Today we’d like to introduce you to Aisha Steptoe.
Aisha, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
During the course of my life, I have had some unique experiences that have taken me on a very interesting journey. It’s funny how often times people make plans for where they want to be in five years, ten years, etc. only to find themselves on different trajectories. For me, I thought I was going to have a long-standing career in the aviation industry but my journey led me to a different passion in life.
My mother always instilled in me the importance of education and taking calculated risks at an early age. When I was seven years old, my mother (a single parent) moved us from New York to St. Louis as she pursued an MBA at Washington University. Having no family in the area, I remember going to classes and study groups with her as she matriculated through her course work. It is from these early experiences where I absorbed insights about learning, adapting to new environments, and being willing to try something new – even when you are unsure of the outcome.
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always loved to fly. My earliest memory must have been around the age of 3 or 4. I can still remember the excitement of walking on the airplane and buckling into my seat while looking out the window at all the other airplanes on the tarmac. Within seconds of the lift-off, we would be airborne, and I loved looking out the window at the land below as we climbed higher and higher in altitude. As I grew older, my passion for flying only strengthened, so when I was in high school back on the East Coast in New Jersey, my mother found a program for me that provided flight instruction. Throughout my pilot training, which extended into studying Aviation Technology in college, I had to navigate through many scenarios where disruptive conditions were present (sometimes planned and unplanned). This training not only gave me the tools to become a licensed pilot, but also provided lifelong lessons that would help me succeed in business.
After completing my undergraduate studies in Aviation Technology at Purdue University in 1995, I tried to find meaningful employment with a commercial airline but ended up going directly to graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to pursue an MBA after receiving a fellowship from the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management. Before I started at UW-Madison, I visited the campus in hopes of meeting some of the professors in the Transportation concentration I had selected and someone found me wandering through the halls and asked if I was lost.
When I told them I was looking for the Transportation Department, I was told that there were only 1 or 2 professors that in that area but if I was interested in Transportation, I should go speak to someone in the Supply Chain Management department. My immediate response was, “What is Supply Chain Management?” I had no clue what Supply Chain was but that one encounter changed the trajectory of my career from Aviation/Transportation to Supply Chain Management. I went on to receive an MBA with a concentration in Supply Chain Management from UW-Madison and went on to work for some of the leading Fortune 500 global organizations in the Consumer products/Consulting industries for the next 20 years such as General Mills, Georgia Pacific Corporation, KPMG, and The Coca Cola Company.
Prior to launching my consulting company (The Emergent Group) in 2018, I was in a senior leadership role within The Coca Cola Company’s North America Supply Chain organization. In this role, I was a key member of a strategic, cross-functional team formed to execute the company’s 21st Century Beverage Partnership Model, which became the largest refranchising initiative in the Consumer Products industry. During my tenure at The Coca Cola Company, I also led work to create effective supply chain business integration strategies for the company’s key M&A and divestiture initiatives.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Making the decision to become an entrepreneur was a long process for me. For the majority of my career, I had achieved a moderate degree of success in Corporate America and enjoyed the work. However, in 2016, I started thinking seriously about going out on my own. I was fortunate enough to have other African American female entrepreneurs in my close circle who mentored me about the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. This advice became invaluable and was instrumental in helping me to really focus on how I could differentiate myself from other boutique management consulting firms.
Fortunately, over the years, I built a strong professional network and shared my plans to branch out on my own with a trusted advocate at The Coca Cola Company before I left the organization. Building a great professional network was the key to picking up my first major client in 2019 were led the Program Management Office for a $250 million supply chain initiative. The success of this work has led to referrals with additional clients in the Beverage industry. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic this year, many organizations have had to reduce the use of external consultants, which has created some challenges and has forced me to re-evaluate how to deliver value to my clients in a new way.
We’d love to hear more about The Emergent Group.
The Emergent Group was founded in 2018 and has deep expertise and operational knowledge within the Consumer products industry. We work closely with our client partners to develop uniquely tailored solutions in multiple areas such as:
Mergers & Acquisitions + Divestitures: Operational Strategy & Execution
Operational Business Integration
Supply Chain Strategy: Manufacturing, Warehouse, Distribution, Planning, and Logistics
Project Leadership/PMO Services
If you apply the concept of the “The Iceberg Principle” to business when organizations are experiencing operational challenges, what can be seen or visible usually only represents a small portion of the actual issue (the tip of the iceberg). We take the time to understand ‘the unseen reality’ and look beneath the surface of operational challenges to find the factors that often go unnoticed. By addressing the root cause, we resolve what’s underneath to help your business get back on track and emerge to excellence. In addition, too often, management consulting companies are great at developing a strategic vision but lack the expertise to operationalize the vision into an executable plan for clients. After several years of experience with global Fortune 500 organizations, The Emergent Group has capability to transform vision into actionable execution.
What were you like growing up?
As a child, I was always inquisitive and observant of my surroundings. Over time, I’ve come to realize that I learn through quiet observation (initially) which ultimately transitions to asking lots of questions to gain greater insight. The majority of my family is originally from New York City and Philadelphia and I spent a lot of time with my maternal great grandmother (originally from Jamaica), aunts, uncles, and cousins. I know that growing up in a large extended family has fueled my love of being around kind and genuine people, especially when there is good food and music involved! I developed a love for travel as a child, which has continued as a passion into my adulthood. To date, I have been to over 30 countries across four continents and there is still so much more to explore!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.theemergent-group.com
- Phone: (678) 209-9639
- Email: aisha@theemergentgroup.com
Image Credit:
Terrell Clark Photography (on business images)
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