Entrepreneurship and Resilience for Driver Appreciation Week

“We are the heartbeat of America,” Raheem Sealy of Middle of the Map Trucking LLC told us confidently, “if you shut down every truck, you don’t have anything.” 

It’s National Truck Driver Appreciation Week! 

Often overlooked and under-thanked, truck drivers make every part of daily life possible by providing and transporting goods and resources throughout the country during every second of the day. Though at TruckSmarter we celebrate truck drivers every day, the country celebrates National Truck Driver Appreciation Week this year from September 15th-21st. This week we share our appreciation in the ways drivers keep our economy afloat and play integral roles in keeping our homes and lives together in helping keep our world running. To celebrate, our team at TruckSmarter wanted to put drivers first and talk to a few of our drivers about the industry and celebrate their successes! 

Drivers’ Voices First

Don’t just hear it from us: we spoke to Terri Hernandez and Raheem Sealy, two trucking owners about their experience and journey within freight and logistics. Both have found empowerment and success in the freight and logistics industry, and have grown a keen sense of understanding of the way drivers are treated within it.

“A lot of people don’t know what drivers do, what goes on, or what they deal with on the road, so it causes a lack of empathy.”  – Terri Hernandez 

We really appreciated Terri and Raheem taking the time to speak to us and share their hard work and the journey starting their own business has taken them on. It’s experiences and transparency like theirs that humanize a business, and create the necessary foundation for driver-centered products that the industry needs to help everyone succeed. 

A Woman Empowered in Logistics

Young and up and coming companies have their growing pains, but Terri Hernandez at Gonzalez R&T Logistics isn’t afraid of rising to the occasion. Terri started Gonzalez R&T Logistics with business partner Ramon Gonzalez in December 2023, but has been in the industry for more than four years. Terri wanted to start her own business after working operations at a different trucking company and seeing how much money they were bringing in, but really credits Ramon, who is also an owner-operator , on bringing his expertise and experience to the company that combines well with her own skills and experience. “I’m lucky that I have a good business partner who keeps me motivated and encouraged,” she told us sincerely, “he’ll tell me that I’m a strong woman capable of it all, and to keep focused. It keeps me diligent.” 

"Ramon, is definitely a leader in this industry and a great example to all those starting out in trucking. He uses critical thinking to dominate in this field. He is a great example of a strong leader and an outstanding driver as well.  He's grown the company and doubled the fleet in their first year in business. With pride and hard work he continues to grow and help drivers develop into excellent drivers with great driving skills.  He's well rounded in all areas of the trucking industry." - A colleague shared about Ramon 

She knows that this can be rather unique to have such support as a woman, which Terri was very candid with us about how being a woman in the industry affects her. Just because she’s not a driver doesn’t mean she isn’t susceptible to a certain type of prejudice within her role. Though she acknowledged that this often poses challenges, she was quick to find silver linings too, telling us that she “learned to speak up and recognize that I know what I’m talking about and what I want, and that just because I’m a woman doesn’t mean I don’t know these things. And women truck drivers get the same.”    

Because of this, her experience, and her tenacity in the face of being a minority within the industry, she’s been able to be an indispensable part of the business. She knows the operations side as what she called a “good, necessary foundation,” for drivers to be able to find success, noting that it “takes a lot of stress and pressure off [drivers] who should just focus on their current load/job.”

Terri stressed the importance of relationships in this industry– between operations, drivers, and brokers. With a 100% rating from all brokers her company works with, she even noted how helpful her partnership with TruckSmarter was, building those genuine and reliable relationships, which she says can be unique to find in the industry. 

“TruckSmarter has been a big help and blessing, and the fact that we can get factoring advances through you is a huge help to a small company. I feel like it’s the reason we’re successful to the point that we’re at right now.” 

We really appreciated talking with Terri, and found it incredibly empowering to hear her story of how she navigates the industry as a woman, and manages to find power within it! 

Beyond Routes: How Relationships in Freight Drive Success 

Hope and confidence are the main ingredients that are baked into the success that Raheem Sealy has found for his business. Raheem began his company, Middle of the Map Trucking, in January 2021, but has been in the industry for seven years now. His favorite part? “The autonomy,” he told us. 

Raheem has been able to turn adverse circumstances into success and opportunity.When talking about his journey here, he told us how he "grew up in the ghetto. I came from nothing, and I'm making myself into something. I always wanted to make myself into something, and wanted something better for myself," citing this as what drives his entrepreneurial spirit. He started his business with the settlement money he received from an automotive accident to purchase a truck . For the first year, it was all him, but he couldn’t start without the help of the people around him. 

“I wanted to create something better for myself. My motto is always ‘Don’t get ready. Be ready.’” 

Raheem too puts emphasis on the value of relationships within the industry, and tries to pay it forward. A friend of his and a former boss  taught him how to start a business as a new authority and guided him through the process of setting everything required up . Raheem’s old boss recognized his entrepreneurial spirit, which he even recognized in himself,  “when you work for somebody and you like what you do, you take that and start your own business,” he stated. With the success he found from his mentors’ help, Raheem has committed himself to paying it forward. Through networking, he has found other people like him who wanted to know about more about the industry but were a little hesitant to approach it. Raheem has gone from mentee to mentor, and now has five drivers under him. 

The freight industry has changed Raheem’s life for the better. “I wouldn’t make this kind of money doing something else,” he said, “and that money comes faster than what people normally do.” He’s been able to take better care of his family, but has also been able to apply the skills he’s learned on the job to other parts of his life. At the root of it was Raheem’s positivity; turning undesirable circumstances in his life into opportunities and mentorship–not just finding success, but sharing it. 

He finds the beauty in his job too–there is no one better to be the heartbeat of America than those who have experienced and visited a lot of it. Raheem said that he enjoys traveling: getting to visit cities he’s never seen before, seeing the different cultures, “It’s a beautiful country,” he told us earnestly, “It really is. To have the opportunity to see it.” He always makes time to explore an area after finishing a load. 

We really appreciated talking with Raheem, and found his positivity and passion for the industry contagious! Demystifying the obstacles of the freight world and taking people under his wing, forging meaningful and positive relationships has given him great success, and goes to show how integral transparency is– if we help each other out, we all succeed. 

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