Women Road Warriors is a lively talk show featuring experts and celebrity guests on various topics that empower women. It aims to “power women on the road to success.” The show is humorous, entertaining, educational, and sometimes quirky with lively banter between Shelley Johnson, Kathy Tuccaro, and their guests. Women Road Warriors is ranked by Podcast Tonight as one of the best podcasts for women. FeedSpot has rated it among the Top 100 Women Podcasts worldwide and in the 35 Best Women Empowerment Podcasts worldwide.
The Women Road Warriors is a fun and informative podcast that empowers women worldwide. Let’s delve into your background. Shelley, tell us about your background and what led you to join forces with Kathy.
We hope we are empowering all women with our efforts. I have a performance, broadcasting, journalism, multimedia and marketing background. Those endeavours have taken me in many directions with many experiences. As a woman in some roles that were not “traditionally” female, I encountered pushback, which galvanized me to want to change that. I have been a fierce advocate for women since I was very young. I come from a long line of strong women, with one of them even fighting for the right to vote as a suffragist. I was taught that voting was an obligation, not a privilege and it was a right women should exercise regularly. Registering to vote when I was 18 was a rite of passage I was proud to exercise. Giving a voice to women and a place for them to grow has been important to me. I have always wanted to help more people. This show is a natural iteration of that belief structure. Women Road Warriors evolved organically and really is an example of synchronicity at its best. Kathy was a guest on another talk show I was hosting in Houston, and we had an immediate synergy. I wanted to do a show targeted at women, so I approached her about being a co-host, and she said yes. I could not have been more thrilled. She is a true dynamo and advocate for people. We both share the same goals of empowering women and making a difference on this planet. We are doing our job if we can reach just one listener with our messages and information to improve their lives.
Kathy, you drive the world’s biggest truck. Tell us about your experience in a career in a male-dominated industry. What led you to this career?
I was a nurse for 13 years and ended up having a mental health breakdown from a lifetime of unaddressed trauma and abuse. I was an alcoholic and lost everything I owned, including my career, thus landing on the streets homeless, standing beside a man named Toothless Joe. He happily slapped me on the back and said, “This is life! Live it! Love it!” When he did that, I saw clearly for the first time in decades, and although I had nothing but the clothes on my back, I made a decision that I would do whatever it took to get away from that guy! I stomped my foot and replied, “This is not my life!” With that, I turned around and went to the hospital to detox from the alcohol and go to a Women’s Treatment Center. It was a year-long program where I had to unlearn what had been brainwashed into me of how worthless I was, then had to relearn how awesome I really am, but the hardest part was accepting it. From there I knew I needed a new career, but how do you do that at the age of 42? I didn’t know what I liked or didn’t like because all I knew was nursing. I ended up going to a career planning workshop to find out what I wanted to be when I grew up, and their aptitude test said I was aligned with becoming a Heavy Equipment Operator! I laughed so hard I just about fell off my chair! I said, “You have got to be joking. I am a woman, I’m 42 years old, I don’t even like equipment, I’m not mechanically inclined and besides…it’s a man’s job! Your test is wrong!” I gave her back the sheet, and the lady looked at me over the top of her glasses and replied, “If only you would believe in yourself a little bit, Missy, you would see the test is right!”
She sent me to a non-profit organization here in Canada called Women Building Futures, which offers programs to get women into non-traditional trades sponsored by big companies. ExxonMobil was sponsoring a 12-week heavy equipment operator program, and although 158 women applied, they were only taking 16. I went through all the necessary hoops and ultimately was chosen for the program. It turns out the facilitator of the career planning workshop was right because I loved it! Every piece of equipment I tried; I was good at. Out of the 16 women who took the 12-week course, only 11 were hired, and I was one of them. That was 11 years ago and today I operate some of the world’s largest mining equipment such as the 24M Motor Grader, the D11 Bulldozer, a 52,000-gallon water truck and the 797 Haul truck which carries 400 tons of dirt on its back. I will soon begin training on the biggest rubber tyre dozer. What a great career this has been, and I tell ladies that this is men’s best-kept secret!
