Today is International Women’s Day and to celebrate we have been featuring talented women. We recently met up with Natalie Beissel, a project manager at in a truckload division to see why she chooses to work in logistics.

Q. How long have you worked in the industry?

A. I have worked in the transportation industry since 2011, prior to that I was involved in automotive, telecommunications, and manufacturing industries, all very male dominant.

Q. What got you started?

A. I entered the transportation industry by way of my profession; project management.

Q. Do you feel like you are stereotyped being a woman working in this field?

A. I don’t know if I feel I am stereotyped, but I do feel the rules are different because I am a woman. When I am decisive, concise, and confident I am regarded as bossy where a man demonstrating the same characteristics is categorized as a leader or showing leadership traits. I have seen men say the same words I say with the same level of assertiveness and it passed without question where I am told I need to be softer.

Q. If so, how do you overcome that?

A. I smile more while I am providing direction to others.

Q. Why do you enjoy working in Logistics?

A. Until you work in the industry, a person’s perception of the transportation industry is limited to the trucks on our nation’s highways. Once you start engaging in the industry, however, you see how important logistics and transportation is to our very communities. We are more than trucks on a highway. We are food supplies, clothing, home goods, beauty products, parts and assemblies. We enable manufacturers to provide these goods to our communities by way of local retailers and charities.

Q. What advice would you have for other women working in a predominantly male industry?

A. Find your niche and capitalize on what you can bring to the organization and the industry.