Being a Founder of two popular podcasts- Let’s Talk Supply Chain and the Blended Podcast, Sarah Barnes-Humphrey hopes for a more diverse and inclusive future in the supply chain sector.
As the host of a popular podcast, Let’s Talk Supply Chain, Sarah uses her infectious enthusiasm to put people at the forefront of an industry that’s traditionally been about stats and numbers. From thought provoking questions and industry deep dives to lively discussions and the celebration of real people’s industry success, Let’s Talk Supply Chain and its sister show Women in Supply Chain bring a breath of fresh air to logistics.
Sarah has been in supply chain and logistics her whole career. Growing up in a family of logistic entrepreneurs, she specifies, “I worked since the age of 16 and I had two entrepreneurial parents but I didn’t really get into entrepreneurship myself with side hustles in my 20s.”
Sarah further added, “In the beginning, one of the many challenges in the journey was getting over my fear of public speaking. To do that, I got a talent agent and went to auditions. Then I had to overcome the doors of the family business closing and in between, there was bullying and struggles to know my worth.”
In her family, everyone is from the supply chain industry which has also helped Sarah understand that there shouldn’t be any male dominant industry anywhere. She always focused on delivering quality results and doesn’t like people who underestimate a woman’s contribution to this particular industry. However, women still face very male dominated thinking in some aspects of the industry.
“When I was thrown full time into my side hustle with only myself to rely on, no back up plan, never had to apply for a job- teaching myself social media, graphic design, and website design helped me sail through it. It was through this journey that I realized that you have to meet people where they are, appreciate them for who they are and work with their strengths.” Sarah then decided to accept people for who they are which eventually brought her peace.
After overcoming a lot of hurdles, today she is the founder of the top supply chain podcast on the market. With a belief that collaboration is the future of business, Sarah not only interviews the top innovators and supply chain professionals in the industry but also diverse voices from within the community. Being the first ever podcast to franchise is what makes Let’s Talk Supply Chain, not your average supply chain podcast.
Sarah is also the co-founder of Blended, a non-profit organization whose mission is further diversity and inclusion goals. “Our first $5,000 donation to our non-profit called the Blended Pledge was our biggest customer success. It really meant that people could get behind what we are doing for the industry and it shows that the community wants to join us in making a visual impact”, she says. Her current goal is to collaborate with industry experts from all across the world and talk about trending topics in order to raise funding for her Blended campaign.
One lesson Sarah thinks is the most important for a new entrepreneur to learn is “Be yourself, it’s too hard to pretend to be anything else- you are enough”.