Freight leaders call out conference harassment

LinkedIn

Unwelcome advances — Carrier Assure CEO Cassandra Gaines took to LinkedIn on Wednesday to vent her frustration about behavior at the Transportation Intermediaries Association’s most recent conference. According to her and multiple witnesses I’ve contacted since, several of her young female team members as well as other female attendees were “harassed by men who made inappropriate comments, touched them without consent, and continued after being told to stop.”

Gaines doesn’t blame the event and also says it isn’t isolated to TIA. This is a problem many women face at conferences. In her comment section, a number of industry leaders shared some troubling revelations:

LinkedIn

Savant founder and CEO Juan Baena’s management team is mostly female, yet his company no longer feels comfortable bringing them to events. Baena’s saying that is especially worrisome as event organizers have been trying to add more women in freight-centric programming.

“It happens far too often at these conferences. Truly disappointing that a time to network and learn turns into something so gross.” – A female account executive at Uber Freight

LinkedIn

Cindy Amos, an event organizer for the TIA, saw Gaines’ post and commented in support. I’ve also learned that they’ve sought out the identities of the bad actors.

LinkedIn

A few days prior to Gaines’ post, industry leader Brent Orsuga posted a video calling out some of the drunken debauchery he witnessed. He wisely asks what some of these men are thinking. This is a very small industry, and the conference scene is even smaller. Even if you lack morals, that’s not an excuse to be a moron. Becoming a mess at events can very quickly become your reputation. Crossing lines and boundaries will not close you deals. Being known as a creep is not a lead magnet.

Why aren’t more women public about these incidents? I asked many who have shared stories off the record with me, and they all feel that they’ll receive backlash, could get blacklisted from the industry, and face further retaliation and harassment.

I spoke with Jennifer Morris, a strong advocate for women in freight, and she shared her advice for women who find themselves in these situations:

“To the women who find themselves in these situations, trust your gut. Trust what you experienced. Companies often don’t want to deal with these issues, and instead of addressing the behaviour, they’ll gaslight you into thinking you misread the situation. But here’s the truth: if the behaviour was close enough to be misread, it was still inappropriate.”

“Build a support system of women you trust, people who will back you up, remind you you’re not crazy, and be in your corner when you inevitably find yourself having to fight back.”

“And to the men who ‘prefer not to get involved’? You’re part of the problem.”

– Jennifer Morris, founder at Ship Happens

Sound off – Have you been harassed at an industry event or witnessed harassment? Let me know on or off the record. Email me.

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AI for tariffs and classifications; Glid’s autonomous road to rail solution – Friday on WHAT THE TRUCK?!?, I’m catching up with Gaia Dynamics co-founder and CEO Emil Stefanutti to talk about a tool that couldn’t have come at a better time. With tariff turmoil causing shippers and customs brokers to scramble, Gaia has launched an AI solution for tariffs and product classifications. We’ll find out how it works and how it can save you money in a high-tariff environment.

Glid is building the industry’s first autonomous road-to-rail solution. We’ll meet founder and CEO Kevin Damoa to find out how they’re getting autonomy on track.

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