Local trucker Denise Mootz is pictured during the recent filming of a commercial for bp’s Travel Centers of America.
Submitted photo
Denise Mootz, a truck driver who along with her husband is an owner of Charlie Mootz Trucking in Sardinia, was recently selected to participate in a national advertising campaign for bp’s Travel Centers of America (TA).
“A friend of mine that I graduated from high school with sent me an email – her son models for the Heyman Talent Agency – and they were looking for a female truck driver for bp America fuels and TA truck stops,” said Mootz, who also owns The Lake View Loft between Hillsboro and Leesburg. “I’ve never done anything like that, but she kept encouraging me, so I finally sent them something, and that’s how it started.”
Mootz said she worked on the advertisements from 7 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. on a day in early May at the TA in Walton, Kentucky.
“The Walton, Kentucky TA is one of the busiest truck stops in the country,” the former athletic director at Fairfield High School in Leesburg said. “They just recently remodeled and redid all of it, so they were kind of celebrating that, and bp is doing a campaign for female truck drivers as well, and the national marketing director liked my truck and the fact that I was a female driver, so the whole commercial was focused around their TA. It was filmed with another family visiting the TA and their interactions with me as a female truck driver.”
Mootz is not sure when or where the commercial will air, but the online advertisement for bp has already been released. “It’s on bp’s national website, and there are a couple pictures of myself and my truck,” she said.
Mootz said the advertisement will talk about safety and general information about bp and TA. “I’ve never done anything like this before, but it was a New York City production agency that was there,” she said.
“I have the pink and white truck, and they were looking for a female truck driver nationwide,” said Mootz. “They wanted professional pictures and things, but I don’t have anything like that, so I just sent them what I had, and the next thing you know they were contacting me.”
Reach John Hackley at 937-402-2571.
