Intro/Outro (00:02):
Welcome to Logistics with Purpose presented by Vector Global Logistics. In partnership with Supply Chain. Now we spotlight and celebrate organizations who are dedicated to creating a positive impact. Join us for this behind the scenes glimpse of the origin stories change, making progress and future plans of organizations who are actively making a difference. Our goal isn’t just to entertain you, but to inspire you to go out and change the world. And now here’s today’s episode of Logistics With Purpose.
Kristi Porter (00:36):
Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of Logistics With Purpose. We are two members of the Vector Global Logistics team. So Kristi Porter here with you, Luisa Garcia Luisa, this is only our second time to co-host. So I’m so excited to have you on here again, and I know you are also really thrilled with who we’re gonna interview today. So how are you feeling?
Luisa Garcia (00:57):
Yeah, definitely. I’m really, really excited. And well please introduce our guest today. She’s amazing.
Kristi Porter (01:03):
Yes. This is going to be another terrific logistics with purpose and it will, you’ll have no doubt why we invited her on and why we are the newest members of her fan club. So today we have Brittany Richardson, c e o of Midwest Road Rescue, social media influencer, entrepreneur, and owner of the Bri tv. Brittany, how are you? Welcome.
Brittney Richardson (01:26):
I’m well. It’s such a pleasure to be here. I’m so excited.
Kristi Porter (01:30):
Oh, you too. We are, Louisa discovered you, um, on social media. We are new to the club a few months ago, and she has been like, we have got to chat with her, look at all the cool stuff she’s doing. So we are thrilled to be here in pink with you ’cause it’s pink and we wear, we Wednesdays, we wear pink. So we’re thrilled to be here with you today. So yeah, we’ll get this started. Before we jump into kind of what you’re doing now, which is super cool, we wanna talk a little bit more about your early years. So I’ll let Luisa kick it off for us.
Luisa Garcia (02:01):
Yes, Brittany, thank you so much for being here with us. And to start us off, please tell us a little about where you grew up and your childhood. How was those years?
Brittney Richardson (02:10):
Yeah. You can see how my childhood’s like really influenced my life now. I, I grew up in Central Missouri. My father was both a pastor, a police officer, and he owned his own business. Wow. Yeah. That’s mostly asking Yeah. <laugh>. Oh yeah. All the way. So you can kind of see where my overachievement, I guess comes from <laugh>. A hundred percent.
Kristi Porter (02:35):
Yeah. That’s a really fascinating background. So what, I’m sure it’s going to tie together even more here, but given that, what’s a story from your early years that shaped who you are or something significant or even maybe not significant, but memorable for you that you look back on and think this really helped shape who I am and, and how I got to where I am today?
Brittney Richardson (02:57):
Yeah, definitely. Well, I was homeschooled growing up and my mom always emphasized with me and my brother self-learning. So we were a big part of the book it program in the early nineties, late eighties. Loved to read. And my dad was, he, I, I would listen to stories of my dad ’cause he would talk a lot about how he felt like God would put him in the right spot at the right time to help people and even save a life. And I just remember one story where he went into, it was a mobile home fire at three in the morning. Wow. And he ended up rescuing this baby out of the back, like this thing’s filled with smoke. And he sent me the newspaper, uh, clippings later on in life. And, but I remember him talking about it growing up and just how God put him in the right spot at the right time to help people. And that really inspired me. And then one thing I remember my mom saying that really made an impact was, I remember going to bed one night, she said, you know, you can do whatever it is. You can be whatever you wanna be in life, and you can do whatever you wanna do. As a matter of fact, she even, it’s kind of funny, she even said she, they’re even making men into women nowadays. <laugh>. I didn’t quite, but I was like, I like the spirit of this. Yes.
Kristi Porter (04:17):
Yeah. I can only imagine the stories your dad had from both being a pastor and a police officer. That is kind of an, an odd clashing of two worlds. So which one came first?
Brittney Richardson (04:30):
Oh my God, I think that’s a chicken in the egg question. <laugh>, he became a reserve officer up in Olathe here outside of Kansas City. Right. And it was while he was, I guess he was part of the police reserve unit up here at the time. Okay. But he was also going through Bible school. Wow. So it was kind of this interesting parallel for him where he felt like, you know, he, he found part of his purpose with that and it all revolved around helping people.
Kristi Porter (04:57):
Yeah. Wow. How fascinating. Yeah. That is two totally different worlds to walk in. So what an, a unique background as well as how that must have influenced you and again, sort of makes sense to how you got to where you are today and the different things you’ve done in your life. That’s really neat.
Brittney Richardson (05:14):
Definitely. Absolutely.
Luisa Garcia (05:17):
Yeah, for sure. And well, yeah, that, that story is amazing. And let’s talk about your professional journey, um, as your dad. You are a multitasking woman. So before all the amazing projects you are currently leading, you started in law enforcement. Uh, could you please tell us more about that unique experience?
