00:06 You’re listening to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport and thank you for joining us for this brand new drivers of the year series. We hope you enjoy these bonus episodes and maybe we’ll see you in the winter circle real soon with a fat check in hand. And some of these drivers will be stopping by the office for some festivities, photo ops, and you know that fat check. Now, this is one of course our drivers richly deserve for all they do for Norton Transport. Let’s go.

00:50 Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. And each of you that joins us each week in this space knows that this is a venue where we lift up, we elevate and celebrate the drivers for all they do for this country, for the economy, and most specifically for Norton Transport. Wouldn’t be in business without them obvious there. And they do such a fine job and we just want to take some time to appreciate them. And this time around we’re taking a step into what we’re calling bonus episodes of our drivers of the year. Now there are a number of drivers of the year and inside the company. Of course we have 1500 drivers and of those we have handpicked 12 drivers and we’re very pleased to have with us in person Malik Beverly. Malik is our latest nonCDL driver of the year. Malik, how’s it feel?

01:44 Honestly, it just feels amazing to like know all the hard work and dedication that I put into driving every week. And it kind of unreal. Honestly, it really was an unreal feeling when I got the call. And honestly, I actually drove past when they called me. So, I was like two hours. And I had actually thought about stopping in that day when I found out, but I told myself I was like, “No, I’m going to keep going.” And when they called me, I was already two hours away and I was like, “Dang, I want to turn around.”

02:15 And there was a good reason to turn around, but first, let’s back up. And what was your reaction or walk us through the call? How’d the call go?

02:22 So I was driving and I received a phone call and I at first I thought I did something wrong and I was like I was kind of nervous to answer the phone. So when I asked the opponent, it was like, “Hello you’ve been named driver, one of the our drivers of the year.” And I was like, “What?” I was like, “For real?” I was like, “Oh my gosh.” I was like, “You know, I’ve been working so hard as and I honestly I’m not going to say I needed the recognition, but it felt good to know that I work for a company that is willing to give you recognition for the hard work that you put in.”

02:57 That’s not always the case out there in the big bad world. You don’t get that recognition in a lot of places. And we like to recognize those that do go above and beyond. And what is it within you internally—

03:09 That pushes you to go above and beyond?

03:13 Well, that’s a good question. For the most part, it’s my family. I make sure that they have a place to stay and a place to eat and also that they don’t have to worry about anything. My key is I have now have—

03:30 My I have my one son that is here and then I have another one on the way. So that pushes me a lot harder to even go harder to even make sure I everything is straight as far as like bills and everything that my new son needs and that that’s what pushes me to go hard.

03:47 Now you said you got one on the way. How far away?

03:50 We are at six months.

03:52 Okay.

03:53 So come summertime—

03:55 Yeah. There’ll be another one in the Beverly family.

03:57 July 4th.

03:59 Oh, that’s the due date.

04:00 July 4th is due date.

04:02 Wow, that’s awesome. Have you come up with a name yet?

04:04 Oh, yeah. His name is Micaia.

04:06 Micaia. Okay, that’s cool.

04:08 Now, did you know coming in addition to the recognition that there would be a little jingle, little change, little bucks in your pocket attached to it?

04:21 No, I didn’t. I really didn’t. I actually never worked for a company that gives a bonus for during the recognition. So, honestly, it made me really happy.

04:32 Yeah. Thousand bucks makes people happy. I mean, when you get that that kind of recognition for a job well done. And just stepping in here to the podcast booth with us here at Norton Transport is Sierra Baker. She is dispatch lead on your team there. And it was her team that nominated you. And first, Malik, how does it feel to know that your team backs you that much?

04:56 It feels amazing to know that I work for a team that actually knows who I am. And you know, Sierra is a great dispatcher and she is my favorite dispatcher and the only person I will ever work for as a dispatcher. And she really just has that warm, welcoming vibe to her that makes you just want to continue working. Well, Sierra, what is it about Malik that stood out when you guys had so many on your team that you could have chosen, but for your nonCDL driver of the year, it was Malik. What stands out?

05:28 What stands out to me about Malik is how reliable he is and how he never complains. He’s resourceful when it comes to looking for travel into loads or travel out. He’s just a great like allaround person. He’s never in a bad mood. I mean, I enjoy talking to him all the time. I guess let’s go through the process of when you nominated Malik as your nonCDL driver of the year. Did it take long to select him?

05:56 No, it didn’t at all. Because I can count on him for anything that I need done—

06:03 Anytime.

