Building the Future of Trucking: Tenstreet’s Tools and Talent Pipeline with Christy Choice

In the latest episode featuring Christy Choice from Tenstreet, Christy shared her journey from healthcare software to the trucking industry, highlighting her passion for the field's regulation and continuous learning opportunities. She discussed Tenstreet's comprehensive fleet management solutions that support the entire driver lifecycle, along with exciting new features introduced at their annual user conference. Christy also emphasized Tenstreet's commitment to industry growth through initiatives like the Truck School Network and the Driver Pulse app, which facilitate connections between schools and prospective drivers. Furthermore, she highlighted the importance of promoting trucking careers to younger generations, advocating for clear career paths and resources that can attract Gen Z talent to the industry. Schools are encouraged to contact Christy for access to Tenstreet's free dashboard, while young individuals exploring trucking careers should connect with the Next Generation in Trucking for valuable insights and opportunities.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/christy-choice-ab608249/
christy.choice@tenstreet.com
https://www.tenstreet.com/

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The Next Generation in Trucking Association is a non-profit trade association who is engaging and training the next generation of trucking industry professionals by partnering with high schools, community/technical colleges and private schools to connect to and launch training programs around North America.

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Contact us at:  info@nextgentruckers.org

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Transcript

Before we hit the road on today's podcast, I want to take a moment to thank some of our sponsors. Without your support, what we do day in and day out would not be possible. And Those are Act 1 Performance, Food Group, Fast Port and Long Haul Trucking Lytics. All Dominion Freight Lines, Republic Services, Rail Transportation, Ryder Samba Safety, the Truck Parking Club and Universal Technical Institute, or uti. Hey, welcome to NGT Talks. I am so happy to have a friend on Christy who is always so fun and so energetic. So, Christy, welcome to the show. 

Well, good morning, Lindsay. I'm so happy to be on NGT Talks today. We're going to have a great conversation. Can't wait. 

I know. And I always see you at conferences. You're always so full of energy. You're a joy to be around. 10 street is so lucky to have you. So how in the world did you get into trucking? 

Well, first of all, thank you for those kind words. It's funny that my middle name is Joy, so I often. Exactly that. I don't have a choice, right, because it's my name. But I kind of fell into trucking, Lindsay. I did many years ago. I was in software, in more of the healthcare space, and I needed a change of pace. I needed a change of life. And so I moved my family, my sons, and I forgot from another city in Arizona to Oklahoma. I had some connections, some family here, and so we moved to Oklahoma and I started interviewing at places, right? And I was like, look, I moved because I needed a change in my life. And so why would I go back into the same industry? Like, let's take this experience I have and see if it's relatable in other industries. 

So I found 10 street started working there about 30 days after I moved to Oklahoma, and I started learning so much about the industry, and it was like, hey, let me just bet on myself in a new industry, in a new place, in a new space. And thankfully, it's worked out really well. And I love it now. 

You love it. And how do you like moving from Arizona to Oklahoma? Like, was that a big change? 

Oh, it was. It was quite the change. I feel like Oklahomans think that they're Midwestern, but it's a little more Southern inspired here. But it's been a really pleasant change over the last almost eight years. 

Oh, wow. So you've been there for eight years. And what do you think about trucking? I mean, you've had experience in health care and why? What makes you stay? 

Well, I loved 10 Street I love the role that I had at the time when I first started with 10 street and I, as I started learning more about the products, I was like, hold on. There's a whole industry that informs how we make decisions on the products and, you know, what's going on in the market. And I need to know more about the industry. And the more I learn, the more I become even, you know, more fascinated with the industry. And so I've loved my growth, right, Where I'm just like, hey, just teach me stuff, right? Every single day I'm going to learn something different, something new. I love the fact that it's so regulated and that we get to respond in a really a way that solves people's problems every single day. 

So I'm just falling in love with it and I never expected to have this journey, but here we are. 

