Mari Dominguez: The Freight Lady
Mari Dominguez, Vice President, Enterprise Sales, Southeast, is a powerhouse better known across the industry (and even at home) as “The Freight Lady.” Which is no surprise because she knows her stuff and there are three things that are clear from the moment you meet her: her passion, her wealth of knowledge, and her willingness to share it.
Mari started in the family business of freight forwarding with her father. He was tough and made her learn the business from the ground up doing everything from messenger work, to driving a forklift, and accounting. She says she’s blessed to have seen salespersons visit her family business and loved how they talked business. She thought, “Wow, what a great way to earn a living.” Mari knew then that a career in sales would be her goal but had to keep learning because “the supply chain uses so many services and suppliers from origin to destination. It’s a huge industry.”
She also knew that she had to get out of the family business to do that. From there, Mari went on to work for ocean carriers, to an ocean consolidator, two national LTL companies, until she came back to forwarding, and then found a home in her current role with STG. Mari says her role at STG is “a celebration of everything I’ve done in my career. At STG, I get to bring our customers solutions based on what I know they need and how STG benefits them. From the minute Dave showed me the STG network map, I was excited to represent STG. We’ve grown so much from a 300 million dollar company when I joined to now over 2 billion, and all the great additional services that we’ve added.”
Talking to Mari about International Women’s Day and how STG empowers her, she says, “STG empowers me by giving me a product that is unique and sets us apart from the competition. When I think of the word empower, in my commercial role, it is a feeling of confidence knowing that STG’s Port-to-Door services and network are second to none. I know our team and service offerings are a huge win for any organization that takes the time to fully understand what we do and how we can bring technology, efficiencies, and cost savings to their operations. STG doesn’t only empower Mari, but seeks to empower all women on their staff and in the industry as a whole.
“Our CEO is a modern and diverse thinker. I am proud to see how we’ve promoted and recognized women for their intelligence, passion, and blood, sweat and tears given to STG. For example: Paloma Burnell, Senior Vice President, Sales Operations, Mercedes Pina, Vice President, Client Services and Expedited Pricing, and Jennifer Thayer, Chief Commercial Officer, to name a few. These are some of my role models and mentors that I model my work after.
My team that I work with is fantastic. You don’t have to be an exec or management level to support all that we do and embody excellence. At a company like STG, it didn’t just happen by chance and great leaders surround themselves with other great people, and it all comes from the top.”
It’s staff like Mari who make it work, and for Women’s History Month, and International Women’s Day, we’d like to thank her and all of the talented, driven women who make the #STGDifference.