Montoya Dunn’s time with Waste Pro isn’t just a career story – it’s a love story. Montoya has been with Waste Pro for nearly three years. Before joining Waste Pro, she drove school buses in Louisiana. She’s also driven everything from 18-wheelers to log trucks, which is what started her interest in this type of career. “My grandpa drove a log truck, and when I was young, I would go with him to prepare the logs on the back of the truck and I would watch him, and it was just so interesting to me,” she said.
Montoya was no stranger to the garbage industry when she joined Waste Pro in 2020 – she had driven dump trucks – but she said Waste Pro has been a totally different experience. “Waste Pro really cares about their customers. You become a part of their life,” she said. “Little kids see my big truck coming and they get so excited – it’s not just a job. I’ve made someone’s day just by dumping their garbage.”
The feeling that comes with that, she says, makes her always want to do her job better. When she started her career with Waste Pro, however, she wasn’t sure it would be a good fit, which she says is how a lot of women feel about the garbage industry. “It may look hard but until you try it, you’ll never know,” she said. “You might hear someone complain at a job like this, but you can’t go off of what someone else says. You have to experience it for yourself. I feel like the people I work with are my second family now.”
That family bond led to her volunteering to spend time away from her family to help out another Waste Pro division in need. During the summer, when the Ft. Pierce division experienced a shortage of drivers and needed help catching up on routes, Montoya offered to travel to Florida to help. “That’s my family so I wanted to do whatever I could to help my family,” she said. “Waste Pro’s motto is no can left behind, and I didn’t want to leave any customers behind either.”
It was challenging being away from her three daughters, she said, but she, fortunately, had relatives who were able to watch them and help her FaceTime them every day for the few months she was away. It helped, too, that while she was in Ft. Pierce, she met fellow Waste Pro driver of nearly 20 years, Gary Thompson, and fell in love. “I have a Waste Pro love story!” she said. “I did not expect that to happen, but it always seems to happen when you’re not looking. He really loves his job.”
The other highlight of her work there, she said, was simply being a part of a new team and a new community. She was always willing to do whatever was needed, she said, and when Waste Pro ads featuring her started airing in the area, she became somewhat of a celebrity among her customers. “I had some customers who recognized me and said I was a star!” she said.
Now permanently in Ft. Pierce, customers here and back home where she started in Baton Rouge have grown quite fond of Montoya, she has been constantly amazed at the appreciation they’ve shown her. “Some of them have snacks waiting for you or some kind of gesture just to show you’re appreciated; I have loved it all so much.”