Desiree Wood
Founder and President
REAL Women in Trucking (RWIT)
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter"
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Desiree's Story
Desiree is originally from Southern California, born in Los Angeles she lived at Venice Beach during the late 60's early 70's, later splitting time between divorced working class parents at Silver Strand Beach in Ventura County, Malibu and Humboldt County in Northern California. As a beach kid whose father was a commercial fisherman, Desiree grew up around big equipment, giant Diesel engines and hard work. She was a teenage runaway at 14 who became a Mother at 15. At the age of 21, she moved to Texas, then Hawaii and lived in Key West, Florida for 11 years before moving to Las Vegas to attend UNLV. She has two grown children and six grandchildren; Desiree began writing about her experiences as a single female entering trucking in 2008 on the "Ask the Trucker" blog. Her unedited story, "A Day in the Life of a Lady Trucker" became the basis of four Dan Rather Investigative reports into truck driver training. In 2026, she began revisiting and resharing her student truck driver story on Substack to include details she previously could not share about the ordeal. (Trucker Desiree on Substack).
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Following 3 years of trying to get the Women in Trucking Association to address rape taking place in truck driver training fleets that are their corporate sponsors, Desiree formed REAL Women in Trucking (RWIT) in 2010 as a protest group. In 2013, RWIT was recognized as a 501 (c)(6) trade association. She is also the Founder and President of Truckers Emergency Assistance Responders (T.E.A.R.).
Desiree is internationally recognized as a subject matter expert for her work advocating for truck drivers, truck parking, entry-level driver training and specifically women who are entering the industry.
Through her firsthand and boots on the ground experience, she provides insight to scholars, law firms, lawmakers, infrastructure planning firms, media outlets, movie and television productions the public and private sector on trucking issues.
She speaks to universities and at public sector forums to provide perspectives, support and leadership for legislative/public policy efforts on issues that affect truck drivers on issues such as hiring discrimination, deceptive recruiting, wage theft, unsafe training, employer driven debt through training repayment agreements and predatory lease purchase, sexual assault and sexual harassment and retention,
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She has been a licensed commercial motor vehicle driver since 2007 with over 1 million safe miles as an “over the road” truck driver in all lower 48 states. She was a grassroots organizer and project manager for the 2013 “Jason’s Law” driver survey.
Her commitment to ensuring safety in the industry runs deep to provide insight into the trucking industry.
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Her work featured in the feature length documentary “Driver” that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in the Spring of 2024, made its U.S. television and streaming premiere on Labor Day 2025 on PBS and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2026.
She has worked as a paid consultant on freight planning and NCHRP research topics, movie and television productions and she is a highly sought-after public speaker.
She champions for improvements in commercial motor vehicle training, ending sexual violence in the trucking workplace, discrimination, providing more safe truck parking, raising the standards in CDL training, fairly compensating truck drivers for all of their work and human trafficking awareness within the trucking industry.
Previous Appointments and Workgroups
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Florida Freight Advisory Committee
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Martin County Florida Transportation Committee
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Nevada Freight Advisory Committee
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US DOT FHWA Truck Parking Coalition
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US DOT Federal Motor Carrier Safety MCSAC Driver Subcommittee​
Current Appointments and Panels
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National Academies Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Transportation Research Board (TRB) - Freight Transportation Planning, Logistics and Modeling Committee AT012
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NCHRP 17-146 Panel Chair Guide for Integrating Commercial Vehicle Safety into State Freight and Safety Planning
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She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from University of Maryland University College and credits from the University of Nevada – Las Vegas College of Business and worked at Nevada Department of Transportation as a Freight Planner /Analyst.
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Expert Witness/Consultant
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Taylor Ring 1230 Rosecrans Ave. Suite 360 Manhattan Beach, CA 90266
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Solomon, Saltsman & Jamieson 3519 NE 15th Avenue, Suite 202 Portland, Oregon 97212
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Berokim & Duel P.C. 270 N. Canon Dr., Third Floor Beverly Hills, CA 90210
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Motion Picture - Paradise Highway
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​Fehr and Peers (Principal) NCHRP 08-141 Guide for Developing Truck Parking for Local Jurisdictions