Welcome And Meet The Guest

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Welcome back to That's Delivered. I'm your host, Trucking Ray, and today's episode is a part of African American Women and Trucking Association series where it highlights voices and experiences and stories of women moving the industry forward every day. Today our guest is Janet Taylor, better known as the Queen of Trucking, founder of the Real Queen of Trucking and a proud member of African American Women and Trucking Association community. Ada. We're talking about her journey and trucking, realities women face on the road, safety, mental health, mentorship, and why representation matters in the industry. Uh, Janique, welcome to the show. Janique, how you doing? Wonderful, wonderful. How are you doing today? I'm doing well. Thank you. I'm so glad to have you on. I know you're a busy person making things happen out there. I mean, you're the queen of trucking. Tell us about that. How did you get that going? Yes, well, I've been in trucker for many, many, many years. And I play so many different hats and rolls and I wear it all. So I first started driving tractor trailers back in 1997 while in the army. And I just continued over all the years and explored throughout the industry within itself with the trucking industry on all ends of it, from trucking the logistics and porn, the dispatching side, the brokerage side. And like I say, I'm also a truck driver myself, been everywhere in the United States trucking and driving an 18-wheel or so. Wow. I mean, that's amazing. I mean, you're doing it all. Did you see yourself working in the trucking industry independently or as you're doing now? Absolutely. Absolutely. Back in my 20s when I got out the military, had kids, I always uh had a plan of action of knowing that once I got to my 40s, I'm gonna travel, teach, and train and mentor. And that's exactly what I do now. But it did not happen overnight. It took time to get here of paving the way. And I love to be that female in trucking to

From Army Driver To Mentor

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help pave the way for other women nowadays. Yeah. So what attracted you to trucking for a lot of people out there that's trying to put the pieces together? Hey, what should I do? What attracted you to the trucking industry? Well, as a kid, I was always fascinated with the big tractor trailers. So then end up going to the army, and you know, that's what I did in the military was transportation, driving, and logistics as well. So once I got out, I saw that as an opportunity to explore so many different avenues. And again, being in the central industry all these years and being in the industry where you can create multiple strings of income, you can be on different sides of the business. It was definitely, you know, ideally for me to be able to grow with the industry. Did uh did anyone inspire you uh to be behind wheel on a certain individual? No, not at all. I paved my way over the years and and saw the big opportunity and step by step built those bricks to make it happen. Let them bricks be my stop uh stumping stones and and just keep going, kept going with it and still today, still in it. Nice. I mean, think of the bricks. That's uh a lot of reasons why I picked up for the my backdrop in the podcast. It takes one and then you gotta you gotta keep going, you know. When I was younger, though uh that was the first thing I learned and actually was a course in high school. Uh teach about laying bricks. So I know that that was a good illustration. I like that. Um walk us through your first year of trucking. Um, do you kind of remember anything that you could recall for? Oh, baby. Hey, we're talking 28 years in this industry, and I can barely remember yesterday, nonetheless, 28 years ago. I can tell you one thing about it though. Back then, especially once you know, got back into the civilian world of driving and all that good stuff, wasn't a lot of women out there trucking. Very far and few. And again, if you saw women in trucking, they didn't look like me or the next person or anything else, which again was far and few. So also earlier years was being in a male-dominant industry as a female. That was always a challenge, you know. But to this day, once again, this many years later, as I like to say, I've earned my respect in this industry. So I don't deal with the challenges like that. But there's so many challenges that women face in this industry. So yeah, I can only imagine. I mean, talking with uh a lot of people from ATA that come on the show, uh, it is an eye-opener. Uh, women in trucking. Uh, what's the biggest misconception people have about women truck drivers? To think that women can't do this job, to feel that this is not a space for women to be in. Once again, you have to keep in mind, you know, as a male-dominant industry that we're in, a lot of people may think that until they get to really see it and see hands-on that, hey, we're moving America just like the next person. So that is a huge misconception that women can't do the job. Once again, women are holding their weight left and right out here on this road. And trucking is not easy. It doesn't matter what space that you're in in the trucking industry, especially the driver space. It's not easy being out there on that road. It's not easy driving thousands and thousands of miles a week. It's not easy being away from home. It's not easy living inside of a 72-inch sleeper day in and day out for weeks on weeks at a time. It's not easy as a female having to survive out there on the road in a male-dominant industry, in a truck stop, showering, and sleeping in a you know, truck stop at a parking lot and all that good stuff. Sometimes sleeping at the docks of the shipper or the receiver. So again, it does have its good, the bad, and as I say, the ugly. Yeah. Do you still feel women have to prove themselves more than men? Not at all. For a woman that comes in this industry thinking that, that's the misconception right there, because we don't have to prove ourselves anymore. We're here now. We're not still asking for permission, which permission was never had to be asked to be granted to come into this industry. But again, as a powerful black woman myself, I love to tell women, hey, be bold, be proud, and stand out and within what you believe that you deserve. So if a woman thinks that they can come out here and handle that big track of trailer on the road in a male-dominant industry, I'm all for it. I'm a big advocate for women in trucking. That's amazing. Yeah, I thank you for doing that. Have you had a moment where you felt underestimated because you're a woman? Oh, absolutely. During the younger years in trucking, it sure did. Back when I worked corporate America or regular, you know, trucking companies, transportation management uh positions, I've had a lot of male counterparts that, you know, underestimated my underestimated my ability, my knowledge, and my experience.

