The Buzz: Women in Supply Chain Awards

Episode Transcript
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(00:02):
Welcome to Supply Chain nowthe number one voice of supply chain.
Join us as we share criticalnews, key insights and real supply
chain leadership.
From across the globe.
One conversation at a time.
Hey, good morning, goodafternoon, good evening wherever
you may be.
Scott Luton and Tandra Bellamyhere with you on Supply Chain now.
Welcome to today's live stream.

(00:23):
Tandria, how you doing today?
I'm great and thank you forhaving me as well to be a very intriguing
show.
I'm with you.
We got a jam packed show today.
We got two incredible dynamos,supply chain powerhouses and Tandria
and a special guest.
And folks, you know it's theBuzz where Every Monday at 12 noon
Eastern time we discuss avariety of news and developments

(00:43):
across global supply chain andbusiness news that matters is what
we like to call it.
And hey, the Buzz is poweredby our friends at easypost who helps
make shipping easy, flexibleand scalable.
Learn how you can simplifyyour shipping operations and delight
your customers@easypost.com.
so Tandra, got a great showhere teed up today.
We're going to get a supplychain leadership pulse check in along

(01:05):
those lines, we're going to beexploring an interesting report on
the state of the industrythat's going to offer a few intriguing
takeaways.
What do chief people officerssee for the rest of the year?
We're going to be exploringthat and we're going to be taking
a look at the rising demandfor foreign trade zone access.
That probably doesn't surpriseanyone though, right?
All that and much, much more.
And as I mentioned, Tandrea,in about 10 minutes or so we're welcoming

(01:26):
in a special guest, MarinaMayer with food, logistics and supply
and demand chain executive anda whole bunch more.
We're looking forward tohearing Marina's insights here today.
Tandrea jam packed show.
I'm not sure if we can fitanything else in.
You ready to go?
Absolutely.
You're always ready, Tandra.
You're always ready.
So folks, stay tuned for agreat show.
Hey, two things before we get going.

(01:47):
Number one, give us your takein the comments.
Whether you're tuned in viaLinkedIn, YouTube X, Facebook, Twitch,
no matter.
Let us know what you think.
And if you enjoy the showtoday, we'd love for you to share
it with a friend and or your network.
They'll be glad you did.
Okay, so before we bring on avery special guest here on the Buzz,
powered by easypost, I want tohit three items on the front end.
Tandrea.
Okay, three items.

(02:08):
First up, I want to share Ourlatest edition of with that said
dropped over the weekend as itnormally does.
It's our almost weekly newsletter.
Almost gives us a little bitof flexibility, Tandria, for those
tougher weekends for pool ofkid logistics, if you know what I
mean.
In this edition we startedwith a variety of news.
So stay with me for a second here.

(02:28):
Lots of moving pieces.
We touched on how the ISMmanufacturing PMI shows continued
contraction in the USmanufacturing sector for the six
month in a row.
In fact, some manufacturingexecutives are saying the economy
is quote much worse than theGreat Recession.
End quote.
Yikes.
UPS announces 2025 holidayshipping surcharges.
Recently released data on theUS labor market.

(02:49):
Well, it's not too kind.
Only 22 non farm jobs wereadded by employers in August.
Analysts where they expected 80,000.
All that and much, much more.
Events in Vegas, events onlineevents in Chicago and live shows
and other resources to check out.
With that said.
So Tandria, did you happen totake a look at what that said over

(03:11):
the weekend?
I did, I did.
Okay.
And I stood out to you.
I saw the contraction, therecession, the increased costs, the
lack of job creation.
But you know what?
I went to, I went to theeducation because all of those things
we can't control individually.
But staying current,understanding what's available from

(03:33):
a technology standpoint,celebrating others.
I mean I love that the supplychain gals, first of all, I love
that as supply chain gals thatthey're hosting a grad school workshop.
That's right, yeah.
So that we can work onensuring that there's some resilience
for our future leaders.
I love that you highlightedthe parcel forum, the number one
package fulfillment event.

(03:54):
I love that you highlightedsupply chain tech and that that conference
has a virtual component.
So if you can't make it there,that's coming up pretty quickly.
You can always log in to staycurrent in light of everything else
that was discussed.
From an actual newsstandpoint, let's focus on what we
can do to make sure we'reprepared regardless of what happens.

(04:16):
Tand, well said.
Hear hear.
Round of applause.
I love that.
And plus that's some reallyconstructive advice for folks out
there because it's easy to getbogged down and all the news and
the headlines and, and folks,you got to get to the rest of the
story, number one.
And number two, as Tindria issaying, we got to focus in on what
we can control.
Right.
So we can find success for ourorganizations and our teams.

(04:39):
Right.
It's a lot of anxiety out there.
We Got to stick to what we can control.
All right, Excellent stuff folks.
Go check out.
With that said, Tricia'smaking it really easy.
She drops the link right here.
You're one click away fromchecking it out.
And looks like we've got someof the friends here.
Alan's back.
Alan Jacques, the RodneyDangerfield of global supply chain.
Alan, great to see you as always.
Susan's back with us tuned infrom Orlando via LinkedIn.

(05:01):
Great to see you, Susan.
Look forward to hearing yourthoughts, you and Alan's thoughts
here today.
And I think this is Amandasays, I love that Tangeria.
When news feels overwhelming,focus on the things you can control.
That's right.
That is right.
Okay, speaking of things wegotta control, we gotta move right
along in Tandria.
We're going back to thefountain again.
You've spent decades inindustry as a supply chain leader

(05:21):
and I want to use that toconduct a supply chain leadership
pulse check.
Tan this is a little segmentwe've been doing now for a couple
of months.
So Tandrea, we met we thinkabout 10 years ago while you were
still at part enjoying a hallof fame career with a big time shipper,
thereby knows big global brand.
But since then you're stilladvising, consulting and coaching

(05:42):
some of the innovators in this space.
So that all that begs thequestion what is a one of the top
priorities right now forsupply chain leaders looking to find
calm amidst all the.
Current chaos, having systemicways of really doing analysis, whether
it's your predictive analysisor whether it's sensitivity analysis,
you know, playing outdifferent what if scenarios or post

