The Peach Truck Professionals: Two TSU students transformed by interning with the company

by Joan Kite

From left to right, meet College of Agriculture students Janai Bryant and Ashlynn Freeman and The Peach Truck owner Jessica Rose, who offered the young ladies two internships. The jobs took the young women on the road through at least four different states. Bryant and Freeman said they loved the experience.

On this page, Janai Bryant (left) and Ashlynn Freeman (right) pose in front of The Peach Truck in Kentucky. Photo courtesy of The Peach Truck On the right page, the two ladies reunite at WeWork in East Nashville. Both say they are interested in interning with The Peach Truck again. Photo by Joan Kite

Perhaps Ag majors Ashlynn Freeman and Janai Bryant didn’t have a true understanding of what they were getting involved with when they signed up to become summer interns for The Peach Truck in June of 2021, but by the time the summer was over, they had become confident and convinced where their futures might lie.

“I was taking notes, for real,” said Janai Bryant, whose concentration is in Agribusiness. Bryant ultimately aspires to go into the medical marijuana business in a state where it is legal. “It took me three days to memorize the price lists.”

Ashlynn Freeman, whose concentration is also in Agribusiness, ultimately wants to pursue a career in international agricultural law. She has a broad streak of humanities in her as well, which helped her on her road travels and enabled her to engage with customers so quickly that she wants to work for The Peach Truck again this upcoming summer.

“People were so excited about getting their peaches,” Freeman said. “I loved seeing their energy. This has really changed my perception.”

The Peach Truck owner Jessica Rose was thrilled to have both girls on her payroll and would be pleased to see them both return this summer. For Rose, it was her first summer hiring interns from Tennessee State University. The three met last month to catch up and exchange social media handles at WeWork in East Nashville.

“I loved hearing that they loved the experience,” Rose said. “We loved having them as part as well.”

The Peach Truck, owned by Stephen and Jessica Rose, began with a ’64 Gladiator Jeep, a love of home-grown Georgia peaches, and a move to Nashville, but the Roses decided a move wouldn’t keep them from delivering the peaches that they themselves loved so much.

Now, they sell the peaches at 60-plus booths across Nashville and deliver them on 25 state tours. Last summer, they hired college interns to help with the deliveries.

For Freeman and Bryant, that meant hitting the roads like rock stars for two months from June through August. The pair, along with 14 others on their team, would hit hotel after hotel (the longest stay was two days) traveling state to state including Tennessee, Michigan, Oklahoma, and Indiana to deliver peaches to waiting customers who had previously ordered them.

“We would sell them by the box, 55 to 75 peaches per box,” Bryant said. They sold pecans as well. And the girls ate plenty of peaches on the side coming up with a new summer favorite: grilled peaches over ice cream.

“I worked with so many different people from so many different places,” Bryant said. “It was eye-opening. People had so many different mindsets. Our leader was from Maryland, but there were people from Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Kentucky.”

Freeman said working on the road taught her to be ready for anything.

“The job prepared me to work with people who I didn’t know and to work with people as a team,” Freeman said. “You have to be ready to accept anything. Every day was surprising. People were so sweet. I got tipped. I made so many connections.”

Both Freeman and Bryant found favorite places along the way and enjoyed their one-day adventures in different cities and exploratory meals on and along the road.

For more information about interning at The Peach Truck this summer, contact Dr. De’Etra Young at dyoung23@tnstate. edu.