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“Don’t be afraid. Think about your personal experience and how you can leverage it.” — Susy Schöneberg
Flexport is a digital freight forwarder that “helps companies to bring their goods from point A to point B, and helps companies to find their goods, and provide the technology and data to up their supply chain.” Susy Schöneberg is the Head of Flexport.org, which is “using Flexport’s expertise, technology, and infrastructure to help companies to achieve their social and environmental goals.”
Susy didn’t think she would get into transportation as a young girl, in fact, she wanted to be an astrophysicist — no big deal. Susy was working in the transportation industry when she came across Ryan Petersen, the Founder and CEO of Flexport, at a speaking event. Afterward, she approached him and asked for a job. She knew she could bring her past experiences and skill sets to the job and was determined to be helpful where she could. After having worked at Flexport for a few years, Susy was back in front of Ryan with a proposal — but this time it was to start Flexport.org.
“What is important to think about is what particular knowledge you might have that others don’t have,” says Susy. “I see a lot of tech companies that want to change the physical world but they might not be familiar with certain processes. So your background, although it might be from a different industry, could be super, super valuable to them.”
Now she is the Head of Flexport.org, and in just the first few months the organization has delivered more than 1.6 million pounds for aid purposes. Susy is more excited than ever for what the future holds for Flexport.org and for the many lives is she helping to impact.
Quotes from Susy:
“I often felt that either the things I wanted to do didn’t fit what all the others asked me to do or there were certain goals that I had and I didn’t know how to start. What I learned was to put this drive that I had or even this willingness to improve into suggestions and solutions rather than complaints.”
“Talk about your ideas, don’t be afraid.”
“Probably in 20 years we will be really proud of the impact we have made. I think what is special about Flexport.org is that it is really connected to our business itself. Flexport’s mission is to make trade easier for everyone, which in itself creates impact. One of the few topics economists agree upon is that trade helps to lift people out of poverty. And if you are on top, just think it one step further, make a very deliberate investment or commitment to using your core business to do something good, then I think the impact can be even greater.”
