CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Women make up just under 8% of truck drivers in the United States, according to March 2020 data from the U.S Department of Labor. Clarissa Rankin is one of those drivers.

Rankin started truck driving school five years ago. Originally, she wanted to become a broker, booking trips for her husband, who also drives trucks.

“There’s a lot of jobs in trucking outside of just driving that people don’t know about, people don’t think about,” Rankin said.

What You Need To Know

  • Women make up just under 8% of truck drivers in the U.S, according U.S. Department of Labor

  • Clarissa Rankin started driving trucks five years ago

  • Rankin created videos about her experiences as a woman truck driver on TikTok

  • Rankin now has 1.5 million followers on TikTok

Rankin enjoyed the experience, and after seeing the lack of women in truck driving, she decided to stick with it and to make videos about her experience. She didn't get much traction on YouTube, but found success in 2020 on TikTok.

“My first video went viral. It hit 5 million immediately,” Rankin said.

Rankin has 1.5 million followers on TikTok and has a goal of getting to 2 million. Another goal is to get more women into trucking.

“We work good under pressure, like we are go getters, like ‘We got this.’ We’re going to give it our best until we can’t anymore. That’s what women do,” she said.

@clarissarankin

Female Truck Driver ##CDL ##Trucks ##truckdrivergirl

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