(06:05):
decision analysis that wefollow the correct course of action
and if not, how do we self correct?
There's so much going on.
As you've already mentioned,the world is so incredibly dynamic
that you really cannot live inan analog world in this digital society.
You have to have ways toreally truthfully analyze what is

(06:29):
happening and to prepare for changes.
Staying current withtechnologies, whether it's automation,
AI or what have you.
But then having a realsystemic, clean data way of analyzing
what's happening is extremely important.
Well said Tandra.
Well said.
And you know, as we heardagain for the May time last Friday,

(06:49):
as we had an incredibleleader, Rosemary with Snowflake join
us.
She is a trailblazer when itcomes to data and AI and machine
learning, all that good stuff.
She encouraged all of us.
I know everyone is beingattracted to AI for good reason.
But starting as you suggestedTandra, with the data, it's amazing
what by focusing in on thewealth of data we have at our fingertips

(07:10):
these days, what can be donewith just better data alone and then
layering on some outstandingartificial intelligence and other
things.
So good stuff.
You know, you really do haveto make sure you understand foundationally
what's going on outside of AIbecause there's been many, many,
many articles that if you feedit bad information, it is absolutely

(07:31):
going to give you a bad outcome.
So understanding your,understanding your business so that
you can make sure that yourdata makes sense before you start
to lay on those layers ofautomation is extremely important.
Well said, Tandri.
And folks, I know you heard meshare this before, but if you're
not just playing around withlike a chat GPT, the free or even
the inexpensive subscriberoption and just getting a sense of

(07:53):
what you can, what answers youpose or prompts you make it and kind
of see what you get back.
I'm telling you, there's notime like the present.
And I'll be the first to tellyou, I'm not a AAA technologist,
but I've learned so much justdoing some experimentation on the
evenings and weekends withwhat's all in the art of the possible.
It's very approachable.
Good stuff.
And as I think this is Amanda,Tricia, big thanks to you both behind
the scenes, you're on fire today.

(08:14):
Tanria, they loved your quote.
You can't live in the analogworld in this digital society.
I love that too.
First T shirt ism of the day.
All right, so Tandria, I gotone more thing I want to share before
we bring on a wonderful guesthere today that folks are going to
enjoy learning from.
And that is, hey folks, y' allknow we love resources, especially
bring them to you right hereon the Buzz.

(08:34):
Powered by Easy Post.
Want to share?
Great resource from ourfriends at US Bank.
They released their Q2 2025Freight Payment Index on August 5th.
So just over about a month ago.
And after 11 straight quartersof shipment and spend volume decreases,
the Q2 numbers ticked up slightly.
Hey, that's a little bit ofgood news maybe.
We reviewed the index onAugust 6th with US banks Bobby Holland
and Bob Costello, who servesas chief economist at the American

(08:57):
Trucking Associations.
It was a tremendous discussionwith more than 1700 live viewers.
And in summing up that richconversation, I'd say that it's probably
too soon to tell if the volumeincreases are a sign of the market
rebound or the result oftariff volatility.
If you're planning onattending Parcel Forum this week
In Chicago, the U.S. bank teamwill be in booth 109.

(09:19):
Booth 109.
So please stop in and sayhello and you can learn more about.
They can help manage yoursupply chain very successfully.
And folks, make sure you signup for the free Freight payment Index.
We're dropping a link right there.
Chandra.
How did I know?
How did.
I just was positive thatTrisha was dropping that link so
everyone could be just oneclick away.
Always been on the same teamand you're on one accord.

(09:41):
She's got it.
Oh, she does.
Always.
Okay.
So speaking of movers andshakers in industry, we've got a
terrific guest joining Tandriand I here today doing big things
out in the industry.
So Marina Mayer has been athought leader in the global supply
chain space for a long time.
She serves as editor in chiefof food logistics and supply and

(10:01):
demand chain executive.
Marina is also co founder ofthe Women in Supply Chain Forum in
their fourth year now andshe's creator of the Women in Supply
Chain award.
And we're going to touch onboth of those in just a minute.
She also serves as director ofcontent at Iron Markets.
Please join me in welcomingMarina Mayer.
Hey.
Hey, Marina.
How you doing?
Hi.
Good.
Thank you so much for havingme today.

(10:22):
Great to see you, Tandra.
We've been looking forward totoday's conversation for a little
while, right?
Absolutely.
Hello Marina.
Nice to see you again.
And can I just, before we getto the fun one question, can I just
put this out there?
Because the first time I heardit in the green room here today in
the pre show.
So you got Naperville in theChicagoland area, but you all have
a nickname for that, Marina,what is that?
Neighbor Thrill.

(10:44):
And that's mainly a shout outto the incredible nightlife there,
is that right?
That's correct.
Love that little nugget.
Okay, so let's get to the funof the official fun warm up question.
It's, it's a variety of days here.
September 8, 2025.
Let's see here, it's NationalBost Employee Exchange Day.
Need to lean into those conversations.
Exchange the boss.
Yeah, maybe.

(11:05):
So that would be the day ofthe year maybe in some cases.
Let's see here it is Star Trek day.
And that is because the firstepisode featuring the Interfere List
Enterprise crew, it aired backon September 8, 1966.
But here's where I'm going to finish.
It is International Literacy Day.
So on that last one,International Literacy Day, I want
to ask you both, starting withyou, Marina, what's been one of your

(11:26):
favorite All Time Reads or oneof your favorite recent reads.
So I don't remember the exacttitle of it, but my favorite kind
of a read is Murder Mysteriesand my favorite author is Michael
Connelly.
So the reason I don't rememberit is because sometimes I go back
and I reread his series andyou have to read it in order.
And so he's my all time favorite.
I love that.

(11:47):
Cause sometimes the bestthings don't come in sequential order.
Right, Marina?
Right.
And sometimes I go back toreread it because things happen in
the other book that I'm like,wait a minute, I remember they talked
about it.
So it's the only series I willgo back and reread.
I love that and I love theuniverses that some authors create.
It's fascinating to make theconnections between all the characters
or stories or issues.

