Speaker 2: 0:10

Welcome back to another episode of that's Delivered. I'm your host, trucking Ray, and today we have a very special guest joining us. She's been around the industry for quite some time, so if you've been around, you've probably heard of her name. She's a powerhouse in logistics, a champion for women in trucking and a leader who truly understands the heart of transportation. I'm talking about no one else other than Mari Roberts, a senior vice president and service and distribution supply and commercialization at PepsiCo.

Speaker 2: 0:37

I first came across Mari on LinkedIn and saw that PepsiCo is a strong supporter, like with TAT Truckers Against Trafficking and an incredible organization that I personally supported and also had on this very podcast. Seeing the companies like PepsiCo, such industry professionals and make this mission of making a difference in the industry has definitely been a game changer. And on top of that, mari has also been a key figure in supporting women in trucking and under her leadership, frito-lay and PepsiCo were recognized as a top company for women to work for in transportation. Mari's leadership spans across massive teams, critical supply chains, operations and initiatives to help drive diversity and advocacy in trucking. But what really intrigues me is the road to recognition. What were the challenges, the defining moments and the lessons she's learned along the way. That's what we're going to dive into. So grab a cup of coffee, settle in and we're going to get into it. Mari, how are you doing? Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 1:44

I am excellent. How are you?

Speaker 2: 1:47

I'm doing, doing. Thank you so much. I am excellent. How are you? I'm doing well, thank you. Yeah, so we got great weather over here in Minnesota, so I'm smiling all the way. I'll take that.

Speaker 1: 1:55

I wish we could say the same here in Texas. We've got a little bit of a cold front, so you never know, I guess, what to expect the weather here.

Speaker 2: 2:04

Yeah. So I just want to tell you know, tell people about yourself, get people to know you and all the things, the great things that you're doing over there at PepsiCo.

Speaker 1: 2:12

Thank you so much for for having us and I appreciate the intro. I was like, wow, that's such a you know, it's an honor and I'm just excited. And you know, congratulations to you. This is a really great. You know format and I love you know. Congratulations to you. This is a really great you know format and I love you know.

Speaker 1: 2:26

Obviously, as you kind of hear my background, I'm just a huge advocate of drivers in general, so for you to be able to find this way to connect with all of the drivers on the road, I think it's just incredible. So, yeah, so I have been with PepsiCo, specifically PepsiCo Foods, north America, specifically Frito-Lay, coming up on 25 years, which is hard for me to say out loud Like it's hard. Time flies. You know when you're having fun and I think anybody that's in the transportation business knows that you know once it gets in your blood, you just you have it in your blood. So I spent the first 24 of those 25 years all in transportation and just absolutely fell in love with it. I studied supply chain management in Arizona State so shout out to all the Sun Devils out there and always just loved and gravitated to the logistics and distribution side of the business. And so when I first started with Frito-Lay, right out of college, I had a role in transportation where I got to work directly with the drivers, and that's where I really like, you know, for anybody in this industry, you know it's very dynamic, it's fast paced, there's never a dull moment. I, you know, I always ask people do you like doing jigsaw puzzles? Because if you do, you're going to love what we do for a living, and every day you got to put the pieces back together and they all impact each other. And so when you combine, like, the business element and then just the people element with the drivers, I was like, oh yeah, this is, this is for me.

Speaker 1: 3:51

So I spent the first seven years at our Casa Gran facility out in Arizona and loved, you know, just the time. I always say like that's. You know, I learned so much from the drivers. I learned everything I know about, you know, the industry from, from them and doing ride alongs and seeing the world from their perspective and and just realized like they they needed an advocate, they needed somebody that had their back when they were out on the road and I just, you know, for me that was just something that was so important. I knew if I took care of the little things, they would take care of the big things. And I still keep in touch with most of the drivers there. I still have the same cell phone number, so, yeah, they know how to reach me and then, from there, spent a lot of different roles, kind of more like corporate type support roles in transportation.

Speaker 1: 4:40

And then I moved to Texas in 2010 and had a bunch of different roles in transportation, leading all of our optimization, our technology. So I really geek out when it comes to, like spreadsheets and data and queries and all that stuff and I really enjoyed that side of the business as well side of the business as well. But we built some really cool technology tools just to help streamline communication with the driver or just remove obstacles and what we could go develop to make the driver's day-to-day easy. And I know you probably experienced this. I always tell people the hardest part is just getting the driver off the lot right, getting the load done, the equipment ready. That's the hardest thing we do. Once the driver gets on the road, that's usually when they take care of everything else.

Speaker 1: 5:30

Yeah, and so then from there I went back out into kind of a more field operations role here in Dallas and supported two different terminals and warehouses here in Dallas and Irving.

Speaker 1: 5:42

So again kind of got retrained by the drivers in those roles and just to make sure I was kind of still grounded and you know it's hard when you can work in kind of the corporate world, right, you got to still stay plugged into what's really happening.

Speaker 1: 5:56

You know out in our field teams that are making, moving and selling our product.

Speaker 1: 6:01

And then we had a little bit of an org structure in 2018. And I had the opportunity to stand up what we would refer to as kind of a vertical transportation organization where all of the field terminals reported kind of into one central team with our headquarters team. And it was just a really great experience and I'm so proud I could brag all day about just the amazing team, the team of leaders, the team of drivers that we have and what we've been able to do to continue to add value back to Frito-Lay and to continue to move the organization forward. So I was very blessed that PepsiCo and Frito-Lay let me keep playing with trucks, you know just got to keep expanding my role and picked up all third party transportation, all inbound transportation and in the role I have now, basically support all of the move side of the business. So anything from you know our asset strategy just longer term, to all of our product supply planning, space, commercialization, warehousing, distribution, and then of course you know transportation and fleet which.

