Fearless Bleeding, Fearless Driving
thinx archive
·5 min read
by Team Thinx | 12/07/2017
We knew that driving a 26-foot box truck across the country with the first-ever THINX concept store inside (not to mention women in their (period) underwear and FEARLESS BLEEDING emblazoned across the side) could be, shall we say, a bumpy ride. But our kickass driver, Kim Tran, took it all in stride. She’s used to being looked at a little strangely when she pulls up to a truck stop on the side of a highway (even if the truck she’s driving isn’t blood red with “period” written on the side) because she’s a woman. “It’s not every day a woman gets out of a big truck,” Kim says. “People sometimes mistake me for a guy. There are stereotypes that only men drive trucks, and I rarely ever see women doing it single-handedly, but I like proving the status quo wrong.”
Kim landed in truck driving after being a bartender for 13 years. She quit without a cent in her pocket, but knowing she wanted to travel, she began looking for a job on Craigslist that would let her do just that for a living. She fell into experiential marketing and began driving big, heavy carriers and trucks for brands and marketing tours. One thing she learned pretty quick? “Driving big carriers, no one messes with you.”
A piece of advice Kim has for other women looking to get into driving (or other unconventional jobs): “Just do it, it’s so much fun! When I left my bartending gig, I never thought I could enjoy my job. But I meet the greatest people… If you are going to drive, do interactive events — it’s more fun than just doing deliveries. Drive with a purpose.”
Of course, there are perks to a job that takes you away from home for long hours on the road, and one of those is the opportunity to see so many different parts of the US. As Kim says, “Traveling changes you. It makes you more humble and gives you a sense of peace. I would repeat it over and over if I could.”
Most important to any road trip is the playlist (obvs), so I asked Kim for her fave windows-down highway songs:
Kim also has a *whole driving playlist* you can check out here.
by Team Thinx
