Why Lived Experience Still Matters in Trucking Leadership
Trucking is not a profession you can fully understand from the outside.
You can study it.
You can support it.
You can advocate for it.
But trucking — especially earning and protecting a CDL — is something that must be lived to be fully understood.
I know this because I lived it.
When the System Wasn’t Built for Me
I went to CDL school in 2006.
The original class size was about 30 students — 29 men and one woman. Me.
By the end of the second week, there were about eight men left… and still one woman. Still me.
Learning to maneuver a tractor-trailer, memorize pre-trip inspections, and understand logbooks was hard enough. At the time, this was pre-e-log era — paper logs were the standard, and corners were often quietly cut.
What made it harder wasn’t the material.
It was the messaging.
My instructor was a retired driver. More than once, he said to me,
“Oh, you don’t have to know this. Your husband will do it.”
That sentence may sound small to some. It wasn’t.
Because what it really said was:
You are not expected to fully know this job.
You are not expected to fully own this license.
The class wasn’t challenging because the work was impossible — it was challenging because the expectations for women were quietly lowered instead of support being raised.
Learning Happens When You’re Taken Seriously
I went home frustrated most weekends.
But I didn’t quit.
My husband worked for a very small trucking company at the time, and his boss allowed me to practice. I studied. I asked questions. I worked. I ran over a lot of cones.
Every Monday, I returned to school better than I had been on Friday.
The first time I tested out, a woman DOT officer conducted my exam. She was sharp, professional, and kind. She failed me — and she was right to.
But she also understood exactly what had happened in that school environment. Instead of dismissing me, she gave me guidance. She told me to contact another campus and speak with their instructor.
That instructor worked with me for seven solid days — on his own time.
The following week, I passed.
Not because standards were lowered —
but because real instruction was finally given.
That difference matters.
The CDL Is Earned — and Protected
Getting a CDL, especially as a woman, has always come with added challenges — some visible, many not.
That’s why I protect my CDL at all costs.
Not because I’m afraid — but because I know what it represents.
It represents hours of practice.
It represents resilience in environments not designed for you.
It represents competence earned, not assumed.
You don’t take that lightly when you’ve had to fight to be fully seen as capable.
Why This Still Matters Today
I share this story not out of anger, and not to point fingers.
I share it because lived experience matters — in training, in leadership, and in advocacy.
When people who have never walked the road make decisions about those who have, blind spots form — even when intentions are good.
Peer-to-peer matters.
Experience-first matters.
Representation must be more than symbolic — it must be operational.
Progress should never require forgetting the realities that shaped it.
A Commitment Going Forward
I believe in growth. I believe in evolution. And I believe that the trucking industry is better when more voices are included — especially those who have done the work.
I also believe that the next generation of women entering trucking deserves honesty, preparation, and leadership grounded in real-world experience.
That is the standard I hold myself to.
That is the standard I teach from.
And that is the standard I will continue to protect.
Not to divide — but to ensure the road forward is clearer than the one behind us.