Speaker 2: 7:06

And then of course you know transportation and fleet which has always been kind of the heart at what I've been doing. Wow, I mean. Think about that journey that you've been on and the things you've been able to get involved with. If you were someone that first started out, if you were to speak to your younger self, what was your education path, the experiences that you had that prepared you for where you're at today?

Speaker 1: 7:25

You know that's a great question. I don't know that anything you know that you're going to learn in you know in a book or from college is ever going to prepare you. But I think you know, for me it was. As I look back at, what really set me up was being a good listener. Honestly, one of my favorite quotes and I wish I had said it but was people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Speaker 1: 7:52

And I think, as I look back to my younger self, that was probably where I spent most of my time was just spending individual time with the drivers, getting to know them as people and really understanding how could I help them. And I remember when I first started you know I mentioned I did a lot of ride-alongs and it was interesting how many drivers commented that I was the only manager that ever wrote anything down and that really struck me for two reasons because one, it like it was meaningful or it meant to them and validated that like I was listening, I heard you and that I cared enough to just take notes and write things down. So then when I went and followed up on things, I, you know I could follow back up and it sounds very simple, but in hindsight I don't. I think we underestimate that. I think we underestimate the importance and the value and a lot of times I think people are afraid to have tough conversations.

Speaker 1: 8:54

But what I learned very early on was the drivers just wanted an answer. They didn't, you know, they were more interested in the follow-up and the answer like than it was a yes or no or you know whether it was favorable or unfavorable. They just wanted to know and I think if I was to look back to my younger self I would say, like just to validate that piece of it was just the, the act of you know, showing how much I cared. They genuinely understood my intent. So, as you know, we had to make hard decisions, or there's decisions people don't like they at least could respect and they understood where I was coming from wow, that's huge.

Speaker 2: 9:33

I mean, man, it was there a defining moment that made you realize that you know this was the right industry for you and it matches your personality. I mean you're fitting right in. Like touching on that listening part, I I mean that is huge. That is a great gift to give back to someone.

Speaker 1: 9:46

But what?

Speaker 2: 9:46

was the moment that you can recall or reflect on.

Speaker 1: 9:50

That's, that is I. You know I hadn't thought about that at one moment because I think it was a series of a lot of moments, but, um, kind of a few that that jump out and I'll kind of maybe start very early on, and maybe my mindset so I'll go. Actually I'll go way back, way back. So I'm from a really small town in Southeast Arizona right, you'd call it a truck stop town, and so we spend a lot of time on I-10. And you know, back in the day, you know, seatbelts were probably not required, you know. So probably standing up and in the front seat, you know, the middle of a truck, which is probably not great, but I used to, you know my dad would flash his lights at the truck drivers and so I would always ask him, like, why do you do that? And so my dad would explain that, you know, it just makes it easier for the drivers to know that they've passed and they've cleared and that it's safe to move over. And you know, you just you think, oh, okay, well, that's neat, and and and obviously I was, you know, pretty inquisitive child. So, um, then you would see, you know, I would see all of the mud flaps and the bumper stickers that said you know, without trucks America stops, right. So, as you know, I'm like, I used to think that was very literal, like, but it really is literal. So again I would ask my dad like what does that mean? Like, why do all these trucks have those? You know? First I had to ask what the things were like, why do they have those things behind the tires? And so he would explain you know what mudflats were for and why they had that, and how important trucking and truck drivers were to everything that you buy Majority of the food you eat and the services and your clothes and your school supplies and your backpack. All of that got to where you bought it from a truck.

Speaker 1: 11:38

And now that I've been in this industry and I know that it's over 70%, right, 70% of all goods in the US move by truck, like that I always thought was such an impactful part. And so my dad, you know, would just tell me, like, how critical truck drivers were. And he would. He told me that they had to have a special license and that not everybody can just drive a truck. So I grew up thinking truck drivers were like superheroes, right, like you had to have a special license and not anybody could do it, and how hard the job was, but how important and how critical it was.

Speaker 1: 12:12

So I think from a very young age I had this like utmost respect and admiration for truck drivers, and then the industry, drivers and then the industry. So for me, to answer your question, when I got into it, I came into it with that mindset of like I got to be part of something really, really cool that was so important to society, to our economy, to America, and then, you know, you flash forward through COVID and to me that's when it was was great to see that I think society recognized how critical truck drivers were just day to day, that you know most people may not even think about. You know how their toilet paper got to the store that you bought, or you know, whatever me was, even though very late into my career, was definitely a defining moment where it validated like, yes, this is exactly where you know I want to be, this is what I'm passionate about and being able, you know, to continue to, just to help, you know, elevate the perception and the role that drivers have.

Speaker 2: 13:23

That's huge. I mean, speaking of COVID, I mean that was a turning point for a lot of people. I mean that was a tough transition. Was there any moments there that was? You know that you can recall or reflect back on. That was a defining moment for you as well.

Speaker 1: 13:38

You know, honestly, I remember it vividly, it was a Friday. My kids had actually just, you know, they were about to go on spring break and basically just never went back. But I remember when the FMCSE published where you know, the exemptions of right, just in this, and I remember we pulled our leadership team together and I said we're not doing it, even though legally we would have been allowed to extend hours of service, I was like we're not going to do it, like and so that for me I remember being very like a critical, you know defining moment. But I also remember when I had my leadership team together, none of us knew what we were about to head into, but I kind of just said, like I said I think we need to be prepared for a marathon and not a sprint. And in hindsight I don't think any of us expected it to be as long as it was, but I'm just glad that at that moment I was kind of mentally prepared, for this is going to be bigger than what we may know of it today. And from there it was just probably you know, just probably as normal days in trucking are crazy, but that just escalated it.