Brittney Richardson (05:38):
I did. I started out in armed security and worked my way up to supervisor. I actually worked for a chain security company, one point NA nationwide. And it was a learning process. I remember, as a matter of fact, I remember one, there was one night I had, I had advanced to, um, field supervisor. And one of the things that I learned this, I remember my office manager had called me and he’s, I know how you like to be nice to people, but we’ve got this guy, he showed up late for work like four hours late. He is like, I want you to go and like ream his a s <laugh>. I don’t want you to go easy on him, and I want you to ride him up. And so long story short, I go out there, I, I kind of pacified him. I’m like, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, no problem.
Brittney Richardson (06:20):
I’ll put it on Facebook. Anyway, I decided I’m not gonna jump to conclusions. I’m gonna actually talk to this guy first and say, Hey, this is kind of crazy. Why did you abandon your post? And you know, blah, blah, blah. I’m glad I did because he had the actual text messages from the office. Somebody had approved, he had a doctor’s dentist appointment. And so he had a legitimate reason. He had authorization to be off. And so had I just jumped to conclusions and reamed his butt, you know, it would’ve been the wrong way to go and put a wrong face on the company. And so that really taught me a lesson early on to, you know, don’t assume anything. Right. I guess, if that makes sense. Yeah. Trust, but verify, tread softly and always, always carry a big, big stick <laugh>. And so was that side of your life, was that influenced or by your dad, you wanted to get into that?
Brittney Richardson (07:14):
It was, yeah, I wanted to help people and I think the biggest thing that inspired me was hearing his stories about how he would pull up on an accident and somebody was bleeding to death and, you know, you would think they would like traumatize you, but it was, it actually inspired me because I was thinking God, had he not been there for whatever reason, call it fate or whatever, that person would’ve died. And I just really, it touched my heart. Like it just melted it. And ever since I wanted to help people and be at least be a first responder in some capacity. Hmm. Very cool.
Luisa Garcia (07:48):
Yeah. And well that’s a great experience and thank you for sharing that with us. And from the side of as an entrepreneur, do you feel that there was an experience that followed you in that way?
Brittney Richardson (08:03):
I do. I mean, I think, God, there’s so much I wish <laugh>, I mean, there was so many lessons that I had learned. I guess the biggest one is always cover your butt. Don’t assume. I remember one of my first lieutenants, he had told me, he said, break down the word assume it’s a s ss you me, it makes an a s s out of you and me. So never assume that’s right. But no, I, I just think, I think a lot of the experiences that I went through, the hardships that, especially the tough situations. Yeah. Right. Because it’s never easy when you’re facing an armed suspect or a person with an edge weapon or you’re getting attacked in a prison riot, which happened to me and I was sent to the hospital. I, I guess my confront factor both increased, but thank God it, it wasn’t in an arrogant way. It was like, no, I’m gonna fight. I’m gonna get through this. And I felt like I could get through anything. Yeah.
Kristi Porter (09:03):
And so how did you, it it is not a natural segue to trekking <laugh>. So
Brittney Richardson (09:08):
<laugh>,
Kristi Porter (09:09):
How did you, I guess what was the catalyst to leave there and why? Trucking of, of all things. Yeah. Tell us how you got to get to this next stage.
Brittney Richardson (09:19):
Yeah. I mean, to give you kind of a stable data as to why I jumped a trucking out of any big, I I, my last job I was a campus police. It was a combined police and fire position at a state psychiatric facility. Wow. And so we were cross trained in both. And so I got to drive some of the big fire trucks and I just love the feel of the big truck. So it was always like in the back of my mind going through this. And long story short, I went through a lot of hardships that we could talk about for two hours straight alone. Um, but I got have set up with the politics in law enforcement. Yeah. I just got tired of it. There was a lot of like, officers that didn’t like women on the department, and so they would start rumors and then you’d have to combat it and then it would, I just got tired of it. Yeah. I, I don’t like bss <laugh>. I, so no, I just hit the point where I, I was like, what can I do that somebody’s not breathing down your neck? I needed to get away and I needed to kind of refocus my life. And I thought, what better way than to hit the open road? I found some of these YouTube videos and got inspired by truck drivers.
Kristi Porter (10:28):
Wow. That’s so interesting. And yeah, that makes sense as far as the open road is concerned. So yeah, it now it makes more sense to me. But yeah, I was like, huh, how do you just pick up trucking? You, it sounds like you’re always up for a challenge, always up to try something new. Um, which says a lot about your character and personality as well. So once you made that transition, I know you had a few different trucking company experiences, so what was that like? Did you think this was the right decision for me? Or what have I gotten myself into or <laugh>? What were those initial experiences?
