A Message from the CEO: Prime Group Proudly Celebrates Women’s History Month

During the month of March, please join us as the Prime Group gives some well-deserved attention to all of the amazing accomplishments of strong, determined women. Since 1987, the United States has formally recognized March as National Women’s History Month. Every woman has a story to tell and gifts to share with the world. So get ready, because this month is about honoring magnificent ladies, and we are ready to celebrate it to the fullest.

A Rich and Proud History

Women’s History Month heralds the often-overlooked contributions of women in history, society, and culture. It has been annually observed in the U.S. and other countries, including the U.K. and Australia, every March since 1987. The month is observed in October in Canada. March is selected as the month for observing Women’s History Month to correspond with International Women’s Day on March 8, and Canada observes it in October in correspondence with Persons Day on October 18.

The month-long commemoration started with Women’s History Day in 1978, organized by the school district of Sonoma, Calif. Hundreds of students participated in the essay competitions, many presentations were given, and a parade was held in Santa Rosa, Calif.

The idea caught on and, a few years later, school districts, communities, and organizations all over the country were celebrating the day. In 1980, the National Women’s History Alliance championed for the holiday to be observed as a national week, and this was backed by President Jimmy Carter, who issued the first proclamation declaring the week of March 8 as National Women’s History Week.

The following year, Congress forwarded a resolution establishing a national observance. Six years later, the expansion of the event to the whole month of March was successfully petitioned by the National Women’s History Project.

International Women’s Day

I also want to call attention to International Women’s Day 2022 and its campaign theme: #ChooseToChallenge. A challenged world is an alert world. Individually, we’re all responsible for our own thoughts and actions – all day, every day.

We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world.

From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge.

~ CEO Roger Paredes

Recognizing Women’s Achievements: How Flowers Play a Vital Role in the IWD Global Celebration

Hats off to all the incredible women across the globe who are making such a difference in our lives – with invaluable contributions at home, at work and in their communities. In recognition of International Women’s Day (IWD) on March 8, Prime Logistics would like to take a moment to reflect on how we can celebrate these women of distinction and their accomplishments.

Historically, civilization has celebrated powerful women with a gift of flowers. While the flower-giving tradition had roots in ancient Greece and Egypt, it really came into its own in the 1800s Victorian era. At a time when public displays of emotions were frowned upon, giving flowers was a creative, acceptable way to show feelings, affection or admiration. In fact, the Victorians even wrote books about the “specific meanings” associated with the specific types of flowers or floral bouquets created and presented.

Over the centuries, fragrant lotus flowers were popular with the ancients, while in 1946, Italian feminists chose the mimosa flower as a symbol of strength, sensibility and sensitivity in honor of IWD.  Today, white roses are extremely popular, although people love giving and receiving just about every other type of flower. Whatever the species of blooms, though, Prime Logistics and its sister company Prime Fresh Handling play a vital role in assuring the flowers are carefully handled and transported from farm to market on time and in superb condition for our floral industry clients.

Did you know that Ecuador serves as the primary source of flowers for this March 8 holiday each year? It’s true. In fact, that South American nation supplies more than 70 countries around the world with floriculture products. So, our team’s efforts on the ground in Quito and Amsterdam are crucial to advancing the company’s winning strategies at meeting the needs of our valued floral industry customers. When it comes to IWD deliveries, Europe is the number one market.

So, as soon as the Valentine Day floral frenzy is over, our employees have barely a week to recover and get some sleep, before they jump back in and tackle the handling and shipping of fresh flowers for IWD.  That way, on March 8, a woman may be honored with a lovely floral gift presented in appreciation by a loved one, friend or business colleague.

Celebrated for more than a century in both Europe and America, International Women’s Day is a United Nations-sanctioned global holiday that honors women for their cultural, political and socioeconomic achievements. It’s also proven an important call-to-action for achievement of gender equality. IWD doesn’t belong to any specific country, region or group. It’s designed as a global event and each year has a theme. In 2021, that was #ChooseToChallenge, while in 2022, it’s #BreakTheBias.

As the big day approaches, it’s certainly a great time to recognize the achievements of the world’s most powerful women, but it’s also a good time to show support and solidarity for the women we know and love on a personal level. Let’s show our appreciation for what they do day-after-day for our families, communities and society. Most of all, on March 8, let’s recognize these women for serving as role models and inspiring young girls who will ultimately become future leaders.

