AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — Meet Rose Rojo.

“I first started back in 2006 hauling grain here in Amarillo,” said Rojo, a Truck Driver with John Cristner Trucking out of Sapulpa, Okla.

She’s turning wheels and turning heads in the trucking industry.

“It was difficult at first, I had to overcome a lot of obstacles because of being a female. I love the industry, I love it, I love to drive,” she said.

Case in point, Rojo recently won Professional Driver of The Year by the Truckload Carriers Association, an award honoring leaders in the trucking industry.

“It’s still kind of sinking in, you know, I’m super proud of myself that I will just hope that other women will get into it,” she said.

Rojo lives in Amarillo and has been driving for John Christner Trucking since 2012. She hauls coast to coast from California to Florida every week, and her favorite part of the job, is “meeting new people. I’ll go from coast to coast. But I’ve met so many people from so many walks of life. And it’s given me such an opportunity to make great friends across the United States.”

“I love California, but, I like Florida as well. So, I wanted to stay south. I’ve driven and all the snow in the mountains gone everywhere from California, Florida to Maine to Washington, and I love being down south. I love being close to the water,” she explained.

With every gear change and turn of the wheel, she continues to inspire others.

“Being an inspiration to younger, the younger generation, I think it’s awesome, it’s great. I can’t stress enough that you can do whatever you want to do. You know, I got into trucking because it was a choice, and everybody has a choice. I tell my daughter every day, you’ve got this, you can do whatever you want to do, if you set your mind to it,” she noted.

Making a difference in others’ lives, one truckload at a time.