Sunny Roberts, meetings and events manager for the Truckload Carriers Association (TCA), didn’t take the same road to the trucking industry as many have before her. Instead, the Vermont native danced her way into the industry.
Although she studied psychology and sociology at the University of Vermont, Roberts found that her real passion was dancing.
“I’ve been a dancer my whole life. After college I moved to Massachusetts and became the Managing Director of two major dance studios in the Greater Boston area,” she said. “From there, I decided to open my own dance studio, which I owned for about five years.”
Many of the youngsters Roberts taught were active in competitions. After attending numerous competition events with her students, Roberts felt there could be major improvements in the way these events were being run — both logistically and in terms of production quality.
That’s when she made the endeavor to open her own touring dance competition. She brought all production in-house. She and her team did everything, from building stages to designing, setting up and running their own lighting and audio.
“I toured the U.S., hosting competitions for dancers to compete for scholarships and awards in front of a panel of judges who were renowned professionals in the dance industry, from Broadway stars to Radio City Rockettes and dancers for mega stars like Beyonce,” she explained. “We provided education to dancers and opportunities for a future in dance.”
After operating the business for more than a decade, Roberts says she wanted a change. She moved to Virginia where, she eventually went on to work for CarFax as a meetings and events manager before moving on to manage a popular live events venue in the downtown D.C.
“That was fun, but it was a lot of work and a lot of late hours,” she said. “It was not great for work-life balance. I had been looking for something that seemed like a good fit — and then I saw the meetings and events manager position at TCA.”
Roberts has nothing but praise for the TCA team, including her boss, Diane Gleason, senior director of meetings and events. With multiple meetings throughout the year for TCA members, Roberts is hands-on for all.
“I’m learning a lot from Diane, particularly on the contract side of meeting planning,” she said.
She is also heavily involved with the TCA Profitability Program (TPP), a member-exclusive performance improvement solution designed to help fleets thrive.
“I manage the meetings side of TPP. There are quite a few meetings throughout the year across the U.S. that are planned for these smaller groups. I’m planning 12 of those meetings right now,” she said.
While her role at TCA is her first experience working with an association, Roberts says she enjoys the work and the team atmosphere.
“I think it’s cool that we are in one office together and everyone knows each other’s names and what everyone does,” she said. “It’s a real team atmosphere here. Everyone’s supportive and has everyone’s back. It’s a different environment for me than in the past.”
There’s also less travel involved — but there’s enough to keep her life interesting.
“I enjoy the schedule. I love the fact that I have my life back and a typical schedule where I get home at a normal hour and can enjoy time with my pets and my man,” she said.
For those who are not TCA members, Roberts hopes that they will join after learning of the benefits, especially when it comes to the meetings and events.
“The networking and the camaraderie is a huge part of the events,” Roberts said. “A major component of is being able to get together with other carriers who share the same issues. A lot of our meetings have breakout sessions or group discussions and people have the chance to get together and talk about what they are facing and get ideas of how to manage challenges.”
In addition to serving the membership of TCA, Roberts is active with Farm Aid, a nonprofit music festival founded by Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp, to support America’s family farmers. For the past eight years, she’s served as the organization’s VIP and hospitality manager.
It was there she met her significant other, Justin, who works as the culinary director for Farm Aid. “Farm Aid’s mission is to ‘build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America,’” she said.
“Taking the role at TCA has been sort of a full-circle moment: Our members literally carry the promise of Farm Aid forward,” she explained. “Farmers grow our food, but without our carriers, the food wouldn’t make it to the family tables.
“Together, they are the backbone of our food system,” she continued. “It’s pretty cool to have those two parts of my world overlap in such a meaningful way, and I’m proud to be part of both.”
In her spare time, Roberts and Justin enjoy spending time with their rescue dog, Mabel, and rescue kitten, Puddle.
“We love to go to wineries and breweries. We just love having a good time,” she said with a laugh.
The pair also own their own business, Two Bucks a Smoke, a clothing brand geared for fishers and people who love to camp and be outdoors.
While her job at TCA can be busy and demanding, it’s an atmosphere in which Roberts thrives.
“My role and the role of the meetings department is to work hard behind the scenes to make sure everything goes off smoothly and successfully for our members,” she said.
“They may not see everything that goes into it — which is lots a lot of work and preparation. But the ultimate goal is for our members to leave the event with a valuable takeaway and have had a great time while they’re there,” she concluded.
This story originally appeared in the November/December 2025 edition of Truckload Authority, the official publication of the Truckload Carriers Association.
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
