Finding Leadership Opportunities with Lori Stevermer

Podcast Description: In this heartfelt episode of Coffee in the Barn, Lori Stevermer shares her inspiring journey in the agricultural sector, offering reflections on leadership, personal growth, and the intricacies of raising pigs and managing pork operations. Lori draws on her extensive experience in the swine industry, discussing the challenges and opportunities she encountered while working with pork production and animal nutrition. She provides valuable insights into the evolving landscape of agriculture, the importance of animal welfare, and the role women play in shaping the pork industry's future.

Lori’s passion for the industry shines through as she recounts the lessons learned from working on farms, raising pigs, and ensuring high-quality pork production. She highlights the importance of understanding animal behavior, feed nutrition, and the delicate balance needed to raise healthy animals while managing complex agricultural businesses. Through her anecdotes, Lori emphasizes the need for women to step into leadership roles in agriculture, advocating for diversity and mentorship across genders.

Whether it's navigating the demands of farm life or pushing for innovation in pork production, Lori’s journey is a testament to perseverance, leadership, and the impact of the swine industry on modern agriculture.

 Key Takeaways:

1. Overcoming Self-Imposed Barriers: Lori speaks to the internal challenges women often face, including self-doubt and the difficulty of stepping into new leadership roles. She reflects on the importance of mindset, encouraging listeners to evaluate their willingness to pursue growth, even if it comes with sacrifices.
2. The Power of Support Systems: A key theme is the importance of having a supportive environment—both at work and home—to achieve personal and professional goals. Lori emphasizes the value of mentors and colleagues who actively check in and help hold you accountable.
3. Balancing Growth with Personal Priorities: Lori candidly addresses the hard decisions women face when balancing leadership opportunities with family commitments. Through personal examples and those of colleagues, she explores how to assess what is worth sacrificing for career advancement and the importance of maintaining personal values.
4. Continuous Learning and Development: Lori highlights the importance of investing in oneself, not just through formal education but by finding opportunities for personal development in everyday experiences. Whether through mentorship, on-the-job training, or self-study, growth should be a constant goal.
5. Embracing Vulnerability: Finally, Lori encourages embracing vulnerability as part of leadership. By sharing her own experiences of discomfort and failure, she provides a roadmap for navigating similar situations and emerging stronger.

Join us in this thoughtful episode as Lori Stevermer inspires both women and men to take the next step in their leadership journey.

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Transcript

Morgan
0:00:00
Welcome to this week's episode of Coffee and Barn with Morgan and Casey. We are delighted to have Laurie Stehmer with us this week. She is currently the president of NPTC and works for Alltech as a customer success manager. Welcome, Laurie.

Lori
0:00:17
Hey, welcome and thank you for having me.

Morgan
0:00:22
It's a pleasure. So for those that don't know you, could you elaborate a little bit more on your background, how you kind of got involved in the industry, and elaborate a little bit more on your current role with Alltech and how that translates into your work on the national work board?

Lori
0:00:49
Yeah, happy to do so. I will keep it to a short summary because I know the podcast is only so long. For those of you that don't know me, I grew up on a farm in southern Minnesota. We had pigs and cows. My background is in the farm. I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science degree in animal

Lori
0:01:10
science. My first job was with Wayne Feeds as a salesperson, which is how I met my husband. So fast forward to today, we are on my husband's family farm. So we have pigs, we have a 2000 head finisher. We also have corn and soybeans. And, you know, I've been involved with the feed industry and sales

Lori
0:01:28
and marketing my whole career. And also have been active in the Minnesota Corporate Association with leadership on the board and also as an officer and now currently serve on the National Pork Producers Council as the president. And you know, always felt very blessed that I had the perspective as a farmer and as an agro-industry person because I really feel like that's helped me as a leader on a national

Lori
0:01:58
NPPC deals with public policy, regulatory, and export issues. So we're voluntarily funded. And both of them really are about serving people, advocating for people, whether that's my customer success role at Alltech or being on the NPPC board.

Morgan
0:02:20
And as I'm sure a lot of our audiences that are listening are also moms, you're also a mom as well, right?

Lori
0:02:28
I am a mom, and I have three kids that are adult kids. So Brett, my oldest, is married. He and his wife live in Southeastern Minnesota. Adam is our middle son. He's over in Albert Lee, working as an extension educator for 4-H.

