Lisa Kelly (born December 8, 1980) is an American trucker who has been featured on the

History channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

reality television series ''

Ice Road Truckers ''Ice Road Truckers'' (commercially abbreviated ''IRT'') is a reality television series that premiered on History Channel, on June 17, 2007. It features the activities of drivers who operate trucks on seasonal routes crossing frozen lakes and ...

'' and its spinoff series '' IRT: Deadliest Roads''. For seasons 3–5 and 7–11, ''Ice Road Truckers'' followed Kelly and her fellow drivers as they make their way along the icy

Dalton Highway The James W. Dalton Highway, usually referred to as the Dalton Highway (and signed as Alaska Route 11), is a road in Alaska. It begins at the Elliott Highway, north of Fairbanks, and ends at Deadhorse (an unincorporated community within the ...

from

Fairbanks Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. Fairbanks is the largest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest in the state. The 2020 Census put the po ...

Prudhoe Bay Prudhoe Bay is a census-designated place (CDP) located in North Slope Borough in the U.S. state of Alaska. As of the 2010 census, the population of the CDP was 2,174 people, up from just five residents in the 2000 census; however, at any give ...

, frequently hauling "oversized" loads. Kelly has also made appearances in Seasons 1–2 of ''IRT: Deadliest Roads''. Kelly was notable as the only female trucker featured in the series until Maya Sieber joined in Season 5, and Stephanie "Steph" Custance in season 10. Originally from

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the List of municipalities in Mi ...

, she now resides in

Wasilla Wasilla ( Dena'ina: ''Benteh'') is a city in Matanuska-Susitna Borough, United States and the fourth-largest city in Alaska. It is located on the northern point of Cook Inlet in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley of the southcentral part of the st ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

. She has a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel under her name.

Early life

Kelly was born on December 8, 1980, in

Grand Rapids Grand Rapids is a city and county seat of Kent County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 198,917 which ranks it as the second most-populated city in the state after Detroit. Grand Rapids is the ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

. Her family moved to a mini farm in Sterling,

, when she was six years old. She returned to Grand Rapids for college, attending

Cornerstone University Cornerstone University is a private Christian university in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Cornerstone University has undergraduate and graduate programs, two seminaries (Grand Rapids Theological Seminary and Asia Biblical Theological Seminary based in ...

for one semester before deciding it was not for her.

Career

Prior to her appointment as an Ice Road Trucker, Kelly worked as a school bus driver and

motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...

rider. She also worked at gas stations, and a pizza company and was a state

freestyle motocross Freestyle motocross (also known as FMX) is a variation on the sport of motocross in which motorcycle riders attempt to impress judges with jumps and stunts. The two main types of freestyle events are: *Big air (also known as "best trick"), in whi ...

champion. After these ventures, she decided to settle on a long term-career and trained as a trucker because it 'looked interesting'. She subsequently got a job driving for Carlile Transportation, an Alaskan haulage company. Being a woman, Kelly says this was a difficult achievement. "I had to work twice as hard. I had to pull my weight and everybody else's and get the job done as fast, or faster."''Lisa Kelly cuts pretty figure on "Ice Road Truckers"''
Daily News (New York), May 28, 2009. Retrieved March 11, 2012.

TV appearances

Kelly is one of the truckers for the History Channel's ''Ice Road Truckers''. She first appeared in season 3 (Seasons 1 and 2 had been set in Canada) in 2009, as the only woman.''Lisa Kelly – Ice Road Trucker''
, North Shore Journal, June 21, 2009. Retrieved March 11, 2012. She subsequently took part in seasons 4 and 5 (early 2010—early 2011) and further seasons (2013—2017), with the exception of the series season 6 (2012). Journalist Kaye O'Hara claims that Kelly was offered a contract to return to the show for season six, but she declined it. According to the show's producer, Kelly was taking a year off. In 2013, Kelly quit Carlile and returned to the show's season 7, which returned to run only in Canada, working now for Polar Industries, company owned by Mark Kohaykewych who also appeared on the series. Starting with season 9 (2015), she worked with Darrell Ward in a self-owned trucking company for 2 years (seasons 9-10) before his death in 2016. Kelly ran the company on her own during early 2017 (season 11) before the arrival of Darrel's younger son, Reno Ward, with whom she ran the company until the end of the season. She also took part in the History Channel's ''Ice Road Truckers: Deadliest Roads'' in later 2010, along with Rick Yemm, Dave Redmon and Alex Debogorski, trucking in the Himalayas in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

during the first season, being the only one to conquer the journey through the Himalaya's mountain range. In a later season (late 2011), she drove on the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

' Death Road (Yungas Road) in Bolivia and southern Peru roads, along with part of the first season cast (Rick and Dave) and newcomers Hugh Rowland, G.W. Boles, Augustin "Tino" Rodriguez and Timothy "Tim" R. Zickuhr. In 2023, Kelly also provided the intro voiceover for
Alaskan Road Truckers
', a PC game on

Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...

Personal life

In 2008, Lisa married Traves Kelly, after dating him for four years. He is full

Aleut The Aleuts ( ; russian: Алеуты, Aleuty) are the indigenous people of the Aleutian Islands, which are located between the North Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea. Both the Aleut people and the islands are politically divided between the U ...

Native Alaskan Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entertai ...

and an avid

dirtbike The six main types of motorcycles are generally recognized as ''standard'', ''cruiser'', ''touring'', ''sports'', ''off-road'', and ''dual-purpose''. ''Sport touring'' is sometimes recognized as a seventh category or integrated with the ''touring' ...

r. They have no children. Her hobbies include

horse riding Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, Driving (horse), driving, and Equestrian vaulting, vaulting ...

skydiving Parachuting, including also skydiving, is a method of transiting from a high point in the atmosphere to the surface of Earth with the aid of gravity, involving the control of speed during the descent using a parachute or parachutes. For ...

hang gliding Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

, and

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...

. She owns a miniature horse named Rocky and a cat named Tanzi.

References

External links

*
Interview with Esquire magazine (June 11, 2010)

Interview with North Shore Journal (June 21, 2009)

Interview with The Hindu (February 20, 2012)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Lisa American truck drivers Living people People from Wasilla, Alaska 1980 births People from Grand Rapids, Michigan Cornerstone University alumni