Dwain Hebda

  Husband and wife team drivers Ryan and Bernedette Hood came to the truckling life by very different routes. Ryan, a legacy driver whose love for the open road runs generations deep, was destined to live life behind the wheel from an early age. Bernedette developed an interest in the industry later, in 2015, while seeking a change in professional direction. Once the two fell into each other’s orbit, however, the future was set for the Canadian born and raised drivers. “Ryan and I had met in high school back in 1991, but our paths went different ways,” Bernedette said. “We reconnected in 2015 or 2016, somewhere around there. When we got together, I decided, ‘Well he’s a trucker and I’m a trucker, why don’t we truck together?’” It was the beginning of a beautiful relationship. “We decided to drive together, and we lived together in the truck for two years solid,” she said. “After two years, we realized we actually liked each other enough that we wanted to get married. Once you live in a shoebox for that long you get to know somebody very intimately.” One of the biggest issues the couple had to navigate together had less to do with where they lived, what they hauled or where they went on their runs — and everything to do with what they brought along on the road. Trucker cats, to be specific. “Traveling with animals was something brand new,” Ryan admitted. “I had a dog that I had from a previous life, and I would take him now and then. He and I would go exploring together. Before I met Bernie, before we got together, I had a dog once in a blue moon.” The couple laughs over those pre-feline days now, and with good reason. The couple has a total of seven cats. While usually there are only a couple along for any given ride, there have been periods in their relationship where as many as five felines made themselves at home in the cab. “We’ve had five of them in the truck at one time because we didn’t know how long we were going to be on the road and we had a pretty big truck,” Ryan said. “At the time, it was our own truck, and it didn’t happen very often. We were just kinda stuck for a little while and we had nowhere to put the cats, so we said, ‘You know what? Let’s just take them with us on the road.’” Today, four of the couple’s cats take turns traveling the road in pairs. “Bullet and Nefer are the original two and then we took Cleo and Narmer,” Bernedette said. “We got all our cats as kittens, and Nefer and Bullet kind of are like a pride. Bullet is the alpha male and Nefer is the alpha female. Bullet would nurture the kittens as we brought them in and Nefer would keep them in line. “It is quite an interesting dynamic for cats when you start introducing kittens. And then when you put them in a truck together, it’s even more curious,” she continued. “Bullet really takes his job as head very seriously. He won’t even play with the laser pointer. He’s like, ‘These are my kids. I’m watching them.’” While Bernedette’s love of feline fluffballs brings one dimension to the road-worthy relationship, Ryan’s lifelong devotion to fitness brings another aspect to life in the rig. Weights and dumbbells travel wherever he goes, the better to help him stay toned and in shape. He says it’s a habit he developed early in life. “When I was in high school, I actually wanted to be a firefighter because I realized I had a lot of energy and I needed to put that energy to good use,” he said. “Plus, I also liked to work in the community and be involved with people. So, I was striving to be a firefighter coming out of high school. “I’m very conscious of my health. If you were to meet me, you probably wouldn’t think that I’ve driven 3 million miles over almost 30 years of driving a truck, because I don’t look like your stereotypical truck driver,” he continued. “One of the biggest things that I started right out of the gate was eating right and making sure whenever I’ve got down time — whether it’s a 30-minute break or my 10 hours, whatever it is — I will make the time to be active.” Not unlike Ryan adjusting to having cats in the cab, Bernedette had to get used to Ryan’s workout regimen. “One thing Bernie had to get used to was my up-and-down, always-on-the-go, always-moving, can’t-sit-still lifestyle,” Ryan said. “She had to get used to me being outside at four o’clock in the morning at a rest area, working out with my barbells and plate weights and dumbbells. Even when I’m driving a truck, I have to have music going. I’m constantly moving at something. It’s something I’ve always had. I’ve always been a very active person.” For her part, Bernedette says she’s paid more attention to her health and fitness since marrying Ryan, but she hasn’t quite reached his level of intensity. “I work out sporadically. I don’t like effort like that; I don’t like sweating,” she said. “You put a cheesecake or a barbell in front of me, I’m going for the cheesecake, hands down. But I’m more disciplined in my eating and looking after my physical health now. “I had a bit of a medical scare two years ago. At that time, I was quite chunky, so being with Ryan helped me to get that scare under control,” she explained. “I’m eating better, losing weight, getting healthy and getting my body back to what it should be. But I’m not going nuts for exercise. I walk more than I lift weights.” The duo, who haul tankers for Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Jade Transport, just switched from a Volvo tractor to a 2020 Peterbilt Model 567. During their driving career they’ve traveled all over the lower 48 U.S. states and every Canadian province except Newfoundland. These days, they’re on a dedicated run between Imperial Oil in Sarnia, Ontario, to a paper mill plant in Tennessee, enjoying the partnership they’ve forged in life and in work. “We know each other’s habits,” Ryan said. “We know each other’s likes and dislikes when we’re on the road. We know what to do and not do.” It’s the “purr-fect” match. “When we’re in the truck together, it’s our own little world,” Bernedette said. “Ryan and I get along famously. We bitch at each other like everybody else, but in our little world, everybody else is out of it. When we’re in the truck together we’re home.”

