CAMBRIDGE, Ont. – (March 1, 2017) – Shelley Uvanile-Hesch wants to see more women working in the trucking industry, but she knows it won’t happen without those who are already there lending a hand.
That’s why in 2014 she founded the Women’s Trucking Federation of Canada, which recruits and mentors women in a profession that is overwhelmingly male. The group estimates that only 3 percent of Canadian truck drivers are women.
The federation has about 50 members, including men, and a handful of corporate sponsors, including the Highway Western Star dealership in Ontario. The group includes professionals who hold non-driving jobs in the trucking industry, such as dispatchers, managers and parts technicians.
“We really want to encourage more women into the industry. It’s a good job and there is a definite need for more truckers,” she said. “It’s a man’s world, but it’s coming around.”
Uvanile-Hesch worked her way up to the cab of a big truck without the benefit of an organization like Women’s Trucking Federation. The daughter of a truck driver, she knew from a young age she wanted to drive as well: “I always had the bug, but I wanted to be home with my kids.”
She compensated by driving a school bus; once her children were grown, she graduated to a motor coach, then a straight truck, and has been driving a Class 8 truck for 17 years. For the past 13 years, she’s driven for Sharp Transportation, a pharmaceuticals carrier based in Cambridge, Ont., that serves Canada and most of the United States. Her regular runs include Georgia, Florida, Texas and California.
As a senior driver at Sharp, Uvanile-Hesch drives a 2016 Western Star 5700XE she’s named “Destiny Star.”
“I love it. There is so much room and it’s a smooth ride,” she said. “I’m only 4’ 11”, but I can see over the hood and I can actually see out of the hood mirrors into my blind spots.”
A solo driver for a long time, she now teams with her husband, Chris, who earned his CDL so he could join her on the road.
“There is a lot of interior room for a team. I really like the bigger refrigerator and its location. It’s literally a home away from home,” she said.
She also praised Detroit™ Virtual Technician™, which comes standard on the 5700XE. The integrated remote diagnostic system records critical vehicle performance data immediately before, during and after a fault occurs. Within minutes, Virtual Technician gives drivers and fleets a preliminary diagnosis, recommendations and, if needed, directions to nearby service locations with the available parts.
“I highly recommend Virtual Technician,” she said. “It’s nice to know exactly what the codes mean, if I need to park immediately, need a tow truck or if it’s safe to get to a dealership.”
She also likes the attention the Western Star attracts: “It doesn’t matter where we go, people are always taking pictures of my ride and asking questions about her, even when I’m fueling. Quite often, I pop the hood so they can look at the engine.”
She’s put 191,000 miles on “Destiny Star” in her first year, and she appreciates it more than ever.
“It’s my first Western Star, but I wouldn’t want to drive anything else,” she said.
When her husband is behind the wheel, Uvanile-Hesch stays busy with the Women’s Trucking Federation, which is active on a number of fronts, from mentoring women in driving school and hosting career events at high schools to giving interviews to polish the public image of truckers. The federation also is involved in a number of charitable causes and appears at industry events to gain visibility and recruit women drivers.
Women truckers can do a lot to encourage newer drivers by mentoring them and becoming fleet and school trainers, she said: “They’ll get a wealth of knowledge from all angles.”
Contact: Nicholas.Smith@Daimler.com
Western Star Trucks Sales, Inc., headquartered in Portland, Ore., produces tough custom trucks for highway and vocational applications. Western Star is a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America LLC. Daimler Trucks North America produces and markets Class 5-8 vehicles and is a Daimler company, the world’s leading commercial vehicle manufacturer.
Immediate opening for 2 Calgary based Company Driver Teams for our Turnpike (LCV) Fleet.
Know someone interested in driving for us? Refer them and receive up to $500 as a referral fee!
The Women’s Trucking Federation Of Canada proudly presents the Danny Thompson Band performing live at the Army, Navy and Air Force club located at 645 Colborne St in Brantford Ontario on Saturday April 1st 2017. Doors open at 8pm . Admission is $ 10 per person. 1 lucky person will win a Samsung Tablet with their Admission ticket. Raffle prizes, 50/50 draws.
Come on out and join us for a great night of Music and fun !!
Introducing Pub 46 a local classic rock band.
Check out the Danny Thompson Band performing Miles and Miles in this video
Hello! My name is Samantha, I’m 22 years old, I’ve been driving rigs for over 2 years now, I recently got my dream job driving Internationally. Here’s my rig!