Shelley shares the significance of the name “Women Road Warriors.” Tell us about your show and some of the celebrity guests who have inspired you.
We all have a road to travel through life. Finding the correct GPS and guideposts along the way is crucial to staying on track and reaching our true potential and goals. Too often, women are forced into unexpected detours that knock them off course with no one to get them back on track. The name Women Road Warriors signifies that journey for women. We are a women’s empowerment talk show that “powers women on their road to success.” We want to be the vanguards and champions of women’s empowerment. We aim to inspire today’s women to achieve things they had not thought possible. We do that with a large variety of guests with a mission and a message. No weekly topic is the same. We are a free-wheeling talk show for inspiration, education and entertainment. Because our show is conversational with no specific questions ahead of time, it allows us to uncover information and the essence of the guest that you may not hear in other shows. We cover tough topics, serious topics as well as entertaining and informative topics. We feature guests who have been trailblazers. We discuss everything from health, mental health, finances, investing, career and business along with difficult topics like domestic abuse, drug addiction, and human trafficking.
We speak with celebrities and trailblazers about the roads they have taken, the obstacles they encountered as women and how they have been champions for women. Weekly episodes feature heartfelt and spontaneous discussions. Nothing is cookie-cutter. Every interview is a new, in-depth engagement and learning experience. We aim to motivate women with the information we cover to keep them targeted and inspired. We like to think of our show as a haven of knowledge and a beacon of empowerment to advance women in the 21st Century. We have interviewed a number of wonderful celebrities, each with a unique tale to tell. As Kathy mentioned, Valerie Bertinelli and Ruta Lee were very dynamic guests I was also honoured to interview. They inspired me in different ways. Valerie brought a powerful message to women about loving themselves just the way they are in our interview. Shedding society’s expectations and judgments was part of her message. That is so important. Ruta Lee talked about her life in Hollywood and all the incredible dynamos she worked with through many decades. I was very impressed by the fact she too, was an advocate who was not afraid to stand up. She was able to get her grandmother released from a Siberian internment camp after personally speaking with the then-Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. That took some serious might most people don’t have. Ruta has been a philanthropist during her life which I also admire.
Shelley, how is your show inspiring lives globally? Who will be on your show in honour of International Women’s Day?
I believe our show touches our listeners in unique and personal ways. We cover topics that are relevant to women everywhere. We feature a wide variety of guests with many topics and information that offer hope and inspiration. Our show is designed to offer new possibilities and perspectives to help women get motivated to make changes not only in their lives but in the lives of others. If just one of our episodes resonates with one listener to make a positive change, we have done our job. We often take on very difficult topics to help combat the marginalization of women which exists worldwide at different levels. International Women’s Day (IWD) is so very important. It isn’t talked about enough despite the fact the whole concept began in the early 20th Century to celebrate the achievements of women with a push for gender equality. We regularly feature many women who have been huge advocates in this area.
We are still completing the guest roster for this landmark day. We have one very special and appropriate guest to commemorate International Women’s Day we are featuring. She is a San Francisco attorney, negotiator and author S. Lucia Kanter St. Amour. Lucia is the Vice President Emeritus of United Nations Women USA. They are the arm of the U.N. dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. Her interview is very appropriate since the United Nations made IWD mainstream when it gave the day global significance by adopting it in the mid-1970s. I understand that the United Nations’ theme for IWD this year is Invest in Women: Accelerate Progress. I believe in that completely. Investing in women is an endowment that will perpetuate positive change for generations of families worldwide. We are excited Lucia is coming back to help commemorate this day for women. We interviewed her last year. I was captivated by her dynamic energy and knowledge. She will be a marvellous guest with great perspectives on IWD, how U.N. Women are making a difference and the change that still needs to be made worldwide.
Women Road Warriors is available on all the major podcast distribution channels and women-road-warriors.captivate.fm
Article edited by Jules Lavalee