Identical twins become first Black women feeder on-road supervisors at UPS Atlanta hub

Alyssa Strickland and Brittney Strickland-Varnedoe became the first Black women promoted to feeder on-road supervisors at UPS’s SMART Hub in Atlanta, a visible step into management inside one of the company’s automation-heavy facilities. UPS highlighted the identical twins in a March 2023 story page, and they were also described as the first women at the Atlanta hub to hold on-road supervisor jobs.

For Alyssa Strickland, the title is more than a photo-op. Her LinkedIn profile lists her as a UPS Feeder On-Road Supervisor in Jonesboro, Georgia, and names UPS certifications that matter on the floor and on the road: Certified Driver Trainer, Commercial Driver’s License and Double/Triple Trailer Endorsement. In her own words, the job means, “Being a Feeder On Road Supervisor we collectively manage a workforce. Promoting safety, services and production.”

That makes the promotion relevant to package handlers, feeder drivers and mechanics who know how much depends on supervisors understanding the work, not just watching it. Feeder and on-road supervisors shape how trailers move, how safety gets enforced and how service problems get handled when the network is under pressure. At a large hub like SMART, where automation and throughput are central to the operation, who gets trusted with that authority says something about UPS’s internal pipeline.

UPS has used other stories to frame women’s advancement in operations, including a separate piece on training programs preparing women for career growth. The company has also pointed to earlier milestones such as Glenda Alexander, identified in UPS-related coverage as the first Black female UPS driver in Jacksonville, Florida, with 45 years of service.

The twin promotion fits into a broader effort to make Black leadership at UPS more visible. WABE’s coverage of Black Voices from Big Brown described the project as chronicling the experiences of 29 current and former Black UPS leaders. For Teamsters-represented workers, the Stricklands’ move is also a reminder that advancement at UPS is structured: moving from the dock or the road into management is a separate track from bargaining-unit progression, and the names that surface in those roles help define who workers see as leadership inside the network.