Hot pink Brazilian truck driver racks up 2 million followers transporting fruit

This female truck driver has onlookers tickled pink. 

Sheila Rose Marchiori has racked up over 2 million followers on Instagram documenting her exploits as a Brazilian lorry driver, transporting fruits and vegetables across the country in her bright pink Scania truck. The 38-year-old, who goes by Sheila Bellaver on social media, says her lifelong dream has been to inspire other women to pursue the profession.

Her custom hot pink Scania “represents me the milestone of a winning woman who came from nowhere, from the countryside, and today has her own things” she told wire service Newsflash. “Yes it is marketing,” she admitted of her flashily painted home on wheels (it’s fully equipped with a kitchen, a DVD player-equipped TV, a fridge and other makings of a home), “but it is also a symbol of women in a very masculine world.”

Being a lady trucker influencer has helped Marchiori further profit off her stereotype-breaking image, and today she makes more money maintaining her YouTube channel and other platforms than she does shipping veggies — despite trucking being the harder of the two. 

“I don’t sleep,” said Marchiori, who has worked as a trucker for over a decade. “People who transport fruit and vegetables only sleep when they arrive. It’s been 11 years of sleeping well two nights a week and look, your body gets used to it.”

In that time, the single mom of four (with twins Vitor and Vinicius, 21; Gabriely, 20; and Bernardo, 4) has traversed more than 70% of Brazil and made countless contacts along the way. “I have many perks because of friends,” she said, explaining that they’ll often bring her food and take care of her when she’s in town. 

“I’m not here to fight. I’m here to make history.”

Sheila Bellaver

This way, she’s rarely alone on her journeys — her daughter, Gabriely, also travels with her, helping her mom work. 

The freedom to drive across the country is almost a second life for Marchiori, whose first entailed getting “married as a child” and running a home and raising children. Her oldest are 21-year-old twins, Vitor and Vinicius, and her youngest, Bernardo, is just 4 years old. 

When she’s not parenting her children or driving food to its next destination, Marchiori likes to primp her hair and nails. Her appearance attracts both a lot of attention and haters online, but “I’m not here to fight,” she says of nasty commenters. “I’m here to make history.”