Lisa Kelly is an American trucker and television personality born on December 8, 1980 in Grand Rapids, Michigan USA. She is known for appearing on the History Channel’s “Ice Road Truckers” and its spin-off “Deadliest Roads.”
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Early life
Lisa Kelly’s childhood was spent in Sterling, Alaska after her family moved there when she was six years old. Quickly adjusting to the new way of life on her family’s mini-farm, she learned to ride a horse and became interested in dirt bikes from an early age. The most important knowledge she gained during this time came from her father: “I was raised on a farm and my father was good at teaching the work ethic, so I always do my best.”
After graduating from high school, Lisa returned to her hometown of Michigan to attend Cornerstone University.
Career
First steps
Although Lisa enjoyed her time at college, she never completed her studies due to her new interest in outdoor activities. She told Esquire, “I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life.” I had gone to college and I liked school. I started delivering pizza and decided I liked being out of the building, so I started driving a school bus to get my license.
Back in Alaska, Lisa decided her dream job was driving trucks, eventually trying to get hired by various haulage companies, though her efforts were unsuccessful as she was denied the job because that she was a “delicate-looking” woman.
It wasn’t until she contacted the transport company Carlile Transportation that she got her first opportunity with trucks: “A lot of companies didn’t want to hire me, but Carlile was like, ‘Yeah, we give you a chance”. They did not look at what was outside. (…) ‘In fact, I had never gotten into a truck before working at Carlile and I announced before they even hired me that’s what I wanted to do.’
As a woman in a male-dominated field of work, recognition from her peers as a driver was not easy for Lisa: “I had to work twice as hard. I had to pull my weight and everyone else’s and get the job done as fast, or faster”.
Lacking a commercial driver’s license, Lisa spent her early years working at Carlile as a courier.
However, she never lost her motivation to become a truck driver and practiced driving heavy trucks on her company property. By the time she officially got her license, she started riding local roads and then started on ice roads, becoming an expert in the field.
Ice Road Truckers
With several years of trucking experience, Lisa Kelly joined Ice Road Truckers in 2009 at the suggestion of her trucking company: “They (producers) were trying people in the company and the boss told me recommended. He thought I would be an interesting character. I know they had to really fight to get a girl on the show, and I ended up doing well, so they let other girls in.
This History Channel show has been active since 2007 and follows the life on the road of various truckers as they drive on dangerous ice-covered roads in Alaska and Canada. Lisa Kelly’s first appearance on the show was in its third season and became a fan favorite for years to come.
During her time on “Ice Road Truckers”, Lisa teamed up with senior trucker and driving partner Darrell Ward to co-found Polar Industries. However, Ward tragically died in an accident in August 2016 when the plane he was flying crashed near an airport in Montana.
In 2018, Lisa Kelly opened up about her feelings over Ward’s death and no longer working alongside him: “It was sad. It didn’t really hit me until I went back there (to the show) and didn’t have my partner.
It also put a lot of pressure on me to get things done because Darrell usually took care of a lot of things like organizing loads and hauling loads over really long routes. I was only able to take one, but he ran a lot harder than me, so he was able to go there and back really fast while I was maybe still sleeping somewhere on the side of the road.
Lisa also had problems running Polar Industries on her own. However, she got help from someone who was exceptionally close to Ward: “I asked Reno, his son, to help me. It was really good to work with him too. The first year he was there, he was kind of a young punk. And the second time he came, he had really grown up a lot and was super knowledgeable and a lot nicer. It was fun working with him the second time around.
Deadliest Roads
In 2011, Lisa Kelly faced new career challenges when she appeared in the “Deadliest Roads” spin-off “Ice Road Truckers”, which was also produced and aired on the History Channel. During the two seasons of the show, the truckers took many dangerous routes in various countries. For Lisa, this adventure turned out to be a whole new experience: “We rode in India, Bolivia and Peru. It was really scary, but really fun, and it challenged me. I thought it was cool that you could see what people are doing in other countries. So I thought it was more interesting than Ice Roads, personally. India was my first time out of the country besides going to Canada. I was dropped in the middle of India, thinking “sacred culture shock”.
Come see me tomorrow at the Diesel fest!
Posted by Lisa Kelly on Thursday June 13th, 2019
Private life
Wedding
In 2004, Lisa Kelly met motorcycle mechanic Traves Kelly while looking for a Kawasaki 125 motorcycle to buy. Because of their shared love of bikes, the couple hit it off and dated for four years until they married in 2008. Traves, who now works as a plumber and is originally from the Aleutians , is open about Lisa’s career: understanding husband. He gives me the freedom to go away for so many months, and that’s amazing.”
Currently, the couple owns a two-acre property in Wasilla, Alaska.
Interests
Apart from her love for trucking, Lisa Kelly has also discovered many hobbies for herself, such as snowboarding, hang gliding and is a skilled bicycle racer.
She is also an animal lover, owning a mini-horse and a full-sized horse named Sky, both of which live in her small barn at home. Lisa also revealed that she rescues horses: ‘Mostly from people who don’t have the resources to care for them or understand the medical issues they have,’ she told Diesel. Spec.
Lisa also adopted a dog while filming ‘Deadliest Roads’ in India, although she couldn’t keep it when she arrived in the US: “He (the dog) came back to Hollywood with my producer. There are so many dogs on the streets in India, hungry, and I felt that if I adopted a dog, I would do my part. So I rescued a little puppy and kept him in the truck almost all season.
I couldn’t take him home because I was in an apartment, but my producer fell in love with him.
Lisa rescued a dog in Peru and a cat in Canada as well.
Net value
Although ice road trucking is extremely dangerous work, it is economically very rewarding. On average, a truck driver in this field earns a salary of $250,000.
Because of this, Lisa Kelly’s estimated net worth is $600,000 which is a result of her work as an ice road trucker as well as her earnings from her appearance on “Ice Road Truckers”.
RT A #trucker who breathes ice #LisaKelly #trucking pic.twitter.com/mfeo8nKJq6 = https://t.co/3KMjsk2z2O
— CF Trucking Solution (@Truck_Financing) February 6, 2016
Appearance
Lisa Kelly is a gorgeous woman of white ethnicity. Her hair is naturally blond and her eyes are green. Although her height and weight are unknown, she has a remarkably slender figure.
Interesting facts
She was considered a “tomboy” growing up.
She doesn’t like big cities, preferring to live in small towns: “I’m a country girl at heart.”
Her horse Sky is actually the horse she grew up with. Although it was sold by her family when Lisa went to college, she retrieved it and bought it back.
