It’s no surprise that freight and logistics are typically considered male-dominated industries. So, on International Women’s Day, we want to celebrate all the wonderful women working within our sector and put the spotlight on one in particular, our Managing Director, Sarah Taylor!
Sarah was first introduced to Grace Overseas by her parents, founders Peter and Veronica Cooney, in the 1980s. Here she spent many summer holidays assisting her father and spending time with the team before officially beginning her freight career as a warehouse operative in May 1994.
From there, she quickly rose through the ranks of the business, learning the ropes and then moving on to join the office team in 2001. Shortly after, she gave birth to her daughter – aptly named Grace – and progressed to a senior role in management in 2008. In 2014, Sarah took over from her father as Managing Director of Grace Overseas.
Under her leadership, the business has gone from strength to strength. In 2017, we moved to a new premises in Manchester and opened a second premises in Crawley, West Sussex. In 2021, a new larger warehouse facility was procured for the North site, allowing us to grow GO Logistics and Storage – our 3PL, full UK warehousing and fulfilment service.
Grace Overseas has also been awarded a number of accreditations in recent years under Sarah’s leadership, including AEOC, BRC, BONDED and ISO9001-1400-4500.
In addition to all of this, Sarah is also Junior Academy Chair at the Ramsbottom Cricket Club and the driving force, along with her husband and junior team coach, Brian Taylor, behind the sponsorship and ongoing support for the Women and Girls’ team and the Under 13s Juniors, the latter of which her son Harry is a star member. It is this support from Sarah, Brian and the Grace Overseas team that has taken both teams to new heights, with the junior team now accepting members from a larger age range than ever before and the women and girls’ team becoming one of the largest in terms of membership in the North West.
Now with Sarah at the helm and her daughter, Grace Taylor joining the business recently as Warehouse Operative, further growth and expansion is on the horizon for Grace Overseas and the Taylor family. We can’t wait to see what happens next!
