It took Liz Leon seven years to work up the courage to train for her CDL.
The Victorville, California, truck driver was working at the Toys R Us warehouse at the time. Each year, the company would train a handful of employees as drivers, and each year, Leon chickened out.
That changed her seventh year on the job when she told her husband, “I’m just gonna do it.”
She never looked back.
That decision kickstarted Leon’s 19-year career in trucking. The 60-year-old was honored this year as Pilot Flying J’s 2024 Road Warrior, an award recognizing her dedication to the industry and accident-free career, complete with a $25,000 prize.
“It was beyond my wildest dreams,” Leon said.
Leon, who now works for 4Gen Logistics with containers in California ports, drives about 100,000 miles each year. The roadways and routes are second nature, but her confidence behind the wheel was hard-earned.
She said the first time she drove for Toys R Us, it took her 10 hours to make one trip with an empty container. She didn’t have a cell phone or GPS, and clerks kept stopping her to tell her she was driving the wrong way. It was a stressful introduction to trucking, she said.
Now, driving gives her a freedom she didn’t have working in a warehouse and a break from monotony.
“I can go to the same port every single day for a month and it’s something different,” she said.
Jordan Spradling, vice president of transportation and logistics at Pilot, said in an announcement that Leon’s nomination stood out among those of other drivers. Leon’s daughter, Jessica Beasley, 43, nominated her due to her unwavering commitment to her duties as a driver, mother and grandmother.
Beasley, who lives in Las Vegas, serves in the Air Force and made it back to the United States just in time to learn her mother was being honored.
“She can work so hard at her job and she is so dedicated, but she is also dedicated as a mother and a grandmother,” Beasley said tearfully. “She balances it all and is the matriarch of our family. I can’t think of anyone more deserving.”
Leon said she was one of just four women who drove for Toys R Us when she began her career and often faced rude remarks from men on the road. Leon recalled walking into truck stops, receiving looks from men that signaled she didn’t belong.
Now, she sees more women behind the wheel than ever before. She said she has also noticed an uptick in women working at ports in nontrucking jobs, some of whom ask her about becoming a driver.
Leon’s toughness belies her 5-foot-3 frame, her daughter said.
“She’s so ambitious,” Beasley said. “She just kept doing what she loved doing. She rose above and continued to do what she loves.”
Leon said she hopes more women consider a career in trucking, which she wishes she had joined sooner. She recommends professional driving “in a heartbeat.” According to the nonprofit Women In Trucking Association, about 12% of CDL holders are women.
“If I could do it, they can do it,” she said.
Her love for trucking rubbed off on her son, who now drives for Amazon. When he has a question, he calls Leon for guidance.
Leon also won an additional $1,000 in the Pilot contest before being named the grand prize winner. She said she hopes to use the money for home improvements and is thinking of taking a trip with her husband.
Until then, she’ll keep driving.
“We move America,” she said.