Brittney Richardson (11:01):
Yeah, I mean, yeah, it just going to trucking school alone. So I worked extra my last two months in law enforcement and built up my paid time off. So literally it was pass or fail. Like I had enough paid time off that had cashed out for months to, to cover like six weeks of bills. Right. So I’m like, I had coworkers telling me, you’re never make this. Like, we know you, you will not fit in a big truck. Long story short, graduated top of my class
Kristi Porter (11:29):
<laugh>,
Brittney Richardson (11:31):
Which was kind of a surprise to me because I was terrified. Right. I was absolutely terrified doing this ’cause it was like, do or die. And anyway, long story short, got onto my first company and went O t R. So I was running coast to coast. They even ran me through Southern Canada. I went ran as far as Quebec learned the hard way that they speak French over there. I didn’t know where I was going. <laugh>, what is oust, oust, <laugh>. But I had a lot of good experiences and towards the end of the career, I think my, my highlight was in the pink semi-truck was going to out on the outskirts of Hollywood Hills Oh wow. In California. And then like a week or two later, I was on the outskirts of New York City and I just felt like I had made it, you know, the media stuff was blowing up. We were inspiring so many people. And I just got really excited. It was like, I don’t know, that’s kind of the recap. I’ve done a lot. Like I’ve done oil field, matic trailer, like I, I’ve done a lot of things.
Kristi Porter (12:30):
Wow.
Luisa Garcia (12:32):
Yeah. And well, as you mentioned, you’ve done a lot. And we want to know, like in a timeline, how, how was this journey? So you just tell us how you begun and in this, but you eventually decided that you wanted to start your own truck trucking company started. So why was that? Or how was that that change?
Brittney Richardson (12:53):
Yeah, so a couple things happened. The first was getting into the lease purchase semi-truck. I, I made the decision to get our own semi. And that was a huge step. And there was some frustrations with smaller companies that I was running into with YouTube and film and them not being happy with it. And so I was like, I kind of felt like pushed into the corner with it, if that makes sense. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like, I felt like, well, well hell, if nobody’s gonna let me film, then why not get my own truck? Right. So I kind of just went for it and yeah. I mean, God, there was so much that happened at the start of the career, though. We’ve had so many experiences. It’s hard to recap it. No, so am I, that was kind of our first step, I guess, to be concise on independence as a trucking company. And a few couple years later I decided to start an L L C and me and my husband had talked and I just wanted to be home more. Yeah. I had been over the road for God, my trucking career. It’s been over 12 years now. So I’m like, you know, I need a contingency plan to be home, do more with family. And then also I wanted to create a better opportunity for other drivers. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because I didn’t feel like they were being treated very fairly.
Kristi Porter (14:08):
Wow. Yeah. No, those are great motivating reasons. And it sounds like from your past experiences as well, like you said, you, you work well as your own boss as well. You’re self-directed, you’re up for a challenge, you’re motivated. So, you know, going to tackle your own company seems like a perfect decision too. And then once you started down that path, as you noted, you are also documenting everything on social media. So why was that important to you? It was, it’s funny too now that you say part of the reason that you got inspired to become a trucker was by watching videos on YouTube, which I had no idea that existed out there, but I will have to go look now. Um, so for yourself though, why, why couple that with your own company and why did you start the process of documenting everything on social media?
Brittney Richardson (14:57):
So it started when I was a W two employee with my second, no third job. Um, I, there was a couple of things. One, I was bored as hell because I was running a night shift. What, a
Kristi Porter (15:09):
Long hours by yourself. Yeah. <laugh>,
Brittney Richardson (15:11):
I, I would talk to myself in the truck and I didn’t have anybody to talk to, so I confided in the camera. Right. But no, I had a lot of delay de delays and problems. I was running a C N G truck, a natural gas truck, and it would break down a lot. Mm. And I would run into problems with the shipper and get stuck on the road and then miss days of pay. And so part of it was I wanted some way to express myself and maybe inspire somebody else. And then the other side of the corner, I was thinking, wait a second. The worst my day is out here on the road that is costing me money. If I share that on camera, the better the YouTube video’s gonna be. Hmm. So wait a second. If I can earn an income on YouTube that goes up whenever my bad day gets worse, then I can’t lose. Right. That’s new. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, I stay afloat like swimming, I stay afloat. So no, I just don’t like, it would be a win-win for everybody. Inspire others, give me an outlet. And so that’s how it started.
Kristi Porter (16:15):
Wow. That is, yeah. That is really cool. And what a great way to look at that because yes, people always learn more ourselves and others when you’re learning from a difficulty or you’re seeing a challenging situation, especially I think on social media, there’s always the view or the perception of everything is beautiful and ideal. And I drink green smoothies every day and I work out and I sit at the beach and all of these things and we don’t share anything but the highlights. So I love the fact that you’re really getting to the nitty gritty of your industry and what’s going on and what the challenges are and what it looks like. And I think there’s probably more interest in that now since the pandemic. And we all realized, you know, our packages don’t arrive to our door by little ferries. That there’s actually a very fragile ecosystem out there that makes it all happen. And so you’re giving really a voice to that, which is fantastic. So for those who don’t know the Bree tv, t h e b r e tv, tell everybody what it is, where they can find you and what are kind of the messages. But I know you do a lot of behind the scenes and kind of sharing your own experiences, but there are other messages that you put out too.