Speaker 1: 14:51

And then when you work in a food, you know, obviously right, like our product was flying off the shelves. We couldn't keep up with the demand because, you know, people were staying home. So the grocery, you know, the grocery shelves and most people maybe didn't realize this at the time but, like our go to market system and our DSD, our sales team, they're in the grocery stores every day. Repunishing, you know so, every day was like, you know, the Frito-Lay shelves were wiped out. It's like, well, we'll be back tomorrow, right to refill them. And so it was. It was just amazing to see how, you know, we, we came together and, like we always do right, you find a way.

Speaker 2: 15:30

Yeah, I mean that that was challenging moments. Navigating through those. Definitely see what you're made of. It definitely does change things when, from the optics, you know seeing how it all plays out.

Speaker 1: 15:41

You know, can I tell you another really cool story about COVID too, which I thought was also really good, but what kind of leads up into like the industry connection. And just you know, if I had to go back to your previous question on a defining moment was in 2009,. You know, I've been in the industry for nine years and I thought I knew a lot about Frito-Lay or transportation, but what I realized is I knew a lot about free-to-lay transportation and that in 2009 is when I got really involved with the National Private Truck Council, where you got exposed to all these other private fleets that you know. It was such an amazing feeling to be in the room or environments, conversations with people who do what you do for a living, but just they're hauling tires or they're hauling you know, other commodities, and so that was also another defining moment for me where I realized like this is a really, really cool industry, even outside of Frito-Lay, and what I knew so kind of like taking now years of just industry connections and making friends along the way.

Speaker 1: 16:41

When COVID hit and it was this immediate you know bars, restaurants, movie theaters, everything was closing, but yet in my world it was grocery stores, club chains, right, like all of that volume was just skyrocketing and it was really cool within our private fleet community. So I called Monday morning, I started making some calls to some of my friends that were at pretty big food service companies right, like food service companies that are servicing the bars and the restaurants and the movie theaters that were going to be closed and I'm like, hey, here's a thought. I'm going to need some additional capacity and some additional drivers. Their business basically just evaporated overnight and so I would tell you within three days, which is a miracle in corporate America to have contracts and things assigned.

Speaker 1: 17:36

But we started some pretty cool partnerships with some of the food service drivers and it brought the human element back, because those drivers otherwise would have been furloughed or laid off or out of work. But they came, they came across and was, you know, kind of a similar, like they were doing multi-stop unloads to bars and restaurants and I'm like we need to do multi-stop, you know, deliveries to these grocery, grocery chains. So I think it was just a match made in heaven and I knew like and you know I'm not saying any of the names because we weren't the only ones and you know, as I talked to my friends at, you know, albertson Safeway. They were partnering with, you know, some of the pizza companies and like it was just neat to see how our industry came together and really helped keep all of the drivers and their families, you know just, you know just whole during during that time.

Speaker 2: 18:30

Yeah, keep putting food on the table and, man, it made a big difference for a lot of people. Yeah, yeah, there's probably been some failures and maybe we can touch on those because, you know, everything isn't always peaches and cream right. The industry can be unpredictable and challenging. Uh, was there a moment where you thought maybe this is not for me, maybe do something else?

Speaker 1: 18:51

honestly, if covid didn't kill me, then I don't think anything would. But, um, you know, we, in hindsight you kind of look at like for us yet, covid, and then if you probably, being where you are geographically, it's, you know, snow and ice is probably not a big deal for you. But remember we had that just massive, you know, we called it Snowmageddon, where we had so many of our facilities that were just iced, like they were iced in, and then we actually had some other disruption, you know, from like from a strike in the middle of the country, and so it was just like back to back, just, you know, headwinds on, ok, what's next? Right, like there's nothing else you can throw at us that my team and I aren't going to figure it out. So you know, yes, to your point, not everything is peaches and rainbows and unicorns, but I think the bigger thing is just knowing that you'll persevere and you'll figure it out. Right, like that's what I think about in terms of just being agile For me.

Speaker 1: 19:59

I think I'm one of those kind of I'm very passionate about this industry, but when it comes to like those types of things, it doesn't really rattle me. Like I'm like okay, here's what we got. We got fires, we got hurricanes, we got floods, we got tornadoes, we have this. And it's just like boom, here's what we're going to go do, here's what we need. And we kind of just start dividing and conquering, and that to me, like there's a probably a thousand things that most people may call failures, but you know, to me those are all just learning opportunities and it's like OK, we tried that, that didn't work, let's try something else. And you kind of have to just go through a little trial and error sometimes and be open enough and be humble enough and be secure enough to just say OK, that's OK, like that didn't work, we just move on. And I, that's okay, like that didn't work, we just move on.

Speaker 1: 20:50

And I think that's the biggest thing in any industry, but especially in transportation and supply chain, is you just got to be resilient, you got to figure it out. I grew up playing sports and so I think there's a lot of parallels to you know, learning how to lose and learning how you know to accept challenges and setbacks. That it doesn't break you and it doesn't stop you. It just makes you stronger and it just makes you think about okay, what do I need to do differently next time, or how can I continue to train and prepare my team? And I've had the opportunity to coach as well. I coached my son's baseball team and trying to tell 10 and 11 year old boys right, it's difficult, but I think those are just great life lessons that prepare you for these types of situations.

Speaker 2: 21:29

Man, you're the real deal. Like the, like the. You know, I would love to be on your team.

Speaker 1: 21:34

Right, I appreciate that I'm trying and I think you know to me that's always been one of the biggest compliments is you know there's people always wanted to come work on our team because they could see you know again. You know we had, we had a strategy, we knew where we were going, we were getting really good. You know results as a, but from the people aspect, it's like I think people could see we were doing a lot of really good things and hopefully, you've seen, like you know, I try to be very visible and one of the other learnings that I've had over the years is I don't necessarily like to be in the forefront of things. I'm kind of more of like I like to be kind of the behind the scenes cheerleader. But I've also recognized that I have a big responsibility to represent my team.

