The Lady Declares Her Time Is Now

FlyingTalkers By Geoffrey Arend

Talk about no guts, no glory—an overlooked, albeit quite courageous lady named Michelle DeFronzo has worked as an Airline Cargo Sales Agent (CSA) for 30 years.

In 2000 she formed ImEx Cargo, a global logistics and air transport service provider.

ImEx Cargo like most of us over the past few years fought its way through tremendous negative COVID impacts and was just beginning to recover as a contractor for the largest Russian cargo freighter airline AirBridgeCargo, then came the Ukraine War. ABC, a Russian flag has its own story operating the world’s largest cargo planes, including the now destroyed Antonov AN-225.

Using the airline’s regularly scheduled service, ImEx powered businesses and agency organizations transport products, including pharmaceuticals, PPE, vitamins, equipment, machinery, aircraft parts, and livestock to specific global destinations.

But now due to the sanctions driven by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ImEx Cargo found its business with ABC Cargo shut down and had to return all shipments that had used Russian transports that were in various customs areas ready for export. ImEx customers including shippers, end customers, and ImEx itself have all been lost to each other at this time in some or all part, orphaned in the fog of war.

Michelle DeFronzo, talks about Putin’s war. She speak about it with great expertise and certainly with more experience that any other top female air cargo executive.

Michelle is straight from the shoulder, right from the heart, telling it like it is.

“I have been in the industry for 30-plus years and have started seeing some positive changes for women over the past 10-15 years.

“More women are coming into the field and taking on more prominent roles; although it is not very common to see women in leadership positions.

“At the top, air cargo is still a very male-dominated business and exponentially more difficult for women to advance.

To secure contracts, I have had to learn more, know more, work harder for less money and prove myself, time and again.

"My goal has always been to continue building this business by implementing strategies for competitive advantages and providing high-value added service.

"ImEx Cargo has a compelling reputation in the local communities, and the community plays an essential role in expanding opportunities for airline partners.

"We have earned the city, state, and federal government certifications for government contracts under the Supplier Diversity Program. This has been a work in progress, and we are developing partnerships for government contacts and companies with supplier diversity goals. We are certified for all states in the U.S., including Alaska and Hawaii."