Misconceptions About Women Truck Drivers

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But again, I showed up and showed out every single time, again, proving that hey, I deserve this place in this industry. Yeah. So what type of challenges do female drivers face that men never talk about, maybe or just unaware? Well, one of the biggest challenges for drivers, uh, female drivers is safety. At the end of the day, it's a female versus a male. So that is a huge concern in safety, being able to be out there on that road. Once again, you're, you know, a female walking at a truck stop at two o'clock in the morning. That's safety concerns. You're a female that's walking around at a shipper or receiver at a you know location where it's pitch dark and you have to worry about wildlife as well as people. So those are big things that, you know, big challenges, sexual harassment, those are big challenges that's not really talked about. Same thing as mental health, and that's male or women, but even more women because women are emotional, women go through a lot of different things. We have a lot of stuff going on, especially for the women that have kids out there on the road. It can be challenging. Wow. Yeah, I mean, let's look at some of those. So, are there any examples you can share for safety? Have you heard about it firsthand, or was it something that you've heard from someone you know? Well, everything in my in my experience all come from firsthand, and that's the beautiful part about with the Queen of Trucking and 28 years of experience. I'm not one of those uh trucking mentors and coaches that have a lot of stories to tell. And this was told to me this, yeah, this was told to me that. No, baby, I lived it and and and and been all through it all. So, whenever I talk about experiences, examples, scenarios, these are real life examples. So, safety-wise, one I would share is being in New Mexico one time, and my partner who uh drives with me whenever I'm on the road, she's you know, had a scenario of almost being trafficked right there at the truck stop, right outside of the truck stop. We were in New Mexico, Albuquerque, and again, it's real out there, you know. That guy, he was adamant, he was serious. I stood all grounds, and I'm like, as I say with Medea, I've been big all my life. I wish somebody would mess with me. So I've never worried about my safety, but I definitely had to worry about her safety because she's a small, you know, smaller girl and everything. And I was with her that day. A lot of times she used to get out the truck by herself sometime. But this evening, particularly, I walked out there with her. We went to the food truck, and the guy from the time he walked by and made eye contact, you could tell he was up to something. So, but he was adamant. We had to get a, you know, we walked back to the truck stop. The guy said he followed us, got a male driver to walk us to the truck. He still persistently kept following us. So finally, I'm like, okay, no, we're not going through our truck. Even being walked by a male, did not care if it was a U-Haul truck that you never know if that was a U-Haul truck that was sitting there with women in it already, or what their emotion or motive was. So, you know, we went back into the truck stop. Uh, they had arm security, so we let them know what's going on. And of course, the arm security got involved and ran the person off. And so we got to the truck in honey eye hall and drove probably about an hour away from that area to another truck stop that I called previously about on the way there to let them know our scenario. And so they had parking waiting for us once we got there. So that was real life scenarios. Having had a lot of issues in regards to safety on the road, you know. For the most part, once again, like I say, um, as a female myself, I'm 5'10 and I'm a big girl. So I ain't worried about you messing with me. But at the end of the day, it happens all the time. So these are things that people have to be aware of, be mindful of. Of course, you know, we hear mace and all that good stuff. Inside the truck, I always keep blades, you know, and of course, butcher knife. I keep a butcher knife in every corner of my truck. So no matter which direction you enter my truck, you're best to be prepared, a bat and all that stuff, be ripe and ready. So, but honestly, you don't find a lot of