Brittney Richardson (17:23):
Oh yeah, absolutely. So the Brie tv, that is our, that is what owns the social media platforms. So I turned it into a business, a revenue stream. And we’re actually hiring people. I have editors, I have social media managers. I like, it’s great. I love it. And we’re inspiring so many people. So our slogan is, the Truth is Stranger Than Fiction <laugh>. And that is a rabid trail that we could go into for anymore <laugh> anymore. But basically I wanna film life and show life as it happens. And I had some, without getting into it too much, I got, I had some negative encounters with some reality shows that had made some puffers with me. And I was in the casting and they wanted me to fake content for tv. And I, we just have polar opposite views. ’cause my view was I’ve worked law enforcement, I’ve worked 11 years of tractor driving.
Brittney Richardson (18:17):
Trust me, you don’t have to fake anything. Right. It is crazy than you could imagine out here. So, and we just, we never saw it eye to eye. And so that kinda led into me starting the Brie TV because I just wanted to capture life as it happens. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, because I think that’s the way to be most authentic, if that makes sense. It does. So my husband had this idea to do a hnk for Pink campaign one day. And I kind of looked at him like he was crazy at first, and then I got to thinking about it. He’s like, why don’t we put this big honk for pink letters on the side of words on the side of the truck, donate a dollar every time somebody honks to cancer research. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like, it could be huge. And I got to thinking about it.
Brittney Richardson (18:59):
I’m like, oh my God, no, this is brilliant. The pink truck, I didn’t even get into that with you guys, but when I went up to check on the lease purchase with this company, it was a fluke that we had this pink truck. Right. Oh, we walked in to ask the company about the lease, and I’m asking, you know, is it okay to fill? Are you film friendly here, blah, blah, blah. Long story short, I said, I’m a YouTuber. And this lady pops her head around the cubicle. She’s like, what’d you say? I said, I’m a YouTuber. She said, we have been looking for a brand ambassador to represent women in transportation. And as a matter of fact, we’re running a contest right now and the reward is the opportunity to lease purchase a pink semi-truck.
Luisa Garcia (19:43):
Wow. No
Brittney Richardson (19:44):
Way. I was like, oh my God. So of course I submitted the video, I ended up winning. And here’s the long story short, that gets into the fate here. Right. I’m about to pick up this truck. She gives me a tour of the outside. It’s got a beautiful white breast cancer awareness ribbon and rolling for awareness on the side, which is great. I was so excited. She said, don’t worry, we’re ripping all this stuff off so that the paint won’t fade uneven. And I was like, why? And she said, we just did a breast cancer event. It was a special event. Those weren’t meant to be permanent. And I said, please do not take that ribbon off the truck. <laugh>. Wow. So that was kind of like a fate thing and we just, we made it our thing and we inspired so many people on the road. Like it was incredible.
Luisa Garcia (20:31):
Wow. I mean that, that’s amazing story. I mean, I, I knew kind of, but I didn’t know the, like the behind of all the story, how everything happens. That’s amazing. It’s perfect. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> like everything was on its place at the best time. Yeah. That’s great. And yeah, definitely. As you mentioned, this impactful initiative touching lives, es woman, women, sorry, who are bravely battling cancer and well, what have been some of your results or stories that you have listened from from all these women?
Brittney Richardson (21:09):
Yeah, definitely. I mean, there’s too many to count. I mean, we have a fan voicemail now that I opened up. I
Kristi Porter (21:15):
Love that. Yeah.
Luisa Garcia (21:17):
Same <laugh>.
Brittney Richardson (21:18):
Oh my god. My heart. I’ve been in tears so many nights, just hearing the stories. I mean, women who are right in the middle of fighting breast cancer and saying that you’ve get been the inspiration to keep me going. Uh, there was a guy, I guess two weeks ago, he called in and said he had just lost his wife. And he said that, I love what you’re doing. You’re such an inspiration. You’re keeping me going. And then to see the faces on the road, like we would pull into shipping facilities and stuff, delivering a load. And I remember the security guard coming out, tears in his eyes and I’m like looking at him like, what’s wrong? He said, that truck means so much to me. I lost my wife three years ago and this keeps me going. And it’s just, yeah, there’s so many, it’s so inspiring.
Kristi Porter (22:10):
Yeah. Well it was from start to finish, it was, yeah. Definitely meant to be. Yeah. You’re living out your purpose in more than one way. For sure. And so Midwest Rescue Road rescue is growing. I’m, so I have a couple of questions about this. One. You mentioned earlier that part of your reason wanting to grow was to kind of change the industry perception, give better jobs to people. Uh, talk a little bit more about that. What was, what is kind of some of the obstacles you’re seeing to either, you know, the right employment that you want to see out there? Or maybe it’s, yeah. Talk a little bit more about the industry and how you’re wanting to change that as far as within your own company and the jobs you’re trying to provide.