Speaker 1: 22:16

So doing things like this and you know I appreciate the visibility, because the visibility just brings visibility to my amazing team and all of the amazing free to lay drivers that are out there that are keeping our supply chain moving I represent them and that that's a huge honor for me. So when I get to post our million miler celebrations and, as a matter of fact, we have this year's coming up next year, where we're going to recognize 86 million milers. You know 1 million, 2 million and 3 million milers, whether it's our rodeos or you know some of the things we're doing with Truckers Against Trafficking. I think it's just a great opportunity for me to just showcase the work that the team is doing.

Speaker 2: 22:55

That's awesome. That's amazing. That's great leadership. I mean, that's a massive organization that you get to be a part of. I mean your team. I think it's about over 3,000 employees overseeing these critical services. There's also safety and supply chain performers. I think there's like 28 traffic centers is what I was reading.

Speaker 1: 23:14

We're actually up to 42. We're actually up to 42. We're actually up to 42 because, as part of our strategic strategy, we've been adding capacity. We've been adding capacity across the US and just making sure that we are able to distribute all of our products into the market and in a more cost efficient way. So it's been a great, great avenue of growth. Um, you know, we've we've increased our driver head count over the last few years by, you know, 500 drivers and we've added 500 drivers, you know. So it's it's been a it's a really good growth strategy.

Speaker 2: 23:50

That's awesome. Well, what is the key to managing such a large operation and keeping things running smoothly? What's uh, you tell someone with some advice on that.

Speaker 1: 23:58

Yeah, you know, I think the biggest thing I we talk a lot about dividing and conquering, but empowering like there is, we have to rely on all 3000 people on the team, right, like, and that was, again you know, one of the things very early on. You know, when I first started as a manager, all of the drivers made more money than me, and I shouldn't say made, they earned more. The drivers earned more money than I did. And so I think, starting from kind of the ground up, you realize and I realized at the time like their jobs were more important than mine, like, let's be real, and and so I loved kind of just thinking of that. And even in the role that I'm now, I tell the drivers all the time they're more valuable to the organization. If I left the organization tomorrow, frito-lay or PepsiCo is going to continue to make, move and sell product, with or without me. Right, they could replace me tomorrow, but a driver think about how much more difficult it is to replace a driver. So I think when you kind of stay grounded in that mindset of how do you align an organization, you know setting the tone from a leadership standpoint on what our roles are we used to call our management roles or supervisor roles resources, because so when I started I was a resource and that it was a driver resource. And so when you have that mindset of my job is to remove obstacles as a resource for the drivers so they are able to go do their job safely and efficiently every day, that's the mindset. So I think when you've got the leadership team which I have amazing leaders that a lot of us have grown up in this industry and I think come to you know, appreciate, you know what the drivers do, but also we've built capability and trust that you know the drivers know where we're heading, then it makes it a lot easier when you have to make very difficult decisions Cause, again, you know, we understand where we're heading. So there's tough years but, again, you know, I think as long as you stay grounded to what that truly is, that's the only way to do it.

Speaker 1: 26:09

The other thing that I'll kind of add to that was an interesting experience that I think helped shape me was one of the drivers when I first started out of college. His daughter and I played softball together in college and so a lot of times when you know, for me coming right out of college, I was obviously pretty young, you know, and I looked at a lot of these drivers like they. They could be my dad, cause one of my friend's dad was one of the drivers. Or they could be my older brothers. I have two older brothers which, for whatever reason, a lot of people can tell about me that I have older brothers. I don't know why or what that is about it, but I do.

Speaker 1: 26:50

Um, but I looked at these drivers like you know. That could be my dad, it could be my. My older brothers could be your uncle, could be my dad, it could be my older brothers could be your uncle. And so I treated them like that, like I treated them like they were my own dad or my own brother or my own uncle when it came to having difficult conversations and they knew I was coming at any of the coaching or feedback from a place of love and caring, concern. And I think sometimes that's also where, you know, especially young managers can go wrong kind of trying to prove themselves. So it's like we're all adults, we're all humans, right, it's just like how do you, how do you have respectful conversations in the lens of like we just want to be better. I want you to be better. I want you to go home safely to your family, go home safely to your family.

Speaker 2: 27:35

Wow, that's, that is huge. I mean making those connections, staying connected with employees on on every level. I mean that is that is a big deal. I mean, what do you think is the biggest misconception people have about leadership and transportation?

Speaker 1: 27:50

I think the biggest misconception about leadership is that, like you know, leaders just sit in their offices all day and they really don't know what's going on. But I think a lot of the leaders you know they do spend the time and, as a matter of fact, like I'm also very passionate about you know we have objectives every year, that we goals and objectives. I have always asked and required you could call it as an objective or an expectation that all of our leaders do at least two ride-alongs a year, right? No matter how long you've been in this business, how long you've been in this industry, to take the time to just get out of the office, go spend the day in the truck, go see the world from the driver's lens. You'll learn so much. And so I think that was an area where you know we kind of put our money where our mouth is on. We wanted to make sure that was visible. So it's like the drivers actually knew like this was a priority of ours as leaders or as management to be able to go do that.

Speaker 1: 28:53

And so I think, like you, can try to get under some of those misconceptions, because we don't most of us don't drive a truck, right, I don't have a CDL. After all these years in the industry, a lot of people think that I have a CDL. I don't have a CDL. They've made me get behind the wheel in a couple of our rodeos before and fortunately I've had some really good trainers and coaches that were telling me what to do, but I don't have a CDL. So there's a lot of things that I don't know, but there's some things that I can help bridge the like you know, just different perspective, right, I can offer. You know, did you think about this or had you thought about?