Lori
0:02:42
And our youngest, Beth, is finishing her final year at law school at Drake. So even though I'm not in the young kid busy stage, when I get a chance to interact with you moms, I relive those days. And I know they're hectic and stressful,

Lori
0:02:59
but they really are, they are really great times. Although I appreciate my adult kids now, we get to do things on a different level. Yeah, I was gonna say, it's not grandma time. Well, actually come October, I will be a grandma. So yeah, yeah, Brett and Tressa are expecting a baby in October. So that will be as a new phase of my life then. And we'll get grandkid photos with the pigs, I hope.

Lori
0:03:29
Well, we'll see. We'll see. All in due time. Yes. In due time. That's awesome.

Morgan
0:03:37
When you started on your journey in the NPPC space and on the advocacy board within Minnesota Pork, were you doing that as you were a mom or when your kids were younger or were those kind of, can you walk us through kind of the steps that you took as you got more involved in your current role that you stand as president?

Lori
0:04:01
Sure. So, you know, Dale started on the MPPA board. So he started on the pork board when we were married and the kids were young. So we were doing volunteer events and he was in leadership for Minnesota Pork

Lori
0:04:15
when we were married and the kids were younger. So we drug them to a lot of events, a lot of consumer events. They handed out pork, they interacted with customers and consumers. But then my leadership in Minnesota

Lori
0:04:31
started when the kids were a little older in high school and so forth. I actually waited to become part of the NPPC board till Beth had graduated from high school. So, while I appreciate the balance that a lot of moms do handling boards

Lori
0:04:48
and kids and all of those activities, for me, it just waited to work better until Beth was out of high school. So these last few years, especially being an officer, it's really allowed me to focus in on that job. And like I said, with the kids being adults and not having to provide quite so much balance

Lori
0:05:09
there.

Morgan
0:05:10
Well, I want you to go into this a little bit more if that's okay, Lori, because I have a lot of women wanting to grow quickly in their career and have kids and want to serve in different roles. Kind of talk to them about how you made those decisions of, you know, work-life balance and the pros and cons. You just, you didn't give up the leadership opportunities, it just waited for you.

Lori
0:05:38
Yeah, that's a great point. And I think a couple things I want to say right off the bat. I mean, I respect young moms like yourselves that are really leaning into their work and their careers and their volunteer and their kids all at the same time. So I appreciate that.

Lori
0:05:57
I also read something a couple months ago that we as women have to be careful that we're not too critical of each other because we like to compare, right? So we look at somebody else and say, well, if they're doing that, why can't I do that too? And so I think that's a trap that we can't fall into.

Lori
0:06:17
You know, for me, I was fortunate in my sales career that I had the opportunity to go part-time in sales while the kids were young, and Dale was busy with the farm, and that provided a good balance for me. That also allowed me to really lean into their activities, and not just go to the sports events, which was important,

Lori
0:06:39
but also be a leader in the home and school association, or be a leader in 4-H at the club and county level. So really a lot of my leadership development, when I look back, was at the Home and School Association or the 4-H Council, with those kids in conjunction with their activities. And then when they graduated and got into the world, it allowed me to take that next step to the national level.

Morgan
0:07:00
I think that's very important to highlight because we can do it all, but we don't have to, I think, is another good piece of advice. And I would say, you know, I've had to give up some of the leadership opportunities. I've served on a lot of committees and stuff. And it's just to me not the right time. And, you know, I remember my parents as well, right? They were 4-H leaders. church, those are leadership opportunities and opportunities to develop our skills as leaders.

Casey
0:07:36
You know, absolutely, and there are opportunities to be leaders all the time. You have to pick the right one for you

Lori
0:07:43
based on where you're at with your career and your family. I mean, number one, I'm fortunate that the companies I work for and now Alltech have always been supportive, what I'm doing, but picking the right opportunity at the right time. And, you know, serving on this national board, I mean, I'm looking out along the horizon

Lori
0:08:11
and I know there are gonna be some excellent female leaders out there that are focusing in other areas. And that's okay, because when their time is right, we'll bring them forward. But the key is how to keep them engaged and involved at the right level, right?

Lori
0:08:25
So they're familiar with the issues. So they're understanding the industry and then allowing to step forward when they can.

Morgan
0:08:34
Yeah, and I work with you on a daily basis and I really value the insight that you've provided me because I'm one of those ambitious young moms that wants to get involved and do everything. And when I was talking to you about, you know, getting involved at a local and state level, you're like, you know, you don't have to do everything at once, like all in due time.