(12:08):
Tanjira, that's gonna be atough one to beat.
What's one of your favoriterecent or all time reads?
I'm gonna give you both.
My favorite all time is MayaAngelou, I Know why the Caged Bird
Sings.
And my favorite recent isUncommon Favor by Don Staley because
they're both stories ofovercoming and resilience.
And then they both became justincredible women leaders and examples.

(12:31):
Those are my two that come to mind.
I love that.
Those are incredible.
All these are great selections.
But Tandria, of course, DawnStaley, for some of our non sports
followers out there, she hasbeen the incredible future hall of
Fame coach for the SouthCarolina Gamecocks, who have been
on an incredible run inbasketball for years.
Right, Tandra?
Absolutely.
And one of the things that Ireally love is all of her faculty,

(12:53):
former players, still talkabout her and the role she played
in their lives and what agreat leader she was and how they
still lean on her for advice.
So it just showed.
Not only is she an incrediblecoach, but just an incredible person,
an incredible leader.
I love it.
Okay, we need a book club hereat Supply Chain now y' all might
these I'm in.
These might be the firstcouple of recommendations.

(13:14):
Let's see here.
Susan is also a big fan ofMichael Connolly and reads his books
as well.
Let's see.
I think this is Amanda.
The Women by Kristen Hannah ismy favorite recent read about women
nurses in Vietnam.
Wow.
I should also say see him.
Great to see you.
Listening, walking, gettingstuff done.
Gsd, great to see you.
And Raja Shakar via Indiaalong LinkedIn.

(13:35):
Let us know your favorite readrecent or all time.
I gotta add this one before weget going this is the fearless front
line.
And this is Ray Tia, who Iworked for back in the day.
And it centers on this modelto run, improve, grow.
And you know, it's a veryuniversal concept that I bet everyone
can relate to becausesometimes in certain chapters of
our life we get stuck in ahundred percent run mode.

(13:56):
And when you do that justgetting stuff done, you can't pay
attention to getting betterand certainly to strategically growing
and finding those opportunities.
So.
And that's at all levels, right?
The ratios may change from theCEO to the front line, all points
in between.
But it's a great read, packedwith practical takeaways.
Ray, if you're tuned in, I'dlove to get a comment of where folks
can find it.
Marina and Tandria, we got somuch to get to here today and I'm

(14:19):
going to start with and putthis book aside so I can get to the
next great read from someonethat y' all might be familiar with.
I want to start with this readvia Food Logistics from none other
than Marina Mayer.
How about that?
So check this out.
This focuses on the State ofthe industry report which is produced
by the Flying Colliers team.
Y' all might recognize themfrom industrial real estate.

(14:40):
And in particular, Marinafocuses on five top trends as cited
by the report.
Marina, I'm going to talkabout you as if you're not here.
That's kind of weird with me.
The five big trends, events,developments that Marina points out.
You can learn more about it byclicking on the link.
Is global trade tariffs gointo effect.
Tariff reclassifications maybe an important cost avoidance strategy.

(15:02):
So right.
With any bad news come opportunities.
Number three, industrial realestate vacancy rates in the US what
climbs to a 12 year high about that?
As we mentioned earlier, thatlabor market, well, it continues
to cool.
And this fifth one is anintriguing one.
Look forward to seeing thisthing continue to evolve and it deals
with the big proposed mergerbetween Union Pacific and Norfolk

(15:23):
Southern.
Oh my, my, my.
Where do we begin?
So Marina, your thoughts onany of those top five takeaways?
Well, I do like how you kindof paraphrased or reworded the tariff
reclassification part of itbecause with bad news does come good
news and it kind of goes backto, you know, kind of what we talked
about offline.
You can't measure and moveforward with what you don't monitor.

(15:47):
And if you monitor certainthings such as the tariff and how
it impacts certain parts ofyour company, how it impacts your
customers, you're never goingto fully understand the impact.
And so for a lot of thesecompanies that don't have those strategies
in place, they're alreadybehind the ball because they need
to figure out how to resource things.
They need to figure out how towork better with their current vendors.

(16:07):
And if their current vendorsaren't willing to change how they
operate, then they need tofind new vendors.
So that's an important one.
But also I wanted to touch onthe job rate thing because I think
it's interesting because itdepends on who you talk to because
some people think that the jobmarket is awful.
Nobody is hiring, everybody'son a freeze, nobody is giving any

(16:28):
amount of positions available.
AI is taking over the world.
And then there's othercompanies that really want to hire
and they're creating rolesthat never existed before just so
that they can get a human bodyinto their office and take care of
some business that AI can't do.
So I think it's an interestingtopic because I think it does depend

(16:48):
on who you talk to.
The job market is good or bad,it's both.
It changes every day.
But I think it's something tokind of keep an eye on because there
are jobs out there.
You just have to know people,you have to be creative and you have
to really want the job.
Yes.
And Marina, in addition to allthose great things you shared, we
got to keep a positive mindset.
If you're in the market or ifyou're looking to make a change or

(17:09):
you're graduating college andgetting ready for that first job.
If you subscribe to the beliefthat there's no opportunity out there,
you're not going to findnearly what you could is if you put
on that positive mindset andgo out there and connect and, and
lean into it.
Good stuff there.
Marina Tandria, what would youadd from this article written by
Marina Mayer that is focusedon the state of the industry report?
I am really interested in themerger with the reliance that UPS

(17:33):
had on trains and my 30 plusyears of being there, seeing how
that's going to work.
What are the synergies goingto be?
How are efficiencies going to improve?
What are there going to be newlanes that are new routings that
help to reduce transit times?
What are additional flexibilities?
I mean, that one is going tobe a very interesting one to monitor

(17:56):
for the potential impact thatit can have on the supply chain.
And they're projecting, last Iread about it, the approval could
take up to two years.
So I think they firstannounced the merger probably a couple
of months ago.
So we've got a little waysmaybe to wait to see how the regulators,
which I always, whenever I sayregulators, it takes me straight
back to Warren G. It just does.

(18:17):
I'm a Gen X.
What can I say?
But we'll see the questionsthey have and if they allow it to
come to fruition.
Marina, it should be anintriguing railroad topic whether
you're in the railroading ornot, huh?
No, and I agree and I thinkTantria touched on some good points
there because it does impact alot of people in the industry.
But I don't look at it asnecessarily a bad thing.
Everybody thinks merger, theythink the worst.