Speaker 2: 29:25

you know, from this vantage point, and so you think about that, on that advantage that you have to be able to. You know you got to feel them behind the wheel, but yeah, think about weather, supply chain disruptions. There's a lot of other things too. Even drivers don't know what's one of the toughest situations that you've had to navigate as a leader, and how did you or your team tackle it.

Speaker 1: 29:53

That's a great question. I'll try not to use it's hard, like I was like. Of course, the first one you know that always pops to mind, I think is is COVID, because it was the leadership team and I did. Is we connected every other day? And so what that really helped us figure out was we were getting real time feedback from the drivers. So you think about, like, how quickly everything was moving and changing. It gave us the ability as a leadership team from you know every other day, like our drivers could relay information to dispatchers, to all of it, like it was, it was impacting everybody drivers, dispatchers, mechanics. They could bring some of the questions or the concerns they had or ideas to their leaders and then, when our leadership team, we would be able to pull that together from across the country and share best practices.

Speaker 1: 30:58

So we were able to move very quickly as a, as an entire organization, because we were so well wired and so well connected in terms of like, okay, here's what the drivers need, let's, you know, take point on who's going to go work with HR, who's going to go work with the safety team, who's going to go do all this. And it was like we had a very quick and seamless, like probably up and downstream communication, which I think was 99% of it was just the communication on how important it was to keep everybody aware of what was happening, how quickly things were moving, and so from there I would tell you like that was a big takeaway, was okay, that worked. So even though you don't have a playbook for a global pandemic now, you can probably replicate that same playbook in terms of the communication venues and how tightly we are going to stay connected to share best practices and just help provide that. The venue up and downstream, I think is something that, like now, we've applied to multiple other issues or challenges that that we've, that we've come across.

Speaker 2: 32:06

The more you do. The more you do something, the better it gets. I mean, that's like a good leadership philosophy. Like you mentioned the playbook.

Speaker 1: 32:12

Yeah. So again, you don't know, and I think that's you expect the unexpected, right? Yeah, you kind of have to just expect something to not go right and then you just kind of draw back to like, okay, here's what you know, here's what yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:27

Awesome, I mean, and you get to take that with you for future challenges that come up and also share it with others.

Speaker 1: 32:34

Okay, sorry, there was a little bit of a lag in the audio.

Speaker 2: 32:38

Uh-oh, okay, sorry, there was a little bit of a lag.

Speaker 1: 32:40

Oh yeah, okay, there you are. Okay, it cut back up. Sorry, you'll have to cut that part out.

Speaker 2: 32:43

Yeah, no, yeah. Yeah, the connection can always be surprising sometimes, that's okay.

Speaker 1: 32:50

Again, it's what we do, right, it's just a Monday A Monday. It's just a Monday a Monday in transportation.

Speaker 2: 32:57

So yeah, so also championing women and trucking. So PepsiCo has really taken the lead in this, recognizing it as a top company for women in transportation.

Speaker 1: 33:15

What initiatives have you or your team put in place to create a workplace for women to thrive? Yeah, that's a great question and it's really cool to say that we have tripled the number of female drivers that we have in our ranks, and also technicians, which is also probably an area underrepresented by women today. But as you think about just the mechanic space, it's not the same diesel, you know, mechanic right, that may have been in the industry 20, 30, 40 years ago. So we've also, you know, seen a significant increase in our female technicians, but it was, you know, very subtly. We started, you know, putting just female drivers, featuring female drivers, in some of our projects, campaigns and our advertising and our driver recruitment videos, and, I think, just being able to see a woman do the job. It then opened the door and, I will tell you, there were a lot of men who were like, oh well, they can do it, I can do it. So it worked on both sides. Honestly, I think it was a really good way just to showcase the, you know, some of the women that we have, that, um, these are tough jobs. All the, all these jobs are tough. We do a lot of unloading and, like you can, you can, you can do the job, and so that, I think, was a very good way for us to just to start showcasing that. Um, you know you, if the job is open, you can do the job just like anybody else. And I honestly like.

Speaker 1: 34:43

For me this was maybe something that I had to learn over the years. Growing up in the industry there weren't a lot of women, like we kind of joke that you know, you go to an industry conference or even an internal meeting, and there were never lines in the women's restroom, right, like, I never had a wait in line because it's primarily a male populated industry. And I say populated and not dominated, for very intentionally, because I don't think any of the men in the industry are trying to dominate the women and I think that's a negative connotation, right, I don't think men want to be dominating, there's just more of them, so it's a more male populated industry. I think those are two very different things. So growing up, I was not one of the people that had to see somebody that looked like me to think I could do that. But I have learned over the years that it is important to people. It is important to people to see somebody that they can relate to and that looks like them to even plant the seed of like you know what? I never thought about that Maybe I can do that.

Speaker 1: 35:51

And so I think over the years, that has also been a shift in my mentality of like, oh okay, I am a woman. I probably need to make sure that, like, I'm setting a good example for all the young women who are coming up and looking up in the organization and saying I want to do that one day. I want to have a job where people want to do my job, not people that are like there's no way I'd ever want to do that job, or you know it can't have a family, or you know I'm very passionate about being a mom. I love my job, I love this company, I love my team, but I love being a mom. The most right. Being a mom is the most rewarding and fulfilling part of my whole life, and I want to make sure people know that it's not only okay, but like, you can thrive. Like.

