April Coolidge was a real estate broker when the housing market crashed during the Great Recession. She decided to shift gears completely, follow in the footsteps of her father, and go to truck driving school.
The second-generation driver is now on her 11th year of driving with about 1.2 million safe driving miles under her belt, now working for Walmart Transportation and serving as a trucking industry ambassador as an American Trucking Associations (ATA) America’s Road Team Captain.
“I never would have thought that I would have gotten into this industry. My dad was a driver, but I didn't think that as a woman that would have been a path that I would have chosen. But it's been the most rewarding path, and I just absolutely am passionate and love what I do,” Coolidge said during a recent ATA webinar centered around its newest initiative. “It's been the best decision that I've ever made, and it gives me the flexibility to live my life and to earn a very good living for myself.”
That’s part of Coolidge’s story, and she uses it to advocate for women in trucking as a member of the ATA’s Women in Motion (WIM) speaker’s bureau.
WIM is ATA’s new initiative that launched in July to accelerate the rise of women throughout the industry – not just drivers – and help eliminate roadblocks that stand in their way. Working with coalition partners, policymakers and business leaders, WIM aims to create a more secure work environment for women truckers by advocating on issues like safer truck parking and greater diversity. The initiative offers career support and professional development opportunities for women in the industry in addition to promoting trucking careers to women across the country.
WIM’s speaker’s bureau, which includes women truck drivers, women trucking company executives and women state trucking association executives, educates and mentors women in the industry. Coolidge goes into high schools and speaks to young women about the truck driving profession.
“Not everybody is cut out for college, so one thing I really enjoy doing is when I go to these high schools and talk to these young people about the trucking industry, I let them know how much money I make, and the benefits, and retirement, everything,” she said. “They think twice about, ‘Maybe I want to go get into trucking.’ Had I had a woman come to my high school when I was younger, I might have gotten into this industry a lot sooner because I didn't have any women role models that showed me that this could be a possibility for myself.”
