20 QUESTIONS WITH TRUCKER DESIREE
See Other Spotlights - Alex Debogorski - Lisa Kelly - Daniel Audet - Ellen Voie - Jazzy Jordan - Trucker Desiree
Trucker Desiree's experience includes the hospitality industry, from small properties to luxury resorts with marinas for Cruise Ships, Private Islands & a high volume of traffic. She broadened her aspirations further at UNLV with a Major in International Business and Minor in Accounting. Life changed and she is now a Long Haul Truck Driver. She quickly saw the relevalance of the logistics of moving people on vacation, to moving freight. You can find Trucker Desiree on "Ask the Trucker - A Day in the Life of a Lady Trucker" & it has been an inspiration for a series of investigative reports by Dan Rather, and will be featured in an upcoming documentry on Workplace Bullying Legislation. Unfortunately, she found that some of the ineffectiveness was deliberate & the result was a fertile ground for violence toward Women who were being actively recruited into the trucking industry. Her goal is to expose well guarded secret's preventing harm to others in this industry when all they want is safe training. She would like to see other industries educate themselves on what is occuring inside the trucking/tranportation sector along with accountability by the carriers to provide a safe training environment for trucking students they recruit. Also find Trucker Desiree on Twitter @truckerdesiree, Truckerdesiree.com, Realwomenintrucking.com and Linkedin.
Trucker Desiree: 2 years as a Truck Driver in December of 2009
TP: How did you get started in the industry?
Trucker Desiree: I didn't have a reason to stay in one place and wanted a job where I worked alone.
TP: What is your favorite brand and/or model of truck?
Trucker Desiree: The kind that starts every morning. I have only driven a Freightliner, it's pretty basic but we are happy.
TP: Do you have a favorite load to haul?
Trucker Desiree: I took a load of Artificial Christmas Trees once and a load of Flags, I thought that was pretty cool to know I delivered those.
TP: What is your favorite food on the road?
Trucker Desiree: Cracker Barrel with adjacent Truck Parking is a treat.
TP: What is your favorite beverage on the road?
Trucker Desiree: I try to avoid soda and have flavored waters; I get those powdered individual packs in a variety of flavors with a case of water. Sounds boring but soda's aren't good for the body and water is.
TP: What music do you listen to when driving?
Trucker Desiree: I don't listen to music as much as I should, mostly news but when I do it's 70's and Classic Rock, I like Alternative and Punk also.
TP: What was your most challenging run so far?
Trucker Desiree: Oh Boy! This small town in Arkansas where I haul wood pellets. Getting there is 15mph hairpin turns with cars whipping around in opposite direction. Getting out of there is going straight up in some places that I have to get in granny gear and hope we make it without rolling backwards. Once we make it to the top it's a downhill drop and Jake brake restrictions. My first time I had a smoking tire and still several hours to make it to an interstate. I love the pretty scenery there but it's definitely a challenge to get in and out of there.
TP: What trade magazines / websites do your read / visit most?
Trucker Desiree: Well I am on Twitter most of the time when I am not driving and I read all the free trucking magazines I can grab. I also read Transport Topics, Logistics Quarterly and Fleet Owner to try to see what the suits are reading.
TP: What can you be found doing when you're have downtime?
Trucker Desiree: Getting a pedicure and my nails done. Writing something provocative to make people take action and get involved to change their situation. I see a lot of people talking about what they should do but it takes action to make it happen. I like provoking people to take action. Sometimes they just get mad at me though. That's Kool.
TP: What is your most memorable moment as a driver?
Trucker Desiree: In my student trucker story wrote about one of my co-drivers "Bill" and how we stopped right in the path of a twister in west Texas. It was a moment I thought, this is it…, and even "Bill" thought it might be curtains for us. That was a time our load of rolled Carpet was a blessing, it held us down but the guy behind us wasn't as lucky.
TP: What is the biggest goal you would like to accomplish as a driver?
Trucker Desiree: Not get burned out because I enjoy being somewhere where no one knows where I am all the time. Save Money
TP: What tools / parts do you carry with you to keep your rig rolling?
Trucker Desiree: I am a company driver so they prefer us to take the truck to a terminal for real repairs. I keep fuses and bulbs for the headlights, minor stuff like that. WD-40 and a Hammer are the most frequently used items.
TP: In your opinion what is the biggest obstacle truck drivers face today?
Trucker Desiree: Maintaining their Health for longevity. It's so easy to slip into poor health from the sedentary nature of this job and the food choices are so poor added to time constraints it makes for the odds stacked against a trucker to maintain their health. Also, lack of communication to the outside world makes for a lot of misinformation and truckers are in turn much unrepresented because of this. Sadly, the stereotype image and inability to have proper representation by any organizations makes truckers very underappreciated and treated sometimes in a way I think is inhumane.
TP: In your opinion what is the most challenging part of being a woman in the industry?
Trucker Desiree: The Industry and the Organizations. I see much profiteering from truckers who want to believe someone is working on behalf of them to give them a voice. It makes me sad when I see that this is not necessarily the case but just another way to sell them hope. I meet a lot of hard working truckers who are not well spoken but that doesn't mean they should be mistreated and mislead. They need someone to fight for them and I don't see that happening as much as it should. Truckers truly are the backbone of America.
TP: What one thing would you change with the industry if you could?
Trucker Desiree: A Check and Balance where companies are held accountable for the training, treatment and conduct with which they utilize student labor over experienced drivers as a "Standard Operating Procedure" which is affecting our economy and using Government Funding to do it. I would also like the ATA to make a broad ZERO Tolerance Harassment Protocol because they are the ones who oversee the mega fleets who target certain demographics. There are many issues of Human Dignity being capitalized upon in Trucking by the Industry. That is wrong.
TP: What advice would you give new drivers?
Trucker Desiree: Be a Sponge for Information, Listen to everything and realize you will one day be one the side of the road alone and need to remember what you learned. Lots of it will be crap and lots will help, you have to be quiet and take it all in and use your own common sense in the end. Don't Rush, Rushing makes silly avoidable errors, some will end your career.
TP: Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
Trucker Desiree: Sitting on a porch and watching the Sun go down with my dog.
TP: Where do you see the trucking industry in 10 years?
Trucker Desiree: I see that the Rail System will be rehabbed and trucking will become more regional rather than long haul. I see that Natural Gas for use in Semi's will be up and coming innovations providing new industries for trucking as well as an American Made Alternative to our foreign dependence on oil.
TP: What's next for Trucker Desiree?
Trucker Desiree: I'm hoping to see more national attention for the Trucking Industry to examine what is happening to Women entering trucking who face obstacles from the lack of leadership in the industry.
TP: Did we forget anything? If you have anything to add here is the place!
Trucker Desiree: I can't think of anything. Can you?
Desiree, thank you so much for taking the time to br a part of Truckerzparadise! We appreciate all that you do for the industry!
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