How Twitter Got Him a Job

Meet Jason Jannetta: Speedy Transport’s in-house wellness motivator. You can follow him on Twitter at SpeedyWellness.

BRAMPTON, ON — When Jared Martin, the President of Speedy Transport, tweeted Jason Jannetta with an offer to meet, Jannetta thought it was just that.  A chance to talk.

Little did he know he was in for a big, surprise promotion.

The thing is, Janetta had taken to Twitter late last year after a huge lifestyle change. He had lost a lot of weight and wanted to motivate his fellow truckers to follow suit.

“I’d been driving for 20 years,” he says. “I’m 42 and I used to be a lot heavier than I am now. I woke up one day and said, ‘That’s enough.’”

Through much trial and some error, he managed to drop 80 lbs. in six months. En route, he gained a passion for healthy living and started tweeting with #fittrucker.  His motivational, health- and wellness-related tips and tweets scored him over 1,100 followers and caught the attention of Martin, an avid social-media advocate.

“He [Jannetta] was the guy who was pushing fitness in transportation and he was doing it publicly, which we didn’t have,” Martin says. “We wanted to combine driver training and wellness… because the thing you always hear is ‘nobody has time’. But he found a way to do small things to make a big difference.”

Martin tweeted Jannetta in.

Jannetta accepted the invitation to visit Speedy’s office, except he was unprepared for what he found. There, on the desk, was a contract.

“It was quite amazing. I thought, ‘I can’t believe I’m here,’” Jannetta says. “I was driving at the Beer Store delivering beer and now I’m furthering myself. I’m going to become a personal trainer and a health-and-wellness nutrition specialist.”

Martin explains he’s had this vision for two years;  a vision of combining fitness and trucking to make the industry more appealing to the new generation.

“We’re known to be a blue-collar industry with a bunch of drivers and executives who are out of shape– I don’t want that image. I don’t want an unhealthy industry and I don’t want an unhealthy trucking company,” Martin says.

Speedy is building a new facility in Brockville, ON.,  with a full gym. It’ll be a halfway point between Toronto and Montreal,  ideal for drivers who’d like to stop for a wellness break. In the meantime, they’re also partnering up with a few gyms and of course, now they have Jannetta, an in-house  advisor who answers questions and motivates Speedy staff, at no charge to them.

“It’s contagious positive energy and I can already see walking around the building the difference he’s made,” Martin says.

And as Jannetta puts it: “It worked out for me and I know for a fact that it can work out for anyone else in the industry. It doesn’t matter how busy you are, you can find time to eat clean. It’s easier than people think.” 


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