Clarissa Rankin, a successful truck driver and influencer, shares her story and passion for the trucking industry.

In this episode, Lindsey talks with Clarissa Rankin, a successful truck driver and influencer, shares her story and passion for the trucking industry. She discusses her journey into trucking, the different social media platforms she uses to connect with her audience, and why she loves being an owner-operator. Clarissa also highlights the importance of safety in trucking and encourages women to pursue careers in this field. Additionally, she talks about her CDL school and how she is training future drivers with a focus on safety and professionalism. Lastly, Clarissa emphasizes the benefits of fitness for truck drivers and motivates others to take care of their physical health.

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Transcript

Welcome, trucking enthusiasts, to another exciting episode of Next Gen Talks. I'm thrilled to be your host, Lindsey Trent here as we delve into the world of all things NextGen. When it comes to trucking, whether you're a seasoned professional behind the wheel, an educator, technician, executive, or someone who's just passionate about shaping the future of the industry, you're in for a treat.  Before we hit the road on today's discussion, I want to express our sincere gratitude to our sponsors. Without their support, this podcast wouldn't be possible. So a big shout out and thank you to our partner members, Ben E. Keith Foods, Christensen, Geotab, Clean Harbors, Digital Management Team, Drivers Legal Plan, Fastenal, Old Dominion,  Ryder, Samba Safety, Long Haul Trucking, Trivista, Roehl, and J. M. Tank Lines. Thank you for helping us advance the community. And so buckle up and get ready for an inspiring, insightful journey as we delve into all things Next Gen Trucking, your road to the future. 

Hey. I am excited today to welcome Clarissa Rankin to Next Gen Talks. And many of you know who she is because she's amazing and she is doing so much for the trucking industry. Clarissa, welcome to Next Gen Talks. 

Thank you so much for having me. I really do appreciate you asking me to be a part of this podcast. I'm so excited to share my story. It's crazy that we talking this morning because I was just saying something similar to what we about to be talking about. I was just going in on the video that I'm going to be posting in just a few. 

Oh, good. So we'll have to follow. And I want to tell everybody they need to follow you on all the socials you're on. Tell us about the socials that you're on. 

So right now, I'm currently on, I think it's seven or eight different social media sites. Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Twitter, fan base, you name it, I'm on there. 

Which one do you like to do the best? 

I think IG. 

Really? 

Yeah. All my platforms got different audience, so IG is one of my favorite quick posters. But TikTok is my family, sisters, my brothers, those are my dreamers. They encourage me, they push me.  And then Facebook is my listeners. They are my communicators. They are my growers. They are the ones that's going to put foot to the ground, put them boots on.

And for us, right, we're trying to reach the next generation. So that TikTok and IG is where it's at. And that's where we're going to reach these young people that say, you know what? I might want to do this for my career. So tell us, how did you get into trucking and what attracted you to it? 

Well, first, when I was in high school, I wanted to go into graphic design. I'm an artist. Like, I can draw and paint. And I ended up getting pregnant, and I had to find work. So I started going into CNA. I did CNA work. I waited tables, and I was like, I love people. I love being able to talk to people. But I said, there ain't no money in so. I met my husband and he started the world of trucking. And I was in school for my bachelor's in criminal justice, and he was able to come out of trucking, find a job immediately. I went to school for four years and couldn't find a job nowhere. 

Wow. 

So you have a bachelor's degree? 

Yes, I do. 

Wow. Okay. 

Out of education. But I just couldn't find nothing that was really going to be paying me what I was kind of really wanted to get paid. And he went to school for four weeks and was coming out making over $50,000. And I went to school for four years and couldn't even find a job making $35,000. I was working in the school system and I said, I think I want to get into being a freight broker and booking loads for my husband. And I was like, we're going to start our trucking business. I'm going to be your freight broker and we're going to be great. So then I went and got my freight broking certification because I can grab a book, I can learn it, I can study it. But I didn't understand it. I didn't understand some of the lingo.  Like mt means empty, bt mean bobtail, just a truck. So I didn't understand a lot of the lingo. So I told my husband, I said, I got to go get my CDL. He was think, get my CDL because I think I understand it a lot better because right now I'm not understanding it and I'm so smart, but I still don't understand it. He said, okay, yeah, okay. I said, yeah, I'm going to get my CDL. So I rode in school and when I got behind that steering wheel, my life had changed forever. I loved it. 

