A Sask. university student makes the decision to assume responsibility for her father’s firm following a death in the family
CANDIAC, Sask. — She celebrated her 21st birthday this June in a bin shovelling grain.
With a trucking company to run, Leanne Kotylak had no time for elaborate coming-of-age parties.
While the farm-raised woman has always loved anything to do with trucks and farming, she was thrust into the role of owner and operator of Donko Trucking far earlier than expected.
“In the fall of 2020, I started my first year of university for an online agribusiness diploma from the (University of Saskatchewan),” said Kotylak, explaining that her dad Donnie Kotylak — who established and operated Donko Trucking — always encouraged her and her two siblings to pursue a higher education.
“When I was just finishing up classes, then dad went into the hospital in 2021, and he later passed away in April 2021.”
Kotylak’s siblings, one an accountant and one an engineering student at the U of S, were not interested in the farm, so Kotylak found herself at the helm.
“I was always fascinated with the semi and grain farming for as long as I can remember,” said the young entrepreneur, adding that while she embraced her new role as Donko Trucking owner, it came at a difficult time.
With her dad being diagnosed with cancer in 2018, Kotylak and her older sister Christine and younger brother Ronald had been attempting for years to keep up their school studies and help their dad on the farm.
“When he was diagnosed, I thought ‘OK, I’m going to have to help out a lot more now,’ which was fine by me because I wanted to.”
She started by learning the invoicing while at home completing her high school courses during COVID lockdown. In 2020, she graduated from high school, but due to her dad’s precarious health situation, she was unable to attend the outdoor ceremony at Montmartre School.
Knowing the difficult circumstances, school officials made the occasion as special as they could.
“I was worried about my dad’s health so I didn’t want to go out, and he didn’t want to go out either, so the principal and vice-principal came out to our farm and did our own private grad ceremony with family and friends.”
The following two years were spent both by her dad’s bedside and on her agribusiness studies. She is thankful for the time she got to spend with her dad and the memories they made despite his illness.
One of her humorous memories was while she was studying and decided to share an assignment about a chicken operation. Kotylak’s dad just happened to have been learning about the same farm on YouTube and replied, “why am I paying so much for your education when I’m learning about it for free?”
Kotylak knew how important education was to her dad, so she continued with her studies, even writing an economics midterm the day after his passing. Despite her grief, she spent that summer working at the P & H crop-input terminal in Langbank, later earning her agribusiness diploma in June of 2022.
“It was so hard because there was so much happening in my life and you just want to tell your dad that kind of stuff,” said the 21-year-old.
Last spring she moved home, passed her 1A driving licence and officially took over the operations of her dad’s trucking company. The farmland had been rented out.
Donko Trucking employee Harvey Laverdiere has been with the company for 14 years and has proven to be the guiding force Leanne needed to continue running her dad’s business.
Laverdiere hauled most of the grain in the last year, mentoring Leanne as he drove. In the meantime, she took steps to establish her own bookkeeping system and transfer accounts to her name.
“I couldn’t pay Harvey for a few months because I didn’t have a business account or cheques but he was really good about it and said that whenever I got set up, I could pay him.”
Most customers have stayed with Donko Trucking and Kotylak has even grown the business since taking over.
Despite being a woman in a male-dominated industry, Kotylak has found support.
“I was nervous about being a young female in a man’s world, but everybody that I deal with has been very nice and they all encourage me,” said Kotylak, adding that her typical work day includes hauling three to five loads of grain in her 15-tonne tri-axle semi.
“One day I would like to buy another truck and have two trucks going, but I’m not in a rush.”
The young trucking company owner believes her dad would be in full support of her decision to take over his business.
“I think he’d be so proud of me and he’d be really happy.”