A lot of people ask me why I became a truck mechanic, a lot of people think I am crazy, a lot of people think it is wrong because it is a “mans” job, some people are can’t express how proud they are that I am doing a “mans” job and doing it pretty good. Once you get past the mechanic part there is the question of why would you pick trucks? Cars are smaller, parts are lighter you’re a girl you can’t lift heavy things. I don’t know if I can pin point what made me want to be a mechanic and there are days when things go so horribly wrong that I question it myself but the good days by far outnumber the bad and I love the carrier I have chosen.
Growing up I was fascinated by trucks. My dad worked for a garbage company driving a front end truck, my favorite memories growing up were getting to go for ride alongs with my dad. When I graduated high school like most 17/18 year olds I had no idea what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I was expected to go to university but my lack of interest in high school impacted my grades so that wasn’t going to happen. I got a job running the scale at the company my dad worked at, and I absolutely hated it. It was not challenging enough, boring, mind numbing. After going through the motions for 4 years I decided to go to school to become a mechanic.
At 22 I attended Fanshaw College’s motive power program I was 1 of 2 females out of 120 students most of whom were gear heads and were ages ahead of me in knowledge when the course started. After 48 weeks of schooling and a 16 week co-op I finished the top of my class, was the only one out of 60 that ended up graduating to make the presidents list (4.0 or higher gpa). Everything was good, until it was time to look for work. I had so many interviews, I would think they were going good but then at the end the interviewer would say you seem like you are eager to learn but being a female I don’t think you will fit in with the shop or I can’t hire you because I am afraid you will get hurt this is a mans world or you won’t be strong enough to do the work here. I kind of expected it to be hard to find a job because I am female but I did not expect them to be so honest about it…discrimination anyone?
I finally got a job at a garbage company where I worked with one other person, this is when I learned that school didn’t prepare me for the working world at all. Almost nothing I learned in school applied and there was so much that was left out. My co-worker grew frustrated with me very quickly because I did not have the hands on experience required and he wasn’t interested in teaching someone. He told me on numerous occasions that women can’t be mechanics because they aren’t wired the way guys are. Two years later I got a job at Challenger Motor Freight. Challenger overall has been a great company to work for. Never once have I been put down for being a woman by management or the other mechanics, everyone is super supportive. Probably 90% of the drivers treat me like one of the guys, they won’t suggest I can do things, won’t ask for someone else, they will clean their language up a bit though or apologize if they do swear. There have been a couple of drivers that don’t think I can do the job but normally I end up proving them wrong.
I think mentors are very important. I do not feel the schools do a great job in preparing people for their carrier. I see it all the time when new apprentices or co-op students come to work at our shop, they are so out of their league and when faced with a simple problem they don’t even know where to begin. I also see it with drivers, when a new driver comes in our yard a lot of times in your head you are wondering how they could have gotten their license, the schools are not preparing people enough. I recently took a course to get my z biggest waste of money ever. Being a mechanic I am pretty familiar about how the brake system works, apparently I knew more than the instructor of the course. He had explained a couple of valves (what they did, how they worked) that I had issue with because that was not at all what they did. He then started explaining how a brake chamber worked I couldn’t take it any more I had to correct him. He told me it didn’t matter, he has been teaching this for 15 years and has a 95% pass rate so he can’t be that wrong. Sure enough somehow everyone in the class passed even though probably 60% of the information we were given was false, he couldn’t answer anyone’s questions, he knew what he was supposed to read off his powerpoint and that was it. Now there are probably schools out there that do a better job but it’s not like I picked the cheapest school, it’s a well known school, but can one expect people to be good drivers when they don’t get the basics they need. I think a lot of people (like I did) finish school knowing they have a lot to learn still but end up getting overwhelmed because they have a lot more to learn than they originally thought.
I just recently got my mechanics license, in April of 2016, well I guess it was almost a year ago now. I kept putting off going to write the exam because a lot of people I knew that had gone to write had failed multiple times. Finally I worked up the courage to go write and managed to pass the first time.
My biggest piece of advice to anyone male or female is to not worry about what other people think and there is no such thing as a stupid question. I find a lot of new drivers or mechanics that aren’t comfortable doing something or don’t know how to do something and they are afraid to ask for help because they think it is dumb or are worried what the other person will think. I know there are people out there that will make you feel stupid for asking a question but as hard as it is do not let them get to you or ask someone else. I for one would rather answer 100 “stupid questions” then have to deal with the aftermath when something goes wrong because someone didn’t know what they were doing.
That’s why in 2014 she founded the Women’s Trucking Federation of Canada, which recruits and mentors women in a profession that is overwhelmingly male. The group estimates that only 3 percent of Canadian truck drivers are women.
As a senior driver at Sharp, Uvanile-Hesch drives a 2016 Western Star 5700XE she’s named “Destiny Star.”
