Tag Archives: Happy New Year 2018

Thanking people for doing their job.

This week I traveled to Australia to speak at a conference. On my flight from Sydney to Perth, I was pulled aside for additional screening for explosives. The agent passed a wand over my luggage, my shoes and my hands. He then put the wand into a reader before he let me go. I thanked him for doing his job and went on my way.

On my return flight, I was again “selected” for additional screening and went through the process again. I made a point to thank the agent for doing his job.

Many people would feel inconvenienced for being pulled aside for additional screening. However, these people are only doing their job. They are asked to pick travelers at random and check them for explosives. Did I enjoy the process? No . Did I appreciate the delay? No . However, I did appreciate the fact that these people were helping to keep us all safe by looking for potential explosive material. Continue reading

A little history….

March is Women’s History Month, so I thought this blog should be about the history of the Women In Trucking Association through my experience as the founder. I am repeatedly asked the question of why I started the organization, so here is my story.

First, I’ll go back many years to “set the stage.”  I was one of the lucky people whose mom told me I could do anything I wanted, and there were no “girl” careers. She encouraged me when I took shop class instead of home ick (okay, home ec).  I learned woodworking, welding, drafting and auto mechanics.  Continue reading

Who’s looking out for you?

This blog is a little more personal than most.  This morning I learned a first cousin (Rick) passed away, alone, in his apartment.  He was divorced, and his children had moved on.  He was found by a colleague who was concerned.  He died alone.  The details are still sketchy, but it’s still a sad story.

What makes this more tragic is that another one of my first cousins (Dave), on the other side of the family, passed away in the same way only a year ago.  He was younger than me, but he drank heavily and made a lot of bad choices when it came to relationships. In fact, he had been separated for decades, but never made an effort to get a divorce.  Yep, you got it; the ex-wife inherited everything, including the house and what little savings he had accumulated. Continue reading

What a year it’s been!

As we close the calendar pages on 2018, we wanted to take the opportunity to look back at the amazing growth and successes for Women In Trucking (WIT) Association this past year.

In January we started the weekly Women In Trucking Show on SiriusXM’s Road Dog Channel 146.  Every Saturday, WIT President Ellen Voie interviews guests on topics as diverse as self defense, drones, trade show and so much more.  This has given us the opportunity to reach an even great audience and to interact with current and potential members on the air.

We were also thrilled to announce a new platform on our website for our members to meet each other virtually and to interact online.  The Engage Platform is fast becoming a way to share best practices, find solutions from other members and to just meet others with the same concerns or challenges. We recently launched the Engage App as well to reach even more of our members. Continue reading

Eight wishes for 2019 from Women In Trucking Association

This year, we’d like to share our hopes for the coming year with ten ways to support the Women In Trucking Association mission to increase the percentage of women employed in the trucking industry.

#1        More carriers will start monitoring their percentages of female drivers and will set targets to increase those levels.  They should hold recruiters, dispatchers, and everyone in management accountable for not only hiring more women, but retaining the ones they already have.  Ten years ago, carriers insisted they didn’t care about the age, gender or race of their drivers. Now more and more companies are understanding why we should focus more on diversity.  The WIT Index tracks progress in the percentage of over the road female drivers and although it’s increased to 7.89 percent in 2018 (up from 7.13 percent in 2017), we still have a long way to go. Continue reading