Really? 

Yeah, I felt free. I felt like it wasn't nobody all on my back. Yeah, there's a lot of freedom, right? 

Yes. I fell in love with it. And I did my first year with driving local. And then after my first year, went and got our first truck and I was able to take my son with me. And I was spending time with him for summer and holidays. And the only thing we had to do is get in the truck. So if he wanted to go to New York, we're going to New York. If he wanted some crawfish, we going to doggone Louisiana. He wanted to go to the beach. We was going to the beach. 

So you're making money while you do it. 

Yes. And that's got to the world of trucking. It was just like I wanted something different. I wanted something exciting. I didn't want to be locked down no more. And that's how I got into it. 

Were you ever intimidated before you even got in the truck? When you stood there and said, I'm going to be driving this huge piece of machinery, were you ever intimidated or were you like, this is awesome, let's go. 

Girl No, I was more so more powerful. Like, get me in there. I want to do it. I was more so, like, if I can master this big old thing, yeah, I can drive anything. Yeah, it was more so, like, get me behind the wheel. I wasn't intimidated at all. That's awesome. 

And your son, what does he think about? What does he think about it? I mean, is he like, maybe I want to do this for my career? 

Well, I got two boys, so both of them are very supportive of me. They love that their mommy is a trucker. They love that. And they're 18 and 13 and they are mom boys. Like, they love me, they cater to me. I'm very spoiled. But they're not truckers. One of them is a baker. 

Oh, cool. 

Athlete. He could play any sport you put in front of him, but he's a baker. State of the art baker. And the other one wants to be an engineer. He's into coding, architect, Legos, building, graphic design, drawing, that's his thing. None of them want to be a truck driver. 

Hey, we hire in the trucking industry. We hire engineers to make trucks better and we hire it people. So who knows? Maybe there's a future there still. 

Yeah, you're right. 

So you fell in love with it and you're like, hey, I want to make this my career. What do you think about a girl? Maybe they're 16, 17, maybe they're 10 and they're like, maybe this is something I'd like to do. What kind of qualities does a female driver need and what kind of inspiration do you have for them? 

The main thing I can tell a female is it's okay to want to work in a field that you always seen your uncle, grandpa or your cousin do. It's okay. I still got my nails usually this long. My hair is always done. My makeup is always on fleet like I do not play. I'm always like, girly. Girly? Yes, pink. Like. My truck is decorated with sparkles and fur and throw pillows. I'm still that girl. So nothing's going to stop me from being the woman that I am. But I always tell females, whatever you want to do, you put your mind to do it, because trucking is going to provide you with that income and that career that's not going nowhere. And you can be able to make that same living that the male figure in your family has always made.  And you can do that by driving a truck. And you don't have to be like some women think that they got to work as a librarian, as a teacher, as a nurse. No, you can make double that by getting into the world of trucking. Like the starting salary for a truck driver, not even over the road, but as a local truck driver is over 50,000. 

Incredible. With benefits. 

Exactly. With benefits. That's local. That's home every day. The only thing you're doing is making deliveries or are you going into these different locations? But you are a truck driver. So I always tell my females, you can still be a girl. You can still be a woman, and the only thing you're doing is driving a truck. Now, you do got to be able to handle your own out there. You do got to be able to, like, one time a tire went underneath my truck and got stuck. So I had to go out underneath the truck at 12:30 in the morning and wedge it out. Like, I had to put a little bit of ump behind it, have a little bit of strength to get in and out the truck.  But I see women in as small as 98 pounds handling that big old truck and being able to be out there with a big dog. So nothing should stop a woman from getting behind that steering wheel. It should encourage us because we can spend more money on clothes and shoes. 

There you go. I tell you, when I see a woman in a truck, it inspires me. I'm like, that chick is awesome.  I know it.  I think female drivers are awesome. 

