How one mother’s decision to pursue a trucking career transformed her family’s financial future and showed her daughters what’s possible.

For years, Jessica worked a series of low-paying jobs while raising two daughters. From fast food to tutoring, she earned approximately $20,000 a year and struggled to find a path toward greater financial stability.

She knew she wanted something different for her family.

Jessica had always been fascinated by trucks, from their size and power to the variety of work they could do. Eventually, she decided to turn that interest into a career.

She earned her commercial driver’s license (CDL) and went to work for Umpqua Dairy, becoming the company’s first female truck driver.

For Jessica, the achievement meant more than finding a better-paying job. It was an opportunity to show her daughters that they could pursue any career they set their minds to, regardless of their background or the expectations others might have for them.

“I really wanted to show them that they were capable of doing anything,” she explains.

The career change also transformed her family’s financial circumstances. For the first time in her adult life, Jessica earned enough to support herself and her children without government assistance.

And with five years of truck driving experience at the time of her interview, she was thinking beyond immediate financial stability toward a more secure retirement.

Jessica hopes more people recognize the opportunities available in trucking, an industry that offers a variety of career paths for people willing to develop the necessary skills.

Her experience demonstrates how access to a rewarding career can change more than one person’s circumstances. It can create greater stability for an entire family and inspire the next generation to pursue new possibilities.

“Truck driving has changed my life,” Jessica says. “It has changed the life of my children.”

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