Gorgeous Girls In Supply Chain: Krystina Booker
Welcome to our series celebrating the incredible women in Supply Chain and Logistics! In a traditionally male-dominated field, it's important to shine a light on the inspiring women who are making a significant impact. Through a mix of insightful and fun questions, we’ll explore their journeys, challenges, and successes. While we acknowledge the contributions of everyone in this industry, this series aims to elevate the voices and stories of women who often get missed. Krystina Booker is our next feature.
KRYSTINA BOOKER
Krystina and I have been circling each other online for a while before we finally connected, and honestly, I wish it had happened sooner. What I already knew about her: she's meticulous, detail-obsessed, and incredibly sharp. She is the kind of person who notices the things everyone else misses. Reading through her answers, I got to know her even more, and to be honest I'm a little sad we didn't link up earlier. Another accidental logistics baddie who just happens to excel in this wild world. I can't wait to share a glass of wine, yap about the industry, and probably get quickly beaten at a game of chess.
What is your current role and company?
Founder & Freight Broker @ Booker Freight
How did you end up in the world of supply chain?
Completely by accident… and then I never left. I got into freight right after college in 2016 with zero background, zero connections, and honestly no real idea what I was walking into. I started on the brokerage side doing cradle-to-grave sales and operations, so there was no hiding. You learned fast or you got humbled fast. I was covering loads, solving problems, handling customers, putting out fires, and figuring it out in real time. (very sink or swim energy) What pulled me in was how much strategy lives inside the chaos. People see trucks and rates, but I saw problem-solving, relationships, timing, risk management, and trust. A late truck can shut down a production line. One bad decision can cost someone thousands. I liked that the work mattered. Over time, I realized I wasn’t just good at moving freight, I was good at being the calm person in the middle of the storm. That turned into managing larger shipper accounts, building million-dollar books of business, and eventually launching my own brokerage, Booker Freight. I didn’t grow up dreaming about supply chain. But I did fall in love with building something inside it. :)
What is your favourite part of your work day?
The moment a problem turns into a plan. Freight is full of moving targets, so my favorite part of the day is usually when a shipper calls with something urgent, complicated, or half on fire… and I get to step in and figure it out. That could be recovering a missed pickup, finding capacity for a same-day shipment, or solving an issue before it turns into an expensive one. I love the strategy behind it. Asking the right questions, catching the details other people miss, and building a solution that actually protects the customer’s time, budget, and reputation. There’s also something really satisfying about the trust side of it. When a customer calls you first because they know you’ll handle it, that means more to me than anything. Anyone can quote a truck. Being the person they trust when it matters most, that’s my favourite part. :)
What is the least favourite part of your work day?
The part where preventable problems become emergencies. Nothing is more frustrating than watching a shipment go sideways because of poor communication, missing details, or someone cutting corners upstream. A wrong appointment time, incomplete delivery instructions, a rate chosen purely because it was the cheapest, paperwork ignored until the last second… I spend a lot of my day trying to prevent fires before they start, so when something blows up that could have been avoided with one better conversation, that part gets old. Freight already comes with enough real challenges. We don’t need to create extra ones. But honestly, even that frustration is part of why I love the job. I like solving problems, I just prefer the ones that actually needed solving.
What is a systemic issue in your part of the supply chain that concerns you currently?
One systemic issue that concerns me most is safety being sacrificed for short-term profit. A lot of problems in freight get blamed on “capacity issues” or the so-called driver shortage, but a huge part of it comes back to how much greed has been normalized in this industry.
How would you address it if you had the power, money, or influence?