Ken Tolliver had two career aspirations when growing up — becoming a professional athlete and being a truck driver. When that first pick didn’t pan out, he immediately switched gears to focus on his passion for driving. He’s been going strong ever since. “We had a family friend who drove a milk truck,” Tolliver said. “When I was a little boy — 10 or 11 years old — I used to ride with him and ask him various questions about how the truck operates: How do you change gears? What made it do this and do that? He was inspiring to me. “I started driving in 2000, and I now have 3 million miles accident-free,” he continued.” I’m truly blessed to be in this industry accident-free. It’s a great honor to say that.” Once his driving career was rolling, Tolliver decided to specialize in tankers. He’s now been pulling pneumatics for 17 years. “I started out from 2000 to 2005 pulling dry vans,” he said. “I had a dedicated run from Tennessee to Arizona, and I started seeing all these tankers on the road. I started talking to these older guys in the tank truck industry and I’m like, ‘Maybe that’s something I want to do.’” Most drivers would agree that hauling a tanker is an acquired skill, as much art as science, and something many drivers shy away from. Not Tolliver, who says the unique nature of pulling a tank is one of the things that appeals to him. It’s also been a source of job security to master a skill many other drivers are hesitant to take on. “I was in Ontario, California, at a restaurant, and when I walked outside I had an older guy tell me, ‘You need to be a specialized carrier. Tell me how many dry vans you see. And then count how many tanks,’” he said. “That stuck with me,” he continued. “After I did five years in the dry van industry, I started looking into being a specialized carrier. That’s when I started looking at these tanks and how they operate. I really fell in love with them, and I haven’t looked back since.” Tolliver says the attributes of a good tanker driver aren’t that different from those of any other driver. Professionalism, he said, “doesn’t know a dry van from a reefer from a tanker,” but is immediately recognizable to employers and peer drivers alike. “The way I see it as a professional driver in this industry for 22 years, you have to have good focus, have good training and be aware of your surroundings at all times — with as few distractions as possible,” he said. “Those are key things I use in this industry to make myself accident-free. “This industry changes all the time,” he continued. “As drivers, we have to change as the industry grows and changes. We have to adapt. We have to be trained and develop (our skills) all the time.” To that end, Tolliver has been giving back to the driving community as a trainer for several years, first with Bulkmatic and now with his current employer, G&D Trucking/Hoffman Transportation. In addition, he is on G&D/Hoffman’s driver advisory board. Not surprisingly, safety has been a central theme throughout Tolliver’s trucking career, and he strives to be a role model and mentor to newer drivers. “I take that challenge very personally,” he said. “When I first got into the industry, especially the pneumatic side, somebody had to teach me. I was that guy watching the older drivers. ‘How does the tank operate? What made it do this? What made the blower do that?’ “So now the knowledge that I have, I can give it back to the next generation,” he explained. “As these guys get older, we’re going to be looking at them. “I take pride in being a role model in this industry and being the person to help teach the young guys coming in, and sometimes even guys that’s older than me who are just getting into the tanker industry,” he continued. “I like helping to teach and develop all the new drivers into the tanker truck industry. It’s something I take pride in.” A lot has changed during Tolliver’s two-plus decades on the road. In particular, the technology is much more sophisticated. “When I started we didn’t have a GPS; we were getting the map out from California to Miami, Florida,” he said. “We’d be in Spokane, Washington, and we’ve got to go to Gainesville, Florida. We’d draw a string out on the map and just start going I-90, I-94, I-80, I-70, all the way down. That’s the way I was taught (to navigate) from the old-school truck drivers. You used to call the customer and get directions. Now you just can do Google Earth. Our job’s a lot easier now. “The thing that really hasn’t changed is you still have to be a professional in every aspect of this industry,” he added. “I’m still the same guy as I was 22 years ago: ‘Yes sir, no ma’am, good morning sir.’ Those are things that have never changed. And my focus on staying safe; that’s another thing that’s never changed in this 22-year career.” Tolliver’s long tenure and impeccable record have been recognized by the National Tank Truck Carriers. The association has named him as one of eight finalists for the 2022-2023 Driver of the Year; the winner will be announced in May. Just talking about being considered for the honor brings a smile to Tolliver’s face and note of disbelief to his voice. More important than any award, however, he says he’d like his career to represent a goal young people could aspire to and follow in his footsteps. “There is a high demand for truck drivers; we really need new guys coming in,” he said. “What inspires you to want to be a truck driver? For me personally, I really enjoy the freedom of it, getting to meet different people in this world, the equipment we have and the technology we have. “For me, everything is about passion. If I was talking to a group of young people about trucking, I would tell them that to get into this industry and be successful at it, you have to have a passion for it,” he concluded.

Pam Randol knew exactly where she wanted her life to lead at a very early age. “I was 8 years old when I saw a convoy of trucks on Interstate 40 in Oklahoma. I was sitting in the back seat of the car,” she said. “I decided right then I wanted to drive a truck in the Army.” Randol, who is now a professional tank hauler for Knoxville, Tennessee-based Highway Transport, got her wish. As a young adult, she enlisted in the Army and stubbornly held out for an assignment as a truck driver for Uncle Sam. “You remember the old computer-generated paper that had the dots and the little holes in the edge, and it had that pixelated printing?” she said. “When I went to enlist, I had a list probably 10 feet long of jobs that I could have chosen from, from spy, interrogator, linguist, helicopter mechanic. (It was) just a huge range because I scored high in communications, technical and mechanical. “I said, ‘I want to drive a truck,’ and they looked at me like I’d lost my mind. They said, ‘Well, we really need…’” she continued. “I’m like, ‘I don’t care what you need. I want to drive a truck.’ I didn’t get to drive the truck that I wanted to — but I did get to drive a truck. I got to play in the dirt.” Randol says a great by-product of her military service are the mentors she got to learn under and the fellow women she drove alongside. “I was fortunate enough to go through basic training and advanced individual training, and then on to permanent duty station, with several other women,” she said. “It was nice, because we were all new to the same area at the same time and all going through the same experiences. Our chain of command — our squad leaders, our platoon leaders, our patrons, our peers — they all were there to be helpful and guide you as well.” That experience gave Randol the first taste of what she was capable of, and it prepared her for a long and rewarding civilian career behind the wheel. She notes that the job was very different “back in the day.” Like many drivers from the era, Randol shakes her head at the creature comforts of today compared to yesteryear. “When I started, we didn’t have cellphones and GPS and those types of things,” she said. “You had to get a map, and learn how to read a map and manage your fuel. You had a book for fuel, you had a map, you had to stop and call a customer to get an address and directions, all those kinds of things. “Then, you either had a calling card or a 1-800 number, and you would stand in line waiting your turn to get to the phone so you could make your call,” she added. “That might be outside in the wind or the rain, or it might be inside at the truck stop when they had the phones at the tables.” Randol would eventually be introduced to tankers, starting with a stint as a tack truck driver for a road construction company. The experience was brief, but it stuck — and as she racked up experience hauling hazardous materials, the idea of transporting it by the tankload became more and more appealing. “I had to have my tanker endorsement with my job before this company. I drove a dry van, but I hauled the big bulk containers of chemicals,” she said. “Those totes were anywhere from 2,500 to 5,000 pounds, depending on what size tote you had and the weight of the liquid. I could feel those loads whenever I hauled them, and I thought, ‘Driving a tanker probably wouldn’t be that bad. If I can do this, then surely I can drive a tanker.’” At the request of her family, Randol temporarily left the road and went to work in the medical field. But after a decade, she was itching to get back behind the wheel. She made a beeline for the tanker industry. Once more, she’d have to dig in her heels and bide her time to get an opportunity. “I went to one of those Great American Truck Shows, and I remember talking to a tanker company,” she said. “In the early 2000s the companies could be more selective of drivers, because it wasn’t a drivers’ market at the time. They said, ‘Go get two years of experience and call us later.’ “My opportunity finally came a few years ago, when the guy I’m married to now came to work at Highway Transport and I followed him over,” she continued. “I just can’t see myself ever working for another company or ever driving any other type of trailer. I wish I’d have started here when I was young and spry.” Over the past nearly four years of driving a tanker full time, Randol has hauled latex and poly products ranging from paint to cosmetics, vitamins, insecticide and foam seat products — just to name a few. She delivers for a dedicated account that takes her cross-country and back from California and Oregon, passing through the Great Lakes and mid-America down to the Carolinas. In total, she’s covered about 2.5 million miles, touching 47 of the lower 48 states, missing only North Dakota during her 25-year driving career. She says driving a tanker, a job she still holds in common with her husband, Joe McMullin, is the pinnacle of her driving career. “I like the challenge of this (cargo) being volatile, and ‘this is what you have to do’ to make sure you get it to where you’re going safely,” she said. “For me, this is easier to learn than putting my head down in a book. Yeah, obviously you’ve got to read instructions to operate and everything, but I like the challenge. “And then, they’re just so happy to see you when you get there,” she said with a smile. “Even if you’re late, a lot of them are like, ‘We’re just glad you’re here.’” In February, Randol was informed that, because of her consistent dedication, attention to detail and safety, she was a finalist in the National Tank Truck Carriers’ (NTTC) Driver of the Year competition. It’s an award for which she is humbled just to be considered. “I can’t lie and say that I’m not thrilled and flattered, because there’s a lot of times (I’ve thought), ‘Nobody notices me. Nobody knows what I go through. Nobody appreciates what I do,’” she said. “For this award to come up, I’m honored, I’m excited. If I win, I hope I can live up to the expectations and put forth the message that NTTC would want,” she concluded. “I would represent them honestly and professionally. For me, tankers are the way to go.”

Over the course of 14 years and more than a million miles, life on the road has taught Joan Raby a few things — like the importance of building relationships and providing support for others. After years of driving for various carriers, from Iowa to Wyoming to Texas, the Cincinnati native recently signed on with San Antonio-based Guenther and Sons. “Guenther and Sons are milk haulers,” she said. “Prior to that, I’ve done pneumatic, hazardous, reefer, tanker. My first tanker was Jack B. Kelley out of Amarillo (Texas) and that was cryogenics, helium, compressed helium, liquid helium, nitrogen and ethylene — all hazardous.” Raby grew up in a family of construction workers, which eventually led her to a desk job with a Ohio paving company. Then, she says, her husband died unexpectedly, forcing her to take a hard look at her career. “I knew at that point, in my early 40s, that I needed to make more money,” she said. “My check had always been the second check in the house as a construction secretary. When he passed away, the crew started letting me go out on the weekends for asphalt construction and started teaching me the equipment. I even passed the pre-trip for accommodation vehicles.” After relocating to Florida, Raby enrolled with Roadmaster Trucking School in Orlando. She was the only female in the class, but she says her classmates were a friendly lot, and she fit right in. “The school was filled with your bricklayers and electricians and the types of trades I’m used to being around,” she said. “I had an edge from practicing driving a big truck for the paving company. I remember passing a bunch of tests and hearing the instructor saying, ‘Do you all know you just got beat by a girl?’ “It was pretty funny,” she recalled with a laugh. Unfortunately, the next stage of her driving career wasn’t nearly as positive. Raby’s first carrier required 60,000 miles with a trainer, a process that took four months. To add to the frustration, she said, personality conflicts with her trainer caused a low level of teacher-student interaction. “It was the kind of thing you suffered through,” she said. “I really didn’t learn anything.” Never one to shy away from engaging people, however, Raby augmented her on-the-job experience by reaching out to experienced drivers for help. This a strategy she has continued throughout her career. In turn, she went out of her way to help newbies, remembering the frustration she felt at not having her questions answered when starting out. “Your first year is your hardest. I think it has an 80% dropout rate in our industry,” she said. “I noticed that when new drivers would ask for help, it was treated like a joke. They were bullied, and they weren’t learning anything. With what I went through in training, I didn’t want anybody else to feel alone.” Raby quickly discovered there was only so much one person could do. Noticing that many drivers were putting down the CB and turning to social media for communication, she decided to set up online. She founded Ask A Veteran Driver, a Facebook forum and website (askaveterandriver.com) that gives drivers access to experienced truckers who are willing to lend their knowledge. “It’s a private group. We only allow drivers, retired drivers, about-to-be drivers, or you must be a direct family member of a driver,” she said. “The reason is, questions are sensitive, and only another driver is going to get it. “When I built the site, I asked veteran drivers to be on the panel because I only had six years’ experience at that point,” she continued. “The biggest rule is, you’ve got to be polite, like you’re standing there talking to somebody in person that’s asking for your help.” The forum attracted numerous participants, with a wide range of questions. “It was one of those things: If you build it and ask, they show up. It took on a life of its own,” Raby said. Launched in 2014, the group now numbers about 5,000 and is a wellspring of truck-driving knowledge curated from every corner of the industry. “I have a pretty high percentage (of members) who are active,” Raby said. “We cover mountain driving, bridge laws, routing, paperwork, teaming, health and exercise, repairs, tires, safety gear, even our families and relationships. Anything you want to talk about. “We also encourage drivers to step out of their comfort zone after a certain time, because there’s so much our industry has to offer,” she continued. “Look into car hauling, flatbed, pneumatic, oversized. I have mentors for each one of these specialized areas — doubles, triple, tanker — and (participants) can even ask for a personal mentor. I have a livestock hauler who’s got 3 million miles just hauling livestock that will train the right person, and that’s rare because they’re a very closed bunch.” Ask A Veteran Driver has also inspired others to launch their own efforts to address certain aspects of the trade in more detail. “It spun off a bunch of other stuff like Truckers with Tools for people who are not sure how to use tools,” Raby said. “A tow truck operator spun off Ask a Veteran Tow Truck Operator. I spun off CBs for Newbies — usually drivers will have a couple of CBs and we connect them with a way to send off their old one to somebody who can’t afford one right now.” Raby has also engaged the members of the group to support worthwhile causes. She organized a fundraiser that raised $12,000 for the family of a trucker who was murdered on the job. She also spearheaded Truckers Against Bullying, an initiative through which she pairs members with youth to provide mentoring and moral support. “It’s just about knowing that there’s a group of people that care about you,” she said of the effort. “We let these kids know, ‘You’re our family.’” Ask a Veteran Driver has added yet another level of satisfaction that Raby has taken from her career. When speaking about her life behind the wheel, there’s a pronounced note of wonder in her voice for her chosen profession. “Seeing our beautiful country — Mount Shasta, Mount Rainier,” she said. “Arizona down on the I-8; it’s called the Imperial Sand Dunes, and you think you’re in Saudi Arabia. Not to mention the produce farms in the San Joaquin Valley and the San Bernadino Valley with the miles and miles of strawberries and the nut trees that Blue Diamond owns. “And then out East, the mountains of Virginia. I was on this enormous bridge at night climbing over this gorge and the trees were so tall. I was climbing towards these trees and the moon was so bright, it was like daytime at night. I went up through the fog and for a couple seconds there I couldn’t see. It was a spiritual feeling. Just gorgeous.” Wherever her travels take her one thing’s for sure: Raby will always go out of her way to help others.

