国际妇女节被指定为“全球庆祝妇女在社会、经济、文化和政治方面取得的成就，标志着加速实现妇女平等的行动号召。”整个三月（妇女历史月），DeltaTrak 将庆祝来自我们乐于支持的一些企业的女性。我们将与担任不同角色并分享深刻见解的女性交谈。

我们的第一个采访对象是莎伦·柯克，她是 Hortinvest Ltd 的联合创始人，该公司是一家樱桃种植和园艺管理公司，由柯克女士和她的丈夫于 2016 年创立。莎伦很小的时候就发现自己对切花和植物很着迷。她追求这种激情，并获得了园艺科学学位，成为一名园艺家、科学家和营销人员。

Hortinvest 位于新西兰南岛的奥塔哥地区，自称是园艺专家，在新西兰樱桃和杏子供应链的各个环节（从果园到包装厂到出口客户关系）拥有独特而具体的经验。

新西兰历史上一个有趣的事实是，1891 年，它成为第一个赋予妇女投票权的自治国家。

您为什么创办 Hortinvest？

其实是我丈夫，但我们都有技能。他是开发者/种植者/果园经理，我的技能是物流和营销。我们都有技能，可以做我们想做的事情。我丈夫有一套技能，我有另一套。我们都了解对方在做什么。我对果园的运作方式非常了解，他对物流和营销非常了解。我们的果园是完全一体化的。我们计划、开发、种植，并管理一个团队。我们收割，然后负责物流、包装和营销。我们创办这家公司是因为我们看到在中奥塔哥有创业的机会。这是合适的。这从来都不是一件容易的事。这有点像坐过山车。你必须忍住，说：“我们要踏上旅程。”

That’s great. It’s not often that husbands and wives can work together. That’s commendable.

It has it challenges (laughs). It’s good. Mostly he’s in the field and I’m in the office. I spend some time out in the field with him and he spends time at market with me. Our customers all know who we are as a team. From the supply side, they all know who we are as a team. It works. He has strengths and I have strengths. When you put two individuals together, they’re greater as a team. And you don’t ever do anything by yourself do you? You have to have a team of people around you. We have a couple of great boards of directors from the companies we work with who support us. We have an amazing team/staff. We have rally good suppliers who support us. We have shareholders who support us. And our family. It’s never a solo journey. You need to have those people around you supporting you from a professional point of view, but also from a personal point of view.

What has it been like being a woman in this industry?

I’ve been in the industry for 35 years. It was a lot harder 35 years ago, even 25 years ago, or 20 years ago. A lot of our original business was in Japan. I speak Japanese, as I spent some time living there. Look, it’s not difficult being a woman in this business. You’ve got to know your stuff and you’ve got to know what you’re about. And you’ve got to know you’ve got a good product and you’re out here to sell it. During development, we raised $30 million in capital and another $15 million from the bank last year. You’ve got to jump right in and do it. You’ve got to believe in yourself. You’ve got to be on a learning journey. You have to keep your mind open to learning. You just need to stay true to yourself.

What would you say is the biggest challenge facing your industry today?

Right now – labor. People coming into the industry. I’m not talking about people picking. I’m talking about people who actually know about our industry, how awesome it is. People tend to think horticulture is all about picking fruit or packing fruit. It’s everything from recruitment to financial management, packhouse management, quality control, marketing, logistics. The orcharding side of it, like managing the orchards. There’s a lot of money to be made in this industry. People just don’t know about it. I guess they don’t know about it because we’re not that great at talking about it. But, the cherry industry is a fantastic industry to be in and horticulture is a fantastic industry to be in. We’ve got a growing population who need to eat. We don’t survive if we don’t eat. It’s not all about soft drinks and ice cream. People need fruits and vegetables.

So, what is the solution to attracting more people to the industry?

Talking about what we do. How fantastic it is. I mean don’t get me wrong. It’s a tough industry to be in. It can be long hours. It can be a lot of pressure. For the people who are good in this industry, it’s in their blood. It’s what they do.

Most companies have experienced significant supply chain issues over the last two years. What challenges have you had in this area?

We are having supply chain issues. The cherries have to be covered with net to protect them from birds, hail and wind. First of all, (we’ve had issues with) just getting the netting made and getting it here by ship. Of course, shipping costs have gone up. Probably getting product out of China has been the easiest. When it comes to Vietnam and South Korea it been a lot more difficult. We bring a lot of our packaging out of China. I’ve actually found buying out of China to be as easy as it’s ever been. Freight is the difficulty because you’re waiting for boats. But if you’re ordering – you have to order in advance of when you think you’ll need it because you have to allow for that two or three-week delay in shipping. An increase in freight cost has been difficult. The other side of it is the lack of space to get product to market. But New Zealand has been a special case. We’ve closed our doors. We’ve had a pretty tight rein on that by our government. Hopefully those issues will gradually get better.

How have DeltaTrak’s products helped to alleviate some of your supply chain issues?