Yeah. You know, that's such an interesting point. I do think trucking is great for people who love to be lifelong learners because there's so much to learn about the trucking industry. But with all of the other industries that are connected to trucking, you learn about so much more than just the supply chain and trucking. And I mean, there's so much to it and it's so fun for people like us that just love to learn. 

Yes, yes. And once you see how everything is connected, like you said with supply chain, logistics, operations, actually trucking and the adjacent businesses to it is, it is really easy to stay busy. Right. Because it's like, hey, I can always learn something different and take on a new challenge within the organizations that you're part of. So it's been really great. 

Absolutely. So for those who might not be familiar with 10 street, tell me a little bit about 10 street and what you all do. 

Well, so 10 street is a fleet management software, right. We are like from hired and even before hired till terminated, the full lifecycle of the driver. It is a software platform that helps carriers to manage marketing, recruiting operations. Let's see, what else? Orientation and onboarding. Safety Compliance, Engagement, Fuel efficiency. We have so many different solutions and we pride ourselves on being that interconnected place that one stop shop for carriers to go to so they can manage the life cycles of their drivers. Yeah. 

And you all were just coming back from a month or two ago of your conference, your 10th street user conference. 

Yes. 

What is that like? And why should people attend this conference? 

Lindsay, it is sheer pandemonium, right? It is hundreds of people gathered together at a really beautiful place, really passionate about our industry. To learn about the new 10 street releases and to meet the 10 street folks they've been working with all year. So we have so many wonderful clients who come every single year. It's always in Las Vegas at the beautiful Bellagio hotel. And we do it up, we do it big, and we save a lot of our big releases for our user conference every year. So needless to say, I am still tired, but I'm even more excited about some of the new tools that we released. So. 

Yeah. And so it's a little bit of fun, a little bit of learning and mix that all together. Right. What are some of the new products you guys have come out with recently? 

So one of the really big releases is called Call Me Now. Right. And it's a way to connect drivers and recruiters even more easily. There's some updates to Exchange, which is the network that we use to verify employment. Some really big updates there. Safety management. Oh, my gosh. We are harnessing the power of AI to help with driver qualification files like we've never done before. So there's DQF readiness and then there's also a new driver qualification file view that we're really excited about. I think we released about 25 updates. There's like, we called the. There's a big six. Right. So six really big tools. And then the other ones are just updates, configuration changes that we've made to make everyone's lives a little bit easier. So happy about it. 

And that's what it's all about. Right? You're there to help make your customers lives easier. 

Exactly. 

And so fun to sell a product when it's actually helping people. 

Yes. And one of the things I don't think a lot of folks know, a lot of the things that we release at user conference aren't any additional cost. Right. They're just enhancements and upgrades to the system that they've already been using. And so it's really great that we don't have to say, oh, hey, here's this new shiny tool. You're going to love it. And it's going to cost this much? No, there's a lot that clients can adopt without having to pay anymore. So we're really excited and really proud of that as well. 

Yeah. And so you all really put a focus on technology and making sure that you are up to date with all the latest technologies. How do you go about that? Why is it so important to stay ahead of the game? 

Oh, my goodness. So as a premier software in our industry, we have to stay up to date with what's going on. And that's actually one of the reasons why I have my role where I go to conferences, I'm talking to clients, I'm doing site visits where I'm asking questions about their operations and what items they feel like they need to be even more successful and more efficient. Because if we don't, you know, continue to improve, you're just going to get stagnant and stale. And that's never a place where we want to be. And so lots of market research to determine, you know, what works, how it scales. But we really want to be responses to changes that are happening in the industry. And so that makes for very exciting days for a lot of us over at 10th Street. 

Yeah. And you travel a lot, like you said. You go to conferences. You all support so many associations and nonprofits. So you're not just about, hey, we just want to make money, but you really want to support the industry. Tell me what your all's mindset is behind being such a supportive organization to the industry. 