Thank you. Thank you. 

You've developed it more into just driving. You just started your own school. You're an influencer. Tell us about the things that being a truck driver has led you to. 

It started off with me just doing videos, and during the pandemic, I went viral. But I was always doing videos before the pandemic, so I went viral and I started just making more videos. More videos. But I caught myself teaching again. Going back to the original drawing board of working in the school system, going back to the original drawing board of being a caregiver to people and listening to people and hearing what their questions are. So I can make that and turn it into a video. So once I went viral, I just didn't look back, and I started getting seen all over the world. You name it, I got seen there. Like news, CNN, Business Insider, Inside Edition. Like, you name it, I have got seen there. And it started getting me to the mode of, like, it's more to just trucking now. 

I got to educate more people about the world of trucking. I decided to get out from behind that stand wheel, and I said, how about me and my best friend? She's another female driver. Her name is Sassy the Truck boss online. We came together, we said we should make a CDL school because she came from the world of. She got eight years in the military army. She'd have been in the world of trucking for 17 years. She's a diesel mechanic. And we just came together like two girly girls started school. And that's where I'm sitting at right now as we speak in R & K Training Academy. 

Awesome. 

So tell us about your school. And you're training future drivers, right? 

Yes, we're training future drivers with a state of the art curriculum because we truck for real. We truckers in real life, we're not just here to get the money and know. No, we're here to train you about this world that has changed our life for the better. It's a six week course, it's through Friday. And you're going to be in a classroom full of people that are coming from all different walks of life. Some people have came. I done taught a guy with cerebral palsy. I done taught the head pilot in the air force. Like he was the big dog. He was the big guy. You're going to be in this program with all different walks of life.  And this program is going to be here to teach you, mold you into not just the world of trucking, but just the world as a human in the transportation industry. We're going to be having like a prayer meeting when you able to vent about are you getting what's going on? Are you understanding the concept of what you're doing? We're going to teach you how to manage your money because you're going to be making more money than what the average person would normally make. All here at R & K Training Academy plus some more. 

Okay, so R & K Training Academy  and where are you guys located? 

We're right now in Gastonia, North Carolina, right outside of Charlote, I think like 10 minutes away from Charlote, North Carolina. So right in Gastonia at the Gastonia mall. It's East Ridge Mall. 

That is awesome. 

And we'll put a link to that in the show notes so that people can find that quickly and maybe sign up. Right. I love that you're doing the financial training because a lot of people don't know this, but a lot of drivers are owner operators. So basically they own their own business on the road and that's what you've done. So tell us about being an owner operator and why it's different than being a company driver.

Owner operator. I love being an owner operator because I can make my own schedule, make my own money. If I'm not making money, sometimes it's my fault. It's not the low board and all that. It's my fault because I wanted to be home that day, or I want to not miss this event. But I love being an owner operator because I could choose where I want to go. I could kind of be my own boss. I can manage my own schedule, and I can make more money than what sometimes more money than what an everyday company driver can make. Now, it is more responsibility because when that truck break down, they break down. 

You got to figure out how to get it fixed. 

Yeah, you got to get it fixed. So that comes with that money management. That's where that money Management come into play. Because my truck never been down. The most my truck ever was down since I got my new truck, about a week. And that's because it wasn't my fault. It was just a shock because I had the money to get it fixed. I was able to still take care of my household and be able to still pay bills. So being an owner operator really was able to make my life a little bit more free with being a truck driver. And I just bought multiple trucks. I just started buying trucks and trucks, and then I end up leaving myself down to one because I wanted to kind of get into the school system part of it. 

And so your future, you see yourself continuing with your school and training people. I love that your program is six weeks. Thank you for really investing in these people to be professional drivers. And I love that you're seeing all walks of life, different types of people coming in and training. Do you think that there's still a negative stigma about being a professional driver? 

