A woman interested in truck driving recently told Sharae Moore she was looking for a job that would protect her from becoming a victim of sexual assault and harassment. She wanted to know if trucking would be a good fit for her.
Days later, a different woman who just started CDL school asked Moore to provide her with some trucker safety contacts in her area as a backup plan in case she encountered trouble along her journey to becoming a professional truck driver.
“Coming into this industry, a lot of women have those questions and concerns,” Moore, the founder and CEO of SHE Trucking, explained. “They want to be safe. They want to be protected. They want to be at a company that supports women in the industry. We guide them and answer questions that they can’t ask anyone else.”
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Through SHE Trucking, a nonprofit focused on helping women and minorities establish and maintain successful careers in the transportation industry, Moore answers those types of questions and many others daily. She started the organization in 2017 to provide the mentoring services for women in trucking that she felt were lacking.
Moore got her start in the industry as a company driver for Swift Transportation back in 2014. She started through an apprenticeship program that covered her travel, CDL schooling, and training. During her time at Swift, she realized that only 5% of women in the industry were drivers at the time. Moore wanted to change that.
In 2017, Moore started SHE Trucking after a few years of driving and meeting other women on the road. The organization began as a clothing line for female truck drivers. While wearing her SHE Trucking T-shirts, Moore began posting her trips and providing women interested in joining the industry steps on how to become truck drivers.
Her charisma and tips of the trade attracted followers. From there, CNN caught on, and then National Geographic. Before she knew it, Moore was invited to the White House as part of President Biden’s Trucking Action Plan, and now SHE Trucking partners with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s driver apprenticeship program. Today, Moore’s organization has nearly 30,000 members.
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To achieve that goal, Moore works closely with 24-year industry veteran Jerri Banks, VP of SHE Trucking and owner and founder of the Life on the Road recruiting and transportation services. Life on the Road is a third-party truck driver recruitment company that supports drivers who need a second chance.
“Our philosophy is to educate, advocate for, and empower the women in our community and help them elevate and excel to the next level,” Banks said. “We have a lot of women in our community who don’t have their CDL, but they are learning and getting ready to take that leap. And we have so many that are experienced and want to elevate to become an owner-operator and entrepreneur.”
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From a recruiting perspective, one major problem that Banks has seen across the industry is the number of women drivers who have to wait on a trainer.
“That’s a big deal because they don’t want to get in a truck with a man, and there aren’t a lot of female trainers out there,” Banks added. “I had one woman recently wait about three weeks to get in the truck with a female trainer. It’s important to have the right trainers for women to feel safe.”
Adding to that, Moore is an advocate for an industrywide push for driver training facilities to implement strict standards and requirements and zero-tolerance policies for those who want to be trainers. She adamantly believes that training facilities should run regular background checks on those trainers and keep up with them to make sure they are held accountable for their actions if an incident occurs.
When it comes down to making sure the industry overall does a better job at helping women succeed, Moore said women need to know that they have opportunities to advance their careers.
“I started off driving,” Moore said. “I don’t want to retire as a driver; I want to retire as a manager of drivers. We’re all looking for advancement in our careers. We want to make sure that we can provide for our families.”
As for making the industry more attractive to the younger generations, Banks said it’s important to introduce transportation careers in high schools and letting them know there are opportunities out there.
“There are so many schools with technical and vocational pathways, but transportation is not always one of those pathways,” Banks explained, stressing the importance of introducing the industry as early as the middle school level.
In the future, Moore is determined to open a truck driving school for women and minorities in Tennessee. SHE Trucking is holding a charity banquet on Sept. 18 during National Truck Driver Appreciation week as part of this effort.
“Sometimes it takes people with familiar faces to help bring in more people and someone that they can relate to,” Moore said. “My goal is to build a facility where we are there, and people can come to us and receive all the services that we provide.”