Well, we think that it's not just an opportunity, but it's an obligation. Right. There are a lot of organizations that are doing excellent work for the transportation and the trucking industry, just like next generation in trucking. Right. And so we support lots of nonprofits because it's about the long game for us. We want to see the industry win. And honestly, we care about what our clients care about. Right. And so when they bring organizations to us, you know, we evaluate them, we look at them, and we figure out ways that we can support. And so I'm very proud of that. But we have a truck school network that I hope we get to talk about in a little bit. 

But the truck school network, we have other organizations like reads across America that we support, Very heavy on veteran readiness and supporting those initiatives as well. So a lot to support, but we think that it's our duty. 

Yeah. And I was reminded that we needed to have a conversation, because I was talking with one of our school members in Wisconsin who said that he met you at the national association of publicly funded truck driving schools and that you have this great free product for schools. Tell me a little bit about this product. 

Oh, my goodness. And I wish more people knew about the truck school network at 10th Street. We partner with schools and training programs to help provide a free 10th street dashboard to them, because it helps in the long run. Right. We want to see the industry grow and flourish. And for a school that may have very limited resources, we don't want to make our system cost prohibitive. Right. We need those new, those CDL students, those new drivers coming into the industry to understand the differences in completing a DOT compliant application and become familiar with Driver Pulse, which is our driver facing mobile app that's free to drivers. Right. And so by helping schools, we're helping the industry. So it's about the long game. It's not about, you know, trying to figure out how we can add an additional revenue stream. 

It's really like, hey, this is the right thing to do. And so I'm really proud to be working with the Truck School Network. And so I do attend the national association of Publicly Funded Truck Driving Schools conferences and we love to support them. 

They're such a great group of people. I love to go to that conference. So, okay, I'm a student driver, right. I'm learning to get my CDL. I'm really excited. Why should I go into the 10th street network? They have my information in there versus maybe doing a paper application or an application that just goes to one company. 

Well, Lindsey, that's a really great question. And so the benefit of a driver having Driver Pulse is that it stays with them through their career. It is a central place for drivers to go to manage their career. And so they're going to go to that school or that CDL training center and then hopefully they're going to help place that accept students so they can start getting some experience, some exposure in the industry. But ultimately there will come a time when that driver wants to make a transition. And instead of scouring all these job boards and all this complicated postings that they might find online, they can start by just opening up their Driver Pulse app, doing a search and finding carriers that align with what they're looking for. And so again, it stays with them beyond just their time in CDL school. 

And anytime they need to manage their career or even communic of the carrier that they're hired with, they can do that all in Driver Pulse. 

Yeah. And from my understanding too, they're not filling out an application from scratch, right? It's, it's a smart application. So it says, Oh, I started May 10th in this year as opposed to like when, what was that day? Is that right? 

Oh, that is so correct. Yes. And so there is a storage feature, right. Where a driver is always in control of their data, always. And so they will auto fill and kind of store their own profile and they can auto populate their data onto the next carriers app that they want to apply to. But you're Right. It saves them lots of time from having to remember when they were here, when they were there, what specific dates those were. That's really important because those carriers are going to need to do employment verifications that are going to need to run background reports. Right. And so the accuracy of that data is really paramount. 

And so having a place where they can store it and easily apply to the next carrier, manage their career, and manage the communications between them and their, you know, their employer is super important. 

So if you had a message to give to schools and they weren't really familiar with your platform, but they think it sounds like a good idea, what would that message be and how do they reach out to you? 

All that is a really great question. So let me think for a second. Number one, you want to be technology focused and technology forward. So lean into a network that's going to help your drivers through the life cycle of their career. Right. That's the first thing. I find that sometimes in our industry we can kind of get set in a specific way of doing things. So just try it out. We've made the network free to start, and so it's really easy to adopt. Low cost of adoption and barrier to entry is super low. So they can reach out to me. Christy.choicenstreet.com or go to our website, 10street.com to learn more about all of our solutions, including our truck school network. 

Yeah, and that is so important. And why do you think it's important to expose young people to the trucking industry? You all are a supporter of next gen. You all support the, is it the tca, the ata? They're. They're young leader programs. I mean, you guys are doing so much. Why do you think it's important to invest in young people and young people new to the industry, young people who are leaders in the industry, but really focusing on that young emerging leader because. 

