How Suburban’s ‘Trucks Are for Girls’ Event Could Fuel the Workforce

Monserrat Haney couldn’t keep her eyes off the shiny propane delivery bobtail parked outside Suburban Propane’s corporate headquarters last October for the Trucks Are for Girls: Fueling the Future event. Once the Girl Scout climbed inside the cab, she also couldn’t keep her hands off the truck’s air horn.

“It was great,” the 6-year-old happily told BPN.

For the next two hours, the horn became something of an unofficial soundtrack as 53 Girl Scouts — ages 5 to 18 — rotated through an innovative career-exploration program designed to introduce them not only to trucking, but also to the operations, marketing, finance, legal and leadership roles essential to one of the nation’s largest propane marketers.

Kelly Hennefeld, Suburban Propane’s director of compensation and talent management, recalled that the girls were so eager to try the horn that it went off about “500 times.”

“Good thing we don’t have any neighbors close to us,” joked Hennefeld, a former member of the Brownie Girl Scout Troop.

‘Trucks Are for Girls’

Trucks Are for Girls: Fueling the Future was built as a partnership between Suburban Propane, the Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey and the Women in Trucking Association. The nontraditional partnership sought solutions to a traditional problem that industries have been facing for years. Innovation and growth are often stalled by persistent talent shortages, an aging workforce and a lingering perception problem about who belongs behind the wheel.

“Trucking in general has typically been a male-populated industry,” said Jenny Fall, Women in Trucking Association’s director of driver engagement. Women currently make up nearly 9.5% of professional drivers in the United States, according to the Women in Trucking Association’s 2024-25 WIT Index. That figure has become a headline statistic in an industry trying to widen the pipeline. The idea is not just to fill seats, but to expand opportunity and modernize how young people see work.

Suburban Propane has partnered with Women in Trucking for nearly 20 years in a push to broaden the appeal of transportation roles.

Designing a ‘Female-Friendly’ Workplace

Suburban Propane — serving 1 million customers in 42 states — was named a top company for women employment in transportation by Women in Trucking. In 2024, the propane marketer said women make up nearly one-third of its overall workforce — approximately 1,180 women across its national footprint.

“We are honored to be included in the Women in Trucking’s list of the top companies for women to work in transportation,” said Nandini Sankara, a Suburban Propane spokesperson.

This recognition reflects what Women in Trucking has emphasized in its research: Companies that want to recruit and retain more women need to address practical issues — from culture and advancement to scheduling and safety — not just recruitment messaging.

That message hit home in the Suburban Propane/Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey collaboration. Sandra Kenoff, president and CEO of Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey, explained, “Programs like this work because girls can see a path.”

“It’s that concept of ‘if you see it, you can be it,’” Kenoff continued. “Young women don’t necessarily consider this type of career.”

During a recent episode of ONNJ’s Mornings with Ken Rosato, Suburban Propane president and CEO Michael Stivala explained that inviting the Girl Scouts into the corporate headquarters was not intended to sell a particular job. Stivala told the veteran New York City news anchor turned web-based news reporter that the goal was to show the sheer variety of roles that keep the national energy company running. Stivala wanted to let young people imagine themselves inside the evolving world of energy, serving home, commercial and agricultural customers.

“My team had a great time with it … it was great for me to welcome so many people into the building,” said Stivala, who has been Suburban’s president and CEO since 2014.

New recruitment strategies are likely to lead to competitive advantages in the marketplace and the community.

“Suburban Propane is committed to building and maintaining an inclusive workforce in all aspects of its operations and supporting career development throughout the organization,” added Sankara.

Company leaders realize the most effective way to shift public perceptions is to start sooner than the typical job fair — before stereotypes harden and while curiosity still leads. This progressive and out-of-the-box thinking becomes a “win” for all involved.

Far From Child’s Play

On Oct. 15, 2025, this new recruitment model began at the company’s corporate headquarters in northern New Jersey. A two-hour, after-school experiential event was designed to move beyond photo ops, ribbon cuttings and congratulatory news releases. The goal was a highly curated, behind-the-scenes interaction with a modern workplace.

The event included Women in Trucking’s WITney Educational Trailer, an immersive experience that included a realistic driving simulator and short sessions about personal branding, as well as insight into other professional careers within Suburban Propane. The schedule allowed for plenty of time to ask questions.

The day was preceded by “months and months and months of planning,” Hennefeld recalled.

In the end, she estimated the planning took months to build a schedule of “rotations” that could keep a wide range of ages — from kindergarteners to high school students — engaged.

Members of the Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey — the 11th-largest Girl Scout Council in the country — also learned about logistics, the environmental benefits of propane and renewable energy, and the logistics of running a company like Suburban. The girls had a schedule and participated in each session in the rotation.

The girls made personal connections with real people behind the jobs. As an added bonus, they saw Stivala step out from behind his desk and actively participate in the program throughout the building.

During his introductory remarks, Stivala made the comparison between the organizations, explaining that both the Girl Scout organization and Suburban Propane have been serving customers and communities for a century. In both cases, he explained that seeking growth in new ways is a recipe for avoiding stagnation.

WITney Interactive Trailer

Spending time inside the WITney trailer was also a big hit. The girls took computer-based quizzes and explored different parts of trucking and transportation careers.