(18:38):
They think, oh, they'recutting jobs, they're rerouting this,
they're closing this.
I don't always look at it like that.
I think there areopportunities here when you take
two very successful companiesand you put them together to create
kind of the power in numbers situation.
So I don't think it's a bad thing.
I think people just need tokind of, you know, maybe stop to
understand what this means forthemselves, their companies and how

(18:59):
they operate and move movesupplies through the supply chain.
That is right.
I wonder when it happens, ifit does, if they're going to have
a grand golden a moment likethey had back in the day at Utah
somewhere.
We'll see.
We're going to keep our fingeron the pulse.
Good stuff there.
So folks, with all of thesearticles that we're shedding observations
on, you can find a link rightthere in the chat.
Click on it, get the fullstory and give us your feedback on

(19:21):
your thoughts as well.
Let's see, Susan's alsosharing we're going to have a Book
of the Month club, folks.
We are Susan is sharingthinking this is her favorite Kristin
Hannah book called the Great Alone.
So maybe add Kristen Hannah onyour to read list.
Rather good stuff there, Susan.
Okay, we're going to go backto something we've just to on a second
ago and that is talent, one ofthe most important elements to global

(19:44):
supply chain or any aspect ofglobal business.
Well, we're going to take alook at talent from the perspective
of those charged with buildingtalent strategies to optimize attraction,
development and retention.
Although it's probably notjust a three legged stool these days,
it's probably like a 27 leggedstool, I imagine.
The World Economic Forumpublished a recent piece that focuses
on what chief people officersare observing and predicting through

(20:06):
the rest of the year.
Now there's a lot here andwe're dropping a link to the full
article.
So go check it out.
I'm going to share a couple ofmy key takeaways and I can't wait
to hear Marina's and Tangeriesas well.
So up first, CPOs seem toalign on three top disruptive forces,
reshaping business and talentstrategies, AI adoption, talent scarcity
and evolving worker expectations.

(20:27):
Now on the AI adoption issuespecifically, get this, CPO's top
three concerns when it comesto AI adoption employees not adapting
or learning quickly enough.
And then this is aninteresting counterpoint.
Maybe career stagnation andskills loss due to over reliance
on AI.
Those are interesting one andtwo and then thirdly, ethical and
data privacy issues.

(20:48):
Now when it comes to the Skillsets that CPO's rank at the top of
their list in terms of successfactors, business acumen and strategic
thinking.
In fact, 100% of all CPOssurveyed for this story had both
of those two skill sets,attributes, traits, whatever in their
top three success factors.
One last note.
The importance of the chiefpeople officer's role in global business

(21:09):
certainly is being elevatedand some would suggest I would be
amongst them for sure.
It should have always beenthat way.
So Marina, there's a lot moreto this read but your thoughts on
this article from WorldEconomic Forum.
I think the most interestingthing of the entire article is the
very first bullet point thattalks about how chief people officers
are pausing their hiring andthe restructuring.

(21:30):
And the reason it'sinteresting is because they're pausing
it.
But then they're curious as towhy people are not getting jobs.
And so therefore they have tolean on AI.
It's like the cart before the horse.
It's the whole cycle domino effect.
And it's funny to me becausethe supply chain industry, I mean
this happened after Covid.
You know, they would findcompanies would find a resolution

(21:53):
and they'd be all in.
They don't understand it.
You know, they don't know thenuances of how it operates, but they
know, you know, grocerystores, they know they have to now
do last mile delivery.
They know they now have to dodrive up.
They just have to figure itout and they have to do it fast.
And I think that it's just howsupply chain operates.
And so now with AI,everybody's like oh, I got to jump
on that bandwagon.
I got to do it withoutunderstanding what it does or how

(22:15):
it works or why you don't needto do AI for your entire operation,
why you still need people,human bodies monitoring the AI, monitoring
your other technologies Icertainly wouldn't want AI doing
my taxes, I mean, unless itwas giving me a lot of money back.
But I mean, it's things likethat that you have to think you still
need a human element to prettymuch every aspect of your company.

(22:38):
I understand automation androbotics to some degree, but you
still need that final lifelineat the end that says, okay, I checked
it, it's good.
And that first bullet pointjust throws me because it's like,
well, if you're pausinghiring, then why do you think that
it's necessary to be all infor AI and then not have people available?
It's kind of like it justdoesn't make sense to me.

(22:59):
But again, it goes back towhat we said earlier.
Depends on who you talk to.
Some people are hiring, somepeople are not.
I'm with you.
And they were kind of alongthose lines.
There was a couple ofconundrums kind of in the research
throughout, which, you know, Ithink, I think that's great to see
because if, if all the datacomes back in perfect alignment,
something tells me we're justkind of pencil whipping the responses,
perhaps.
Tandra, your thoughts on thisread from the World Economic Forum

(23:22):
and the CPO thoughts.
The one that, and I won't saystood out, but I think the one that
struck a chord the most wasworker expectations.
Because to me it's a wideningdivide between the upper management
teams and the people who areactually doing the work.
And worker expectations getout of alignment when there is a

(23:43):
lack of communication.
If the decision makers and thepeople who are actually doing the
work aren't in alignment,don't communicate honestly and regularly,
then you do have that workerexpectation that it ends up with
a dissatisfied workforce,which leads to additional turnover,
or in times of job erosion,you end up having disgruntled employees

(24:07):
that stay, which is almostworse than turnover.
There's so much.
I think Marina said we couldtalk about this for three hours between
yalls to comment, yourcomments, perspective and the research
itself, I think we could.
But that also goes to thepoint of whether it's a CPO's view
on talent or anyone else'sview on talent.
Talent is just such anintriguing big old topic to talk

(24:28):
about in this golden age ofsupply chain tech, especially with
how AI is evolving so fast.
So I would just add one moreconundrum going back to the research,
how CPOs identified their topconcerns as it relates to AI adoption.
And it kind of points to, yougot to learn how to leverage AI in
your job, right?
But to really both Yallspoint, there's a risk of over relying

