Recently named the 2019/20 QTA Daimler Emerging Leader of the Year, Letitia ‘Teash’ De Winter from IWS Haulage has proven herself as a jack of all trades – and she has some big plans ahead.
Teash was one of four recipients of the 2019/2020 QTA/Daimler Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program, which is designed to identify some of the industry’s emerging talent and further develop their capabilities.
Though her official role at IWS Haulage is in admin and compliance, what she does extends far beyond that. So how would she describe her role? “It depends on the day of the week to be honest,” she said. “I handle accounts receivable and payable, do our payroll, health and safety, serve customers, do deliveries in the truck, operate the machines, load and unload trucks with the forklift and sometimes help out in the workshop.”
Teash completed her school-based traineeship with IWS Haulage and gained her Certificate 3 in Business Administration and a Certificate 4 in Workplace Health and Safety. She has gone on to get her MC licence, front end loader, bobcat and excavator tickets too.
Based in Jacobs Well in Queensland, IWS Haulage is a family business owned by her parents Michelle and Michael De Winter. The ambitious 25-year-old plans to one day take over the business when her parents retire.
Her knack for all things transport and logistics isn’t much of a surprise when you consider that she has been around the industry all her life. While her parents run IWS Haulage, her maternal grandparents are industry icons – Terry and Daphne Nolan, of Nolan’s Interstate Transport. “When my Pop Terry passed away, I worked there for a little while and also had the opportunity to work in Western Australia for a couple of months too. Two years ago, my parents and I discussed what they wanted to do with the business, whether I wanted to take over once they retired or whether they would sell it – so I started learning all the ropes so that one day I can take over,” Teash said.
When she learned she would be part of the QTA/Daimler Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program, Teash wanted to use this to further her skills. “I actually didn’t even know I had been nominated until the QTA called me to let me know I had received the scholarship. Each recipient had a one-on-one meeting with a careers coach to look at what areas we wanted to develop ourselves in – whether it was communication, industry knowledge, some sort of certification or if there was any other area we wanted to work on. Because I come from a small business, I wanted something that would touch on multiple areas at once. I chose to do a business management certification, which I finished quite quickly,” Teash said, explaining the significance of scholarship programs such as these.
“When you’re younger, there is a bit of stigma around putting the hours in, proving yourself and having to work hard. That can take away from developing your own skills on paper. Being from a family business, I find I try and take on more and more to learn about the business. This scholarship helped me take a step back and work on building my knowledge. I needed to go back to learning and work on myself. It steamrolled from there and I thought, well I might as well do this and this too.”
The four scholarship recipients were asked by the QTA to write a letter about how the scholarship helped them and what they had learnt throughout the year. Members of the QTA visited IWS Haulage and video linked with representatives of Daimler to present her with the 2019/20 QTA Daimler Emerging Leader of the Year Award.
“I thought I had done something wrong and was in trouble,” she said. “I actually shed a sneaky tear, I was very surprised. Growing up I was bullied, so I really do take achievements to heart, because in my head what I do is the norm, I don’t think it’s anything extraordinary. I’m very appreciative of the fact that Daimler and the QTA have this program and the fact that they encourage people coming up in the industry to further themselves and provide them with opportunities by funding these scholarships.”
Applications for the 2020/2021 QTA/Daimler Emerging Leaders Scholarship Program are now being assessed and will be announced very shortly.