Safety Risks And Harassment Reality

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that on the road itself. You know, it's out there, it happens, but I always tell people, guard yourself, you know, don't be too relaxed, never let your guards down, never get too comfortable. You know, be mindful, especially how you're dressing out here. Don't be all provocative and provoking. And again, these are men, so that we're in sharing their space, uh, sharing the space at truck stops. So do stuff that makes sense to keep yourself safe out there. Yeah, yeah, we definitely don't want uh a target on us. I mean, sometimes you can't help to have a target on you, even as a man um working in the industry. That's people if they want to do something bad, they're gonna they're gonna keep seeking it out. Like you said, that's that seems to be something that their brain is just wired to do, I guess. We can't help that. So it's not a job we gotta go out and change our minds. Um, but you say if we can tweak it and do a little certain things to get the target off of our back, that'd be nice. So try our best, right? That's all we can do. So, yeah, how do you um balance yourself while working in such a demanding environment? I mean, keeping a work-home life balance, right? Well, nowadays, I again I'm a full-time traveler, so all I do is travel. Been a full-time traveler for about the last three and a half, my four years now, keep going now. So, and I've uh done my duals and time and time and time over again over these years. So nowadays, I just enjoy my balance being traveling. So, great thing about the trucking industry, you can take your business with you wherever you go. So, no matter where I go, my business comes with me, my clients are taken care of. And again, most of my days are spent mentoring and teaching and coaching other people about this industry. Beautiful. I love that. Uh, a lot of the things that keep me going. Talking with individuals like yourself keeps me going as well. So, yeah, I mean sometimes the internet and the connections aren't always the best. It's frustrating. I wish I had a a place where I could fly people in for the podcast. That'd be great, right? And representation, how did you become involved with uh African American Women Trucking Association? I've been with them probably about a good couple of years now. Greatest opportunity ever. I love what they stand for. Again, the owner, the owner, co-owner and founder, co-founder, uh President Nicole, she's amazing. She has a true passion as well for this industry. And that's the part that aligned me with her, is her true passion because that's where I come from, a span stands point of it's not about just money. It's not just about, oh, I have a business, it's not about, oh, I've been in the industry for 28 years, it's about my true passion. This many years later, I love what I do, and I love being a voice for other women. So those are the things that aligned with uh Ada that I took on and ran with it. I and I'm excited to be one of their certified trainers, also the Roadwise mentor. So however I can help give back and help pave the way continually, I'm all for it. That's amazing. Thank you so much. Keep it up. I mean, yeah, Nicole, Ada, it's a great team effort, you being a part of that, adding that value as well. I'm also happy to be a part of it myself. So you've made uh what made you help women succeed in the industry? What's uh what would you say is a core value that you reach deep down inside, it keeps you going. Definitely determination. Seeing women being determined to make it, not just tap into a space that, hey, unsure about and just back off, but hey, I might be unsure about it, but I'm gonna stick in with it. And so that is the biggest thing is I love to see women who have determination, who's motivated by knowing that, hey, let me reach these goals. Yep, they're not the ideal, you know, women in trucking is not your ideal woman most times, but hey, this is an avenue where if you're determined, you're consistent, you can make it happen. And I love sharing that space with other women to be determined to be able to make it happen and beat the odds of hey, women can't be in trucking. Yeah, that's awesome. I like that determination too. You know, when you see people fighting for something like that, fighting for cause. I mean, I think there's it comes down, it comes down to almost two types of people. Some people don't like the work, but then there's people that do. And so I love seeing just people, individuals, and sexual women as well fighting for the same cause. So that's awesome. Absolutely. Yeah, so safety on the road. Um, we talked about that. I mean, let's talk about the mental health and the wellness. I mean, like I said, it's two