Morgan
0:08:56
And so, you know, I am involved with the Wisconsin Pork Board, more on like a local level within some health committees, and, you know, volunteer when I can at different events and whatnot, pending, pending schedules and different speaking opportunities and stuff. So it's been a learning curve and rewarding all in the same avenue within the last couple years as I've continued to kind of slowly get involved here and there where I can.

Lori
0:09:28
Yeah, and burnout doesn't do any of us any good, right? We get involved with an industry because we have a love, but if we're overextending ourselves, then when we start to become burnt out, we get resentful, or we're maybe not putting our best foot forward, and that doesn't do us any good, that doesn't do the organization any good.

Lori
0:09:50
I have seen, you know, in the past few years, at least on a national level, and somewhat on the state level in Minnesota here, we've gone to some more, what I would say, task force instead of committees. So a task force, you can bring somebody in with some specific knowledge.

Lori
0:10:03
It's a very kind of structured project, and they can pour into that, use their expertise, use their passion, and know that it's just for a limited period of time. And many times that works better than a long-term commitment to a board or to a committee. So I think strategically using our volunteers also on specific projects does help them keep involved, helps build that knowledge and expertise, and hopefully avoids some of that burnout.

Morgan
0:10:32
Most definitely. Yeah, I nominated myself to be part of the Midwest Animal Science Non-Ruminant Nutrition Committee, and they tell you after the fact, this is like a three-year commitment and you're going to evolve into the chair of the committee. And I'm like, no, I just wanted to help this year because you needed volunteers. I don't want to be a chair there's so many younger people and I

Morgan
0:10:58
think that just reminds me there's opportunities and you can self-nominate yourself because I knew they were looking but I talked to all these younger women who want things to do and there are opportunities it's just, I guess,

Casey
0:11:14
networking to find them as well.

Lori
0:11:16
Yeah, that's the great thing about networking is that it brings those opportunities forward because in true Midwest fashion, at least for those of us in the Midwest, I mean, we're modest, right? We don't want to nominate ourselves

Lori
0:11:29
because we seem like we're promoting ourselves, but sometimes you have to put your hand forward and sometimes you need some encouragement too. And I've definitely had that along the last few years in terms of NPPC. Someone saying, well, you should consider this. You'd be good on the board or you should consider being an officer.

Lori
0:11:50
So it's really a balance. But Casey, to your point, that networking and getting out there and meeting people and learning about opportunities, that bubbles those forward no matter which approach you take.

Morgan
0:12:03
So for those like young individuals that are just starting to get into the industry and want to get more involved, you know, at the state and national level, what type of advice would you give or kind of route of advice would you think is kind of the best to help them build within a professional and personal role to kind of get where they want to go?

Lori
0:12:27
Yeah, I would say there's a number of different programs out there at a local, state, and national level that really help those individuals network. You know, certainly when they're in high school, I mean 4-H and FFA helps build some of that leadership skills, the knowledge about the industry. Many state organizations have some kind of a young leader program or young leader conference to go to.

Lori
0:12:53
In fact, NPPC is just starting our SIP or strategic investor young at work advocates program. So that's going to be from individuals from 18 to 22. They can become a member and learn more of the organization. There's also like the Pork Leadership Institute. And that's a program for people earlier in their career

Lori
0:13:14
And I would say once again a number of states have some type of a young leader program so Those type of programs and they're not a long commitment. I mean There may be a year two years maybe even just a short period of time they really allow you to see the industry and all aspects of it and Allow you to network both with other young individuals and then those that are either on boards, state

Lori
0:13:42
or national boards, or even in the workforce.

Morgan
0:13:45
So, I mean, I know these programs have kind of evolved over the last, I would say, five years or so, but have there been programs like this in the past. I just know like I was in I wasn't in 4-H growing up because I didn't grow up on a farm but I got involved in FFA in high school and even at like the college level I didn't even I wasn't aware of all of these programs because I didn't I wasn't as deep in the industry as I am today. So for those looking to get involved whether at the college whether if they're in college or just graduating, getting into the industry, how would you

Morgan
0:14:28
recommend they learn about these new programs? Or is there a website? Do they just visit their state pork board association? What would be the best route if they don't have that network established yet?

