A Career Path with Many Different Turns
Alumnus shares her journey from flight attendant to truck driver
It is not uncommon for incoming students to bring stories about a former career with them when they enroll at Fox Valley Technical College. But Carla Steward’s career, which included jobs in aviation and healthcare, took several interesting turns before she found herself enrolled in FVTC’s Truck Driving program where she earned her Class A commercial driver’s license (CDL).
Now employed with DePere-based Paper Transport (PTI), Carla represents the small but growing number of women who are entering the truck driving industry. Recent data from the Department of Labor indicates there are about 3.3 million drivers in the U.S. Of that number, about 8% are female.
Rob Behnke, director of FVTC’s truck driving program, hopes other women take note of Carla’s career journey. “It’s always been stereotyped as something that a guy does,” Rob said. “And so that was something we had to kind of do a breakthrough there. It’s important for people like Carla to just emphasize to other ladies that this is a successful career, regardless of gender.”
Read more about Carla’s path to truck driving > Spectrum News 1.