Haley Hill

I think one of the biggest things for me personally is just doing it scared. Even if you're scared, just do it scared. I'm most proud of going with my gut and making the moves that I have, because if I wouldn't have, I wouldn't have gotten to where I am today. There's this theme of leaving the industry, even though it's an industry I love, but prioritizing what I knew I wanted, like a social life. I was willing to move across the country for my first job, and I moved back across the country. I just kept going with my gut and doing it scared, knowing that I was going to figure it out. Networking has also been huge. That's really why I'm at where I'm at, because I talk to people, which is my job. But it's about building those relationships, recognizing that those people are important even in a short exchange, and recognizing that those are people that I would like to have in my corner. I've maintained and built those relationships so that I knew I could call upon them whenever needed.

I think one thing that's helped me is all a mindset. If you're entering a room full of men, don't view yourself as anything different. I think that sometimes we walk in and it's like, oh, I'm the only woman, or I'm going to have to prove myself, naturally. But I think the best thing that you can do is walk in the room like you're one of the guys, in a sense. If you insist that there is no difference, and you've set your mind that way, then the way you portray yourself, and the way you speak up in a room like that also will follow.

Right now, agriculture as a whole, and I'm in a subset of agriculture in the beef industry, there is a huge generational gap. There's a lot of older operation owners, older people within the industry, and then there's not really a whole lot of in-between, and then there's younger people coming into the industry. So that transition is upcoming, and I think it's gonna be a little rough, as far as there's not a whole lot of people coming into the industry in the first place. There's also a lot of people leaving, retiring, what have you. And then there's that middle ground of who's going to pick up the slack, especially with the generational farms. A lot of time, it's those older, most of the time, men who are retiring or selling out, and their kids just don't want to take over the family operation, which honestly is understandable, considering the economic climate that we're in. So more people are getting out of the industry while also trying to support the industry. There's only so many of us, so we're trying to stay afloat and try to do what we can, the best that we can.