Women in Supply Chain Don’t Lack Talent. They Lack Access.

Sheri Hinish, Founder of Supply Chain Queen® and CEO of Supply Chain Revolution Global, sits down with Harshida Acharya, Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Fulfillment IQ and co-founder of Ladies Who Logistic, on the Supply Chain Revolution® podcast. Ladies Who Logistic is one of the newest community partners on the Supply Chain Queen and Supply Chain Revolution platform, and Harshida explains why women in supply chain and logistics do not lack talent. They lack access, and closing that gap requires career infrastructure rather than another networking event.

Why Ladies Who Logistic Started with a Single LinkedIn Post

Harshida Acharya, Tori Deems, and Amy Dai kept finding themselves among the only women in the rooms where decisions in supply chain and logistics were made. The experience was isolating, and it raised a question: should a space exist where women in this industry feel genuinely supported? At the end of 2023, they posted that question on LinkedIn, unsure whether anyone would answer.

The response settled it within hours. More than 130 women asked to join, and the message to the founders was clear. Women in logistics and supply chain needed more than occasional networking moments. They needed a trusted community where career growth, practical learning, candid conversation, mentorship, and visibility compound over time.

I first met Harshida in person during New York Climate Week at a Harvard Club event, and I was struck by her authenticity and by how clearly she sees a problem our industry tends to talk around. Ladies Who Logistic is now a community partner of Supply Chain Queen and Supply Chain Revolution, and this conversation explains why.

What Is the Real Career Gap for Women in Supply Chain?

The gap is access, not talent. Harshida has worked in technology for years and in logistics for about eight, and her diagnosis is direct. The industry does not suffer from a shortage of capable women. It suffers from an uneven distribution of social capital.

Social capital, in Harshida's framing, includes trusted relationships, the conversations that happen outside formal meetings, sponsorships, visible proof of leadership, and the permission to ask questions that can change a career. Those assets are difficult for many women in logistics to reach, because access in this industry is often informal, opaque, and uneven.

My PoV is that this is a supply chain problem as much as a people problem. We would never accept a network design that routes critical inputs through unreliable, invisible channels, yet many organizations still route opportunity to talent exactly that way. Fixing it requires infrastructure, not inspiration.

How Ladies Who Logistic Moves from Networking to Infrastructure

Ladies Who Logistic treats networking as the first step rather than the goal. Its purpose, as Harshida describes it, is to reduce the friction and cost of access. The community meets at least once a month, mostly virtually, and every session runs under Chatham House rules so members can ask questions they could never safely ask in a status-heavy work setting.

The sessions are practical. Members have gone deep on robotics, angel investing, sustainability, AI, and leadership, with a shared goal of becoming 1% smarter each time. Harshida has watched members form friendships, find new jobs, and get through difficult seasons in their careers and lives with the support of the group.

When I joined one of their monthly meetings as a guest, I noticed that the egos were checked at the door. That culture is rare, and it is the reason the community works.

Why Mixing Career Stages Accelerates Learning

Most professional communities serve one stage of the career lifecycle. Ladies Who Logistic deliberately serves all of them, and Harshida borrowed the idea from her children's Montessori school, where grades one, two, and three share a classroom.

The Montessori Model for Mentorship

Harshida worried at first that her son would be overwhelmed by older children. Instead, he quickly grew comfortable asking them questions, and everyone learned faster. The same dynamic plays out in her community. Students and early-career professionals gain access to experience and connections they would not otherwise have, and mid-career women see that careers do not have to follow a single script.

Senior Leaders Passing the Ladder Down

CEOs of logistics organizations and chief supply chain officers participate as well, answering questions about what matters, what not to stress about, and how to say no. I see the same flywheel in my own work. When people from different generations work on the same idea, the energy compounds, and I have been toying with the idea of a podcast called Generations for exactly that reason.

What Skills Women in Logistics Need as AI Reshapes the Industry

Harshida is candid that AI and technology are moving faster than anyone can track, and she says she still feels behind despite trying to keep up every day. Her answer is not to chase every tool. She argues that professionals need to feel grounded in what they know and confident enough to keep learning the next thing that makes them better.

She points to David Epstein's book Range, which argues that breadth of experience prepares people to perform when the unexpected arrives. That logic shapes the community's wide-ranging sessions, and it shaped her answer when I asked which skill will matter most in fulfillment over the next five years: the ability to connect technology decisions to operational reality.

My PoV is that this skill is the dividing line of the AI era in supply chain. The leaders who win will not be the ones who know the most about models or the most about operations, but the ones who can translate fluently between the two.

Lightning Round: Four Answers from Harshida Acharya

Harshida also holds a principle I admire. Ladies Who Logistic is a community for women, but it refuses to become a space for bashing men. She credits the allies and sponsors who have helped women build remarkable careers, and the community's ethos is to sharpen its own skills while welcoming those allies in.

How Leaders and Allies Can Create Access Right Now

Harshida closed our conversation with an ask that goes beyond following a page or liking a post. If you are early in your career, show up and ask the questions. If you are a leader, sponsor someone, make an introduction, recommend a woman for a visible opportunity, or invite her into a decision-making room. If you are an ally or a partner, help create access rather than just applauding.

We stand on the shoulders of many giants who gave us the permission, space, and grace to be bold women in supply chain and logistics. Harshida and her co-founders are now doing the same for the next generation, and every one of us can help by opening one door this week.

Ladies Who Logistic is a professional community for women in supply chain and logistics at every career stage, co-founded in late 2023 by Harshida Acharya, Tori Deems, and Amy Dai. Harshida Acharya is Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Fulfillment IQ, where she works at the intersection of innovation, strategy, and technology execution, and she co-hosts the eCom Logistics Podcast. Supply Chain Revolution® is the podcast hosted by Sheri Hinish, the Supply Chain Queen®, covering supply chain, sustainability, AI, and leadership.

Connect with Harshida Acharya and Ladies Who Logistic

Harshida Acharya: LinkedIn  |  Ladies Who Logistic: ladieswhologistic.com  |  Fulfillment IQ: fulfillmentiq.com  |  Supply Chain Queen: supplychainqueen.com  |  Newsletter: The Supply Chain Revolution Newsletter

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