(24:50):
on it.
And I'll tell you all if you don't.
To the folks out there, andI'm I'm preaching to the choir.
If you're not familiar withhallucination yet, AI hallucination,
you got to be experimentingwith it because AI will be convinced
what it is telling you is thegospel truth.
It has no context or no basis.
So folks, check it out.
Marina Scott when you know thechief people officer said business

(25:13):
acumen and strategic thinking,I think that also really points to
the need for industry to bemore involved.
In both high schools andcolleges, there's no classes on true
business acumen and strategicthinking that's industry specific.
So those foundational conceptshave to get built in from, I mean

(25:34):
early on because with so muchreliance on not just AI, but a kid
can Google anything and somuch focus on standardized testing,
we're almost educating kidsout of strategic thinking.
And so to get that back, toget that in alignment, we're going
to need industry leaders toget more involved in the educational

(25:55):
process.
1000% Tandrea and it's so interesting.
Mary, I'll give you the lastcomment here.
It's so interesting becausetechnology is amazing.
It's changed our lives, right?
And it continues to do soalmost by the hour.
However, to Tandria's point,that doesn't mean we can take off
our thinking cap, especiallyour strategic thinking cap, and just
set it aside and press theeasy button on all things AI.

(26:17):
Marina, your last thought herebefore we move on to the next topic.
Well, I was looking at thecomments and t squared2001 commented
about the HR function and howit was AI is never going to be a
replacement.
And it got me thinking to thepart of the article that talks about
company culture.
And no amount of technologycan ever replace or try to replace
company culture.

(26:38):
Company culture is a humanbeing aspect to your company and
even the most introvertedemployee needs connection with another
human being.
Live or virtually, it doesn't matter.
You still need that connection.
I will never give that.
And I think there's somethingto be said for that.
And so for the chief chiefpeople officers out there, keep that
in mind.
We're all in a remote age.
Whether we like it or not.

(26:59):
There are people who justreally cannot work remote or virtually.
They're just not made up to belike that.
So you need to kind of figureout how to better speak to them and
cater to that.
AI is not going to be theresolution they can't just sit there
and talk to AI all day.
So I think that's an importanttakeaway from that article.
Completely agree.
AI really doesn't care aboutyou yet.

(27:21):
Now when it does, there's awhole different conversation to be
had, right?
But as I've said a few weeksback, until AI can go out and meet
with your suppliers or yourcustomers and brainstorm new opportunities
or innovations or problemsolve over a chicken sandwich that's
uniquely human and buildingthat rapport and that trust, especially
face to face, but alsovirtually uniquely human.

(27:41):
But good stuff.
Yeah.
T Squared who holds down thefort Force on YouTube said AI isn't
and will never be areplacement for live and direct critical
thinking.
Well said.
Okay, we got so much more toget to and we're only halfway through
the buzz here.
Powered by our friends at easypost.
Let's hit this story real quick.
This is an interesting one.
Given all the tariff and tradeturmoil and of course massive amounts
of uncertainty along with theend of de minimis, it shouldn't surprise

(28:06):
too many folks that demand foraccess to US foreign trade zones
have increased dramatically.
So now Marina and Tangeriawe've got the smartest audience in
all of global supply chain.
But for the handful of folksthat may be newer, let's talk about
what is a ftz, a foreign tradeZ as reported here by the Wall Street
Journal, the zones werecreated by Congress back in 1934.

(28:27):
Imagine this right afterduties on imports were raised.
They allow for businesses tostore goods within the FTZ and defer
duties until they sell the items.
All of that allows for easierdigestion of tariffs.
Now FTZ is also allow forcompanies to import inputs and say
that seven times fast importinput in order to make stuff and
then only pay a single levy onthe final manufactured good.

(28:50):
And that tariff rate istypically locked in on the day the
goods officially enter theforeign trade zone.
I never would have thoughtthat locked in would be such a wonderful
phrase to hear.
But all of this offers upfinancial flexibility and logistical
simplicity amongst other things.
One other thing to note asFTZs and bonded warehouses have some
similarities.

(29:10):
One key difference as pointedout in the article by Shipbob COO,
I think it's DV Gladi and myapologies if I got that wrong.
But anyway you can store goodsin FTZ indefinitely, but in a bonded
warehouse you have a five yearlimitation on the deferred tariffs.
One last point here.
Shipbob is seeing a lot of FTZinterest across the board, but shippers
in the apparel and Beautyindustries are where they're seeing

(29:32):
the most demand.
So Marina, ftz, your thoughts,what we're.
Seeing here, my first thought,and this is kind of bad to think
this, but my first thought iswhen will that become part of a discussion
point for the government tostart to tax and impose some tariff
related costs to it knowingthat that is that loophole that exists.

(29:54):
The loophole is great.
I'm glad that companies aretaking advantage of it.
You know, it is designed to doexactly what it's doing right now.
But my first thought is, well,how long will that last?
How long will that last?
That is a great call out.
Tandria, your thoughts onforeign trade zones and the increase
in interest.
I fully understand why there'san increase in interest.

(30:15):
Uncertainty is driving a lotof our economic downturn right now.
That's a small piece of certainty.
They're very difficult to establish.
So while interest is risingand I'm sure it will actually getting
them set up, especially ifyou're going to be a new ftz, there
are restrictionsgeographically and there is a lot

(30:37):
of regulation that surrounds it.
Knowing how to size them is,is another exercise that's tough,
especially when goods can beheld indefinitely.
There's a lot to unpack withthem, whereas there are a lot of
benefits.
Just trying to get a new oneestablished takes quite a bit time,
energy, effort and knowledgebecause doing them improperly has

(31:00):
some legal ramifications.
That has been there done that perspective.
I love that.
Folks, we're dropping a linkto the article the great read.
If you're not reading thelogistics report over on the Wall
Street Journal, you're reallymissing out.
So check that out.
Thank you, Tricia.
And T Squared is on fire.
Also today says the Rudy's,which is a reference to the Jetsons,
that big supercomputer Rudy'sare only your friend when you train

(31:20):
them to be such.
That's right.
Good stuff there, T Squared.
Okay, there's a big event this week.
Parcel form is taking place.
So folks, from our friendshere at easypost, if you're heading
to Parcel forum this week, besure to also stop by booth 515 and
meet Lori, Tom and theEasypost team.
They're giving away prizes,sharing best practices, especially
making AI easier and moreapproachable and a whole bunch more.