 

About Prime Logistics

One of four divisions of Prime Group, an international logistics services conglomerate founded in Ecuador in 2001, Prime Logistics serves to streamline, optimize, and expedite freight to and from the U.S. for a wide range of major industries.

With offices in Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Bogota, Quito, and Amsterdam, Prime Logistics capitalizes on its long-time relationships with the major air carriers and ocean lines to offer competitive rates in securing ample space to destinations all around the world.

 

For information, call 305-592-2044 or visit www.primelogisticsgroup.com.

On International Women’s Day and Success: A Discussion with Prime Logistics’ Yulieth Onofre

Prime Logistics is busier than ever right now, responding to the onslaught of fresh-cut flowers used the world over to celebrate International Women’s Day. Nonetheless, we were able to snip out a moment to meet with one woman in business that has not only made significant contributions to the company’s success, but to the global logistics industry as well.

By her example, Prime Logistics Sales Manager Yulieth Onofre is paving the way for emerging female leaders in air cargo and international import/export – fields that up until only recently have been dominated by men.

Having joined the Miami-based sales team in March 2020, Yulieth was initially brought on due to her many years of experience – and solid contacts – within the ocean-freight side of the business. As a result, Prime Logistics has significantly expanded in this important niche in recent years, while also depending on her to help bolster all other commercial efforts on the freight forwarding side of the operation.

It is fitting that we talk with Yulieth in the days leading up to International Women’s Day, an annual worldwide event that serves as the anchor for Women’s History Month on March 8. This is the time of year countries all across the world take pause to celebrate the accomplishments of women and to recognize their strengths in business, at home, and in every aspect of society.

Here’s what we learned:

Q. Do you plan to acknowledge International Women’s Day?

A. Well of course I will. Granted, International Women’s Day isn’t as widely celebrated here in the U.S. as it is elsewhere, but I definitively recognize it in the office. In fact I believe everyone does at Prime Group. We consider it a big deal – but honestly, it is an especially important thing between the women in the office… It’s a happy day, for sure.

Q. What do you see as the biggest strengths that a woman brings to the work-setting?

A. I feel the most obvious quality we bring to any setting, work or otherwise, is our strength of character. Women are independent, sensitive, aware, and quite creative… And just like a mother often is, we are resourceful, responsible, caring, and dependable, too. These qualities combined are the right formula for success in the logistics business.

Q: So what specifically are you proud to contribute to Prime Logistics?

A: I’ve got 22 years of experience in ocean freight – more years than I want to admit! As a result, I am able to serve as the perfect ally for our customers because I have a clear understanding of the business and the processes involved. I am always able to find the right balance between service quality, cost components, and reliability of the service provider.

To be truly effective, it’s important to know the market, as well as how to ensure the customer doesn’t incur unnecessary expenses due to improper or untimely documentation. I optimize routing, match the customer with the best mode of shipment, and due to long-term professional relationships with service providers, I get to pass on the best freight rates.

Q. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing women in logistics?

A. The need to pay constant attention to detail – I mean every single detail, all the time, day or night – is very challenging. And there’s a lot of paper work involved, too, so you’ve got to be super organized… In some ways, it is like hosting a huge social function, where you’ve got to deal with each and every aspect of planning and execution, big and small – and the outcome is all riding on your ability to think ahead and make all the right decisions. Except this is no party, because you’ve got the success – or failure – of your client’s business in your hands. Any mistake can be truly disastrous, financially.

Ocean cargo, freight forwarding, and logistics in general is certainly not for everyone. But for those of us in the biz, and have been for years, I compare it to an addiction: You might want to get out at some point, but you like the high of the nonstop challenges far too much. And I absolutely love ocean cargo especially.

Q. So, who is your female role model, personally and professionally?

A. I have to say, my mother and my grandmother definitively – and so many of the confident, qualified, and professional women that I’ve been honored to work with along the way… I’ve been in business so long, I can spot a leader, and that’s who I admire and who I want to emulate.

Q. What advice do you have for rising businesswomen?

A. To be successful in business, you can never be afraid to push the envelope. Treat everyone fairly, because when you do good things you get good things back. Also don’t forget to always be networking and learning from the established female peers in your industry. Lastly, know that integrity and transparency are essential to your success; you need to “own” every decision you make, good or bad. Face the consequences, learn, be humble, and move on.