Speaker 1: 36:35

Nothing gets me fired up more than hearing a narrative that women have to choose between having a career and being a mom, and so I double down on that and talk a lot about how even becoming a mom has made me a better leader. So I think, like those, as we think about women in trucking and just increasing the visibility to you, can, you can do anything you want to do, and so I think that that's also very important and it translates across multiple cohorts, right, want to do, and so I think that that's also very important and it translates across multiple cohorts, right, it's not just women, I think. In general, I've learned that, you know, unintentionally I may have left my straight white male colleagues and leaders behind because they weren't getting exposed to some of the challenges that other cohorts were going through and they were just naive to the fact that other cohorts were going through and they were just naive to the fact that there were all these other issues. So I think that's also been another kind of critical point for me as a leader.

Speaker 2: 37:30

You know, specific to women, but just in general, when it comes to, you know, inclusion, yeah, I mean when you think about the men involved also, they could be an ally, to play a supporting role for women. Have you also seen any of these barriers get broken down? Or, in the present day, what have you observed that has been gotten better over time?

Speaker 1: 37:53

You know it's a good question because I don't know, and it's funny. Over the years people have always asked me this what barriers have I ever encountered for being a woman in the industry? And I've told them none. I've had barriers because I was new, because I didn't know something, but nothing that I would ever tell people was as a result of me being a woman in this industry. No barriers.

Speaker 1: 38:16

I do think anything that we as an industry have done to improve safety, security that impacts all drivers and those are the things that I think are great. Right, like we're not just trying to make things safer for female drivers at truck stops or, you know, rest areas on the road. No, those things are going to help make all drivers safer and I think that's, you know, a better way to look at it. And I know you've talked about being a girl dad and I love that because I think you know when you are, you know those are it makes you think differently about being an ally and you want to help, support. Or you think about, you know, and I think about my kids, like, what kind of work environment do I want my children to work in and am I setting a good example and would I want them to face. You know some of the challenges. I'm not saying it's easy, but I also think it's a. For me, it's all about your mindset, right? If you go into it thinking that you're marginalized or thinking that you're a victim, then you're going to be. But if you don't, I've never run into any situation where I felt like that was a hindrance.

Speaker 1: 39:21

If anything, I would tell you I probably had an advantage if I was really being honest, because I think drivers are very different and they were very different for me because I was a little bit more like mom right, like I'm a little bit more of a safe space. I'm going to be compassionate, I'm going to be empathetic, I'm going to give you a big hug and I'm going to love you no matter what. But if you messed up and you did something wrong, we're going to have that conversation, right, like your moms. You know, moms are sometimes the ones that hold you accountable and I think that's the relationship I always had with the drivers, and they would open up and they would tell me everything. They didn't necessarily have that same relationship with some of the male managers, so, again, I viewed that as an advantage that I had because I was able to connect with the drivers on a different level.

Speaker 1: 40:06

I mean they would come in and like look at my hernia, like no thanks, I really don't want to. I really don't want to see that today. But that's just the kind of like you get that comfort level when you have. You know more of that, like you know more of a relationship, more like a mom, than you do, and that's what I would tell you today. I think the drivers know that I love them no matter what, and you know it's unconditional. It's unconditional love and I have their back. But sometimes having their back is going to be tough love.

Speaker 2: 40:35

Oh yeah, we got to make tough decisions. It is a business and then you do want to be able to provide, I mean, some things that uh trying to trying to get that product out there can be a lot of heartache and pain. Oh yeah, I mean yeah. And to the future of things, uh, things can change real quickly. So, no, that's good. Um, thanks for doing that. I mean that's, that's huge. Uh wanted to touch on truckers truckers against trafficking and PepsiCo's social impact on that. One thing that stood out to me was how PepsiCo support truckers against trafficking, the TATs. What led the company to get involved with TAT? Do you know if there was a particular story that goes along with that, as how they got impacted by helping drivers be more aware of these situations, and that organization to help out?

Speaker 1: 41:27

Yeah, and thank you for bringing it up and I appreciate your support with that organization. You know Truckers Against Trafficking is doing a lot of amazing work. So I will tell you what was really fun for me. So I listened to the episode where you had one of the founders you the founders of TAT on your show. I actually met her sister or one of the sisters right, she talked about the sisters and kind of with their mom's encouragement, I had met one of the sisters who became the executive director for TAT at an industry conference probably 16 years ago. So I know I'm kind of dating myself, but it was very early on with Truckers Against Trafficking and it was just something that really struck me on like wow, this is a really critical and eye-opening piece of, you know, just the reality of the business. That I didn't know and you know for me, you hear human trafficking, you immediately think like third world country. You don't think that the United States is the number one business for human trafficking, which is just disturbing.

Speaker 1: 42:33

So we kind of were pretty early on, got exposed to Truckers Against Trafficking and we got a little bit of traction on hey, this would be a really cool thing for us. And over the years, you know, I remember you know rolling it out again. You know, when I went back into you know the 2015, sharing it with the drivers in Dallas and Irving, and, just like once, everything, I think everybody got educated on just what was going on and the risks and how they could get involved. They were all in, like our drivers are just amazing, and it was. It gave them, you know, something else to get involved with the community or have a sense of purpose outside of just like their day job, while they were out on the road and so, like with a lot of corporate initiatives, we lost a little bit of traction because we didn't have a leader or an owner who really just took the program and just ran with it. Until a few years ago, we were actually attending a women in trucking conference and we had a pretty big attendee list of all levels of the organization across. You know, frito-lay and a group of my female leaders got exposed to Truckers Against Trafficking for the first time and they were fired up. They were all in and they said, mari, can we do something with this? And I said, absolutely, you got to go big or go home right, like we're not going to be half in this time because I had already kind of done that throughout the year was like we're either in or we're out, like we're going to go all in or we're not going to just commit to being a partner. And so I give you know, vanessa Gauci was, you know, one of the leaders who has really led this effort over the last few years and if you know Vanessa, she's very determined and passionate also and it's been really great to see you know.