“Women in Trucking brought this huge simulator … that gave the girls the opportunity to get behind the wheel of a tractor trailer and feel what it was like … to have that much power and weight behind you,” Stivala explained.

To capture the excitement of the moment, parents and employees snapped photos and selfies that quickly got posted to social media platforms.

A Workforce Pipeline

In his interview with newscaster Rosato, Stivala described watching the faces at the event as priceless. The interview touched on the idea that college attendance need not be the single definition of success. Instead, conversations about careers at home and in high schools should also involve descriptions of trades, logistics and hands-on jobs that provide a living without crushing college debt.

Women in Trucking’s Jenny Fall described programs like Suburban’s invitation to the Girl Scouts as a way to see trucking with a much wider lens. “They see dad or grandpa on the route, and they don’t necessarily see us.”

WIT’s approach is to increase points of contact — in schools and at public events — so trucking becomes visible as a modern career that can connect to technology, mechanics and problem-solving.

“It’s really a way for us to create that awareness,” Fall said.

Why Girl Scouts Got on Board

Girl Scouts’ Kennoff seeks to shift both the skills and the mindset of her members and public perception of her organization. She told BPN that her organization is preparing girls for a changing economy — not just through badges and campfires, but through positive exposure to real workplaces.

As Girl Scouts broadens its programming beyond the most familiar images of the organization, Kenoff said the mission remains the same: building confidence.

“We’re known very well for cookies, crafts and camp, and we want to make sure that we’re known for other aspects of our mission, which are to build girls of courage, confidence and character who make the world a better place.”

Kenoff said the opportunity to attend workshops with Women in Trucking and Suburban Propane offers “a nontraditional opportunity for girls in short, varied sessions with tactile learning that aligns well with how kids learn best.”

Stivala described the event as a way to blend the company’s work with an iconic organization that girls already understand. “The Girl Scouts may be famous for their cookies, but they’re really about building confident, capable leaders,” he said. “Our goal was to make the day engaging and to demonstrate how imagination and purpose come together in the work we do.”

The Families’ Experiences

Monserrat’s mother, Evangeline Gomez Haney, said that both she and her daughter walked into the building not really knowing what Suburban Propane was — or why a fuel company headquarters would be the setting for a Girl Scout event.

Propane by itself may not be an appealing topic to those 5- to 18-year-olds. They may understand that homes and businesses use propane for heating, cooking and cleaning, but it becomes a different story when the fuel is presented as part of an environmentally friendly solution. Then, renewable energy becomes a hot topic with the Girl Scouts.

The corporate headquarters quickly turned into an indoor-outdoor classroom session — not just about propane, but about the range of jobs inside a company that delivers energy across the country. For example, Suburban’s Hennefeld explained she came to the energy industry from investment banking — of course starting first as a Girl Scout Brownie.

Outside the WIT trailer, Monserrat’s mother spoke with a female driver. “That was really impressive for me as a mother because, again, it was like meeting a ‘unicorn.’ I’ve never met a woman who’s been in this type of field before in my entire life.”

The most powerful moments for parents came with the realization that being a truck driver was less like a stereotype and more like a person with a real story. JoLynn Kelly, Women in Trucking’s volunteer driver, told the girls that trucking provided a living for her family and that she had traveled through 48 different states.

“I spoke to the driver … and she had the best time,” Fall said. “They had so many good questions for her.”

Who Is Safer Behind the Wheel?

Women in Trucking Association’s own research reveals that women are actually safer drivers. Other sources also find that female truck drivers are 14% less likely to be involved in accidents when compared to male counterparts.

This “enhances safety and reduces costs associated with accidents and insurance,” according to an article posted on aaafreight.com. Business Insider reported in 2018 that women were also less likely to quit their jobs.

SuburbanCares Leads the Way

The afternoon of innovative learning was made possible by SuburbanCares, a corporate umbrella program that “focuses on community service, charity partnerships and supporting local organizations.”

“It involves employee volunteerism for food drives, disaster relief with the American Red Cross and veteran support, aiming to strengthen community connections and foster a positive corporate culture,” according to Suburban’s website.

A Key Question

Could putting a six-year-old at the controls of a WIT driving simulator help the industry reach those goals? That’s the vision: that all event participants could help drive business, innovation and individual careers. Thanks to this partnership, long-term workforce development and filling the void of drivers is clearly a two-way street.

For a moment, though, Montserrat Haney hit a speed bump. As a first grader, her feet could barely reach the control pedals. “I had to stretch it,” she said.

The event’s defining moment for Suburban’s Hennefeld came when she paused amid the logistics of the event and noticed the emotional impact in real time.

“I just stopped for a minute, standing outside. A little girl looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘This is the best day of my life.’”

All Roads Lead Back to Cookies

It did not take long for the conversation with Monserrat to turn back to cookies. Her favorite cookie is the S’more.

When asked if her daughter had her sights set on selling cookies to Suburban Propane employees, her mom laughed. “She sells everyone cookies.”

“Well, if you give her the time of day,” she proudly proclaimed. 

BPN confirmed that Hennefeld and Stivala share Samoas as their favorite Girl Scout cookies.

Looking to the Future

The career stories for the 53 Girl Scouts who visited Suburban Propane are far from written. One day, Monserrat Haney may pull up at Suburban Propane headquarters with a tractor trailer loaded full of cookies.

If she does, she will most certainly hit the air horn as a tribute to the road that got her there.