06:04 Anytime. Anywhere.

06:06 Well, Sierra, we’ll let you go. I know you got a lot of things to do out there. So, thank you for dropping in and telling us why Malik was the your nominee.

06:13 You’re welcome.

06:14 I’m happy for you. Awesome. I’m happy for you that you got promoted to lead.

06:17 Thanks.

06:19 All right. Now, Malik we were talking about a number of things there before Sierra dropped in to talk with us. How long have you been doing this total?

06:28 Two years.

06:29 I got you. Now, you were telling me pretty cool story before we got into recording this session. You were working for another company before you came and joined us doing driveaway.

06:40 Yes, sir. We’ll leave the name of that company out, but what happened that made you shift to us?

06:46 So I remember on I was in a move in Kansas City and it was me and a bunch of other drivers that were there and they always told me they all told us they was like, “Hey, the company that you work for,” they was like, “They’re cool.” They’re like, but they like make sure that you have other options and make sure that you get with a company that’s organized. And one of the names that dropped was Norton Transport. And so I did my research after that and I started looking it up and I applied but I actually it took me I had applied and the recruiting team reached out to me and I didn’t reach back out because I was like still with the other company and I was like okay well let me continue testing this out. And the more and more I stayed, it became more and more unorganized and I was just like, I need to I need out. And so after I got out, I finally finished my whole application with Norton Transport and I got in probably a week later and I was back working like back on the road back working every day.

07:50 How does your experience for almost two years here with us compare to what you were doing before?

07:56 It’s a major change. It actually is a major change in my life. I ended up before then I was living in an apartment and we were blessed enough to get a house. So we’re blessed enough to for me to work as much as I did to be able to go out and get a house. So that that’s how that’s the m how much of a major change it is to work for Norton and to be a part of something that I know when I call my dispatchers I know that I can count on them to search things up for me if I when I can’t if I’m driving or to know that when I call everybody’s going to be in a good mood. It’s not a day that goes by where I’m like well they’re in a bad mood today so maybe I shouldn’t call them today you know. So it is it’s just good to know that I have that I work in a very fun-filled environment and they make their drivers feel heard.

08:49 That’s cool. I mean because it’s kind of a handin gloves relationship to know that or hand in hand, however you want to look at it. But you were talking about also do you have any aspirations right now to move from non CDL to CDL or pretty content where you are? Well, I would as far as now I’m kind of cool with what I do because I kind of do like just driving like the box trucks is cool and all, but I do eventually want to go get my Class B’s. I don’t know about my Class A’s cuz I’m like that’s a whole class I got to take—

09:24 Right?

09:25 And that’s a lot. But I do have a friend that is that he’s getting his Class A’s and he was like it’s a lot. And I was like, yeah. I was like, I think I might just stick to my Class B’s if I go ahead and get the time to go get them. I think that’s what I’m going to stick to.

09:40 Gotcha. You’re listening to Malik Beverly here on a bonus episode. One of our drivers of the year, non CDL driver of the year. Now, Malik may be a familiar person, familiar voice to you because he was on our Six-Figure Trucker, one of our weekly episodes. And we learned this about Malik back then. He’s I’m standing here looking at him. He’s a good-looking young man and b he’s in shape and there’s a reason because you used to hit the track.

10:07 Yes, sir.

10:08 Tell us about that. You were a runner of I mean, not to put you on the spot to brag about yourself, but you were a runner of some note.

10:16 Yes, sir. Yeah, I was actually I actually ran professional track for six months. You I did so well that I mean you could Google me if you would like to at Malik, you know, you could look up Malik Beverly and I’ll pop up on your Google search. I ran at Iowa Central Community College, but I also had signed to the University of South Carolina and was going to go there, but things happen in life and I just ended up going professional and after that my journey stopped.

10:48 Now, what were your races? I mean, what did you run? Which events?

10:52 I did the 110 hurdles. 110 hurdles. I did long jump in high school and I did the 200 and so in college I did the 110 hurdles and the 200 but in high school I did the 110 hurdles 200 and long jump.

11:05 I got you. Do you ever face off against somebody that would need would be a name that we would know in the track world? I mean somebody a big time opponent that you went up against.

11:16 Yeah, my good friend Aaron Mallet. You people might know him if you just got to probably search him up. But if you did run track, then you would know who Aaron Mallet is. He was actually one of the top hurdlers in the world. And I still talk to him to this day. He’s a really good friend of mine.

11:31 Good dude.

11:31 Yeah, he’s a really good dude.

11:33 That’s cool. Now, speaking of googling up Malik Beverly, there’s some other things out there that we may find. You’ve got a passion for music.

11:42 Yes, sir.

11:43 And tell us about that, how it came about, and you are involved in that also professionally.

11:50 Yep.

11:51 What is it? What do you do?

11:52 So me, I rap about the most high. I rap about the Most High. Yeah. And my passion for music. It’s crazy cuz this, it’s crazy cuz in college, my friends kind of like put me on the spot and I told him I wanted to do music cuz I’ve been writing music since I was 12. But I really never took it serious cuz I thought I was just okay.

12:12 But when I went to college and I told my friends I want to make music again and they was like, “Well, if you going to do it,” they was like, “Get in front of the mic.” They was like, “There’s no better way to try it or test it out by but by getting it in front of the mic.” So after that, I’ve been making music ever since. I’ve been doing this for six years now. Yeah. Six. Yeah. Six. Seven years. Seven years. I’ve been doing music.

12:36 How has it been for you? What’s it— What kind of rewards have you gotten out of it?

12:39 None right now. This actually I just released my first album. So after the seven years of growing and hardship of like not knowing which direction I wanted to go in—

12:52 And I didn’t know if I wanted to make positive or negative music and cuz before it was negative but when you look at it we got so much negativity in the world now and I’m trying to I am trying to do my best with following the most high and staying within him to like put positive things out in the world.

13:09 Gotcha. Now, Malik is joining us here in person at our office here in Ringgold, Georgia, right off I-75 exit if you’re going south. And Malik happens to have his phone in hand with him and he’s got a little sample of his music. Now, give us the name of the album again and the song kind of set it up and then we’ll listen to a bit of it.

13:29 Okay. So, the album name is Ancestral Ties. It’s actually my first project that I released. I released it last year in August, August 6, 2023. And so the song I’mma play is Jotting. So it was basically it’s came to me and I was just jotting down all my problems on what I was going through and how I ended up following the Most High. So that’s this is exactly what this song is about. So it actually starts off like that, too.

14:00 Okay.

14:00 It actually starts off like that.

14:01 All right. He’s going to put the phone up to the mic here and we’ll listen to it and of course you can search it out yourself. Malik Beverly. It’s out there on the interweb as they say. But, give us a little bit there, a little sample of it. Don’t care. I don’t want to see that. While I’m here, we always—

14:27 Oh, no. Let’s listen to a little more. Let’s hear a little more there. That was good.

14:33 We got to downide. I turned away from y’all, but punishment was on my mind. I’ll get into this paper, but my soul is dead aside. Just keep praying for me, cuz we at the end of time. Yeah. And I’ll be waiting for you. Yeah. And I’ll be praying for you. Yeah. And I’ll be waiting for you. Yeah. And I’ll be praying for you.

15:00 Now, obviously, you wrote that. You composed it. And that’s you on vocals, too.

15:04 Yes, sir.

15:05 So, it’s a oneperson show. One person show outside of the beatm I don’t know how to make beats but my friend my good friend Mikio he ended up he made that beat for me—

15:14 Okay—

15:14 So—

15:15 How many songs on the album—

15:16 It is 11 songs—

15:18 11 songs and where if somebody wants to get it how do they I mean is it off some of the services where you can grab it—

15:25 Yeah so you could you can find it on Apple Music Spotify dieser title whichever app whatever you use to listen to music. If you want to just type in Mlech that’s spelled M L E C H the messenger. Once again, that is MEC the messenger. M E L E C H. That is then you will find me and I will pop up.

15:50 How have how’s the activity, the engagement been so far?

15:54 It’s been fun. I actually been I’ve been growing honestly. I’ve actually started to have a very small fan base. So—

16:04 That’s where—

16:05 It’s actually been going good.

16:06 That’s where I was going with the fan base. Now that your album’s out there, are people receiving it? Do you want to see some more growth? Obviously, that kind of thing. Or what’s it been like on the testing the waters, so to speak?

16:16 It’s been going pretty decent. When I first started off, I only maybe only had like probably like a hundred plays. But as it’s grown and as I’ve been growing also in my social media cuz every week if you could also if you want to follow me on Instagram and everything, Instagram, Facebooks, it’s all Mle the Messenger. I post reals. I post reals and I post freestyles over there every week. I know this week will be my last week posting the freestyle because I’m trying to focus on my next two projects that I got coming this year. So—

16:51 How do you find enough time to do that?

16:53 Over the weekend. Over the weekend, I go home and I pick every Sunday I will pick that day just to go ahead pray and because on Saturday we have Sabbath. So, I have no time on that day. But on Sundays, I wake up in the morning, pray or read, and I get right I go because I have my own studio at home. So I go right into the studio at the house and I started recording there.

17:20 So Malik becomes Mlech—

17:23 And the message comes out through the messenger.

17:26 Yes sir.

17:27 How long did it take you to come up with that name?

17:29 Well honestly I didn’t even come up with that name. The father, all praise the most high, he came up with that name for me cuz I honestly was when I first I know when we first talked I was a league at the time and my friend gave that to me and I was just like I don’t really like that name cuz it’s still me in a sense that I just want to I don’t want it to be no part of me in what I’m saying so that we know so that I know it’s so that they know it’s 100% spirit. It’s not even about me saying anything. Is about the father moving through me to spread a message to the people. And so I remember one day I was just praying and I asked him for a name and he gave me that’s the one he came up with and I was just like wow. And ever since then—

18:16 I’ve seen the message in the songs that I write. I’ve seen them manifest. I’ve seen the things that maybe even I don’t even know what’s going on even when I write it. But it manifests and it shows itself to me through even my work weeks or through my home life. It just shows.

18:35 Now, you know, we’ve talked to some other drivers on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. And one thing that you touched on there, you’ve seen it in work, you’ve seen it in play, you’ve seen it coming out into visibility. What about on the road? Is there anything that sticks out in your mind that you’re like, you know, that came from the most high? Something that you saw, whatever it may be, some unusual experience. Anything come to mind?

19:04 Yeah. Actually, every time, and I tell my friends this all the time, every time I go out west, I like it’s something that that it’s something so spiritled out there that every time I go out there, it’s I can’t even explain it. And my mind actually like is feels like my mind actually opens up way more when I go out there. So honestly when I’m over when I’m driving out west I actually do majority of my writing over there. So that whole I would well I won’t say not this whole project but all the songs on my next two projects were all written on my drives I was taken to the west coast to drop off trucks out there. And you know, just seeing like people like from seeing homelessness and being put in some of those positions to like understand empathy from other people and understanding how people operate in this world is like it was just amazing to me.

19:57 So, a lot of things stick out especially over the road. I’ve actually had a lot of stories while being a truck driver. Now—

20:04 You were talking about the writing process happens when you’re on the road. Do you write check into a hotel, stay at a rest stop and write something down? How does the process work out? How does it unfold?

20:15 I usually stop at a rest stop and usually all my breaks I that’s when I do my most writing.

20:21 Your mind’s in that framework where you need it.

20:24 Yep.

20:25 Gotcha. Now, speaking of life on the road, you stopped here. Where were you moving through? Cuz you’ve got your unit with you, the box truck with you.

20:34 Mhm.

20:34 Where were you where you headed to? I’m headed to Lake City, Georgia.

20:38 That’s greater Atlanta area.

20:40 Yeah.

20:40 Gotcha. Where were you coming from?

20:42 I picked up that truck from— Oh gosh. See, as you can see, I travel so much I forget. No, I picked it up from Niles, Ohio, which is right outside of Youngstown.

20:54 Okay. And what’s your next run? This is Thursday when we’re talking to you. What’s your next run after this drop in Atlanta? Got to go to Landersville, Pennsylvania. And I got to take that truck to Frank Frankville. Frankville, Illinois. Somewhere in Illinois. Frank Frankville or Frank B. I have to remember something. Frank. It’ll come to you when it’s important.

21:15 Very much so.

21:16 Okay. Well, Malik, thank you so much for joining us and thank you for your contributions, your service, your loyalty, and the hard work that you put into it each and every day. And it makes a difference. I appreciate you guys for being the company that you are. Hey, I want to just shout out everybody at Norton Transport. And I’m going tell everybody who does this. And hey, if you got anybody that you want to like, you know, that looking for a job, you know, come to Norton Transport. They do such a great job and you will feel just like you at home. There you have it. Malik Beverly here on the Six-Figure Trucker bonus episode brought to you by Norton Transport and he is one of our drivers of the year, nonCDL driver of the year off of Sierra Baker’s team. Malik, again, thank you. Thank you.