types of people. What makes people keep pushing? You know, uh, how did you protect yourself mentally while living on the road in a trucking lifestyle? Well, for me, it was definitely a balance of enjoying life on the road. I've never been in a truck and space to where it was just driving. It was just, oh, I pick up a load and I deliver the load and just do it over and over and again, weeks and weeks and weeks and months at a time. I've always kept the balance for in enjoying life because that's what it's about. It's not just about getting out there behind the wheel and oh, you just seeing the cities and states from the freeway or just what the sat, the shipper, the receiver. I was one of those drivers that I book my own loads everywhere I you know go. I would let me go explore this city, let me explore that state, let me go ahead and enjoy this time. I believe in true balance. I get you know massages faithfully. So even on the road, every two weeks, I would stop and get my massages, get my, you know, just well cared, you know, taking care of myself out there, booking loads in between. That gives me the space that I need to properly rest to be able to have time out of the truck. We'll park the truck and catch an Uber and catch a, you know, you know, a night out on town, or just, you know, enjoy just relaxing. And so that was my biggest balance with mental space, is the balance. Now, when you get drivers that get out there and they're weeks and weeks, mile after mile after mile, and you never see nothing more than that truck, the truck stop, the shipper, and the receiver, that is hard. Also for families, uh drivers that have families on the road, it's hard being away from you know your family sometime. So for me, it's all about balance. No matter who you are out there on that road, whether or not you're on the road for a week at a time or two months at a time or however long, it's all about balance. Balance yourself out, but yet take care of yourself. And that's taking care of your mental right there. I love talking to you, the queen of trucking. We got you here talking about real talk. I mean, you you seem like there's no excuses, you're gonna get it done. What do you think about that headspace? You mentioned the self-care, taking that time to pay yourself back, reward yourself. Uh, what if those things are frustrating? I mean, I know some women they go get their nails done and they're trying to get into that schedule, trying to get their hair done, and it don't turn out the way they want it to turn out. I mean, it's just sometimes you try to do that self-care and it's just a hassle too. Well, hey, as a woman myself, honey, I believe in you're gonna make it happen regardless. That's one thing us women know how to do is make it happen regardless. So if it's a woman that's insufficient to knowing how to arrange for stuff, she called me, honey. I'll schedule all your stuff. Where you going, where you delivering at where you picking up at? Let's go ahead and schedule you some time to yourself to give you that balance of self-care. So there's no excuses on anything as to what we cannot do. At the end of the day, I believe in you make time for what works for you. And if you don't know how to do it, simply seek the help to be able to make it happen. Nice. Yeah, have somebody to lean on to help you help you schedule that. Like I said, that's amazing. So don't give up, man. Uh, don't use those excuses that I can't do this, I can't do that. So no excuses, right? We don't do excuses and I don't promote excuses. And I tell all my members at the end of the day, honey, you in it for long term, you in it for longevity. You want everything that needs to work out for you. Create the life that you want. Don't be just settling for the life you're given. Create that life that you want. If you want to have a great life out there on the road, make it happen. Even for company drivers, like I tell company drivers all the time, get with your dispatcher. Yeah, you're not gonna have the flexibility as an independent person or anything like that, but at least you can have some balance. Make sure your voice is heard, don't just be silent and just dealing with this, that, and the other, let it ball it all up, and now you're going crazy in the truck because you stress. I don't believe in doing any of that. Life is too short to be stressed about anything nowadays. You know, how do you help somebody? Let's say they're they're struggling, you gotta you know, they don't want to talk to somebody, they don't want to get to self-care, they want to check out, they want to quit. Whoops, what's one line you would give them? I seem like you're really good with words. Uh, what's one line you would give them? Just keep going. Just tell me, just keep