Brittney Richardson (22:52):
Absolutely. Oh my God, there’s so much there. <laugh>, we wanna provide a good opportunity for people. I mean, that’s a big thing. I, I think a lot of people feel that they haven’t been cared, like companies haven’t cared about them, especially in the trucking industry. Like, they’re expendable and we wanna set a different, send a different message and show that no, we actually do care about you. Yeah. And we actually will stand with you as far as perceptions and things. I mean, I think there’s a lot of perceptions in general that women cannot do the same thing men can do. And we still see it today. I personally think a lot of this is coming from the 20% or 10% of the population that is really antisocial and they’re afraid of anything that, you know, is better than them. So I don’t think that’s like the broad perception, if that makes sense.
Brittney Richardson (23:44):
Sure. So I think that being said, I think our biggest, my biggest message to those thinking of getting into this is you gotta realize you’re stronger than you think you are. You’re tougher than you think you are. You can do this and you need to ask yourself, like everyone across so many people that are like, I would love to do that, but you know, I’m just kind of afraid and I get it, trust me. But ask yourself, what is your regret, doctor? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, if you don’t try to do something, like if you’ve been dreaming about getting into something or doing something for years. Right. What, how, what’s level of regret are you gonna have if you don’t do it? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I think a lot of people don’t think about that because there are times in my life where I realize the regret factor would be so through the roof I would rather try and fail <laugh> and I would feel better at least knowing I tried Right Then wondering what if. Yeah. So that would be my biggest message is follow your dreams, you know, there’s a reason.
Kristi Porter (24:46):
Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that. No, that’s a beautiful message. You also, you’ve had the experience in law enforcement. You are one, you know, you’re always finding ways to help people. We talked just a minute ago about the breast cancer research and the messages people are losing are using for you there also, just if any of us, and probably a lot of us have just been stuck on the side of the road <laugh>, that is really horrible as well. So I’m curious if you have any good stories to share from just the people every day that you stop and help with the flat tire or the keys locked out or whatever. All of those services look like just somebody having a bad day and having to call you.
Brittney Richardson (25:24):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. We’ve handled everything from dogs being stuck in a hot vehicle. Ooh. And we’re able to get to them quickly. Of course with, I mean, if it goes beyond a few seconds, we’re busting a window. That’s all there is to Right. But, um, we’ve had disabled people that could barely walk. And I remember, I, God, I gotta tell this story. So this one guy was blessed by us. So he calls us late at night, he stuck along I 70. He’s got a flat tire and we always like to call them before we go out just to verify where they’re at. And so he’s telling me, yeah, I tried. I’ve got the bolts or the legates, almost the tire, the rim, but I can’t get the tire off the rim. It’s like stuck. He said, I even stuck my cane in there. I’m disabled and I sna McCain and I start laughing <laugh>, I, I said, well you can’t say you didn’t give it your all true.
Brittney Richardson (26:18):
And he got a kick outta that. But long story short, he was so blessed by us coming out and helping him. He ended up, he was involved with several charities and he did a bunch of stuff for troubled youth and he was just so inspired. But we’ve had people come up to the vehicle in, in tears once again, telling stories about relatives that have had cancer and just seeing us out here trying to do something to help somebody else. Like it’s, it brightens their day. So not only do we help them, we brighten their day, we make it a little bit better. And I mean, we’ve come up on rollover accidents. I’ve got, I’ve gotten out and helped people and you know, and that’s one thing that moving forward, a lot of us are former police, fire, e m s. And so we are trained first responders life skills. Yeah. If we have somebody like that, hands down, I wanna fire them because you never know when we might be in that spot. Like my dad going back to childhood when you never know when you’re gonna be in that right spot to help somebody or to save a life. And that’s what I wanna do. Yeah. And I’m doing it.
Kristi Porter (27:23):
You are doing it. And so what are a couple of your goals either for a Midwest road rescue, hunk for pink? What are some of those future aspirations that you’re trying to hit?
Brittney Richardson (27:33):
Yeah, so we wanna go coast to coast. We wanna be a viable competitor in a polite way with Triple A <laugh>. So no, we’re, we wanna expand sky’s the limit because we, I mean we’ve had people locally, I won’t name names, but I will say we’ve been out on calls and they’ve said, Hey, when we saw you guys we’re here with the pink vehicle and the ribbon and everything you do for charity, we would rather call you guys, you know, than some of the competitors. And we wanna take that to the next level. You know, we wanna start in Kansas City, we’ll take it to Wichita, we’ll take it to St. Louis and then we’ll take it coast to coast eventually. So I hope to get into the towing side too. More. Okay.
Kristi Porter (28:15):
Awesome.
Brittney Richardson (28:17):
I want a pink tow truck. <laugh>. Yes. That is what is needed. How cool would that be? Yes,
Kristi Porter (28:23):
<laugh>.
Luisa Garcia (28:24):
It would be great. <laugh> and, well, I, I have a question about the road rescue. I mean, for example, do you have a different teams for that or is just, uh, I mean, how does that work? Because it is like a, a long space to cover <laugh>.