Lori
0:14:44
Sure, well speaking for the pork industry, I would say there's a couple of different ways to get involved. You could go to NPPC's website, nppc.com, and you'll see information on the Pork Leadership Institute, which that program has been around for a number of years. You can go to the Pork Board website, and there's programs there on their Real Pork Scholars Program, which is a scholarship program that introduces young individuals to the industry. I mean, if you're in a high pork production state like Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, most of those have have some type of a

Lori
0:15:22
young leaders program, so visiting those websites is important. If you happen to be in the state where maybe there's not a really strong organization, a pork organization, because there's not a lot of pigs for a lot of people, I would recommend contacting the national organization. So that will give you kind of an idea of what's out there. It's the first few steps. And it just making that first connection

Lori
0:15:49
with a state or a national will help get you into an idea of all the different programs that might be available.

Morgan
0:15:56
That's cool.

Casey
0:15:57
Lori, I'm gonna switch the gears back a little bit. I don't know if you're the first, but definitely a minority of being a female president for the board. What has kind of been different from your perspective going into that role and you know, how are you perceived or are you just part of the you know, the club?

Lori
0:16:12
Yeah, well, you know for the record I am NOT the first female president of NPPC. There's some past presidents, Jill Appel, Barb Denerman, Joy Fulopai. In fact, a couple years ago, we had Jen Sorenson. So I'm not the first, but certainly there haven't been as many of us female leaders for NPPC.

Lori
0:16:48
You know, I would say I have been received very well by fellow board members You know when you're going through challenging issues as a board you you kind of develop your friendships right and some board members you're close to friendship with because of your your commonalities or maybe your state but I would say, you know, especially when I stepped into the leadership rotation, which for us

Lori
0:17:19
is vice president, president-elect, president, and then past president, I called all the other board members and just said, you know, I'm looking to run for vice president, you know, tell me what you're thinking, you know, would appreciate your support, and certainly had a lot of good comments from fellow board members on some of the attributes or skills that they appreciated about me. So it's gone well. I, you know, unfortunately that you probably can't say that for every organization out

Lori
0:17:50
there, but I will say there are, when I look back over my 30-some year career in agriculture, there are a lot more women involved with organizations. And I think, you know, starting at a high school level, a college level, now state levels. So it's bubbling up. And as there becomes more women,

Lori
0:18:11
I think two things, it doesn't seem so odd anymore. So it, you know, for everybody, male and female, you're more accustomed to it. But then also it, you know, it gives you maybe some confidence as a woman to know, okay, others are doing it, I can do it too.

Casey
0:18:28
I think that's important. How do you feel with your kind of being a billboard for the pork board in the pork industry? Because obviously, they've showcased your farm and everything. What is that like for you? I mean, are you more recognized when you go to places or kind of talk about that from going. Well, you've kind of been behind the scenes maybe a little bit now. I'm front and center

Lori
0:18:54
Yeah, you know interesting. You should say that because literally our first Let's say publicity PR Project was for Minnesota pork board and they did you know a slogan kind of from our family to yours so they had our whole family and we literally were on a billboard. Like one of my kids' classmates was at the state capital in Minnesota and said,

Lori
0:19:20
hey, I saw your family on a billboard. So yeah, that was a little, oh yes. You know, it's interesting because if you know me, I'm not doing it for the publicity. I mean, I truly do believe in the industry and I'm appreciative of the team members that I have around me.

Lori
0:19:40
So it's a little, you have to get used to it, right? And I will chuckle every once in a while because someone will come up to me and say, hey, Laura, you know, glad you're doing what you're doing and so forth. And I don't know who they are and I'm always surprised. And Beth, my daughter, will be like, mom, people know who you are, right? They see you on Facebook or press releases or stuff like that. So

Lori
0:20:05
I'll admit it takes a little bit to getting used to, but I mean I think a couple things. For me this year, it's a great honor to be president of NPPC, the National Pork Producers Council. It's an honor I take very seriously. It's a responsibility representing Minnesota's, not just Minnesota, but the National Pork Producers Council in all aspects. I was at the Democratic National Convention last week representing NPPC. So it's a great honor, it's a great

Lori
0:20:39
responsibility. I take it seriously. You know, you talked about timing, right? The timing of our career in doing this. And for me, this is a year of leaning in. Just leaning in and saying I'm gonna be as involved as I can, I'm going to do as much as I can, and just really optimize that experience as much as I can. Because I've had a lot of women come up to me and say,

Lori
0:21:05
glad to see you in this position, glad to see another woman in a leadership position. Once again, we need men and women leaders, but certainly, you know, that support that we give each other is critical too.

