Every life change has a starting point, and Shoshi Stern-Robbins’ goes like this: One year ago, she was working a corporate computer science job in Cambridge, Mass., creating software for hospital operating rooms. Her days didn’t exactly feel soulless, she says, but she wasn’t passionate about her projects either. The pandemic transition to working from home swiped her routine and made her work feel endless. Then, the tipping point: She lost a friend. She thought to herself, “Why am I doing anything in my life that makes me unhappy?”

Now, every Monday morning, Stern-Robbins unlocks the driver’s door of her 18-wheeler and climbs in for a week on the road. Upending countless norms, she is a 24-year-old, female, Jewish, queer, liberal trucker. While owning her identity in a career where she’s a minority is empowering, she’s not out to prove anything.

Instead, Stern-Robbins drives trucks because she can make a decent wage and be left alone with her thoughts. “I definitely feel a stigma of [not] having an office job,” she says. “[But] I’m paid enough that it wasn’t as ridiculous a career switch as one might initially think.”

When she mentions her path to becoming a trucker to acquaintances and relatives, she gets an amalgam of questions: Why are you doing this? Are you writing a book? Are you on a journey to find yourself? Her answer: “Nope, I am just driving trucks. There’s not more.”

Transporting carpet padding around the United States allows Stern-Robbins to use her time in a way she deems appropriate. During her driving days (which can extend up to 14 hours), she keeps up on her Mandarin with Chinese language podcasts (it was her major, along with computer science) and sings aloud to musical soundtracks. And when the week is over, she’s able to return to her life in Brooklyn, without the stress she used to carry from her previous employment. “It’s a lot less emails,” she says.

Curious what life on the road is like? Stern- Robbins sleeps in a cozy bunk in the back of the truck, with string lights overhead. For safety, she keeps mace and a small knife hidden away. When it’s time for a shower, she uses truck stop facilities (with shower rooms that lock and come with towels and toiletries). Assignments come on short notice — when she leaves her docking point in Bridgewater, N.J., on Mondays, she doesn’t know where she’ll go throughout the week. And, as she continues in her career, she’ll have more flexibility with her work/life balance. “I’m getting paid, and I’m enjoying my life right now,” she says.