Employee Spotlight: Chatting with Sasha Khan

Get to know our Marketing Manager, Sasha Khan, with our insightful Q&A on her career journey and recent introduction to life in logistics. Discover her skills and experience and what her motivation was to shifting from the travel sector to the logistics and freight industry.

Could you share a bit about your background and how you initially got involved in marketing for the adventure travel industry??

My career journey began in Sales nearly 10 years ago. I had just got back from backpacking and still had the travel bug in me, so selling similar adventures felt like the natural next step. Turns out, I wasn’t very good at it and spent too much time talking about how amazing the destination was and forgot to actually sell the product. Luckily, the company I worked for had a Product role in their head office. I went for it, then pestered the Marketing team to let me write blogs and get involved with their roles until eventually, I worked my way in, and they created a brand-new digital marketing role just for me.??

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What motivated or inspired you to transition from marketing for travel to the freight forwarding sector??

It wasn’t an easy decision. I loved working in adventure travel. But when the opportunity arose to work in freight forwarding 4 years ago, I was excited by the challenge of trying something completely new and out of my comfort zone. I didn’t know much about it at all but was keen to learn. I had the marketing experience, I just needed to learn to apply it to something different.?

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Were there any particular challenges you faced when making this transition, and how did you overcome them??

My lack of knowledge of the industry at the time was definitely a challenge. It seemed that most people who had been in this industry had been in it for years, decades for some, and starting from scratch was incredibly daunting since there was so much to learn.??

Time and patience were key. I read a lot of supply chain news online, I asked questions, and tried to familiarise myself with the industry as much as I could. Over time, I naturally started to understand things a bit better.??

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Can you describe some key skills or experiences from your previous roles that you've found useful in your current role in freight forwarding??

From working in sales and product teams to digital marketing – my broad scope of knowledge has helped me work well with other teams and really understand the importance of working together. You realise that you are all working towards one goal and there are huge advantages in working with each other instead of siloing yourself.??

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Have there been any surprising similarities between marketing for adventure travel and marketing for freight forwarding??

I honestly didn’t think there would be any similarities, however, the fast pace of both industries is comparable. In travel, trending destinations would change, natural disasters or geopolitical issues would arise, which meant we’d have to reroute customers and look for alternative travel plans. In shipping, events like the Evergiven getting stuck in the Suez Canal or the Houthis in the Red Sea have caused issues in getting goods to their destination. Our teams must work diligently to find alternative options, whether it means switching to another mode of transport or a different route.??

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What do you find most interesting about the freight industry and what's kept you at Unsworth?

I think the freight industry has come a long way. There’s scope for growth and personal development – I don’t simply do email marketing or social, but my role has expanded across digital platforms, networking events, webinars and more. I think marketing has been forgotten about in the past, but events like Brexit and Covid have proved just how important it is to have an effective marketing and communication plan in place, for both freight forwarders and our clients.?

It's been great to be a part of this growth and Unsworth have allowed me to develop my skills and experience.

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What advice would you give to others looking to transition between different industries, especially if their backgrounds seem unrelated??

Believe in yourself. Have the confidence to take the leap and try something new. At the end of the day, you have the skills, you just need to expand your knowledge.?