In 1963, Valentina Tereshkova, a former textile worker-turned Russian cosmonaut, became the first woman in space. In 1979, Margret Thatcher, known as “The Iron Lady,” became the first female Prime Minister of Great Britain. Amelia Earhart was the first woman to cross the Atlantic via airplane in 1928.
For 2024, the world can add another name to that auspicious list of “firsts” — Alyssa Briggs.
Briggs, a 24-year-old trailer mechanic from Ohio, is the first woman ever to win a champion spot in the XPO National MasterTech competition.
“I’m definitely proud of myself and to bring recognition to other women in the field and just let people see that we are capable of these things too,” Briggs said.
Briggs’ path to the winner’s podium is impressive.
She overcame any initial doubts about entering a traditionally male-dominated field, graduating from trade school and hiring on at XPO, where quickly became one of the company’s best and brightest technicians.
She says her husband Justin, who works for XPO as a truck mechanic, has been one of her biggest supporters and is always there to cheer her on.
“I didn’t know I wanted to be a mechanic. It kind of happened by choice and kind of not by choice,” Briggs said with a laugh.
It all started with her choice of high school.
“I decided to go to a vocational school rather than a regular high school,” she said, noting that each student was required to apply for multiple training programs so that if the first choice was full, they could be placed in a backup program.
“My first choice was CNC machining because that’s what my stepdad did. I knew I could always go work with him if need be. I picked that as my first choice. A couple other choices I just kind of jotted down were welding and engineering,” she said. “My last choice was diesel mechanics … and I’m sure you can guess what I got into.”
Once she Briggs into the school’s diesel mechanic program, she was excited to learn something different. She ended up loving it the work. After graduation, she took a year off to decide if this was the career she really wanted.
“I was scared of being a girl in the field,” Briggs said. “It was something I didn’t think about prior (to training). My family and my husband told me to just go for it — that if I didn’t like it, I could choose something else, but that I wouldn’t know unless I tried.”
She says she loves the variety she’s found in her job as a trailer mechanic.
“It’s always something just a little bit different with the trailers. You know, one day I’m doing a lot of tires or one day I’m doing a lot of brake jobs and some days it’s even just our preventative maintenance inspection,” she said. “It’s always something just a little different to be done but still working on the same thing every day.”
Then came XPO’s 2024 MasterTech competition.
The competition, known as a “Super Bowl for technicians,” tests the professional skills and knowledge of the company’s top technicians. Only 20 of the company’s 750 mechanics made it to the 2024 finals in Orlando, Florida — and just three of those 20 earned the title of MasterTech.
When Briggs achieved her goal of being able to compete in the finals, she was ecstatic — but also apprehensive.
“My hard work paid off,” Briggs said. “I couldn’t wait to be able to go and compete against all these other people and bring light to my name, to being a girl, because I knew I was the only girl going. So that was pretty cool.”
But as the competition drew near, worries crept in.
“I started getting scared because I knew I had to compete against all these other people who were the best of the best,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Oh my God! I’m terrified!’
“My husband said that if I gave it my best, even if I got last place, I was still one of the best of the best,” she continued. “He said to give it my best shot and go for it.”
Briggs competed against fellow XPO trailer technicians in timed stations that tested each contestant’s technical skills and ability to solve problems.
The competition was fierce, but it was also fun, Briggs said, adding that one of her favorite events involved a tire station.
“We had our vendor Bridgestone come out and they had tire casings that were off the rim or had failed, whether it was a flat tire, maybe they picked up a nail or they had a total blowout,” she said.
“We had to go through and determine, ‘Oh, this is what happened to this tire,’ and fully inspect the tires off the rim,” she continued. “It was cool to be able to see how, if a tire goes flat, the inside of the tire starts wearing differently. (When it’s not on a rim), you can see damage to the inside of the tire that you can’t normally see. So that was pretty cool. And we even had label different parts of the tire.”
At the end of the competition, when Briggs was named the champion, she says her husband was cheering the loudest.
“My husband said my whole face went white. I think I was just in shock. It took me a minute to fully process it,” she said.
“I remember walking up and shaking all our higher-ups’ hands, and they’re congratulating me, everyone’s applauding me,” she continued. “Finally, I’m standing up there, and I started to smile — and that’s when it hit me, ‘Hey, I did this!’”
Briggs says the fact that she was the first woman to win the title didn’t hit her until later.
“It didn’t really click (until) other people started mentioning that I was the first girl to win,” she said. And I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I am!’”
Briggs hopes that her achievement will encourage other women to not only get involved in the diesel mechanic industry, but to also to compete and test their skills.
“Honestly, just go for it,” she said. “You know, I was terrified at first to get into this field, and it took a lot of encouragement from family and everyone for me to finally take that step and just do it — and I think it ended up being total opposite of what I thought it would be.
I thought I’d always be looked down on or treated differently (because I’m a girl). And that is not the case,” she said, noting that others now come to her with questions or to ask with help on some tasks.
“And it is honestly a great feeling just to be respected and treated equally,” she said.
Briggs and her family are not the only ones who are proud of her achievements.
“We’re absolutely thrilled,” said Lars Skagerlind, senior analyst, communications at XPO. “Alyssa is just an incredible mechanic. And it’s incredible to see her get recognized on this stage as well. Everyone at the entire company is thrilled. And it’s just a really cool special moment for the firm.”
In addition to earning accolades as a MasterTech, Briggs has been named the Women In Trucking Association’s member of the month for January 2025.
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