Speaker 1: 44:32

So we have now expanded across both food and beverage to get the word out, because, you know, across PepsiCo. There's a lot of drivers out there, there's a lot of just corporate employees that travel as well. So we've expanded that. We've been able to train over 4,200 associates the last couple of years and the more just you keep raising the awareness and sharing. You know some of the horror stories and the examples and just the billions of dollars that these people are making selling people. It's just disheartening that it's happening.

Speaker 1: 45:06

And so for us to be able to lean in, also just super proud of PepsiCo, because we already had like a global code of conduct and a global human rights policy and so we were able to kind of use PepsiCo's global human rights policy, which prohibits the use of all forms of forced labor, including indentured labor, bonded labor, slave labor, any form of human trafficking.

Speaker 1: 45:31

So we were able to get a lot of support from we actually have a human rights team within PepsiCo, and so they've been really helping us as well just amplify the message and get it across, not just in terms of our drivers, whereas I feel like, you know, from a transportation standpoint, we kind of own it because it's truckers against trafficking.

Speaker 1: 45:51

But just, you know, and as you've talked kind of on previous episodes, having that corporate buy-in and that corporate you know leadership is so important. You have to have that sponsorship and that's where I feel like at least I'm able to kind of now fill that role of being more of the sponsor and the advocate and to make sure that we've got the right levels in the organization that are aware of what the work we're doing. But then you've also got you know the leaders boots on the, got you know the leaders boots on the ground, you know that are able to then take the message and then you know, roll out the training, roll out the communication and have you know the campaigns. And so we've definitely found you need both sides of that, for you know, a partnership like this with Truckers Against Trafficking to be successful.

Speaker 2: 46:41

Yeah, that's great, perfect, great job, and uh uh, I think there's so much work yet to still be done.

Speaker 2: 46:48

And I think you guys are on the right track. Like, say, getting excited about it and knowing that you can make a difference. I think it's huge and, um, we, we have that responsibility. Out here on the road, uh, on on the foot, I agree. So, going in making those sales orders or whatever they have to do too, there's people that people don't know are working for PepsiCo merchandisers. They're out there too, so that's huge. Any stories that you have to share, maybe any moments that you saw, maybe the firsthand impact of TAT work?

Speaker 1: 47:18

There's a few. We've had a few drivers who have been able to share, you know experiences, and I think that's the biggest thing is you kind of go with your gut a little bit on, like, if something doesn't seem right or feel right or look right, it's probably not but it's okay if you're wrong. And I think being able to have you know whether it's the TAT app or the phone number to call helps remove that burden for the driver on just you know what. You let local law enforcement handle it. Your job is really just to be the eyes and ears.

Speaker 1: 47:47

But one of the one of the more recent examples that one of our associates shared, after being trained and going through some of just the signs and what to look for, was actually at a local community park, little playgrounds with their own children, and you know two, you know vans, probably more SUVs right that had blacked out windows, pulled up to the parking lot and like three men got out of the vehicles and there were probably seven or eight young children that they took to the playground, which at least you know they got them outside and got them to the playground. But you know, after kind of being aware, looked at you know just the clothes the kids were wearing and they looked unkept, right. They looked like they hadn't been bathed and you know hair washed and actually saw some stains on their, their pants and kind of drew some red flags on. You know, this doesn't really look right, like you know, not to say that dads can't take their kids to the park, but there were no moms, no women anywhere, just a bunch of kids and just the circumstances looked. They just didn't look right and just the circumstances looked. They just didn't look right.

Speaker 1: 49:13

And so they used the app and were able to report and, you know, given the since the situation was occurring live, they recommended, you know, a bust on some human trafficking in that area. So kind of. You know, if you see something, say something, example, and it's just scary, like I said, it can happen anywhere. It can happen in your backyard. A lot of misconceptions are, it's you know, certain socioeconomic places, but it can happen in any neighborhood, you know, regardless of of you know, income. It's just you've just got to be, you know, aware of of what to look for.

Speaker 2: 49:49

Yeah, yeah, scary stuff when you think about it, that's right. So the road recognition I mean. You've received significant industry recognition, including being the finalist of the 2022 Influential Woman in Trucking Award, so what does that recognition mean for you personally?

Speaker 1: 50:14

You know I appreciate you bringing that up. For me like it means more to my, my team. You know that we were able to, you know, be recognized as you know, just again, just showcase all the work. But I was, it's just, it was honor, like it's such an honor to even been nominated and I already felt like I won, right it's, and I'm pretty competitive person, but you have to know what game you're playing, right, like I'm not playing to be the best, I'm playing to help move things forward and not be the last of anything. So I think that part was neat. But for me personally, what meant the most to me was I had my daughter there, and I give Lindsay Trent, who was also one of the finalists. You know we had a call before and she mentioned she was going to bring her teenage daughter and I thought, oh my gosh, that's a great idea. I hadn't even thought about it and she said you know, it's just important for her to see you know how many women and the recognition. And so I was like you know what? That's a great idea.

Speaker 1: 51:10

I was local and my daughter was in fifth grade at the time and so I had asked her if she wanted to go, and it kind of a funny side story. I asked my son also who was in third grade, and he was like you know, mom, like I have a math test. So he's like I don't want to miss my math and I was like it's OK, buddy. So third grade math was was definitely very important for him and it was fine. I didn't want to make him go but at least wanted to make sure he was included. But what I think for me why this was so meaningful, is there are some really cool pictures out there of all of us on stage and Lindsay and I both had our daughters up there with us.

