Today we’d like to introduce you to Miketha Trotter.
Miketha, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Hello my name is Miketha Trotter, most people call me Miki. I’m an Operations Manager for a freight forwarding company in the global forwarding division. My company has three locations in the United States, the branch I oversee handles over 65% of the imports that come into the country. My main responsibilities include team leadership, operation management, and customer advocacy. While this is a male dominated field, women in logistics and supply chain leadership positions make up about 22% . I’m not only proud to be in that number but also in the 3% of African American who hold a position in logistics management as well.
My journey here was definitely by God’s grace, not all my doing by any means. It began in 2012 when I worked with major airlines handling import cargo from all over the world. I was responsible for preparing the manifest for incoming cargo. We moved anything from horses, oilwell supplies, exotic cars, retail items, and even human remains. This is initially where I got my start and I began to receive greater opportunities; Which lead me into not only freight forwarding but brokerage and even trucking and handling final mile deliveries.
There was a period where I was laid off and of course that can be a trying time for anyone. I’m so thankful to God and grateful for my parents who guided me through a series of trials that came soon after. They encouraged me to do whatever made me happy and to figure it out and I will have their 100% support. I then went to beauty school and became a licensed esthetician, I opened a business and specialized in facials and Brazilian waxing. While I enjoyed providing beauty services I can say it was my passion; Leadership in logistics was my purpose, I soon transitioned back into freight forwarding. Soon after the transition I seen my life elevate in ways I could only dream about.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh absolutely not! I don’t think anyone got to where they are without some trials and tribulations. The unexpected layoff was definitely a huge struggle for me. Feeling behind in life and not feeling like I had direction on where I was going. The level of inadequacy I had was beyond words.
I believe success is measured at the rate of your ability to rise after failure. Every successful person has to fail first and possibly hit their version of a rock bottom. That rock bottom is where I realized God was with me the whole time, even when I was not as dedicated to him as I should have been. The key ingredient to life for me is absolutely my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ . My faith and my family are the biggest parts of me, I stand where I am because of it. Psalms 23 is a daily staple for me, it keeps me grounded.
Although the hard times and struggles are challenging, it’s where you learn to lean on God. Some may call it the wilderness season when you’re down and out and don’t know what’s next. Faint not, your character-building is taking place, dependency on God, your strength, longevity. Like my sister Janay says, “that’s how that good pot liquor is made”. Simply put all the things we endure good and bad in this life is for our character development; It’s what makes us great.
I realized that even the struggles can work out for your good and God’s glory. Every flower needs a little rain to bloom.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
When someone asks me what I do for a living I shake my head and laugh, because I often feel like I don’t have enough time to thoroughly explain.
So I’m an Operations Manager and Customer Success Manager. I manage the largest team here in the U.S. we handle the larger percentage of imports that come into the country. We import from India, China, Malaysia, Europe just to name a few countries but all over the world honestly. Supply-chain and logistics is what makes the world go round. It’s how you get your clothes, fuel for your car, the wine you drink, even the food you eat and everything in between . It also determines the cost at the consumer level, how far it traveled and what it’s made of more often than not can determine how much you pay for it at the register. Most of the items in your home are imported from some part of the world. It’s my job to ensure my customers have a seamless process in receiving their purchased goods no matter where it’s coming from.
A big part of what I do is Customer Success Management or Customer Advocacy. My motto to my customers is, “ I can move whatever you need, I can put it on a boat, plane, train, truck or tricycle just give me the weight and dims”. I work between our sales team, my operations team, our origin team(s) and IT to create a proficient and seamless process to ensure top level customer service. I create an SOP (Standard Procedure of Operations) listing every detail of the customer along with the commodity they ship the ports of loading and destinations. It can be tedious but I love it, it’s a carefully curated manual on how to not only meet the customer’s expectation but exceed it. A copy is issued to the customer to be sure we are all aligned, this helps create a great business relationship. I believe in relationship-driven business, it’s all in how you connect with people.
A huge part of what I do is manage my team I make sure we hit our KPI targets (Key Performance Indicators) provide top level customer care and meeting our profit margin criteria. Im so proud of the team, I can honestly say I’ve been blessed with a great group of people. Everyone works extremely hard and it reflects in our numbers. While our job can be very stressful, we lean on each other, we collaborate on how to be successful.
They call me boss lady but the truth of the matter is we are a team we all are in this together. I don’t just advocate for my customers I advocate for my team. I had someone tell me recently that not only am I the best boss she’s worked with but she’s never felt so seen, heard, and respected.
My style of management may be a bit unorthodox I like to provide a very laxed environment. I’m not a hovering boss checking on you every hour. We are all adults here to do a job and that’s the expectation. I believe in a good work-life balance, I would absolutely cover someone‘s desk if they wanted time off. I would never ask anyone to do anything I wouldn’t do. I believe when it comes to some jobs, it’s not the job itself that’s difficult it’s the people. We work remotely so everyday I send a funny gif to get everyone’s day started. When we need to vent about anything work-related or not our saying is “meet me at the water cooler” in traditional work environments there’s a break room with a water cooler. We use this time to not just vent but laugh, catch up, and maybe discuss current events in the world.
The concept I use when leading my team is inspire, motivate, delegate. There is no “I” in team we’ve taken wins and losses together, everyone has a voice. I believe that’s what makes our branch so successful and I’m grateful for it.
We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
At first I wasn’t really a risk taker but I realized if you’re not taking risk, you’re not taking a chance on yourself. That risk can determine your greatness because even if you fall short of your target, you still took a chance. You’ll miss all the shots you never take.
Can you imagine if LeBron James stopped taking jump shots just because he missed one or two shots? Taking those chances and betting on himself has him going down in history as one of the greats. No matter what that target may be, there’s a saying that, “shoot for the stars”. I like this because even if you’re aiming for the stars and fall short you’ve at least made it to the sun and that’s always a good place to be. This doesn’t mean you failed, this means you tried and the more you try the better you’ll be.
Risk taking can be good in business contract negotiations or even in your personal life. I’m beginning to take more risk, I believe you’ll gain more than you’ll lose. With my faith being where it is I know what’s mine already has my name on it and if that “thing” whatever it is, is for me then I will have it. If not that’s ok too, what’s mine will never miss me.
Through all my ages, stages, and phases I will always bet on myself.
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