(31:42):
In fact, Easypost is theofficial AI sponsor at parcel form
2025.
You may also want to check out.
Look, I've seen Lori and Tomboth in action.
They're outstandingstorytellers and content that matters
is what I put Them in thecategory of they're speaking on the
topic of no hype, just howmaking AI work for your logistics
team.
You can learn more on the linkwe're dropping right there in the

(32:04):
chat.
So speaking of people outthere doing great things, moving
mountains, Marina, I want todial it in on some of the cool up
to and I want to start withthe Women in Supply Chain Awards,
which has been in all the newsthis week and really for weeks for
that matter.
So tell us about the programfirst and then we'll get to the winners.
Sure.
Well, the program is somethingthat I created back in 2020 because,

(32:26):
you know, when you're in Covidat home with two elementary school
elearners, why not add more toyour plate?
And so that's what I did.
And it was kind of an awardthat I've been trying to introduce
from a media standpoint forsome time.
I just needed to get to theright outlet who believed in it and
believed in me.
We launched it.
It's nomination based.
People can nominatethemselves, they can nominate their

(32:49):
co workers, their bosses.
When we opened up nominations,year one, we only had about, I would
say 60 to 70 submissions.
And now in its fifth year, weare close to over 400 submissions.
So we're very excited.
It's grown.
It is, is a way to kind ofcelebrate the achievements that female
logistics leaders do, their accomplishments.

(33:11):
It's not meant to be anythingmore than just bridge that gap between,
you know, the men and thewomen supporting each other in the
supply chain space.
Well said and congrats all the growth.
Clearly it's resonating withthe market.
And Tandra, I think I heard a,an amen coming on your perspective
there.
What'd you hear there in thisgreat program?
I love it from the standpointof celebrating women, but I love

(33:32):
it from the standpoint ofattracting younger women to the industry
to show the successes ofwomen, to show that women are appreciated,
to get exposure on women leaders.
And what women bring to thetable I think is phenomenal.
So thank you, Marina.
Thank you.
I love that.
And the winners just announcedtoday, this morning.

(33:53):
So we're very excited about that.
So if you're on LinkedIn, youprobably see a lot of the posts congratulating
each other, congratulating themselves.
I'm just very excited for allof these women.
So perfect timing, newsmakersright here on the Buzz powered by
Easy Post Submarine.
And what a phenomenalnetworking opportunity.
That's right.
Absolutely.
I mean, I love it and I get alot of women who come to Me, they're

(34:15):
very nervous to nominate themselves.
I think the first year that Iopened it, nobody nominated themselves,
and I have to sit back andrecalculate it.
But we're close to, I wouldsay, 50 women.
50 of those submissions arefrom women who have submitted it
for themselves.
And I think that's such atestament to how we are in the supply
chain space.
Everybody talks about, youknow, how they just don't feel comfortable

(34:37):
doing it.
They feel like they're bragging.
They feel like they're, youknow, all these things, and it's.
It's the imposter syndrome.
And it's like, no, you are theonly person who knows what you do
day in and day out, truly.
So you are your only voice for that.
So ideally, that's why Icreated it, hoping that that would
resonate.
But like you said, fornetworking purposes, I mean, it's
great because you arerepresenting your company and the

(34:59):
initiatives that they are pushing.
And so what better way tobring more people into the DO than
an initiative that supportswomen in supply chain?
Wow.
Yes, yes, yes, and yes.
And going back to what yousaid kind of in the beginning of
your response, folks, you areyour own.
No matter what walk of lifeyou're in, one thing doesn't change.
You are your best advocate,whether it comes to awards or jobs

(35:21):
or other things.
And we got to lean into that.
That reality and wear that hat.
All right, so let's do this.
Winners were just announcedtoday, and, yes, it had been flooding
my social feed.
Lots of excitement.
You know, it's kind of likethanking people.
Once you start thanking peopleby name, you always leave somebody
off.
So I don't want to put you onthe spot, Marina, but I do want to
call out one winner that Iinteracted with back before it was

(35:41):
announced as a winner, andthat's Mary Casio, I think is her
last name.
Yeah, she's one of our overall winners.
How about that?
That's with the Palette Alliance.
Now, that's a real special onefor me because in our earliest chapter
here at Supply Chain now, wehad the late Tyson Steffens, who
was a leader with the Palletalliance, and we had a ton of fun
informing, educating ouraudience members on some really,

(36:02):
you think of pallets and youdon't think of lots of innovation,
but there's a ton of newthings going on with pallets out
there.
So congrats to Mary and thewhole Palette alliance team, folks.
You can learn more@tpai.comBut Marina, beyond Mary, any other
winners that you want tomention here on the buzz.
So like you said, once Istart, I have to keep going.
And we have so many wonderfulwinners, we don't have enough time

(36:24):
left.
Right.
So I just advise people to goto the website and look them up.
We have a wonderful, beautiful chart.
But, but Mary is one of ourfour overall winners.
And everybody asks, you know,four overall winners, how do you
come up with them?
They're really just.
They're in four different categories.
Mary, one for our DEI pioneercategory, which is a very special
category to me just becauseespecially in today's day and age,

(36:45):
we all kind of need that focuson culture and sustainability.
And I met her when sheattended our Women in Supply Chain
forum last year.
So she's just a wonderfulperson in general.
But we base all of this ontheir nominations.
If you are submittingsomething and you give me five paragraphs
of all the things that you'vedone, you're probably going to win.
But if you submit a nominationthat says I'm the best in supply

(37:07):
chain, probably not going to win.
So not everybody that submitssomething wins.
It is a very thorough vettingprocess that takes us internally
about up to three weeksbecause I want to make sure that
we are honoring the rightpeople for their achievements.
It's just about kindness.
You know, I tell people, justbe kind in the industry, just do
great things.

(37:27):
But it has been a wonderfulkind of way to kind of grow that
audience and network.
And that's kind of how wecreated the women in Supply chain
form.
The in person kind of steppingstone cousin of it.
Well, and we're going to talkabout that in just a second.
I, I don't want to.
Tandra, I'd love to get you torespond to something here.
Imagine that an awards programthat vets all the nominees.

