Nikki Gay

I attribute my success to my mom. She instilled in us hard work because she was kind of a single mother - my dad was a truck driver and he left us when I was young. I've seen her work my whole life and give everything she had to us kids. She was a strong woman, and I definitely looked up to her. I also had two incredible mentors who shaped who I am. My first boss at Wellborn was a very godly Christian woman, and the way she talked to people was amazing. She could be getting on to you, and it was just the calmest approach - 'Hey, let's do better.' She didn't point fingers or say 'that's your fault.' Instead, she'd ask 'what can we do to make this better?' Those two women had completely opposite styles, but together, it worked well for me. Through my grief journey after losing my husband, I've also learned that being strong doesn't mean you always have to be strong - you don't have to hide your emotions or miss out on enjoying things like my mom sometimes did.

The best career advice I've ever received is that a title is NOT what makes you. It is how you treat the people. I mean, the Bible verse of treat others the way you want to be treated - I stand behind that 100%. You could ask anybody that has ever worked with me or under me, that's how I treat everybody. And I gotta tell you this, it drives me crazy to see on LinkedIn that somebody puts 'I treat the janitor the same way I treat the CEO.' That works me so bad, because you're saying that the CEO is better than the janitor. Humans are humans, and we all have the same value. I don't believe in placing more value in people because of what they have on a monetary basis. That can change very quickly, and people go from posh to poorhouse in the blink of an eye.

Learn as much as you possibly can learn - any course, anything, just learn. Because men dominate this business, and you gotta be sharp, you gotta be smart to hang in there. But that is - you know, and have a passion for what you do with safety. So, learn and love. I won't sugarcoat it - one of the hardest knocks is being a woman in this business. I experienced this firsthand when I was going for a director's role in transportation. I sat in front of the family, they asked me all these questions, and everything was great. But there was a man that ran the shop who had no DOT experience, no shop experience. The owner looked at my boss and asked who this man would answer to, and there was this hard stare. My boss said 'me,' and the whole room shifted. I was not going to be the director of transportation because that male could not answer to me. It had already been told amongst the family that I was getting the role, they'd discussed salary, but then that happened. So you need to be prepared, educated, and passionate to succeed in this field.

The biggest opportunity I believe is getting those smaller companies educated as to what foundation they need to grow and be safer. I talked to one company two weeks ago that had no clue what he needed to run his business having a DOT number. I just think a lot of people in smaller towns, they don't know. They just go out there, put a number on the side of their trucks, and go. I really believe a lot of companies are also going away from that in-house safety person and going with a third party, which is good for me as I start my consulting business. These smaller companies need someone to help them understand the regulations and build a proper foundation.

My value is my faith. And, you know, like I said, treating others the way you want to be treated - that is huge. And helping people, not because it's the right thing to do, but because you want to do it. You know, people will say, 'well, I gave so-and-so $20, and they went and did this.' Well, you know what? I gave $20 from my heart to help that person. What he does with it is none of my concern, or she does with it. I love to see everybody succeed. And, you know, there's mean people in this world - mean people, very vindictive people - but I believe you can't go through life treating people like that and be successful. You just can't. And that's in life. Like I said, I have a strong faith base, and that's what I live by.