Our industry deserves longevity. Right? And I think some time ago we all decided that we would go to these conferences and we would see a room full of aging adults. Right? And we need so much talent in our industry. We need drivers, we need technicians. We need people to understand how beneficial and how helpful, you know, a career in trucking is. And so again, it's about the long game for us at 10th Street. And so we love to support organizations that align with that. Just like you said, we support the lead ATA program through the American Trucking Associations. And TCA has a TCA elevate program. They're all about helping, you know, young people, new leaders in this industry to grow, thrive, and really take on the challenge that is trucking. And so we love to support those. 

Those kind of classes, but also for next gen and trucking. Right. It's really about how early can we get this message to folks, to young people, so that they understand the benefits of having a career in trucking. Right. And a lot of times they just didn't know it existed. You just see a truck and it's like, hey, I've just always seen trucks. I've just always seen, you know, I'm going down the highway, and they're just always there. But they don't understand that they could be in that seat. Right. And we want them to know that they can be in that seat. 

Yeah. I think there was a study that came out recently that about 30%, 6% of juniors are making career decisions. And then by the time you're a senior, it's 43% are making career decisions. So we have to build programs within schools. We have to influence these young people to make career decisions and be knowledgeable about trucking. So that can be in their wheelhouse of their thought process of, hey, this might be a great career. I was talking with one of my board members and he said, hey, I met two my neighbors walking down the street. He knew him, right? They were 18, getting ready to graduate from high school. They don't want to go to college, but they don't know what's out there for them. 

And I'm telling you can start loading trucks and make really good money, get benefits, start on your retirement package, and then work your way up maybe to be a diesel mechanic or get your CDL through the company. A lot of times companies will pay for you to do that, but they just don't know that opportunities are out there. It's so important to really help young people see. 

Yeah. Because here's the thing. Trucking isn't just a second chance opportunity. Right. Hey, I tried this other industry. It didn't work. And I'm looking for a second or even third or fourth career. So I'm going to go get a CDL and I'm going to drive. Drive a truck. Right. Like, I think we need to, like, squash that idea. Although that is some driver's reality. We still have to do our. Our part with letting young folks know about career paths in trucking. Right. Because if they're making decisions as a junior and as a senior, they're probably not at the age where they can drive a truck yet. We know that there's The. Anyway, that's a whole nother conversation. But there are things that they can do at a trucking company in preparation for that next step of getting their cdl. 

And we're super excited about that. Right. Just getting the word out and making sure that we're aligned. And we support organizations like yours that are doing a really great work of advocacy, but also like, you know, helping to give education to young people. 

Yeah. And that boots on the ground. And it's really interesting to me that we're losing people to other industries. That's our biggest competition is plumbing and H vac and other opportunities. So we have to give the same opportunities within our industry. So we're not losing great young people to other industries, and that's really who we're losing them to. 

Yeah. Yep. For sure. For sure. Now, I have two sons. My older son is 20, and he's not a really great driver. Right. Let me be honest. But my younger son, he's almost 18, and he's at that place where he's making career decisions. And I'm like, he's always been fascinated with anything on wheels. Right. Any type of motor transportation has always been his favorite. So I think even as a parent, you can identify things within your children that could say, you know what, hey, you might need to go this path. Right. This might be for you, hey, go to college if you know you're a college type of person. I know my older son isn't, so he's taken a different direction. But again, I think it's just about exposing them to what the possibilities are and help them push them in that direction. 

And one thing we have on our website is we have the job behaviors app assessment. And you can go on our website and take it if you're a student. And it will assess if you have the behavioral traits to make a good truck driver who's safe on the road, which in turn will make you more retained in the industry, more likely to be retained. And so this is an assessment that we give free to our students with our partnership with job behaviors so that we can get more young people into the industry. But we don't want just somebody that isn't sure what they want to do and they're going to do it and get a low score. We want the safest possible drivers. Right. 

