A BRADFORD woman paving the way for females in what traditionally has been a male-dominated logistics industry has won an award.
Charlotte Burns, of Clayton, won the Supply Chain Award - Above and Beyond at the Everywoman Awards 2023 held at the Londoner Hotel in London.
Charlotte, 38, who works at OceanBlue Logistics' Bradford depot off Leeds Road, was up against three other women in the final after going through a pool of 500 candidates.
The 38-year-old said: "I had to write an essay and had a virtual interview with the judges.
"I made it to the final four from 500 and then they selected me as winner.
"I was honoured and privileged to win the award and to be part of it all.
"We're such a small company compared to others in the logistics industry.
"The other three finalists were all from larger companies.
"Receiving the award in London was a fantastic experience because transport and logistics has traditionally been a male-led environment.
"I started working in the industry when I was 16, and now I'm 38.
"I've stayed with my same mentor, Chris Littlewood, in all that time.
"When I started it was an office full of men.
"It was daunting just starting out because I was young as well.
"I've worked for Oceanblue Logistics for the last 13 years and it's a good place to work.
"But now there is a big emphasis on getting women into transport, and this a good thing for women."
And according to Charlotte, things have come full circle, as the number of men at Ocean Blue now are outnumbered by the number of female employees.
She also said that as operations manager she is responsible for training young women to work in the logistics industry.
Charlotte said: "I am now mentoring other females joining the male-led industry.
"I took my mentees along to London with me to give them that experience."
The 38-year-old also explained the work she did which earned her the award.
She said: "Brexit led to a lot of changes in how we work.
"So I helped set up a system into how we could keep the supply chain moving.
"I worked day and night to find a solution.
"There is a lot of passion in this industry and in my office to keep everything going.
"We've faced all kinds of situations in transport over the last few years and every day is busy.
"In this industry, you're always going to be needed. It's a job for life."
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