Speaker 1: 51:49

But a few weeks before that, my daughter who's an introvert, by the way decided she was going to run for student council, and so I asked her if she knew anything about student council or about any of the roles, and she did not. So we went through all of the different roles, responsibilities and what exactly she wanted to be running for, and she said I want to be president. I was like all right, this is my girl, right, like she just went to the top, she wants to be the president. So she put her campaign together, she put all this stuff and she did a great job. She's very creative, very artistic. So what she put together was was fantastic about why, you know, she should be president and why she was running and all the things she was going to go do.

Speaker 1: 52:29

And so when it came day, you know, of the voting, I picked her from school that day and she came out of school just skipping, you know, shoulders back, head up, big smile on her face, and I'm like, oh my gosh, this child just won. And so I asked her, I said, and I said, well, how did it go? And she goes, I didn't win, which kind of surprised me, right, given her body language, I was a little surprised. And so I said, oh, and I was kind of wondering like, okay, she said, but my friend Gina won and I'm so excited for Gina, she's going to do a great job. And I told her that you know I will help. And just to let me know, however, I can help her. And I got to tell you like, as a parent, I have never been so proud. And I told her I'm kind of probably getting a little choked up now I told her that I was more proud of how she supported her friend Gina and how she leaned in and still wanted to contribute to the school, to the cause, than it was about her and that I was so proud of her for not like taking that as a negative thing about her. Right, this didn't take anything away from my daughter. It didn't mean that she wasn't, you know, capable or as smart or as big of a leader. It didn't take anything away from her and that she was still able to, you know, hold up her friend Gina, and I was just so proud. So, knowing that I had just given her this big speech about how strong women support other strong women. And you know, you've got to be an ally and an advocate and it's not a competition, it's not a competition against other women and we have to help raise each other up and it's going to make everybody better, everybody stronger.

Speaker 1: 54:10

So when I was standing on that stage and the four of us and they were getting ready to announce the winner, I was praying that they didn't call my name.

Speaker 1: 54:20

I was like, please don't call my name, please don't call my name, because I wanted her to see me in the same environment where I didn't win the finalist and I didn't have to right, I didn't need to be, cause I already had one Um, and I was so proud Actually it was Trina from UPS, who, um, who, who was the winner that year and I jumped up and I gave her a big hug and pulled all of the women together and just you know, that for me was just such a great moment where I could at least, you know, show my daughter the same thing. So to me and I appreciate you asking because most people wouldn't know that story so when you go out there and you see the picture of all of us with our, you know, up on stage and the two of us have our daughters there, like for me, that was probably more of the defining moment as a mom and as a parent that I got to model all the things that I just, you know, we're so proud of my daughter for doing.

Speaker 2: 55:16

I mean that's that's huge. That's that's what a great moment to share together as a family and as accomplishment as women. I mean that's huge and, like I said, being a daughter dad, I mean that's huge, man, to see your daughter stand up for someone else and know that they don't have to be the main attention. You know, just them. Being strong for someone else is going to help.

Speaker 2: 55:39

So many people see that it's okay to give. They say there's more happiness in giving than there is receiving. So right there from a young one man, a call for action. Maybe just Mari. It's been an incredible conversation. I know our listeners are going to definitely take away a lot of gems from it. So for listeners who get involved with initiatives like Women in Trucking and Truckers Against Trafficking, the TATS where should they start? Or people maybe at PepsiCo that are listening saying hey, I'm a part of that great movement, what are some specific programs that PepsiCo would like for people or employees to look into?

Speaker 1: 56:25

Yeah, I think that's a great question. I would say, you know, just get involved, just go look into the. You know you can go to the Truckers Against Trafficking website. Obviously, from an internal standpoint, we've got a lot of information and training available. But I would just be, you know, just advocate, just get involved, do the training, just learn right, like there's always something that we can continue to just learn, and just, you know, be able to pay some of that stuff forward. And just, with all of it, I would say, if there's something that you're interested in, passionate about, or you want to mentor, you want to help people along, just just get involved.

Speaker 1: 56:59

And I think you used the word like call to action, just like that's to me it's like, just do something right, just take one step forward, and it'll be interesting to see kind of how many steps or how you can kind of run from there.

Speaker 1: 57:10

But the hardest part sometimes is just taking that first step. So just take the first step, go do the training, go learn more about it. And I think when you know, you start to see some of the statistics and how this, the trafficking industry, is just continuing to grow, like we have got to do more to just, you know, raise visibility, and I think it was also great that it sounds like pretty big, like okay, well, what do I do? Well, one of the other advices that I think she gave was, like anywhere that there is vulnerabilities, that's usually the target, so you can help, whether it's, you know, food insecurities or volunteering at a food bank, like there's any action I think is going to help move this cause forward. So, whether you know, big or small, just I would encourage everybody just to go do something.

Speaker 2: 58:02

You got a good recall. That's good. Yeah, thank you, mari, taking that time out of your day I know you're busy Share your story, your insights and also the work that you're involved in and taking that bull by the horns, of being that positive energy and making a positive impact in the trucking industry. I think it is inspiring to see leaders like yourself make a real impact, and not just in your organization, but across the entire industry for trucking and then so many other industries can also learn from that as well, because trucking moves everything. So for everyone listening today, it's definitely been an enjoyable episode to be a part of with Mari. Be sure to subscribe, share with a friend, leave a review, and that helps us bring these great conversations to you like this one here. So check out Truckers Against Trafficking and Women in Trucking. That is a great association to be a part of also, and show your support for them. Supporting these truly make a difference for so many people. So thank you so much for being on the show, mari.

Speaker 1: 59:09

Awesome. Thanks so much for having me and keep up the great work.

Speaker 2: 59:14

Until next time, keep it safe, keep moving and always best delivered.