About Ashley
Ashley Ritteman is the CEO and co-founder of Valor Victoria. Ashley’s passion for rail networks began when studying the inland flows of international containers as a graduate student at NDSU. She knew there had to be a way to reduce cost for importers while driving capacity into the hands of exporters.
“I am blessed to have turned this passion into a business and now have a great team that has come alongside this vision, making it even greater “
About Valor Victoria
Valor Victoria brings order to the chaos, overcoming barriers at every point along the inland supply chain. Their team can move your containers into America’s interior quicker and cheaper by expanding your options for inland intermodal. Valor Victoria’s focus on US exports is a unique element of their service offering. They take the burden of matching each import load with an export and operationally ensuring a quick turnaround.
Tell us about your company and your mission.
“Our purpose is to be order where the is chaos in the supply chain. Valor Victoria coordinates the movement of containers across the United States. Our customers are major US importers and exporters along with freight consolidators. A unique attribute in our style of doing business is that we also consider vendor partners to be customers e.g. railroads, ocean carriers, ports, rail terminals, trucking and chassis companies. Even though we’re technically the customer in a vendor relationship, our goal is to put the best interests of vendors at the forefront of Valor Victoria’s strategy. Helping others win has led to our own success time and time again. ”
What are some wins you are celebrating?
“Less than 1% of women owned businesses reach $1mm in revenue. We’re blessed to be a part of the 1%. ”
What is the most important lesson you’ve learned throughout your entrepreneurial journey?
“Control is an illusion. Patience, perseverance, and honor always win. ”
Valor Victoria is officially a part of the Fargo-Moorhead founder family. How can our community support you in your next stage of growth?
“When we moved to North Dakota in December we also moved Valor Victoria’s corporate HQ to West Fargo. We plan to have an office in the area and hire local talent with North Dakota ingenuity and heart. If you know anyone who fits this mold, we’d love to meet them! Also, on the personal side we’ll take all the local recommendations from restaurants to family activities in our new community. ”
What are you grateful for today?
“I’m grateful for my husband and a God that never fails me. First, my husband who believed in the concept of Valor Victoria and allowed me the opportunity to ‘bootstrap’ this company with personal finances. There was incredible amount of faith that went into those first few years of heavy investment. We didn’t have certainty that our investment would generate a return, but we believed that God had a good and prosperous end in mind for us. In a lot of ways, we’re still in this place of blindly trusting the end will work out for our good, but we’ve come a long way! When starting Valor Victoria my prayer was to build a scenario that when the season of my life came to be a mom, I could dictate my schedule and priorities. Because of the faith Thomas had in me and my business concept, and our collective faith in the goodness of God, this is my reality today. Every week is filled monumental challenges and victories and I’m thankful to have both by my side for the wild ride that is entrepreneurial life.”
Check out Valor Victoria!
Readers can learn more about Ashley and Valor Victoria by visiting their website!