Morgan
0:21:21
Well, and I ask that because one of my former mentees that we've had involved in the different programs of the Coffee in the Barn and how it's transcended, she's a swine nutritionist up in Canada now, and she posted that we go to a lot of these meetings and they're still lacking a lot of female speakers and I find that interesting when you and she's probably talking about Ontario pork or things like that. I think it's coming I just am curious on you know she made that comment but my comment back to her and I said we should talk about this off screen so Yessenia I'm talking about it on screen without you and I'm sorry, but we have to, like you said earlier,

Morgan
0:22:05
and I said, is like we have to advocate for ourselves. We have to tell our companies that we want to be presenters. We want to do this. And sometimes I think that's the only way to get change is speaking up and asking to be put on these opportunities. Yeah, great point.

Lori
0:22:26
You know, as more women are part of organizations, part of the planning, we'll think of other women because now we've got our networking and our group that we can say, well, let's bring this woman forward as a speaker. And you're absolutely right. We can't be afraid to raise our hands and say, you know, hey, I'll be a speaker on that. In fact, last week I was asked to be a speaker at an event that's coming up in September, and the

Lori
0:22:53
individual said, yeah, we need more women on that. So I think we always have to be diligent and keep it on our mind. I do feel like it's a bit of a progression. And I took over president in March, so it's been almost six months. I think part of it is the mess, the awareness needs to be created and now that more people maybe are aware of my position, there might be more opportunities. And I want to clarify, like, I'm not, I'm not

Lori
0:23:22
saying because I'm president I want to speak all over, but I think it is a progression, right, and it's something that you need to keep, you need to keep

Casey
0:23:31
working at. But I also get back from my male colleagues, I feel like the pendulum's, you know, also swinging against them at times because, I mean, if you look at it, you know, I think the men will be in the minority in our industry in 10 years.

Lori
0:23:46
Yeah, and I don't think that's a good thing. You know, I've had conversations with individuals about mentors and mentees, and my advice is if you're a young female looking for a mentor, you need a female mentor and you need a male mentor, right? And vice versa. If you're a young male, you should have a female and a male mentor because we're different.

Lori
0:24:11
We're wired different, we think different and we need that 360 perspective. And if I look back on my career, which once again, I spent the first half of my career in sales. So back in the 90s, very much a male-dominated role, field in sales. But I learned a lot from a lot of good coworkers and a lot of, I had a lot of guy mentors and

Lori
0:24:37
I really appreciate that. So it's that balance. And we can't swing too much one way or the other, because that doesn't do us any good. We need that diversity of voices, whether it's gender, whether it's, you know, our experiences on our farms or our businesses or ethnic diversity. I mean, we do need all of it.

Morgan
0:24:56
You kind of elaborated on like the step process of vice president, president-elect, president, past president. So it sounds like when you first got involved, it's kind of like a four-year term plan, I guess, kind of is what it looked like?

Lori
0:25:13
Yeah, that would be a good way to describe it. It's a pathway. And I appreciate that our organization, NPPC, does that because, number one, there's a lot to learn. And going from no leadership to president, or even president-elect, would be a lot to take on.

Lori
0:25:34
There's a couple other advantages. It takes a while to build relationships, especially on a national level. So if you're in the officer rotation for four years, you're starting to see, you know, whether it's members of Congress or whether it's agency people or, you know, White House officials, you're starting to see them over and over again. So I've met and seen Secretary Vilsack a number of times.

Lori
0:25:57
He's starting to know who I am. And so that helps build those relationships. The other advantage that we found as officers having a group of us is that, each officer comes from a little bit different backgrounds. We also kind of have our expertise.

Lori
0:26:16
So, if there's a particular issue, say labor or competition, there might be one officer that's better to speak on it or have that expertise compared to another. So I talked about burnout. I mean, spreading that work amongst all of us officers and using our strengths, you know, really helps. I think number one to make sure that we're really using those real life experiences when we're

Lori
0:26:40
advocating, but then number two, preventing us from being burnt out.

Morgan
0:26:46
What's the...

Casey
0:26:47
Oh, sorry, I just wanted to go on this burnout. Lori, you have three full-time jobs, Alt-Tech, President, and you're a farmer. What do you do for fun?