Oh, yes. That's why I was just making a video about, I'm loving the fact I can hear people actually say, well, so and so told me not to get into it because that's the stigma of is it is truck drivers are just uneducated people, but what they're not realizing is everything that you have, everything that you breathe is going to come from a truck. Even if you run out of oxygen at the hospital, it's going to get delivered on the truck. 

That is right. 

So it is a bad stigma that we get as truck drivers, but they wouldn't know if they're not into that world. 

That's true. I know so many professional drivers that are amazing people. They're well educated, they're articulate. They love what they do. They're customer service focused. They're independent. I mean, I could go on and on. Truckers are just the backbone of our society and we don't know that, but we need to. 

Yes. And you can have some of the, like, I get some of the best conversations sometimes when you go to the truck stop. And when I do my videos for dicks, I do my videos with pallet flying Jay. I'm a big brand ambassador for them. I talk to truckers and they be having you laughing. They are some characters, honey. They be having you laughing. They're so smart then. Some of them. So goofy. Oh, we can have a ball. And just hearing their stories of that has happened, it'd be so funny. So truck drivers are characters. 

In the community, right? You have a community, I would say. What would you say? 

Yeah, we got a very tight community. Truck drivers stick together. We know we are the world. We know we are people that provide a lot to the world. So we do stick together. Even if you are in the mountain areas on a snowy day, you get behind a truck, we're going to make sure we take you from point a to point b. You just follow behind us. We're clearing away for you. Even when it comes down to traffic, we're going to warn people ahead of time. We turn on those hazards to let people know, hey, it's traffic ahead. We can see it, we can hear it. And we're professional drivers on the road, so we're protecting you. We're protecting you from getting into an accident with your family. So truck drivers are really caregivers for real.

Heroes on the highway, right? I mean, truly heroes on the highway. 

Yeah, we are. I always call us superheroes on wheels. Superheroes on wheels. 

I love it. I love it. Speaking of superhero, I love your videos of you working out. Those are some of my favorite. Tell me about that. I mean, you have to take care of yourself, right? Like mentally, physically, what's it like to being a professional driver and working out and trying to stay healthy? 

One of the reasons why I work out is not just for the sake of just want to be small. No, I want to be fit because you never know what can happen on that road. And like I said, I don't had to climb in the back of a truck. I had to lift up stuff. I done had to unload a truck because they said they want to go unload. It's done. Stuff doesn't happen, but I'm able to do it because I'm fit. So even with moving to school, we had to lift boxes and it takes a lot, but that's why I keep myself in shape, because health and wealth is everything. If you got a healthy body, you're going to have a healthy mind, and you're going to have a healthy spirit, and it's going to keep you moving.  You're going to have something to live for. So that's why I stay my behind in that gym. I try to go at least three to four times a week just to keep my body moving. But that's why I stay so strong. Strong mind, strong body, strong spirit, strong soul. So I do love the gym. 

Yeah, same. Now, if somebody is watching this or listening and they're like, I haven't stepped foot in a gym in years, what motivation can you tell them to just try it? 

The main motivation, I always say, is just get a break from life. Sometimes when I go in the gym, I've been needing that escape for a quick little. It's a stress reliever, especially when I get under heavyweight because I can lift 412 pounds plus reliever from a rainy day. And it's like, get your butt in that gym. Just get to walk on that treadmill, get to lifting them legs up, stretching your body out. Even if you don't eat, lift nothing, just stretch your body out. Because sometimes your body get tense from all the stress you're going through. But being in traffic and taking care of the kids and waiting in line at the grocery store, your body get tense. So just go in there. Just be a stress relief. Put them headphones on. I listen to podcasts. I listen motivational speaking, rain music sometime.  I listen to my rap, my hip hop. I might be a little gangster sometime in there, so you never know. But it's a break that I get from life. So, yeah, get it. 

What is the biggest challenge for somebody that is a professional driver. 