Work Life Balance On The Road

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trucking, right? Just keep going. That's it. Keep trucking, keep on trucking. It ain't no other words, it's nothing. A person is ready to check out, you're not supposed to check out, kill yourself, and just never know if you would have made it or you have an option to go ahead and keep on trucking, keep on rolling and seeing well how great you can be. Yeah, you got me. I was just yeah, so people like you know, and that yeah, hopefully, yeah, don't harm, no harm in themselves. Uh please, uh, we don't want that. Yeah, part of that's delivered. We want to make sure people are delivering success and uh great story. So, yeah, I love that. I love that. So melt-dominated industry. We talked about that. The truth about trucking. What are some realities about trucking? Recruiters, social media. I mean, what do they don't is it that they don't talk about? We just we're hearing one side. And social media is the biggest set you up for failure if you go by just listening to social media, or as people like to come in and get the free training or the uh free coaching, and and as we say, uh YouTube university or social media university, half the time, maybe the blind leading the blind. So I tell people all the time, honey, come in, get you some help that you need so you can really see the big picture. That way you can plan accordingly. Because if you're going based on what you're seeing on social media, honey, that's not the whole truth. A lot of people come into this industry, especially dispatchers or drivers, they come in thinking they're about to be a millionaire overnight. No, you're not. It takes time, it takes time and it takes time. You have to build the report, you have to build the connections, you have to build relationships, you have to put the footwork in. And as I say, getting it out of the mud, be prepared to get it out of the mud. But first of all, learn the industry that you're in. Because a lot of people come in and they think that, hey, dispatching is just going to the low board and booking a load, getting some trucks and going to the low board. That is not trucking, that is not dispatching. You can't run a dispatching services company that way, or run a full trucking company that way. You have to understand the industry that you're operating in, and that's what people fail to educate people on, or even to shed light on. It's so much more than trucking than what you just see on the forefront from social media. Come in and educate yourself so that way you know how you fit into this awesome industry. I like that. That's beautiful. Let's let's try to break that down just a little bit, but break down some of that hesitancy. I mean, social media, those short videos have really gotten a long way with people, and they say, Well, I hear you, but I'm gonna do it this way. What's one thing that would make a difference right off the bat when if they were to come in and talk with someone that you see it going a different way? Getting the proper training. That's what it's all boiled down to. Getting the proper training, linking with people who know the industry, who can teach you the industry, who can teach you on how to understand how to have longevity in this industry. So that can go different ways. When you have people that come in and you get a lot of people that start trucking companies and they just go buy a truck because they had some money or good credit. But they have not a clue what to do once you buy the truck. So three months later, they're out of business. Six months later, they're out of business. A lot of people don't have a lot of money money or means and get in it, and it's almost like a Hail Mary. They want to just, you know, wing it, and you know, they think they can pull it off with a lot of capital. Well, what would you say? I would say you're setting yourself up for failure if you go that route only for the fact that you can have all the money in the world, but it'll go down a drain immediately if you're not doing things to protect yourself day one, once again, by educating yourself, becoming aware of what it takes to be in this industry, because that trial and error stage, it can be very costly. And yep, you can have a lot of money, a lot of capital, a lot of credit, all of that stuff, but you'll spend so much of it just in the first six months just from trial and error. So if you can go ahead and just take time to learn it first, understand it first, that's your first investment. That's your first initial way of, hey, this is going to be something long-term. Hey, this is something I can go in with knowing I don't have to question this, question that, or I don't have to worry about winging anything. I can go in confidently, knowing that, hey, here's a plan of action put together and let's make it happen versus let me just go ahead and hope and pray that this works out for me. Okay. Yeah, I like it. And a lot of people get confused with that. You know, they think, hey, I got a lot of money to go to the wrong place. You gotta go to Ada. They're gonna help you. Like you're you're there, you're standing. It's a beautiful place to get started. So I guess where do people go wrong? Is it just the idea they think that they're gonna lose money by talking with someone versus I can try to do this as much as I can with AI? Where do they go wrong? What's what's switch, should they not what they avoid mentally to not go down that road? Right. A lot of people go wrong with thinking that I can just do it and look at YouTube videos. I can just do a lot of people go wrong when it comes down to getting started, is because of the fact they want the overnight get rich type opportunity. They want to take the elevator instead of the stairs. So that's where first, you know, people go wrong at versus go ahead and putting a plan of action together first. By once again, it goes back to educating yourself on what it is that you're tapping into. Because if you don't understand it, how can you maximize? Once again, those type of people only see a piece of the corner of what this industry really offers. So they probably just need to set aside maybe a thousand dollars or so and educate themselves first and see if this is something that's gonna be a good fit for them, just to pick a random number. Right. And that's just based on who they're working with. Price is gonna vary from to the person. So that's about them doing their homework, their research,