Lori
0:27:03
Well, you're right, I do have three full-time jobs, but I feel it's only fair that I, first of all, acknowledge that my husband does the farm work on the farm. So he is the active farmer. I'm obviously supportive, but he's doing the day-to-day work. So I have the advantage of him with that. I also need to give a really strong shout out to Alltech for their support, because there are times when I have to step back a little bit from some things.

Lori
0:27:35
And they know there's weeks where I'm traveling, I'm not going to be around as much but they've been very supportive. But you know what do I do for fun? You know to me I do like riding bike. I like just you know riding bike, you know getting together with the kids and the family. I mean we'll sit around the fire pit. We've got a really nice place uptown in Easton which has a population of 177 people, but they've renovated an old hardware store, turned it into a craft brewery place called Margaret's Pub. We can go up there and just sit with friends.

Lori
0:28:11
You know, it's the little things. I'm going to the State Fair this weekend, although I'm going to work the oink booth. You know, to me, it's those type of things where, you know, kind of stepping back, being with family, friends. Those recharge me.

Morgan
0:28:23
Those are kind of my fun activities. And how do you balance your schedule or what are some tricks that you do in your schedule that helps you prevent burnout? Obviously have fun family but are you stringent about scheduling those times, blocking times, interacting? I mean obviously you have to have tons of communication between all tech, the pork board, your husband, right? Yeah.

Casey
0:28:51
You're still a wife and mom, even though they're in a different phase. I think I made my mom go gray more when I was an adult than I did today.

Casey
0:29:00
But what are some tips for you and, you know, somebody who's actually doing it all?

5
0:29:07
Yeah.

Lori
0:29:08
I think first is the realization that I can't do it all. And so, you know, especially with my all tech work, and by nature as a customer success manager, I'm interacting with sales, tech, operations, marketing, the realization that I'm not gonna be on every call, that I'm not gonna be on every project,

Lori
0:29:29
that some of them will have to move forward without me, was kind of a big step for me. I mean, cause as the person that's, and Morgan can attribute this, the person who's the organizer and keeping everybody else going, you know, when the organizer has to kind of step back for a little bit and say, okay, you guys go on without me for this meeting, it's a little tough.

Lori
0:29:50
So, but realizing that sometimes you have to do that and realizing that there's a lot of good people, and then I'll catch up afterwards. So, that was important on the work side, just realizing I couldn't do it all, but finding a way to find that balance. I think on the personal side, you know, a

Lori
0:30:11
lot of times for Dale and I, it's like a Friday night where we'll just kind of go home and come home and maybe sit around the fireplace or maybe we'll go uptown and get a pizza and just kind of talk and recap about the week. So it's that quiet time, you know, when you've had all the noise and the travel during the week to just be able to step back and go,

Lori
0:30:33
you know, here's some quiet time. So I'm an introvert by nature, so I need the quiet time to regroup. If I was an extrovert, I'd probably go back out with a lot of friends, but to me, finding that quiet time just to regroup.

Lori
0:30:46
And I would say in terms of the family and my kids, I'm fortunate that they're all within three hours. So we get together probably once a month or so. And that's important because, you know, just getting together, staying engaged in their lives and sharing things keeps that balance. So kind of a long answer, but I would say each segment of my life is a little

Lori
0:31:12
bit different. And, and I think we also have to remember that that a balance isn't achieved in a week. Sometimes you have to look over a month's period of time and say, okay, I traveled a lot the first two weeks, I'm not traveling the third week, that that's kind of

Morgan
0:31:27
the balance. I think Morgan and I just talked about the FOMO fear of missing out. And that's been a very hard lesson for me, especially the last couple years of even leading a team and like you said you're leading a board and you're representing the entire industry and you talked about some key things they're trusting and others to do the work and it and I guess that control freak in me that was it's the hardest thing to shut off to say they got it if it's not perfect it's okay and I think that's the heart for a lot of us career driven women or individuals, not just women, but not only FOMO, but as I like to use that term, but, you know, just allowing others and delegation is, I think, the hardest thing I've had to learn for that work-life balance.

Casey
0:32:19
more connected and collaborated, right?