Q. Have you achieved what you have wanted to in business?

A. I would certainly call 22 years in the industry an achievement! But to be honest, I didn’t plan to be in logistics. Obviously, you have to have a plan, like I did when I started in university in Colombia. My hopes and dreams all pointed to becoming successful, so I set my sights on the United States to fulfill my goal. Ultimately, what I found out is that sometimes you can plan too much, and that things don’t always turn out exactly the way you expected.

It’s like that Rolling Stones song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” well, the next line is, “but if you try sometime, you’ll find you get what you need.”

Be open to change and see what happens. You might just find your passion.

 

About Prime Logistics

One of four divisions of Prime Group, an international logistics services conglomerate founded in Ecuador in 2001, Prime Logistics serves to streamline, optimize, and expedite freight to and from the U.S. for a wide range of major industries.

 

With offices in Miami, New York, Los Angeles, Bogota, Quito, and Amsterdam, Prime Logistics capitalizes on its long-time relationships with the major air carriers and ocean lines to offer competitive rates in securing ample space to destinations all around the world.

 

For information, call 305-592-2044 or visit www.primelogisticsgroup.com.

Message from the CEO: Employee Motivation Can Also Come From Within

These are interesting times, to say the least. The increasing demand for service excellence in an ever-changing environment defined by a seemingly never-ending pandemic requires constant communication with customers — often to only diffuse their angst! And this is just one of myriad challenges facing logistics professionals every day, up and down the global supply chain. The pressures placed upon our industry’s workers to put their best face forward, while at the same time trying to manage heightened degrees of personal and organizational stress are extreme – and unrelenting.

To be sure, there’s no one-size-fits-all way to maintain positivity and motivation in the COVID-era workplace. This is especially true for those of us serving the worldwide perishables market, as we are now just entering the year’s most hyper-intense period of activity: Valentine’s Day, International Women’s Day, and Mother’s Day. This historically busiest time for shipping and handling fresh-cut flowers, is now happening concurrently with busiest time in the history of the industry.

Pressure to Perform

In an earlier message, I discussed how the pressure to perform on the job, and the feeling among workers that they’ve always got to “be there” for the team, can become counterproductive and troubling on multiple levels. At that time, I outlined tools that can be used to make their daily work experience more satisfying – and hopefully help mitigate employee burnout.

Certainly, setting and achieving short-term targets is one of the tried-and-true methods by which employees can preempt a stress overload in the workplace. But there exist multiple other ways, some as simple as paying heed to basic time-management skills, indulging in both physical exercise and relaxation techniques, and even engaging in light banter and laughs around the water cooler. These tools combined can help minimize stress while maintaining healthy levels of performance and productivity, creativity, and innovativeness.

Still, for those of us holding leadership roles within the global logistics industry, it’s important to recognize that even the most diligent workers can and will face challenges in managing stress. Like any emotion, these feeling simply cannot be turned off. And so, it is important that we be mindful of alternative ways to “survive” in the pandemic-era workplace – one of which is learning to thrive in the workplace by finding true motivation from the inside.

Rewards of Intrinsic Motivation

“Just one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day.”

Is it that easy? Well, so says Dalai Lama. Similarly, it’s a good idea to start your day not by regretting what you were not able to accomplish yesterday, but by thinking about all that you will be able to “experience” today.

I am not suggesting here envisioning a list of tasks. Granted, it’s always good to have parts of your workday standardized. Instead, what I am suggesting is, when it comes to truly growing and thriving at work and making changes to how you accomplish goals and rise to challenges throughout your day, there is another path – something called “intrinsic motivation.”

As I understand it, intrinsic motivation is fueled by the thrill of doing an activity without being drawn to external rewards. It’s doing something new for the pleasure of learning, it’s exercising for fun, it’s working with curiosity. This way, finding rewards within our day-to-day activities can actually keep us satisfied all week long. By leaning on intrinsic motivation, we tend to see work as a satisfying and fulfilling means of life, rather than a daily drudge – and this serves to effectively minimize the stressors that often come with such a mindset.

So I say finding the parts of your workday that are thought-provoking and require creativity, and then using those to energize your workflow, can make all the difference. The reward of self-determination comes each time you show up and feel that little inspiration that comes with having learned one more thing or having imaginatively solved one more problem.

In this age of transformation, find the things that foster a personal rush of satisfaction, and you may see how your workplace, attitude, and endurance can transform.

~ Roger Paredes, Prime Group CEO