Mental Health And Self Care Systems

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their due diligence to find somebody that's reputable, somebody that has the experience, not just somebody that's been in it for two years or two months or you know, three months. Get somebody that's seasoned, get somebody that has seen it through through the good, bad, and ugly, through recessions and all, through everything. So that way you know that you're working with somebody that, hey, we can try year-round and make money versus the person that's only seen it in a couple seasons, it's kind of hard. That's where we go back to the blind leading the blind. It's kind of hard for somebody to teach you something that they haven't experienced. It's kind of hard for somebody to teach you something that they just want based on he say or she stay or this person's experience or that person's experience. But when you're dealing with experts, when you're dealing with people that you know are resourceful, just like with Ada. That's the part I love about Ada. It's so resourceful. Once you become a member of Ada, you have different things at your fingertips. And it's up to each individual to take advantage of it once you have access to it. Nice. Check out the website, save your money, don't blow your money, and talk to an expert, not just someone that claims they can do it, someone that has proven that they can do it. Like that. So the truth about trucking, we some questions we want to throw at you is what's your favorite state to drive through? Colorado by far. Most beautiful state ever. Then I would say Montana. It's a lot of mountains, but that's the beautiful part. So you can't be a trucker that's scared of mountains or heights. It's a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful ride. Sitting that high up in the trucks, and that's always been my favorite is mountains, is to see it. Now, of course, we don't truck in the winter time, those days are long gone. But if you ever get out there in the mountain time in the winter, it's so beautiful. As long as you don't get stuck on the mountain, it's beautiful. Yeah. What's the worst city? What's the worst part of trucking? Maybe it's something that you would avoid. Traffic, New York, California, Chicago, Atlanta. But it comes with the territory, so yeah, you nailed it on those cities. Yeah, they're tough. Uh Houston, Texas, all those too, man. What's your favorite truck stop? Snack. Well, I prepare food in a truck when I'm on the road. So I, of course, you know, food prep and all that good stuff. So we can keep healthy and all that good stuff out there on the road. So, because if you're not keeping healthy, you're gonna be sluggish and thinking you're gonna be able to get through those miles every week, you're gonna fool yourself. So, definitely recommend being healthy. Favorite truck stops are always petrol TAs. When I shower, I prefer those more cleaner, much more cleaner and bigger, you know, it's just easier to navigate through those bigger truck stops as a female, having that space that you're needing and all that good stuff. Uh, of course, I've shared at all the truck stops. I've been about all the truck stops you can imagine, set up for the brand new ones or whatever. So, again, I've been trucking for many, many years over the road. So living out on the road, hey, full force. So that's what's up. You prefer music or silence at times? Silence. Yeah, you can hear the motors. Yeah, I drive in silence a lot of times, but of course, you know, when you're driving 600 miles a day, 500 miles a day, 400 miles a day, sometimes you're gonna change stations, you know, your radio a million times. So mine is jazz music. I like the spa music, you know, old school. I I go through all the channels, you know, throughout the week. I have my praise and worship days, you know, then I just have my silent days to just meditate, pray, and just be one with the open road. That's beautiful. Yeah, I can see why you did it so long and been so successful with it. Those are some of the small things that may have a big effect. You know, what's one thing, one thing always in your in your truck that you keep? An atlas. Most drivers new nowadays have no clue what an atlas is or how to read an atlas. I believe I'm old school, so you never leave without that atlas. So, because again, yep, back in the day we didn't have GPSs, we have those type of things to navigate us from place to place. And even with GPS, you have a signal, you know, that goes out. So you don't want to get stranded. So it goes a long way. I never forget being I was delivering a load from California into uh Brownsville, Texas, or somewhere out that area, and it was in the middle of nowhere on the route back trying to get to 10 and no signal, no nothing, nobody to ask, you know, big old tractor trailer, so you can't just pull over and you know, the little small roads, mountain area. And I utilized the sun in the Atlas to get me back to Interstate 10 before dark because I knew that, hey, as female drivers, we are here in the middle of nowhere, baby. We're gonna make it back to this freeway. Ain't no telling what's gonna happen. So I of course took time to map out my trip using again the uh sun as direction, and it got me right back to the interstate 10 safely before dark, and we was back on our way to California. That's what's

