Growing up in Arizona, I’ve always been influenced by the western lifestyle even though I wasn’t raised in it. To beat the heat growing up, my family spent the summers in small town Colorado going to the local rodeo every Thursday night. That is where my love for western culture started. I always knew there was a cowgirl in me.
Throughout my high school years, I pursued lifestyle and travel photography for fun. Once I went to college, I decided to study marketing and go down the “traditional” corporate path thinking that was my only way to success. I interned in Los Angeles my junior to senior year summer and ended up taking a full-time job offer in Austin.
Once I graduated, my start-date ended up getting pushed back last minute and I had the whole summer open. I decided for the summer to move to Montana on a whim. I had ranching in the back of my mind but had no idea how to get into it. I started taking social media more seriously though and picked back up western riding and learned fly fishing. Along with these skills, I grew roots there too.
I stuck with my original plan and moved to Austin in September but in the back of my mind I felt I wouldn’t be away from Montana for long. Five months into the job, I knew it wasn’t for me. I quit on a Wednesday in January and went to Montana for 3 weeks to figure out what to do next since my unexpectedly short career in tech sales was over.
While sitting in the minus 35 degree weather, I frantically applied for jobs. I applied at corporate companies still thinking about my career being confined to that. Silly enough, I remembered a TikTok I saved a while ago from someone on a ranch talking about where to apply for ranch jobs. I typed into my search bar “Montana ranch jobs” and I blindly applied to a few ranches nearby. I applied for office jobs at several dude ranches since I only had office experience. I got a call a few weeks later about an office/marketing position and that is how I ended up at my ranch currently.
Once I took the job and knew I was moving back, I took up content creation in between and repurposed old videos/photos in my camera roll creating a series called “Western America” and my overall perspective of life in the West. I didn’t have any ranching experience at that point but I used all my old videos and photos from rodeos, hikes, rides, and everything else I took for fun.
Now, I am continuing to grow my community on socials and my knowledge of the agriculture industry overall. My goal is to inspire people to not be scared of learning a whole new lifestyle and taking that leap of faith. I also want to relate to people who are trying something new and getting into an industry they weren’t raised in. Spoiler: it’s not as scary as people think!!
You can follow my journey in the west on both Instagram (@stokewitt) and TikTok (@oliviaawitt)!
Much love Miss Cowboy Club,
Olivia