(37:48):
Gosh, there should be a lotmore of that.
And on top of that, to haveover 400 submissions.
I heard you.
Right.
And to vet them all to makesure we arrive at folks that are
really are doing big thingsout in industry.
Love that.
Tanjira, your thoughts?
I think, like I said, it's great.
It's great on so many levels.
And also the just ideageneration, because when you sit

(38:10):
in one of those award showsand you hear what people have done,
you either say to yourself, Ican do that or I've done that.
Maybe I should nominate myself.
So right.
Yes.
It's.
Love it.
That's.
That's perspective from a hallof Famer right there.
I love that.
I do too.
Folks, we're dropping the linkright here in the chat.
I want to cover up.

(38:30):
Marina oh, okay, good.
You can find the whole list ofwinners right here.
And we're going to drop nextthe great event that's coming up
that's been a terrific.
It's kind of gave birth tolots of origin stories of the winners
and relationships and thewhole nine yards.
Tell us about this big eventcoming up in November and that is
the women in Supply Chain four.

(38:51):
Marina Tell us more.
Yes, I'm super excited.
We're in our fourth year.
We used to be in Atlanta butwe have outgrown pretty much every
facility venue in Atlanta.
So it's a good problem to have.
So now it's in Clearwater Beach.
We are about 53% ahead ofregistration than we were this time
last year.
And it's a lot of repeatattendees who have come and they're

(39:13):
now bringing one to two peoplefrom their company.
Last year we did have somecollege students who attended their
professor kind of paid theirway to come.
Nice.
They were so nervous and soshy and I said this is the best interview
room you could be in.
And within six months ofgraduating they got jobs with people

(39:33):
who were at that forum.
So what I love about it andthe reason why I created it is because
and it's not just for women.
We do have men.
We do have a male panel thisyear that was it's an all male panel
coming on to talk about how wecan partner together, how we can
become allies together inpromoting women in supply chain.
And we get a lot of thesequestions from men, like I want to
be there, my boss is there,but I don't know how to help her.

(39:56):
So this is your opportunity tocome to learn.
But the purpose of it was sothat I could put a bunch of female
competitors in a room and nottalk about business at all.
And that is exactly what happens.
And so we created, it's calleda Coffee and conversations networking
session.
It was speed dating.
We did that last year.
Everybody was like, I wish Ihad more time this and that.
So we added a second sessionto it, Cocktails and Conversations.

(40:18):
So cocktails one day, coffeethe next.
You can't beat it.
We have Supply Chain Jeopardy,which is just, it was a thing that
we randomly created at adinner, staff dinner.
And it ended up being such a hit.
And then when people walk into register and pick up their badge,
we partnered with Move forHunger and you can create and put
together a meal kit.
And so at the end we're allgoing to take those meal kits and

(40:40):
ship them off to families inneed in the Tampa Bay area.
So.
So there's just a lot ofthings going on.
We have wonderful sponsors.
I'm very excited to bepartnering again with let's Talk
Supply Chain and Manifest.
They are our media sponsors aswell as our exclusive sponsors for
the event.
So we're very excited aboutall of that.
But the agenda is on there.
We do have some fantastic speakers.
I could go on and talk aboutit forever.

(41:00):
Keynote speakers, fantastic.
I'm so excited.
So just a lot of wonderfulpeople in the room sharing their
journeys, their ideas and justkind of leaving their jobs at the
door and coming together toreally network and partner and learn.
I love that.
Folks, there's time to register.
It's two months away.
Got link right there inbeautiful Clearwater, Florida, where

(41:21):
you said it's perfect inNovember, right?
Perfect weather in November.
I mean, we've always had it in Atlanta.
Oh, that's right.
First year in Clearwater.
Yeah, first year in Florida.
And we do a survey at the veryend and we do a lot of surveys being
in the media.
This is the only survey thatliterally every attendee fills out.
But I love it because it helpsme really build for the next year.

(41:43):
And so everybody's feedbackwas gotta get out of hell.
Like, no offense to Atlanta,but at night it's not safe for women.
We don't have much to do.
And so we tried to build it toa place where there was nightlife
built in so they could keeptheir conversations going after the
close of the show.
Taking a page out of a NapierThrill down there.

(42:03):
Yeah, exactly.
Love it.
And it's at a wonderfulresort, so you can't beat all of
it.
Outstanding, folks.
November 18th through the20th, right around the corner down
in Clearwater, Florida.
And it is not an event to be missed.
So.
So check it out.
We'll drop a link right therein the chat and let us know we're
going to try to make it, butlet us know.

(42:24):
So I hope so, too.
Hey, as I said, I'm trying notto miss the event.
I'm talking about you can'tmiss it.
So I'm trying to practice whatwe preach.
Would love to have you there,Chris White.
Fantastic.
It is fantastic, right?
It's a lot of good stuff goingon today on the Buzz, powered by
EasyPost.
And by the way, drop your beergame link Chris in the comments.
I'd love to share that withfolks and Brand Brandy from Dallas,

(42:46):
Texas, Dallas, Fort Worth.
Brandi, great to see you.
Earlier or last week rather,to get my days confused.
Marina and Tandria.
Brandy's doing big things withthe Reverse Logistics association,
which is an incredible ecosystem.
It's the best ecosystem forall things reverse returns management.
And get this, Tandrea and Marina.
I was at a private leadershipevent last week in Dallas with Brandy

(43:08):
and the gang and we heard fromretailers talking all things Return
and two key themes or one keytheme was fraud.
It's amazing what bad actorsdoing when it comes to fraud in returns.
And secondly, folks, not justFord supply chain logistics being
impacted by tariffs.
Tariffs are being applied toall those returns.
And gosh, I need an abacus tohandle the complexity when it comes

(43:32):
to all the tariffs changingand changing and changing, going
and coming.
Oh my gosh.
Okay, let's do this.
I got a question for you both,Marina and Tandria, as we start to
wrap today's edition of theBuzz, powered by our friends at easypost
Tangeri.
I'll start with you here.
How can what would be onepiece of advice that you would suggest
to all of our audience membersout there so they can be better allies
for female leaders out in industry?

