Carrollton, Mo.- Owner-Operators United Inc. [OOU] announced today two new staff writers had joined the association.

“We are very pleased that these two ladies have agreed to work for the betterment of both the association and the trucking industry.” – Dan Little – President OOU

Donna Smith and Desiree Wood have both taken staff writer jobs with the OOU. Members and non-members alike will enjoy reading topics they post.

Here is a bio on each of the Ladies,

Donna is a native New Yorker now living in Dunnellon, Florida. She has a
degree in Medical Technology and has worked many years in Industrial
Research: Biotechnology Division in Tarrytown, NY, where she received a
patent for one of her various projects…
Donna became concerned with the many problems of the trucking industry in
2001 when she and Allen started their moving company in Dunnellon, Fl
She now devotes her research to the problems and issues within the
industry with her husband Allen Smith of “Ask the Trucker“and “Truth About Trucking”

Allen and Donna host the well know Blog Talk Radio Show, Truth About
Trucking “Live” where they discuss the most important and controversial
issues existing within the trucking industry today. They’re known for the
phrase, ” Raising the Standards of the Trucking Industry”

Desiree ,
Most of you know her from “Ask the Trucker” where she wrote what she refers to as her “student trucker horror story” called: “A Day in the Life of a Lady Trucker”  The popularity of her story led to the introduction on Twitter as @TruckerDesiree. She later began to blog as a way to consolidate her ideas from other projects on her personal site “Trucker Desiree” and “REAL Women In Trucking” , she also maintains a facebook fan page with current trucking news for both men and women called “REAL Women Truckers “.

Her story has become the basis of 4 Dan Rather Investigative Reports into the trucking industry. The episodes can be downloaded from iTunes for $1.99.

The titles are as follows: “Queen of the Road“, “Truck Talk“, “Mind Your Loan Business” & “Haul or High Water”

She will also appear in upcoming documentaries such as a workplace bullying piece called “There Ought to be a Law” (link takes you to sneak peak of raw sound bytes at a trucking convention)

The following are quotes from Desiree Wood,

“I’m new to trucking but not new to life’s struggles. My Mission is to help others by sharing information. My initial concern was student truckers, primarily women who have had violence acted upon them during their student phase and simply quit because they are made to feel ashamed or responsible.

Over the course of my writing,  many people have contacted me on multiple topics that spurred my interest to become more involved. Trucking Safety, Truckers Rights, Green Trucking, Animal Welfare, Homelessness, Human Trafficking are just some of the serious topics I intend to discuss

I am a lover of history, travel, animals and learning, learning, learning.

Due to my driving schedule I am not always able to write. Much of my original student trucker horror story was written on my PDA, one letter at a time. Generally I do not have my laptop accessible so I have learned to accept the imperfections writing in this manner and I embrace my typos and my new no-frills lifestyle as an “Over the Road” Truck Driver.

Trucker Desiree with Donna Smith at Willie's Place for filming of Dan Rather Series Part II "Truck Talk"