I’d start by changing what the industry rewards, because right now greed gets promoted faster than integrity. Too many brokerages and carriers operate like revolving doors. People come in, burn out, leave, and get replaced by the next person expected to chase numbers at any cost. Brokerages are pushed to cover freight fast, grow the margin, and worry about the relationship later. Carriers feel it. Shippers feel it. Drivers definitely feel it. When turnover becomes normal, accountability disappears. The person who promised great service is gone in six months. The rep who cut corners is onto the next company. Nobody owns the long-term consequences because the system is built for short-term wins. That culture creates dangerous decisions. Cheap trucks get prioritized over safe ones. Carrier vetting gets rushed. Relationships get replaced by transactions. Everyone becomes a number on a board instead of a partner in the supply chain. If I had the influence, I’d rebuild incentives around retention, safety, and reputation. Reward the broker who protects the customer and the carrier relationship, not just the one who squeezed the most margin out of the load. Reward the carrier that runs safely and communicates well, not just the one willing to say yes for the lowest rate. Reward the teams that stay, build trust, and create stability instead of constant churn. Freight works best when people know who they’re dealing with. The industry gets stronger when loyalty matters more than speed, and when integrity is finally treated like a real business strategy instead of a luxury.
What is one piece of advice you have for young women entering your field?
Do not let anyone convince you that you have to choose between ambition and the life you actually want. Women get told this in a hundred different ways. You can have the career, but maybe not the family. You can build the business, but maybe not the freedom. You can be respected, but only if you make yourself smaller first. I do not believe that. A lot of people will hand you limits that were never yours to begin with. Usually because your ambition makes them uncomfortable, or because they never gave themselves permission to want more. Do not inherit someone else’s ceiling. Take up space. Speak in the room. Ask for the opportunity. Build the company. Chase the goal. Want the family. Protect your peace. Be successful and still be soft. Be strong and still be kind. You are allowed to want all of it. I built my business while navigating motherhood, and I learned quickly that balance does not mean shrinking yourself to make other people comfortable. It means being honest about what matters to you and refusing to apologize for pursuing it. There is room for you at the table. And if there is not, build your own table.
What are your top 3 podcasts? (do not have to be industry related)
The Mel Robbins Podcast
On Purpose
Diary of a CEO
Who are your top 5 women in supply chain to follow on LinkedIn?
Jennifer Morris (duh 👏) (Awe thank you 🥹)
How do you deal with creeps you encounter in your work day?
I make it very clear, very quickly!! One thing about being a woman in this industry, especially on the sales side, is you learn fast how to separate genuine business from people using “business” as an excuse to be inappropriate. And to be blunt, it’s repulsive! There is nothing flattering about someone ignoring your professionalism to test boundaries, make comments they would never make to a man, or assume access because you were kind. I do not entertain it. I do not laugh it off to make them comfortable. I do not trade respect for business. Boundaries are part of professionalism. Most of the time, the best response is direct energy. Short answers. Clear distance. No room for confusion. And if needed, I will happily walk away from the business. No load, no customer, no opportunity is worth tolerating disrespect. I worked too hard to build my name in this industry to let someone reduce me to a novelty in it. You teach people how to deal with you. I prefer to teach that lesson early.
What is your favourite way to unwind?
Chess and piano. Both for completely different reasons, but they do the same thing for me, they quiet the noise.
What have you recently changed your mind about?
I changed my mind about how much “doing it all yourself” actually means strength. For a long time, I wore independence like a badge of honour. I thought being strong meant handling everything alone, figuring it out quietly, and never needing too much from anyone. Especially in business. When you build something from scratch, there’s a weird pride in being the person who can carry it all. But over time, I realized that isn’t always strength. Sometimes it’s just fear dressed up as control. Real growth usually asks for trust. Better systems. Better people. Better boundaries. Letting people help. Letting things be supported instead of personally held together with caffeine and stubbornness. I still believe in being capable. I just don’t confuse exhaustion with success anymore. Some of the best decisions I’ve made came from putting down the superhero complex and building something sustainable instead.
Must haves to get you thru the day?
Coffee...literally for survival haha
A very aggressive to-do list... if it's not written down, it's not prioritized
Music...which varies on the day. Some mornings need piano. Some afternoons require something that sounds like revenge and good decisions.
Perspective...because in logistics, if you let every problem feel like the end of the world, you’ll lose your mind by Monday @ 11AM
Boundaries...because if you let freight have unlimited access to your brain, it 10000% will.
Social media for Krystina:
