Uber: Empowering Women Drivers

Nephresha is a Los Angeles based cook whose training came from watching and imitating the culinary styles of her diverse family, rooted in Eastern European, Italian, Southern US, and Caribbean cooking. Her mother’s family lived off of the land in Wisconsin, hunting, fishing, gardening, picking wild food, jarring and preserving. Her Grandmother in Miami had a lifelong career of cooking for families and even selling plates of food out of her tiny kitchen. Much of her upbringing was also spent with her Italian aunt, where she learned about Italian cooking and the love that is expressed through feeding someone. Since moving to Los Angeles in 1999 Nephresha has studied the art of cooking health-conscious food and has since created a unique style of cooking. Though her food is always comforting and well spiced, she focuses on keeping flavors balanced and healthful. As the success of her business grows she would like to use that as a platform to educate as many people as possible about cooking budget-friendly, delicious, healthy food.

After needing to find part-time work to help pay the bills, while focusing on her business, a friend recommended she drive for Uber – which was the perfect fit for her. “Uber is 100% flexible, which is everything for me.  If I get hired for lessons or gigs I don’t have to do any fancy footwork to take time off from my part time work.” she states. The flexibility of it all is everything to her – which is so important to her small business. Naphresa shares how she is able to build out her days exactly as she wants them to be – some weeks driving more hours and than others – all with the freedom and flexibility she needs. “I feel like my business comes first. And because I Uber independently, I don’t have co-worker drama or things to think about when I’m not out there driving.” she shares. It’s a low stress job that allows her to focus her priorities where she wants them to be. I asked Nephresa what she loves most about her driving experience – and besides being able to drive with a “gorgeous, diverse landscape and architecture [in LA],” she loves helping people get where they need to go safely. She genuinely enjoys the customer service aspect  – getting to meet interesting people and have interesting conversations. If a customer prefers a chat-free ride, “that’s fine too. I got my smooth jams playing in the car and we just ride.” She does remember her first driving experience and she was terrified!  She remembers her first passengers were from the bay area and were headed out to a bar for the evening – they ended up being so sweet and friendly after learning it was her first ride ever. “I’m a recovering perfectionist, so I wanted so badly to be great at it immediately.”  Nephresha says. She worried about getting strangers places safely and making sure they were comfortable. As time went on, Nephresha says she ” honed all the small nuances that make the job easier and the passengers happy.” Nephresha is making it in her city with her experience with Uber – and like my experience, it’s a mutually beneficial experience for all. Uber is helping riders get where they need to go in the easiest possible way and enhancing the lives of their driver partners with flexibility and earning potential. I think this is such an exciting possibility for other business-minded, independent women, like Nephresha.

If you’re interested in learning more about Uber – you can head here!