Member Spotlight: Elena Sierra, Executive Director, The Transportation Alliance (TTA)

Professional

1. How long have you been with TTA? Since January of 2025. 

   
   
   
   

2. What’s your favorite part of being a part of TTA? Seeing what our members have learned from each other and putting it into action in their business.

   
   

3. What is something you wish you could tell someone who is considering joining TTA?  Get involved. TTA gives you access to those who understand the industry and are willing to share ideas, make introductions, and help each other. You absolutely get more out of what you put in.

4. Name one thing you have learned since working for TTA that surprised you? I did not realize how much the different parts of the passenger transportation industry have in common. Taxi, NEMT, paratransit, black car, shuttle, student transportation, and technology companies may all operate differently, but they often face many of the same challenges.

   
   
   
   

5. What do you love most about the transportation industry? How transportation serves a need that all communities have in this country and around the world. 

   
   
   
   

6. How do you define success? Regardless of if the results were bad or good, did your efforts make a difference? 

   
   
   
   

7. Who inspires you? Ruth Bader Ginsburg inspires me because of her resilience, intelligence, and determination. She showed that meaningful change often comes through persistence, thoughtful leadership, and a willingness to keep pushing forward even when progress is slow.

   
   
   
   

8. If you could choose anyone as a mentor, who would you choose and why? Knox Singleton, former CEO of Inova Healthcare. In my college years, he was a mentor of mine who I’d love to have back today. His kindness and compassion as a leader really drove results.

   
   
   
   

9. What advice would you give to someone who wants to enter the transportation industry? It’s a lot of work, but the relationships that you’ll gain in the industry will really enrich your life. While it’s worth it, do your best to put family first and then business. 

   
   
   
   

10. What’s one thing you learned in the last month? That an Android phone can accept a FaceTime video call from an Apple User 

Personal

1. What’s something about you that not many people know? I’m an identical twin; my sister's name is Eileen. She used to be a director of public transportation in IL. Yes, our names are Eileen & Elena

   
   
   
   

2. What’s the most influential or best book you have read? “We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families" by Philip Gourevitch. I read it before I went to Rwanda, and it changed my life and my decision about what I wanted to do after college. 

   
   
   
   

3. What is your favorite downtime activity or hobby? Catching up on the shows my sisters and my husband have already watched. Also- Mastering every feature Microsoft Excel offers

   
   
   
   

4. What’s the first concert you ever attended? 311 at the Atlanta Fox Theater. 

   
   
   
   

5. What’s the most memorable vacation you ever had? Visiting my family in Cuba. We stayed in the capital, Havana, and then went to see my family in Holguin. It’s like visiting a frozen world that has beautiful beaches.

   
   
   
   

6. Are you currently binge-watching any shows? House of the Dragon on HBO. 

   
   
   
   

7. If you had to eat one meal every day for the rest of your life, what would it be? Italian Meatloaf, the way my mother makes it. 

   
   
   
   

8. What’s one item you can’t live without? Eyeglass cleaner wipes... and Rebecca :)

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