Social Media Myths And Proper Training

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up. That's yeah, that's real trucking right there, keeping the Atlas with you. Sometimes you think it's not necessary, you know, you want the coffee, get on it and stuff like that, but you want to keep it in a good place where you keep it dry and stuff like that, too. So um, you know, things can go around there too. Other thing is first aid kit, you gotta have it. Anything happen out on that road, you want to be able to survive. It's not easy as a driver to get hurt out on the road and you can get to a hospital, a medical facility, ASAP. So you gotta be able to have survivor skills. Again, I'm probably military as well, so my survivor skills are on point. So, but again, like I tell all drivers, like whenever I have drivers in my mentorship program and they have trucks coming on the road or they're getting on the road themselves, I provide a full list of must-have things in your truck, things that you need just in case this goes down, just in case this goes down, especially like for maintenance issues. If you need something to help you just get to the next exit, you don't want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere or have to wait for roadside whenever certain things that you can just fix yourself by having you know things in your truck smile repairs. That's awesome. I I I think that's great. I mean, you're looking out for your drivers, you're not just saying it, but you're actually providing those resources and those things that they can actually tap into and use on a day-to-day basis. And also feel secure out there. Um, when you know you have those things with you, uh, you feel good, not just just having uh proper paperwork with the truck, but also all of those extra things that people tend to overlook. So like forsake it, you know. What's another thing that you would give advice for for anyone that's starting out in trucking? We like to help out the young ones as much as we can on these episodes. Uh they're looking at a career and they're you know, they're kind of scratching their head. They're like, well, AI is gonna take over. I've got self-driving trucks. What's your opinion? What's some advice you would help? Help them in? Advice to young people that's looking to come into the industry: maintain a good driving record. Maintain a good background. Because before you can get it even started with life and everything, if you've messed up your background and messed up your driving record, it's gonna be hard to have a career in trucking. Other thing I would tell people to prepare for, not just driving, start coming in, looking to the full supply chain. Again, trucking is so much more than you know, just driving a truck, it's so many different opportunities in it trucking in the logistics space in itself. And when you go even bigger with it, in the supply chain itself, it's so much opportunities that you can tap into. Yeah, you don't have to be behind the wheel, you can have the license and the ability to drive, but you can also provide a lot of a lot of help and just having that license in your pocket. It's worth has a great value in itself. The experience is a black card. Yeah, it's like, yeah, don't give that up. Yeah, you get your driver's license at 16, I think, in all states, and you don't realize how much freedom that gives you. You know, you don't realize at that age with the value of your driver's license, like you said, just that clean driving record. A lot of people don't have that. I can't say they, you know, hey, I can't I can't put the two dots together now because one dot's gone. Right. Yeah, absolutely. What what's uh helped you keep a good driving record? I'm driving Miss Daisy, honey. Whether or not I'm driving a car or a tractor trailer, I'm driving Miss Daisy. I'm gonna I'd go within the speed limit because safety over everything first, and you're going at a safe speed, you have time to react if anything comes up. So that's what keep my license straight and and good standings because again, I value what I do as part of my livelihood. Yes, I run a business every single day and I don't drive all the time, but if I ever need to fall back on that driving money, I can always jump in any truck and know that my license is good to be on anybody's insurance. There you go. That says a lot. What do you do to ease the stress for the traffic? There's a lot that you can't control. Um, how do you also do that? Well, for me, if I'm book if I'm on the road, I'm booking loads. I'm not gonna book in loads that has to require to go in the middle of rush hour traffic. You know, I don't like to even send drivers in areas, and it's the same thing I teach my dispatchers. When you're booking loads for your drivers, be mindful of the traffic within these different areas. If you know you're booking a load within this state or that state that has bad traffic, more time for them to be able to wait to have the traffic is done if possible, and or just plan accordingly to give more time for them to safely get here without all that extra stress of having to be worried about oh, I'm about to be late, I'm running out of time, so I got to drive extra fast and I'm risking my license, getting a ticket, getting points on my license, risking it in an incident, accident. So those are different things there. Yeah, that's amazing. Uh great advice. Great advice from the Queen of Trucking. See why you have that name because you definitely are on top of your game. So now go back to Ada and the representation there. What does it mean for you to be a part of ATTA? Uh, what does that organization mean to you, not for you or for black uh American women?

