Agricultural News
Joni Nash Urges Women in Rural Communities to Pursue their Passions
Tue, 09 Aug 2022 13:16:20 CDT
Farm Director, KC Sheperd, sat down and talked with Joni Nash after she spoke at the Women in Ag Conference in Oklahoma City last week. Nash talks to Sheperd about inspiring women to find their passion and influence their rural communities.
“We have things in our heart, and a lot of times we put it on the back burner because we are a caretaker, we are a wife, or we have kids,” Nash said. “There is always something vying for our attention.”
Nash said she encourages women to seek out those goals and dreams no matter the obstacles.
After serving the community of Pawhuska, Okla. for years, Nash is well acquainted with Ree Drummond and the imprint she has made on the community there. Nash said Ree is an excellent example of a woman who had a dream and went for it.
“That is what we watched Ree do,” Nash said. “She loved photography, cooking for her family, and she did those things, she kept doing those things, she kept pursuing those things, and now look what she has done.”
Because Ree took what was in her heart and used what She had in her hands, Nash said she was able to live out her dream.
“It is just the ripple effect that those people were able to live out their dreams and do good and see great things happen,” Joni said.
Joni talked about Ree Drummond’s husband, Ladd, and how his plan didn’t go the way he intended it to in the beginning, but it was part of a bigger picture.
“What I shared today was, we know the success of the Mercantile, and we know just how awesome that is, but a lot of people don’t know the backstory that Ladd Drummond, Ree’s husband, went to college for hotel and restaurant management,” Nash said. “Even went as far as doing a restaurant in Oklahoma City.”
Nash said the restaurant was not a success, so Ladd returned to his family’s ranch, and eventually, he and Ree were able to open The Pioneer Women Mercantile in Pawhuska.
“Now, he has a restaurant that I joke and say is like Disney World because any day you can be down there and meet people that have literally come across the ocean to eat and to come to Pawhuska,” Nash said. “That is a tangible example of a dream that he probably thought was done and over, but it wasn’t.”
Another topic Nash talked about was our influence in our rural communities.
“It’s a family you didn’t get to pick,” Nash said. “You are doing life with people, and you will see them daily, so you better get along.”
Nash said she tries to encourage people in civic leadership, or any kind of public role or service type situation, that they have to care about the people they are serving and their community because that is where all the change starts.
“With that, you will have push back,” Nash said. “You will have people that might complain or people that you just can’t please.”
Guarding yourself against the pushback you will receive from individuals in your community, Nash said, is critical to avoid becoming “burned out. Nash said there are individuals in communities who will always have something negative to say. She calls them “cave people.”
Nash said once you identify these individuals, you can learn to listen to them but not let them steal your joy.
“Where we mess up is thinking that we can please everyone and just knowing that there is that demographic in every community is going to help you keep your focus, do the job, and keep going forward, love on the cave people, but don’t let them steal the joy in what you are doing,” Nash said.
Nash also referenced a term she calls STP, which means “same ten people.”
“A lot of times, in any kind of organization, you feel like it is 80/20,” Nash said. “The 20 percent of the people are doing 80 percent of the work. It is the same thing when you get into a rural community, and you have the same ten people doing everything.”
It is hard as a leader to protect those individuals from burnout and keep them encouraged, Nash said, when they know they are the same ten people.
“You can’t replace them, like a lot of times in a bigger community when you are doing volunteer management or any type of group work, you can give them a break and recruit someone else in their place, but we don’t have that capability in rural Oklahoma,” Nash said.
Nash said to show appreciation to those who continually show up instead of making them feel like they aren’t enough by complaining about those who aren’t there.
Another important thing in small communities, Nash said, is to take ownership of what needs to be done in a community and recognize that it is a team effort to move forward instead of waiting on everyone else to do it.
The bottom line, Nash said, is taking steps to pursue those dreams that have been sitting in the back of your mind to better yourself and maybe even your community.
“You can always sit on the sidelines and come up with excuse after excuse, and nothing happens until you recognize your passion,” Joni said.
“You don’t have to know the ‘why.’ All you have to do is be a good steward of it; that is where the magic happens.”
Click the LISTEN BAR below to listen to KC talk with Joni Nash on encouraging women to find their passion and influence their rural communities.
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