Lori
0:32:21
We work in groups and so feeling like we need to be part of that group and every meeting and I can't miss a meeting because I might miss too much. It is real. I do schedule every other week catch-ups with my manager, Andy, so I know that we have time on our calendars regularly to talk about key issues and that's really helpful. Number one, it can bring me up to speed on some things that I might be doing or that might be going on that I missed. But number two, it allows me to tell Andy some of those

Lori
0:33:18
meetings and projects. And I think that's really important.

Morgan
0:33:22
Yeah, I think I'm, you know, I'm two months from having a baby now and in the middle of planning meetings and trying to get everything, as much as I can, wrapped up and taken care of with different customers and accounts, you know, within the next couple months so that everything is kind of like in a stable position as I'm gone on maternity leave. But yeah, it's like, okay, what can I do

Morgan
0:33:50
and what I could do but I shouldn't do? Where do I need to like just take a step back and be like, okay, somebody else needs to like start taking care of this a little bit more because I know that I'm not going to be available.

Lori
0:34:04
I definitely think it's a process. A year or two ago when we had a new team member in the marketing role that I did a lot of that work from before, I was probably more engaged with her and giving her tips and advice and telling her some of the things that she wasn't aware of. You know, now that she's a couple years into the role and more familiar, I don't have to be as hands-on.

Lori
0:34:35
So my point is the situation changes, too. As people develop through their careers and get more experience in areas,

Morgan
0:34:43
our relationship changes with them, too. Well, that's some great feedback. And Morgan looks like she's being pressed on time with other people as well. But Morgan, did you have anything else for Lori? No, I just kind of, no, not really. I guess one of my last questions was what has been your, I'd say, greatest achievement

Morgan
0:35:03
or positive feedback that you can give or advice to up and coming women within agriculture that are trying to do it all.

Lori
0:35:15
You have kind of a two-part question there, Morgan.

Lori
0:35:17
So I think in terms of my greatest achievement, I'm proud of my, you know, this is gonna sound a little sappy, but you guys are moms. I mean, I am proud of my kids, the things that they've done and them in the working world and the way they are contributing and so forth.

Lori
0:35:33
And the fact that we're still a close family, I'm really proud of that. In terms of being on the NPPC board, just, you know, proud of the work that we're doing for pig farmers and the pig pork industry. It's not always obvious.

Lori
0:35:51
I mean, we've had tough issues like Prop 12 that we're still working on, but it is a dedicated staff and board that we continue to find ways to work and solve challenges and problems. And I think that's kind of the advice for the young individuals, right?

Lori
0:36:11
Like get into an industry that you're passionate about. If you're passionate about the pork industry, get involved with that and then network and find those people that you want to work on those problems and challenges with. Because I think that's nature to us as farmers, right?

Lori
0:36:29
We're fixers and doers, that's why we get involved. So the other piece of advice, and I gave this to my daughter, although I can't tell you exactly when I did it, but her comment was that I told her, don't be afraid to be the only person

Lori
0:36:46
like yourself in the room. And you can see the sign, you can't see all of it, but yeah, don't be afraid to be the only person like yourself in the room. So I think whether that's female, male, young or old, sometimes we have to get out of our comfort zone

Lori
0:37:02
to be able to do good things. So don't be afraid to do that.

Morgan
0:37:05
That's awesome, thanks.

Casey
0:37:07
Well, the last part of this, and maybe Lori can help us out, we have to give a call to action to women. So what's one thing that the young leaders listening, male or female, can do tomorrow or today to help them become a leader? Well, I would say if you are a young individual that is not involved with an organization yet,

Lori
0:37:26
and you want to seek out that state or national organization. So get involved. If you are involved and you're looking at taking it to the next level, you know, find a way to do that, whether it's volunteering at a state or national level, a committee, a task force, a single event. And then, yeah, just continue to believe in yourself and put yourself forward and then network, because that networking is so key.

Casey
0:38:04
Well, good.

Morgan
0:38:04
And I would say if you're a non-remediate nutritionist that attends Midwest Animal Science meetings, we are looking for another member of our committee. So call me, DM me.

Lori
0:38:14
Yes, yes.

Lori
0:38:17
Casey, call me, call Morgan. There's opportunities, right? And I think sometimes we're afraid that the opportunities are gonna be so overwhelming, but you don't know until you take that first step.

Morgan
0:38:30
Right, exactly. Well, thank you so much, Lori.

Casey
0:38:33
It was a pleasure having you on Coffee in the Barn. It was a pleasure having you on Coffee in the Barn.

Lori
0:38:36
Thank you for having me.