Tools For The Road And Final Advice

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What would you say? I would say it means a lot to me. Once again, I wish there were organizations like this back in the day when I was starting out and trucking. I wish there were places that uh we can have safe space. I wish there were people that advocated for us as women. We didn't have that back then. That was that trial and error. That was feel your way through it. You were in a hush-hush industry, still to this day, it's still a hush-hush industry. But being a part of ATA and having people that can join ATA, having those resources that they need, having those tools, having access to mentors, having access to trainings, having access to somebody who's gonna push you, encourage you, and tell you to keep on trucking. That means a lot to me with being a part of ATA. That's awesome. Uh, I feel the same way. Well, we really thank you for sharing uh your insights. Uh, you have a lot of knowledge that I feel like I I didn't even uh get into. So thank you so much for giving us a sample. I mean, all those years, all those experiences that you have, we definitely want you to uh continue to help us, help us uh elevate the industry into a better place and for African-American women too, to see that hey, they can do it. Maybe a challenging job, but uh it is something that is possible. And then, you know, when you're when you're younger, you're learning how to walk, you know, and then you then you're able to run, and it's it's no big deal, it's second nature. So when you first get going, it may be a little overwhelming, but uh you're showing that it's possible that uh you can run with this thing. Absolutely. Yeah, so conversations like this matter because trucking is not just about uh trucking, it's much more moving freight and and getting connections that will help you get along haul and go the distance. So it's about uh independence, resilience, growth, and helping others find success in the industry. It still has plenty of room to grow. So, I mean, even if uh AI and automation comes in, they also will need people to understand how the job should be done properly and safely. So let's let everyone know. And you know, you can uh reach out to Ada. How can they reach out to you? Or is there any way that they can connect with you and build a relationship that way as well? Absolutely. Once again, I am Janique Taylor, the queen of trucking, and you can reach me by phone, which is the easiest and fastest way, 404-960-1766. My email is Janiek Taylor at yahoo.com. That's J-O-H-N-I-Q-U-E T-A-Y-L-O-R at Yahoo.com, or you can just reach me on my website at the real queen of trucking.com. I love it. Yeah, thank you so much, Janik. And uh we uh appreciate coming on the show and uh we'll definitely give a thanks to Ada and uh very exciting what they got planned for the future. What's the one thing you got working on in the pipeline that we can look forward to in the future? Oh yes, we're always working on everything growing, of course, you know, moving forward within the industry in itself. Unless we'll be flying out tomorrow to meet with a manufacturer from China tomorrow to have a meeting on Wednesday. So we're moving forward within the supply chain in itself. Again, it's not just about trucking and logistics, there's so much more space available for people to get in on. So, once again, we're always working on something that's gonna keep us going for another 28 years in this industry. Nice. Well, let's let everyone know that uh they can keep up and keep going just like yourself. Uh real queen of trucking. Appreciate you coming on, Jonique Taylor. Yes. So thanks for having me. Yeah, if anyone else uh wants to share this episode, have any comments or concerns, wants to subscribe, please look for that's delivered podcast. And I'm your host, Trucking Ray, and that's delivered.