Brittney Richardson (28:43):
It is, right? Yeah. We do, my husband, we’re partners of, we have a primary L L C and then we have Midwestern rescue, we have Brie tvd, it’s underneath that L L C if that makes sense. So they’re all one company. He partners with me in that. I’m 51% over owner, he’s 49. And so he helps with both Brie TV side. He helps with the road rescue side. But we have hired people. We have Carl, we just brought on you guys, made us seed some clips with him. He is gonna be on our reality show. We’re filming with the roadside. He is a boot. We have, we have Lexi Bell, his girlfriend that we’re bringing on as well. So we’ve got several more in the application process. And like I said, we have other employees at Free TVs. No, we, it takes a lot of help.
Brittney Richardson (29:30):
Right now I’m in the phase with so many different things going on, is I’m trying to learn how to better structure the organization so that we can be more efficient. ’cause you can’t do it yourself. You gotta take that idea and then it has to work. You have to have all these moving parts. And my biggest thing too is I feel like I’ve had a lot of business deals go south on me and I kind of felt cheated. And mainly because of bad management in my opinion and lack of communication. I don’t want that ever to happen with our company. I wanna make sure we have like checks and balances at every corner, if that makes sense. To make sure that nothing’s getting under our nose. People are being treated fairly.
Kristi Porter (30:13):
Yeah. That’s really important. And you’re also just, uh, I’m curious to, you talked about wanting to take on challenges. You’re not afraid of it. You’re always out there, you’re always looking for the next thing to tackle. Um, and certainly knocking, gonna back down from it. Obviously you’ve been through a lot. Just everybody has personally, you have professionally throughout your career. So what are a couple, one or two of those obstacles? How did you face them? How did you overcome them? Or what lessons did you learn?
Brittney Richardson (30:43):
Uh, I think the biggest would be the cyberstalking. We had, I had a combination of people in person at a company that I contracted with who were as best I could tell, jealous I had become a top performer on the account. And they started reporting me for things that I didn’t do. They said that I was breaking the yard rules, that I was speeding, that I was reckless. They even said that I was a prostitute. And out at the trip stops and they saw it. They reported this to management. I actually have the text messages, like, it’s so crazy. But one thing that saved my butt was the cameras. When I upped our cameras to the 18 at that time on the semi-truck, it dispelled and disproved and discredited every one of those people. And I came out shiny. Right. And so I think that’s been the biggest obstacle is some of the people that we were able to prove false.
Brittney Richardson (31:44):
That what they were saying was false. There’s a lot of retribution and that’s been snowballing for the past four or five years. Wow. And I still deal with it. We have all kinds of rumors out on the internet and it’s a can of worms, I guess because it’s on the one hand, why don’t you ignore ’em, block ’em, all of that stuff. Right. And I agree with that. I think that 90% you should, but the moment that it impacts your cash flow mm-hmm. <affirmative> as a business, now you’ve got people’s livelihoods affected. Right. And that’s when I feel like I need to stand up and fight. And that’s what we’ve done. We had one guy that threatened a contractor, a company we’re contracting with, and they pulled us instead of reporting that guy because they were afraid he was gonna, you know, do something to us and there would be an incident. And they didn’t want publicity. So to be very like, authentic and honest with you, it’s been stuff like that that we’ve had to deal with. Like, what do you do with that? Do I blame the company? ’cause they don’t want, you know, an explosion on their property if somebody sabotages me <laugh>. Right. You know? But at the same time, it’s like you that has to be dealt with. And so that’s been my biggest struggle is been combating the hate. Yeah.
Luisa Garcia (33:00):
Yeah. I mean it’s, it’s hard that you’re trying to do a great thing and you’re doing it and still people is like, like thinking the worst. Right. So, well, I think
Brittney Richardson (33:12):
I was just gonna say, I think the biggest thing to remember too is like statistically the violent ones are like 2.5% of the population or something that make threats and, and commit crime and all of these things. But when you start dealing with 42 million weekly viewers, that 2.5% becomes a huge number. And so I think that’s something that we have to factor in and be prepared for because it’s gonna happen mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But also to remember that 98% of the people are backing us. They’re on our side. We’re doing a great thing.
Luisa Garcia (33:45):
Yeah. Yeah. And we can tell because of the fun messages that you’re receiving. I mean, we are not the only ones who think that you’re great and that you’re doing an amazing, well, amazing things, different things. And will also, alongside that you have chosen a path that is still classified as a male dominated career for, from a lot of people. So what pre prejudices and obstacles have you received along the way? And what message would you give to people to encourage them to change or rethink about this stigma?
Brittney Richardson (34:22):
Hmm. God, there’s been so much. I don’t know. I feel as far as, I feel like when I was in law enforcement, I felt like, especially after being attacked, um, and sent to the hospital, I felt like I was stuck in fight or flight. And I mean, I even came, I had doctor’s orders to go home for the night. Thank God they were released, me from the hospital. Same day. I refused his orders. And I came back to shift because I knew our officers were short. Like I just went into this fight or flight mode. Like, hell no, you’re not gonna stop me. This, a-hole is not gonna get gratification. I’m gonna be back on shift. He did not stop me. I think that’s helped me get through a lot of these situations. I, I mean, I, I did go through a lot in law enforcement.
