As a child, I always dreamed of being a veterinarian when I grew up. I had the opportunity to shadow our family veterinarian at a young age, and that experience shaped my interest in the animal industry. I even worked at a veterinary clinic at one point.

When I was younger, I thought I’d grow up to be a veterinarian because I love being around animals. Unfortunately, I don’t deal well with blood, so that didn’t work out! Luckily, I found my way into a career I love.

When I was in high school, I took a few agriculture classes and absolutely fell in love with the industry. To explore the field more, I joined our school’s FFA (previously known as Future Farmers of America) chapter. I enjoyed every minute of my experience in the program, and it definitely influenced my decision to pursue an ag career.

I always wanted to grow up to be a cowboy like John Wayne, Lucas McCain or the Cartwrights. Owning and running a ranch sounded like a good time! That kind of lifestyle really appealed to me. 

As I got older, I started to think about what kind of job I could actually have. To get a feel for the auto industry, I became an intern for a car dealership, but quickly realized that wasn’t what I was passionate about. I decided to really focus on my lifelong love for agriculture.

I’ve always had a fascination with farming, especially farm machinery. My father, an agronomist, helped a farmer with harvest and I was hooked from a very young age. I looked forward to spending all day and most of the night observing, and my parents had to pry me out of the machinery when it was time to go home.

I grew up on a small farm where we had cattle, horses, hogs, sheep, goats and chickens, so I was always around animals. From a young age, my father taught me how to identify the ones who weren’t feeling well and what the best ways to make them feel better would be. Nurturing and taking care of the animals really came naturally.