When safety? Making sure that truck is safe, that tool is safe. To be on that road. That's one of the biggest challenges. Making sure that person has got enough sleep in mental spaces where it need to be behind that steering wheel. Making sure that person is educated enough to be a professional driver at that time. That's one of my biggest things is safety. I do not play. I don't play about sleep, drinking and driving. I don't play about you not caring about your job behind that steering wheel because you are carrying a train on wheels on the highway and you can take out a whole city. I had to tell one of my drivers, I said, you're turning too tight. And she said, what do you mean? I said, you're turning too tight. You turn like you're in a car.  I said, think about this. If you hit that light post and it's at 07:00 at night, it could be a mom in the kitchen cooking dinner. Or it could be a person on an appointed phone call about to get a job or filling up a job application, and you just took out their power. Or I said, what if you're not turning, paying attention too good and you hit a child, and a mother teaching her child how to ride a bike on that corner, you got pay attention and make sure your equipment is ready to be on this road. So when I made that to her, she was like, okay. I never had another problem because she's a mom. Us mamas, I don't know if you a mom, but us mamas, we don't play about them kids.  When you think like that, it's like, keep your following distance because you don't want to slam in the back of somebody, a mama with her kids. You don't want to run into the back of a person and just say, oh, I'm sorry, I'm good. But you're not right. Safety is one of my biggest things. Safety. Safety. Safety. 

Being a professional driver is a very. There's a lot of responsibility with it every moment of every day. Yes, it's true. So if you could tell an 18, 19 year old that's like, hey, I'm trying to consider what I want to do for my career. What would you say to them about considering a job in trucking? 

We were just talking about this yesterday. It's crazy. I would tell an 18 year old to get into the world and try it. If you love to travel, get into trucking and travel. If you're ready to get out your mom and daddy house, you can live in your truck. You can feed yourself, you can cook, you can bath. You can use a porta potty in your truck. You can take a shower at a truck stop. You can eat at different restaurants. If you love to eat different food, travel the world, eat different food, be able to make a good living, you can stack up thousands of dollars and not even have to use no money, because everything you have is right in front of you. Your money, your place to rest, and your entertainment. People got game systems in the back of their truck.  They hold studios. Mine was a studio in the back of my truck. I used to do my lives. I used to dance party on Friday nights. If I got stuck in my truck, I used to have movie night by myself. Sit back there. Turn on my night lights and enjoy my night. Netflix and chill. So if I could tell an 18 year old person right now is, what are you waiting for? Like, you don't have to go to college for four years. It's a six week course or a four week course. And you'll already be in your career at the age of 18.  That's right. What are you waiting for? Go for it. Try it.  Waiting for. I'd be looking at people sometime when they be saying, like, I want to enroll, but what are you waiting for? I got payment plans set up for you. What's next? Well, I don't have it right now. What do you have? Put down something to get your seat. Get you a seat in here. Get enrolled. So what are you waiting for? That's my thing. The steering wheel  was waiting for you to sit behind it. That's basically what I would say. Yeah. 

And I want to know what are some of your favorite places to travel? 

Oh, I love to go to Florida. Do you? Yeah. There's nothing coming out of Florida. 

There's not. 

But I love to go to Florida. Seeing the palm trees. I love to travel through the. Oh, some of the things about trucking, you're going to see things you never see in the car because we sit up so high in the wintertime. You can see the trees, like, changing colors and you see the sunset when it falls and sunset when it rises and the sun over the water in certain areas. I love to travel. Like on country roads. 

Yeah, same. Yeah, I love it. Well, you're an inspiring person. And tell everybody again where we can follow you and your handles on social media. 

So on TikTok is Clarissa Rankin on Instagram is. I am Clarissa Rankin on Facebook. Clarissa Rankin. You can google Clarissa Rankin. Promise you I'm going to be there. Yeah. 

There's lots of videos, there's lots of exciting things. And you're fun to watch. So follow her and see what her life is like because she is fun to watch. Inspiring. Inspiring. And continuing the work and training people, training future drivers in a six weeks course and doing it in such a way where safety is the number one priority. 

Yes, number one. 

Clarissa, thank you so much for being on the show today, and we would just wish you the most success. 

Thank you so much for having me. I wish you the best on everything, and I hope that people was really able to take something from this podcast today because I love what I do, but I'm not stingy with what I do. I try to put everybody into the world of learning about trucking. So thank you.