So maybe that younger son of yours might want to take this assessment and see if being a driver is a good fit for him. 

Absolutely. Absolutely. And I've always been so impressed with all of the resources that you all at next Generation and trucking have available to folks a lot of times for free. Right. These are resources that are needed to help people understand the industry and decide if the career in trucking is for them. And so anyway, I just applaud you for that. Thanks for sharing that. 

I mean, every day we're trying and trying to work on the mission. It's all about the mission here at NextGen. And it's a great mission. And one of the things I like for companies that even see is that when you're going in and talking to students about careers or when you're educating educators and people who influence education about trucking, you're really not just helping yourself, you're really helping connect a young person to a job that can support their family and really get them on the right path to success. So it's not just about you, it's about the community.

Oh, I love it. I love it. I just got goosebumps. I, I just, I love it because you're right. Everyone's out here trying to survive and being able to have a career that you're proud of to help support your family is a really big deal for everyone. Right. And so trucking is such a special industry and I love everything that you all are doing. 

Oh, thank you. So one closing up call to action. What advice would you give to young people, especially Gen Z, who are maybe considering a career in trucking? 

Yeah, well, the best piece of advice I can say is do your research. Right. And lean on your resources. There's so many resources, especially that next gen and trucking has. And so tap someone's shoulder, phone a friend, work your resources, but learn as much as you can about the industry, the benefits of it, the trucking lifestyle, the different lanes. Right. Ask questions about what it looks like to be in trucking and what career paths are available. Right. Because if you're a younger person, you are probably wanting to know how you can maximize your career over time. And that's the question to ask, right? Hey, what does it look like now? But what's the potential for this career? 

Yeah, and that's the same thing if you're an employer. You need to be mapping out career paths for young people because they're very entrepreneurial, they want to be successful. And so they want to see how can you bring them from point A up to point B to C. And, and they really want to grow in their career. 

They do, they do. I think everyone wants to feel that sense of accomplishment. But, and like work, life balance is A buzzword, but. Right. That understanding of what the potential is. Right. Because, like, my. My youngest son, yeah, I definitely see him as an owner operator. Right. But he, you know, he's his own boss in a lot of ways. And so again, even understanding what that career path looks like, hey, I can do this, get some experience, and then this is what it could become anyway. Yes. 

Yeah. Well, we're working on some owner operator curriculum for students to learn about the potential to be their own boss and be an owner operator. You know, when they get into their career. Now, we don't suggest it as the first job, their first driving job. Right. We want them to get that experience, but then with this curriculum, they'll know how to do that and they can get started on it on a great career path. And we work with a lot of companies that are 100% owner operators, and some, you know, half of their drivers are owner operators and half are company drivers. So really trying to educate young people. And it's interesting, at FFA last year, we had two owner operators working in our booth. 

And some of these young people, they know what they want to do and they want to be an owner operator. And they come and talk to us and we're like, hey, you meet Dave, who's an owner operator. And they would sit there and talk for an hour. 

And I am sure it was so. 

Great just to make that connection. And so I want to say, if you're a young person and you want to learn more about the trucking industry, reach out to next gen trucking. And we want to connect you to employers in your area that could just talk to you about jobs and their potential jobs. So, Christy, we're going to see you at lots of conferences, right? You've got probably a full year of conferences just on your schedule from week to week. 

Yes, I do. Yes, I do. And I'm super excited about it. And so again, we attend the TCA conferences, ATA State Trucking association annual conferences, and just a little bit of everything in between. 

Everything in between. 

You'll catch me around. 

So how can people reach you Where. What are some of your platforms you're on? 

Oh, for sure. Well, connect with me on LinkedIn. For sure. I love detailing all my travels and where I'm going and doing little recaps here and there. But also, if you want to learn more about 10 street, please visit 10street.com. 

Thank you so much for being on the show and we'll see you soon. 

Oh, my goodness. Thanks so much for having me, Lindsay. This has been a blast. Talk soon.