We were struggling to get our fruit from Cromwell to Auckland. And you have to get it across Cook Strait. It’s a ferry ride so the truck goes on a ferry. Traditionally, we would change trucks about half-way. We were having issues with our fruit arriving in Auckland at the right temperature. It was arriving at 11 or 12 degrees which is unbelievably not ideal for cherries. So we starting tracking why that was happening. We’ve used some of the (DeltaTrak) recorders to track that. And then we decided to load a full truck ourselves here, which is 24 pallets, and send it straight to Auckland to see what the difference is. We discovered through being able to track the shipment we can actually get our fruit there cold. If the doors don’t open and the truck stays cold, we can get our fruit there cold. The other thing we were using it for, not really supply chain related, was just to track what is happening in our orchard over the flowering period.

This year’s official theme for International Women’s Day/Women’s History Month is “Break the Bias,” and the whole month is dedicated to honoring women, shining a light on their current societal contributions and celebrating the many important roles women have played throughout history.

When I started in this industry 35 years ago there were 8 or 10 women in a similar role as me. I think there are five of us left that are similar age to me, doing similar roles in different companies. I would encourage any woman to have a go at this. It’s not for everybody. You do have to be tough. And you do have to be focused. And you do have to be prepared to stand up. The horticulture industry has a lot of men, but there’s more and more women coming into it. Women can be in this industry. We can make a valuable contribution. We can make a difference. And it’s my passion. It’s about finding something you’re passionate about. I could talk to you all day about horticulture, about cherries, about branding and marketing, about my customers, about my team. Because I’m very passionate about what I do. It doesn’t ever occur to me that (I’ll stop). I might sometimes think, “I don’t know if I can do this.” But that’s when you need good people around you. People are relying on you to do it, so you really don’t have a choice. At one company I’ve got seven shareholders. At another I’ve got 83. Then I’ve got my own company. Then I’ve got all my staff. And then I’ve got all my customers. At what point do I say, “Well I’m going to let every one of them down and walk away.” It’s a very pressured environment and I have a high expectation of myself and my staff. I make no apology for that because if you don’t have an expectation for the people that are working with you then what do they have to aim for. If the boss doesn’t have an expectation, then where do they go?

What do you think is the biggest issue facing women business owners today?

I think it’s women’s own belief in themselves. I’m a director on a board that has three accountants and I’m not an accountant. I’m a marketer, a horticulturist and scientist and all those other things. And I sit there and look at them and think, “Oh my God! They know more than me. They’re better than me.” Actually, they are not. So, for me it’s believe in yourself and try to learn from people. Don’t isolate yourself. Learn from the people around you. Being a business owner is extremely isolating and extremely lonely. You need to be able to spend some time working on yourself, using a mentor and believing in yourself.

I don’t think of myself as being an entrepreneur or a businesswoman. I’m just a person out there doing what I love doing. If you’ve got a passion, follow your passion.

What advice would you give a young woman contemplating entering your industry?

高中时，我选修了所有科学课程，因为我想成为一名海洋生物学家。我还选修了打字。这是我做的一件好事，因为打字能力让我找到了工作。我想说的是，如果你看看一个角色——以我的角色为例。我是总监，我是营销主管，我是首席执行官。很酷的工作。我可以出差。工作时间很长。赚很多钱。我有自己的公司。真的很酷，对吧？所以，如果你觉得这很酷，而且这就是你想做的事情，你就必须做好从底层做起的准备。我的第一份工作是一家出口公司的总经理的私人助理。上学时，我去找职业指导顾问，告诉她我想成为一名海洋生物学家。她看着我说：“你没那么聪明。你喜欢打字；你应该考虑当秘书。”其他人可能会说：“哦，好吧。我就当秘书吧。”我说：“你说我做不到，但我要做。”但学习打字的能力……当我去出口公司找工作时，并不是想当秘书。但他们说：“我们目前没有适合你的职位，但你为什么不来当总经理的私人助理，然后当机会出现时，你就可以加入。”所以，你必须做好从底层做起的准备。你必须做好学习的准备。你不需要自己创造所有的想法。我所做的就是看着和我一起工作的人，说：“他有的很好。他有的也很好。”所以，我把它吸收了。我不是创新者。我是采纳别人的好主意的人，我把它们结合起来，努力让它们为我所用。

我想我的建议是：这是一个很酷的行业。你可以赚很多钱。这真的很令人兴奋。你可以去旅行。但要做好从基础平台开始，然后逐步向上发展的准备。

我们很高兴与 Hortinvest 的 Sharon Kirk 交谈。了解我们的客户及其业务总是一件令人高兴的事。得知 DeltaTrak 提供的产品和服务可以帮助我们的客户实现他们的目标，我们也很高兴。请务必回来参加我们下一次妇女历史月采访。

参考

Hortinvest.com，  https://hortinvest.nz/，访问于 2022 年 2 月 25 日

2022 年国际妇女节，https:  //www.internationalwomensday.com/，2022年 2 月 25 日访问

“妇女与投票：第 1 页 – 简介”，新西兰文化和遗产部新西兰历史、研究和出版组，  https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/womens-suffrage，2022年 2 月 25 日访问。