The Women In Trucking Association recently announced April Crysel as its December 2024 Member of the Month.
Crysel is a professional driver for Chestnut Enterprises, a company in Wilmington, North Carolina that has been in the container repair industry since 1977. She is also a member of the WIT Class of 2024 Image Team.
At the age of 45, after her factory job was outsourced to another country, Crysel began her career in the trucking industry at Maverick Transportation where she hauled specialized flatbed, delivering glass to 48 states and Canada.
From there, she became a driver trainer/driver support team for Ryder System, Inc. In this role, she drove box truck, flatbed, doubles, refrigerated tanker, containers and dump beds.
She then settled into working for an owner-operator hauling containers out of the ports. Additionally, Crysel tried her hand as a safety manager and dispatcher at Global Transportation Management for two years, enjoying helping other drivers get started in their careers. She thoroughly enjoyed her time in the office but ultimately missed driving and the open road.
Now, 10 years later, Crysel is working at Chestnut Enterprises, a small family-owned company with a husband-and-wife team. She said she loves the people she works for as they are flexible in and out of the port and there is a great camaraderie.
“Everyone gets along, and everybody helps everybody,” says Crysel. “You don’t see that as much nowadays and that’s why I don’t want to leave.”
Crysel discovered WIT when she came across the Facebook page in 2015. Shortly after, Sandy Long became her mentor, and she became part of the mentoring Facebook page. She is passionate about helping and supporting other women saying, “being able to help and connect with other women so they know they have a support system here for them is so fulfilling.”
One of Crysel’s favorite parts of being involved with WIT and on the Image Team is attending the Accelerate! Conference & Expo. She has made many lifelong friendships throughout the years and enjoys watching women come together and empower each other.
Off the road, Crysel has boy and girl twins who are grown and have children of their own giving her three grandchildren.