Brittney Richardson (35:06):
I remember I had jealous coworkers. As a matter of fact, it got so bad. One night I was radioing into dispatch. Our se the way we worked on campus, our senior dispatch, or our senior, uh, officer handled dispatch. So he would answer when I’d call out a check or something. They didn’t answer me all night. I called in all of my checks. Nobody answered on the radio. I tried to find them. They kept dodging me. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, they wouldn’t talk to me. The next day they reported me to the lieutenant and said that I fell asleep and disappeared on my shift and needed to be fired. So what vindicated me was the control center operators in the prison buildings were monitoring our frequency. And they, one by one stepped up and approached the lieutenant and said, no, those guys tried to set her up. Wow.
Brittney Richardson (35:57):
We heard her, she was doing her job. And after that, I had a lot of hate from the other officers ’cause they got caught. So it was a lot of, I mean, I went through some really bad situations <laugh>, if that makes sense. Yeah. It was hard. But here’s what I would suggest is don’t let that crap keep you from your dreams. Like, that’s the biggest thing. Follow your dreams, stay focused and document everything. I mean, that’s why I have cameras everywhere. I have people making up so many rumors about me. And it’s almost funny at this point, ’cause okay, you want the footage, here you go. Right. I would go to Walmart, <laugh>. Yeah. Buying milk <laugh>. So.
Kristi Porter (36:41):
Wow. No, that’s terrific advice. Thank you. And just again, it, it says a lot about who you are as a person and what values are important to you. Just to not let any of that get you down and to keep going and to keep trying to inspire others on the way to, and you’ve given some great advice. I also want to specifically point to others, even just the logistics industry. Trucking certainly, but logistics overall is still a very male dominated. So women can learn a lot from you both from your perseverance and your passion. Uh, so what is your, uh, advice to women who want to excel in the logistics and supply chain industry, transportation industry as well?
Brittney Richardson (37:24):
Yeah, definitely. Uh, I mean, I could go on and on and on, but a big thing that I’ve observed too is I think a lot of us have a knee-jerk reaction being stuck in a male dominated certain environment. It’s kind of like, you know, don’t mess with me. Don’t look at me. Don’t you better respect me, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I think that’s kind of the wrong way to go about it. I’ve learned from my experience, anyway, just coming up, shaking their hand, being bubbly, being yourself. Show the guys. Just be as open as you can with the guys. And they seem to respect that a lot. I, I think guys communicate a little bit differently. And I think if you’re just blunt honest mm-hmm. <affirmative> tell ’em how it is. They respect it. I’ve had guys ask me out and I’ve said, look, I’m taken.
Brittney Richardson (38:11):
I’m sorry. No disrespect, I’m just out of position. Thank you. Right. And they never left hassled me again. You know? So, I don’t know, I just think, I think that’s one tool we can use. It’s just be yourself. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you know, and draw the line. Be blunt. If somebody crosses the line and say, look, dude, <laugh>, you can even say it like that. Like, look dude, that’s not appropriate. Yeah. Um, you know, here’s what’s gonna happen. I’m not trying to stir anything up. You’re saying this to me. I find this offensive. Please don’t do this. Yeah. Okay. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, otherwise we’re good. All right. If he keeps doing it, record him in court. So I don’t know, that’s been my, my attitude with it. And maybe a lot of that came from law enforcement too. It was that direct, like yeah,
Kristi Porter (38:57):
It’s an asset for sure. A hundred percent. I also wanted to ask you, you mentioned early on just your love of reading and books and all of that as well. And so I know I’ve also been taking a lot of road trips this year, never as many miles as you have, but while driving, I, I’m also a big fan of listening to audio books and just learning and thinking. And so first, what have been a couple of, I’ll take your book recommendations. So first let me have a couple of those. And then two, just what do you, is it still kind of that open road feeling or what do you still enjoy about those hours on the road driving and, you know, is it introspection time or learning through audiobooks or just seeing the country pass by?
Brittney Richardson (39:41):
Yeah, I think it depends on the day. You know, I, it’s all that, it’s what makes life beautiful. We enjoy the open road. If Jordan’s with me on the road, we have like a little mini road trip and we have fun, do our stops at the truck stops, yada yada. Meeting the fans’ been like a huge thing to me. Peeing out there is the engagement, but no, yeah. I’ve listened to, I love having my introspection time because you can, I mean, if you have 12 hours a day, 11 hours drive a day that you could just brainstorm ideas or just reflect on your life. I mean, think how much you can get done. And I think a lot of that’s allowed us to be three steps ahead and prepared for every situation that might come up. I will tell you one book that I read was, I think it’s called The Psychology of Money. Oh,
Kristi Porter (40:29):
I’ve heard of it. Okay. I haven’t read it, but I’ve heard of it.