(43:54):
Communicate.
Actually talk to people,especially women that are in the
industry.
If you have interns in any ofyour businesses, talk to them about
career aspirations.
Talk to them about how theyfeel they've been welcome.
Now, one of the studies showedthat male students were given much
more substantial and engagingwork than female students.

(44:17):
Female students often were theones tracking the progress of a project
rather than actually drivingthe progress of a project.
Talk to the women in yourareas about the environment.
Is the environment welcome?
Are there things that arebeing done and said unintentionally
that make women feel excluded?

(44:39):
Are they invited to play golfon Saturdays?
Are they invited to go to the lake?
Are the assumptions just madethat they don't want to do that?
There are times again in ourindustries and again, I'm from transportation,
so there are a lot of areasthat I was in that there were very
few women and they often werenot invited in and engaged to the

(45:01):
level that made them feel likethey were a valued member of the
team.
Tandrea Billion Dollar Advice,the power of inclusivity.
And before folks, y' all writeoff, do this headline or that headline
really investigate what itmeans to your colleagues and teammates.
Really, really important.
Good stuff there, Tandria.
Marina, what would be one of your.
Your big piece of advice?
So I also was going to say communicate.

(45:22):
Tandria said it wonderfully.
So I think the only thing Ican say to piggyback on that is find
the people that really don'tknow how to speak themselves and
have a one on one with themand find out what they want.
Because when they don't speakup, it's not because they don't have
ideas.
It's because they're justgenetically made to not speak up.
Maybe they're just very introverted.

(45:43):
Maybe they're quiet, you know,you don't.
Maybe they're uncomfortable.
So find a way to kind ofreally get to them on a different
personal level to figure outwhere they want to go and what they
want to do and how they can bemore included in the conversation
so that they do feel comfortable.
Because, because especiallywith the younger generation, a lot
of them come in, especiallythese younger females.
I was one of them.
You come in, you just don'tknow where your place is and you

(46:06):
don't want to step oversomebody's place.
And so I think it's importantto have those communication lines
open, that virtual door always open.
Well said, Marina.
And Tandria and I would justadd to Marina's perspective.
If you want to find some ofthe smartest, savviest team members
that really understand goingand coming upstream, downstream,
what's going on and find someeureka moments.

(46:26):
Find those quiet folks don'tdominate meetings.
That would be the your bestsources for ideas.
I promise you all this.
Quiet ones.
It really is.
And Brandy says, a great point.
Women can be overlooked forthe outings that strengthen partnerships.
That's right, Brandi.
That is right.
I've heard of that often,often, often.
And hey, Chris Whitedelivered, folks.
Y' all go check out beer.
Game on steroids.

(46:47):
If you want an engaging way,talk about supply chain concepts.
And Chris is terrific.
So y' all check that out.
Okay?
Speaking of pointing people,Tandra, really quick.
We're gonna have a fast andfurious rap.
What was one of your favoritethings from today's conversation
with the one and only Marina Mayer?
The information shared aboutboth the women at Supply Chain Awards

(47:07):
and the Women's Supply ChainForum is a place to get uplifted,
educated, and connected.
And I think that's phenomenal.
Man, that's like a perfectvoiceover right there.
Yeah.
I mean, hey, my job is done.
Yeah, seriously, great job.
Oh, man.
Well, Tandrea and Marina, whata terrific, terrific addition of
the buzz here today.
So, Marina, let me ask you,how can folks drop the link.

(47:30):
Links to the awards?
We drop links to the forum.
But how can folks come connectwith you, Marina?
They can find me on LinkedIn.
I'm not sure if you have thatlink or not.
I'm happy to share it.
They can find me on LinkedIn.
That's probably the best wayto come and find me and hunt me down
and I'll direct you into theright place that you need to be.
Outstanding.
Outstanding.
Drop right there.
Marina on LinkedIn.

(47:51):
Good stuff there.
And as T Square says, whatwe're talking about a second ago,
a closed mouth won't get fed.
Asking, ask and state.
That is good advice there, man.
Everybody's on fire heretoday, folks.
You should also connect withand follow Tangeria Bellamy on LinkedIn.
I enjoy your leadershipperspective all the time, Tandrea.
So let's thank everybody.
Marina Mayer with FoodLogistics, Supply and Demand Chain

(48:14):
Executive, Women in SupplyChain Forum, Women in Supply Chain
Awards and Iron Markets.
Thanks so much for being here, Marina.
Thank you for having me.
You bet.
Tangeria Belt.
We'll have back you back soonI hope.
Tandria Bellamy, always a pleasure.
I always get smarter when Isit beside you for these these critical
conversations with leaders onthe move.
Thanks so much for being here today.
Thanks so much for having me.

(48:34):
It keeps me engaged and activeand not only is it always fun, it's
always educational.
So thank you.
I'm with you.
I got my 17 pages of notestoday for sure.
Big thanks to Amanda andTrisha behind the scenes.
Really appreciate all that y'all do to facilitate and engage in
these conversations here today.
Thanks to everyone that showed up.
I know we could hiteverybody's comments comment.
Let's get you all connected.

(48:55):
We want to hear from you, wantto hear your take on all these topics.
And I should say also bigthanks to the team over at Easy Post
for sponsoring the buzzthroughout the month of September.
You can connect withthem@easypost.com Most importantly,
big thanks to our globalaudience, the smartest audience all
global supply chain.
Really appreciate you beinghere and sharing your thoughts.
So folks, hope you enjoyed ourshow today.

(49:15):
Got homework.
You know you always do.
Take one thing from thebrilliance we heard here from arena
and Tandria.
Share it with your team.
Put it into practice.
Do something with it.
It's all about deeds, not words.
And with that said, on behalfthe entire Supply Chain Now Team
Scott Luton Challenge.
You do, do good.
Get forward.
Be the change that's needed.
We'll see you next time rightback here on Supply Chain Now.
Thanks everybody.

(49:36):
Join the Supply Chain now community.
For more supply chainperspectives, news and innovation,
check out supply chain now.comsubscribe to Supply Chain now on
YouTube and follow and listento Supply Chain now wherever you
get your podcasts.

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The Buzz: Women in Supply Chain Awards

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