Ashley Leiva knew early on that she would one day serve her country. While growing up, the Texas native saw examples of military service all around her. At 18, fresh out of high school, she enlisted in the U.S. Army. “My uncle was also an Army veteran, (and) a retired merchant Marine,” Leiva said. “My mom, she also advocated for it. I was from a small town, and she said, ‘Go. Get out of here and do something. If you like it, stay. If you don’t, at least you got to see something other than our small town.’ And I did.” Coincidentally, both Leiva’s mother and uncle would inspire her to later enter the trucking business. Her uncle was a driver for 30 years, and her mother launched and ran her own trucking company, providing Leiva with a natural landing spot when she left the service in 2021 after nearly 16 years. She’s made the most of her short time in trucking, and was recently named winner of the Transition Trucking: Driving for Excellence award during a ceremony at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington, D.C. Leiva topped a field of 11 finalists from across the country to earn the honor. “When they said my name, I’m just like, wow,” she said. “I honestly didn’t even think that was possible that I could win.” Each year, Kenworth teams with FASTPORT and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes to find America’s top rookie military veteran who made the successful transition from active duty to driving for a commercial fleet. To qualify for Transition Trucking: Driving for Excellence, the veterans had to meet certain requirements, including having been hired into a trucking position between Jan. 1, 2021, and July 31, 2022. Driver nominations come from for-hire carrier and private fleet employers, training organizations, the general public, and other interested parties. Leiva was the first driver to be nominated by an educational facility within the National Association of Publicly Funded Truck Driving Schools organization. But before earning her CDL, becoming a truck driver and all that … there was the Army. Throughout her military career, which included major deployments to Germany and Iraq, as well as several duty stations in the continental U.S. and Hawaii, Leiva held roles that served her fellow soldiers, such as working in food service and as a drill sergeant. During one of her deployments to Iraq, she was also on the female engagement team, which provided her powerful encounters with local women who were trying to survive with their families in the midst of conflict. “I would actually go out on patrols with the infantrymen. I would talk to the women of the village or the women of the house, because the men weren’t allowed to talk to them,” she said. “I would try to get intel or just have conversations with them, let them know that we’re not there to hurt them. “That was an experience for me,” she continued. “I wore a turban on my head; I respected their culture. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you’re from, women tend to see in each other the pain that we all go through. I was a lot younger at the time, probably 25 or 26, but you could just see the struggle in their eyes. It was pretty intense.” If Leiva’s original plan had played out, she wouldn’t have begun her trucking career for a few more years, as she originally intended to serve a few more years and retire from the military with 20 years in. However, when her mother, Noemi, got sick in late 2020, Leiva left the service to tend to her and take over the family trucking company. “She just worked so hard,” Leiva said of her mother. “She worked up until Dec. 24, 2020. When she got home, everybody saw how small and skinny she looked, and we made her go to the doctor right after Christmas. We found out she had stage IV stomach cancer. “I got out to take care of her and I told her I’d get my CDL,” she continued. “My brother and I would take everything on, and she wouldn’t have to work anymore. She was making great money. There was no reason for us to try to change it up. We had her truck, (and it) was paid off.” When Noemi died, Leiva and her brother, Johnny, a fellow veteran, took stock of the situation and decided to carry on their mother’s legacy. They changed the company name from Leiva Trucking to Noemi Trucking in her honor, and picked up where their matriarch had left off. “We’re like, ‘You know what? We have everything here right in front of us. There’s no reason for us to change it up right now,’” Leiva said. “Not to mention, once I started doing it, I could see why my mom liked it so much. She loved her job. She had such a passion for it. She had a passion for her truck, and she took care of it so well.” The brother and sister team had motivation and a good clientele, hauling crude oil for Draco Energy in south Texas. But Leiva admits to learning the finer points of running a business was a “baptism by fire.” “It was everything, honestly,” she said. “I knew how to drive. That wasn’t an issue. It was learning the insurance, how high that would be because I’m a brand-new driver. Getting my own authority. Having an LLC. The heavy highway tax. There are so many things that go with it. “I got kind of frustrated because I never had the mentorship when it comes to having my own truck, being in that type of business,” she continued. “I knew my mom did, and it would have been so easy for me to call her and be like, ‘Hey, Mom, what’s this? Hey, Mom, what’s that?’ But I couldn’t do that, obviously.” Slowly, Leiva gained the experience and knowledge she needed on the business side of trucking — enough to start thinking about the future of the company. Those dreams took a big step forward with her rookie veteran driver award, which carries with it a brand-new Kenworth T680 Next Generation tractor. Now, she says, she’s looking to build the kind of company that provides opportunity to others. “I want to grow. I want to have more trucks. I’ll continue to run these two trucks — my brother in one and me in the other. My sister-in-law just got her CDL, too,” she said. “I want to have a fleet eventually. I want to be able to give other people opportunities like what I was given — not only with the truck I just won, but the truck that my mother gave me. “That was something life-changing and through that, I was blessed to build myself a career and my brother a career. If I continue to do that for other people, I’ll know I have done something to help change people’s lives,” she concluded.