Shasta Longley

I attribute my success to the mentorship I received from my classmate Jamel, who taught me everything I know about trucking. He really showed me the ropes and taught me how to eat - not just crabs, but filet mignon and lobster, as I like to say. He was someone who had done 10 years in prison, came out, turned his life around completely, bought a $700,000 home in Clermont, and never looked back. He had a learning disability but never took 'I can't' as an answer - he always either did it or tried. He was the one that really drove me to go farther with trucking and take it to the next level. He showed me that the sky's the limit and that you can write your own ticket in this industry. Even though he tragically got killed on the road in Pennsylvania in 2024, his memory and his lessons continue to inspire me. I also believe in keeping overhead low, saving for rainy days, and reinvesting in residual investments. I tell other truckers to manage their money wisely and run shorter loads closer to home when fuel prices are high. The key is financial discipline and understanding both sides of the business the office work and the road work.

I want other women to know that you can do this work and still be feminine in your own way, still be beautiful, and still be yourself. You don't have to change who you are for this industry. The work I do is very physical and demanding - I have to tarp, chain, and strap things down - and you don't find a lot of women doing the particular type of equipment and trailer that I use. I've only run across one other woman doing flatbed work the whole time I've been out here. But anybody can do it - a woman can do it, a man can do it, you can adjust. I show people on my TikTok and YouTube channels what it's really like, from cooking on the truck to doing my hair weave in truck stop bathrooms, to showing what the showers look like. I want women to see that there's more to trucking than just trucking you can make it a lifestyle, you can make it inviting. It's hard work, but you can also still regroup and come back and be just who you want to be. When people say they can't do it, I tell them yes you can - look at what my mentor accomplished despite having a learning disability and a criminal record. The American dream is real when you're an owner-operator, and you can literally write your own ticket.

Right now, the biggest challenge is fuel prices approaching $6, $7, even $8 per gallon. I just paid $700 for diesel fuel the other day, plus another $40 for DEF, so $740 total for one fill-up. Before these gas hikes, a typical fill-up was around $450 to $500. With prices this high, I tell people to keep their overhead low and run shorter loads closer to home. You have to manage your overhead carefully, especially if you have families to support. The mountains also steal a lot of time and burn a lot of fuel - you run through tank after tank going through them. My strategy now is to try to stay below Tennessee, stay on I-40 and below, and try to stay out of the mountains. Another challenge is that a lot of guys are struggling because they get wrapped up in $150,000 leases for brand new trucks and get stuck at one company for five years with limited money. I advise people to buy used trucks if they can - even a truck with 500,000 miles that costs $10,000 or $12,000 can pay for itself five times over in just a month of loads. The opportunity is that when you own your own authority as an owner-operator, you really can write your own ticket and see the American dream. The sky's the limit, and there's no such thing as 'I can't make it' in this industry.