The trucking industry has long been considered a male-dominated environment but one woman is challenging the norm by operating – and succeeding! – with her own trucking company.
Tere Tatiana is the owner of Labeled Blu Transportation, which comprises five 18-wheeler trucks and two garbage trucks. While not a CDL holder herself, Tatiana contracts the vehicles to licensed, experienced truck drivers. “Mother companies” who have an authority to operate, lease her company or equipment and hire qualified drivers.
No stranger to operating in a “man’s world,” Tatiana learned how to balance a career and single motherhood after being deployed to Afghanistan in 2009. “My very first job was as a government contractor, which was, and still is, a male-dominated field. It’s also where I got my initial break into the world of logistics,” she says.
After she returned home, Tatiana’s mother and stepfather, who worked in the trucking field, suggested she purchase an 18-wheeler truck for delivery purposes to help supplement her income. “Initially, I was apprehensive because I consider myself a ‘girly girl’ and there are few females working in trucking,” she says. “After doing more research, I created Labeled Blu Transportation and purchased my truck, a 1995 Freightliner.”
A cum laude graduate of Claflin University with a degree in public relations, Tatiana has expanded into media to help other trucking entrepreneurs, particularly women, by offering courses and seminars. She launched and sold out an “Introduction Into Trucking” course where she hosted “Let’s Talk Trucking” seminars. She is also writing a book for entry level trucking entrepreneurs.
“My focus is on helping others learn about the trucking industry, especially women, so that they can start, grow, and scale their companies to be successful, too,” she says.
