Girteka Drivers

Elena shares that as a child, she went crazy for the song “Truck Driver” and dreamed of becoming a driver. In the early 2000s, her father would respond, “What truck driver? That’s a man’s profession.” But Elena did not give up on that dream.

A path full of obstacles

When Elena’s children grew up, she decided to get a CE driver’s license. And they really helped her. “When I moved to Lithuania with three children, two suitcases and a dog,” she recalls. At first, she worked as a cleaning lady, but when she learned through TikTok that Girteka was hiring women, she decided that she should try her best on the roads of Europe. Elena took a traineeship and has been working at Girteka for two and a half years. She even invited four people who continue to work for the company.

Fear of changes

Before becoming a truck driver, Elena worked in a bank in her hometown of Dnipro for almost 20 years. She progressed from a regular manager to a position in the headquarters.

“I was always interested in how people work in the main office. When I got there, I became bored — it wasn’t what I expected,” she shares.

Then she had a turning point: she began to search for herself and her calling. Tired of constant communication with people, Elena realized that she needed time alone, which she found in the profession of truck driving: “All the puzzle pieces fell into place.”
Changing careers was very scary. “I thought my life would end, that there was no other profession besides banking. But then I decided: close your eyes, take a step, and it turns out that now is better than it was before.”

The importance of personal space

Elena explains that living with three children often left her lacking personal space, and at her previous job, she felt like a hamster on a wheel. Now her life looks like this: “On vacation, I spend all my time with my children, and when I’m at work, those 2–3 months are dedicated to myself.”
Initially, Elena took up knitting and even made four pairs of socks with the Girteka logo for her children. Now her focus is on language learning. She watches movies in English to improve her level and is learning Lithuanian. The language is challenging, but with the help of a tutor and self-study, she has reached an A2 level and can already communicate with doctors. She wants to set a good example for her children while staying in Lithuania.

Challenging but interesting

During our conversation, Elena is preparing for another route — challenging but interesting. She will drive along the northern coast of Spain to Portugal. “It’s hard for trucks to pass there; it’s not a highway, but the views are stunning,” she says.

When she manages to carve out a minute, she stops at the beach to have coffee. “For two and a half years, I wondered when I would get tired of this profession. But new routes and places always surprise with their beauty.”

On the road, she has another mission: her daughter, an architecture student in Vilnius, sometimes asks her to photograph interesting buildings in cities — for example, in Valencia or Rotterdam — to later use these photos for her models.

Another of Elena’s passions is flower cultivation. “We work with two types of plants that we brought from Europe 15 years ago, and we are well known in Ukraine. My mother grows flowers, while I handle internet marketing and organize shipping. Now I’m trying to revive the plant collection in Lithuania.”