Brittney Richardson (40:31):
Oh my God, it is so good. So, okay, here’s the summary. Here’s one big core message I learned that just Right, you’ve got three elements to your potential success and you’ve got your education. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, you’ve got your skill, those two you can control. Absolutely. Right? Right. Then you have the third, which is chance. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, which is basically good luck, bad luck. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and sent lot of stories of like CEOs. I think Bill Gates partner died in a fluke accident. One in a million chance Bill Gates. One in a million chance that he was in the position at the right time to learn what he did with computers and grow the company. Right. It’s pure luck. Mm-hmm. So about two thirds of your success potentially is what you can control the other’s pure luck, and you need to factor for that. Mm-hmm. The other thing is card counting, if you’ve ever heard of that at the casinos.
Brittney Richardson (41:26):
Right. I don’t recommend gambling, but I’ll tell you this. There is a strategy to being able to, to somewhat predict when the cards are in your favor and when they’re not. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, that’s the only control you have over pure risk. Right? Sure. Pure life. So if you can read cards in life and kind of see, okay, odds are stacked in my favor in this situation, and I’m skilled and have knowledge, maybe I should double down on this and go for it. Hmm. And if you know, the odds are always gonna be in your favor that you’re gonna win. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Kristi Porter (41:59):
Okay. I love
Brittney Richardson (42:00):
It. It just blew my mind.
Kristi Porter (42:01):
Yeah. Well,
Brittney Richardson (42:02):
Good.
Kristi Porter (42:04):
I,
Luisa Garcia (42:04):
I’ll now I wanna read
Brittney Richardson (42:05):
It too.
Kristi Porter (42:05):
I know. Yeah. Yes. I’ll have to move that further up in my queue. <laugh>. No, that’s a good one. Thank you.
Luisa Garcia (42:13):
Yeah. Well, Brittany, since the first time I saw your videos, I thought this girl is literally the definition of logistics with purpose. So we are very glad to have you here. And I would like to know from your perspective, what does the phrase logistics with purpose means to you?
Brittney Richardson (42:34):
Hmm. I think it means to me like having a purpose behind what you do. Not only logistics, but in, I mean, any industry, right? Everybody’s driven by something and sometimes they’re the right motives. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, sometimes they aren’t. But I would, I really see that as finding your purpose in the industry that you’re in and sharing that with others. You know, it’s, there’s a reason we’re here, right? I mean, all of us, there’s a reason I’m in truck driving. I have a purpose. You guys have a purpose. And I just, that’s what I think of when I hear that it’s following your purpose. I
Kristi Porter (43:13):
Love that. We’ll hear as we wrap up right now, when this episode will release breast cancer awareness month. So we, here in the US we’ll see Pink everywhere. How can people find you? I know you’re sort of in your own little neck of the woods, so how can people find you to honk for pink or what should they look out for? Or if they don’t, they’re not able to drive down the road and honk. How can they participate in honk for Pink online?
Brittney Richardson (43:40):
Absolutely. We made it really simple Now. Good. Literally, you type in the words honk for pink, any platform we will come up at this point. So honk for pink and it, my, our link tree is on everything. Okay.
Kristi Porter (43:57):
Video
Brittney Richardson (43:57):
Descriptions, pin comments everywhere. So honk for pink, find our link tree. Everything’s there waiting for you.
Kristi Porter (44:04):
Awesome. Thank you. Definitely. If you see that pink truck on the road, then give it a honk.
Brittney Richardson (44:09):
Yes. Yeah. It scares some of our people on, uh, at some of road called. We’ll be out changing a tire. They’ll be out with us. Somebody ho go, go, go, go. They’re like to
Kristi Porter (44:22):
<laugh>.
Luisa Garcia (44:23):
Well, you luckily have you, you have a, a big drug that says what means that
Brittney Richardson (44:30):
Absolutely. They
Luisa Garcia (44:31):
Can have context <laugh>.
Brittney Richardson (44:33):
Yes. <laugh>.
Luisa Garcia (44:35):
And well, how can our listeners connect with you and of course, support other of your projects throughout the year?
Brittney Richardson (44:44):
Yeah. Easiest way is our link tree. So literally we have platforms that are under my name, Brittany Richardson, the Bree tv. You know, different ta, different at symbols. And the easiest way is just find hunk for pink. Okay. And come to our link tree. We’re very integrated. We have a core message. We make it simple for people to get on board. There’s links, people can donate. We’re working with KU Cancer Center here in Kansas City. Okay. So we’re really excited to do things with them. But yeah, there’s many ways people can get involved.
Kristi Porter (45:15):
Good. Well, thank you for making it easy For sure. And thank you for all you do. This has been so fun to chat with you. I will be driving through the Midwest in a few weeks and we’ll be looking for a pink semi on my way. But thank you so much for your time, all you’re doing to elevate the industry to support breast cancer awareness and the funding and research that goes with that. And for being a good human. Thanks for finding a way to help others. So we really appreciate your time here. And to everyone who’s listening or watching, thank you so much for joining us for another Logistics With Purpose episode. If you like this, then be sure to hit subscribe and we’ll see you next time and find Brie at Debris tv and everywhere else, just search Honk for Pink. All right. Thanks everybody. Thank you, Brittany.
Luisa Garcia (46:03):
Thank you. Thank you.
