed me to move towards the doc operational support. And then he's pushed me into frontline leadership, you know, because he saw something, I can do something great for this company. So I'm very glad he's given me the opportunity to show myself. Well, and you know, I know that Samar and you, Skyler, both had mentioned Shane. Shane's got an interesting story as well, started out as a driver and worked his way up from there as well. So, you know, he knows and understands what it takes and for him, just like for everybody, really, to be able to pour back into each other and to be able to recognize talent, recognize potential within that. One of the things that I always like to tell new leaders is this: Welcome to leadership, now find your replacement. And the reason why that is, is because you're gonna go up if you continue to do what you do, and that means that we've gotta come back in behind you and build that bench to find that replacement, to find the next scholar, to find the next Samar, to find the next Vicinium, and doing that because we're going to continue to promote from within to be able to do that. So I always just love to say, one of your main priorities and one of your main responsibilities that we have as leaders or potential leaders is find your replacement, because it's okay to find somebody who very well could be better than you. Because we always want to get better, we always want to move that ball forward. So with that being said, we're all in the recruiting business, right? We're all always trying to find somebody else. Schuyler, what would you say to someone who was looking for a job? What would you say to them as far as referring them to Averitt Express? Well, you can't beat the culture here, that's for sure. We're very inclusive, very, very, very much have opportunities to expand and grow if that's what you're interested in. Or you can, you know, sit in your position for until you retire. We have people who are very happy just driving every day, very happy, you know, being dock associates or I think we have a twenty three year old veteran on board on the dock, and he is happy just saying right where he's at. But, you know, then you got people that are willing to move. We did just have one of our dock associates become a frontline leader in Corpus. So there is many opportunities to expand and grow within this company. And I would have to say that as friendly as we all are, the benefits are great. We are there's a lot of pluses to being with this company. And it'd be silly if you didn't want to come to the red. You just kinda have to, it's got to experience it. And it's really refreshing when you're coming out of somewhere that doesn't really express to you your importance or appreciate your leads into things. So it's just, it's great to be here and be recognized. It's a good feeling. You may have just coined a brand new recruiting phrase for us, It would be silly to not come to the red. We'll get back with you on that one, for sure. Well, I'll check for any royalties you can give me. Yeah. Yeah. I'll let you know. I'm afraid I like you. So I would say to somebody who is looking forward to working with Averitt, I would say be tenacious and have a tenacious spirit when working with Averitt. And with that, you will be with a strong team. You won't be left behind. You will feel inclusive. And there are great benefits to working with Averitt. There's longevity. There's stability. And it's an overall great company and it's best to be a part of something great. So I say, Hey, if you join Averitt, you're joining one of the best carrier in the nation. So there's no doubt about it and you'll be in a great place. For me, I would say it's really good career and growth in this company. They support, you're not going to stay long where you at now. You're to be grow. You're to take more, a really good position. Have a really good benefits. I would say to, you feel welcome. Like anytime you're walking in in the morning, you're going to feel welcome. And this is not the law job, they have this. Like over my past job, they not have this. And this is my experience, personal. When I come here the first time and every day, I feel like I'm welcome. Like, hey, good morning, how are you? Not all the job not doing this. So of course they will love Averitt. Well, ladies, I have loved having you all on this podcast. It's been an honor and a privilege to have you. And I've told so many people this, the energy inside of Houston, Texas, and a lot of it has been because of the three of you, but there's a lot of other people who work in that facility as well, who can jump on board with this. But the energy inside of Houston, Texas is like nothing I have ever seen before in that facility. The sky is the absolute limit for you all, just simply because of your attitudes and what you do for us on a daily basis. So, for me and from everybody, I just tell you all, three of you, thank you for everything that you do. It is an absolute privilege to be on your team, so thank you very much. And thank you for joining us. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having We hope you enjoyed this episode and this opportunity to get to know these three ladies. Be safe, be blessed, we will talk to you next time.