In this weeks episode of the Trailblazers Podcast, we speak with the incredible Natalie Kovarik. We learn about the unintentional success that has come her way within the Ag industry after deciding to share her daily ranching life on social media. She has since created a massive following, her own podcast called Discover Ag, and more. Natalie also gives us some good tips for fellow western business owners and how diving into social media can be a game changer.
In this weeks episode of the Trailblazers Podcast, we speak with the incredible Natalie Kovarik. We learn about the unintentional success that has come her way within the Ag industry after deciding to share her daily ranching life on social media. She has since created a massive following, her own podcast called Discover Ag, and more. Natalie also gives us some good tips for fellow western business owners and how diving into social media can be a game changer.
Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of the Western Life and Style Trail Blazers podcast. Woo. Yeah. I'm Allie d. This is Nicole Nava James. And ooh, we got a great episode today because we have an amazing guest coming up. Natalie Cavor is going to be in the house. we're huge fans. I mean, you've been a big fan of hers for a long time. Oh yes. Especially being, a farmer's daughter and a rancher's wife. I mean, she's somebody that I've followed from the beginning, so I just love listening to all of her info. Yes. If you don't know, Natalie is a huge voice on social media for the ag industry. She's extremely relevant. She's an extremely important voice, and she has a lot to share about the farming and ranching community, and also just. Fun stuff going on around the ranch. So I'm really excited to talk to her today. She has a great podcast called Discover Ag. I'm a huge fan of it. So without further ado, let's join Natalie Cavor for our Western Life and Style Trail Blazers podcast interview today. All right everybody. We are so excited to have Natalie Cavor in the house, the amazing Ag Voice I feel like of our generation, and this is just. So exciting. I'm not overstating that because you truly have a huge presence and are so important to the ag industry. So welcome Natalie. Yay. So excited for happening me. So I just really want to, first let everybody know that you do have an important voice. You're huge on social media. an advocate I think is what they've been calling it. And, you just really created this whole. Whole movement where people are now becoming more aware and more interested in where our food comes, how it all works, how the agricultural industry is affecting everybody, which I feel like is kind of a big movement. In the past couple of years, probably since you started really ramping up your social media, a lot of people jumped on that bandwagon. So tell me how you got started in this position and how it's all developed from the start. It was very accidental. I never intended to, um, be where I'm at, but I suppose that's like all journeys and probably the most beautiful ones are all, you know how, God intended them to unfold. So my original introduction to social media was a lot like anyone, so it was very personal. And then when I met and married my husband, I relocated. And I found myself in a very small town, which I grew up in, so that wasn't abnormal for me. but before I had married him, I was living in a bigger city in Montana. That's where I was raised, and I was working as a pharmacist. That's what my education is in. and honestly, that's what I thought I would do. I really, again, didn't have no intentions of being where I am currently being. so when I relocated to where my husband lives, which is a small town in Nebraska, I was just looking for something to do. Honestly. I didn't wanna commute to one of the bigger cities, to work in a pharmacy there or a hospital there. And we do have a hospital in our small town that we live outside of as well as to outpatient pharmacies that I could have worked at. But, turnover isn't really, you know, a rapid in a very small community. And so there just wasn't an opportunity to work, in my trade. And so I had a really good friend from back in Montana who was also living on a ranch with her husband, you know, another ranch wife. And we decided to do a direct-to-consumer beef business. And that was truly my introduction to social media beyond personal use. And it is so funny because I remember having a conversation with her when we started. I was like, I am not interested in influencing, I'm not interested in doing any. Thing beyond just selling beef. Like let's create our social media page as a way to connect with our consumers. You know, really tell a story about our product. to get strangers to buy beef from us on the internet, we have to have this relationship. Let's do that through Instagram. And that's all I wanted to do. And then I dipped my toe into the pool of what social media can be an offer and I just really got caught up in it. I really saw the power of it from like a storytelling component and I really, I just had a lot of fun with it. It really, I think, allowed me to express my creative side, which I hadn't done in a really long time. So, fast forward a couple years, I stepped away from the direct to consumer beef business and I just started sharing like what I do now, which is very personal things about our family, the ranching industry, and then I kind of. Fell into advocating, like you mentioned as well. Before you were in like the big city in Montana, right? were you in ranching or was this a whole new world you stepped into? So I grew up in ranching. I grew up on a ranch in southwest Montana, right outside the Bozeman area. I have two sisters still on the ranch. So ranching is very much a part of my family. My parents really encouraged all of us girls though they had four daughters to get a degree in something outside of agriculture. So none of us actually went to school for agriculture. and I think they were actually shocked that, three out of four all ended up back in agriculture, which I think is a testimony to the industry we're in, right? You just fall in love with it and it gets inside kind of like inside your bones and your heart and it just doesn't leave. So I definitely grew up with it. and even when I was back in Montana, I still live near our family ranch and I spent a lot of time there. I just didn't think my money would come from agriculture. I didn't think I'd, you know, be in production ag. I didn't think my husband, that would be his job. I didn't think it would be my job. And so it was just kind of, I guess I just came, you know, I came back home just in a different state. Right. Going back to your social media and deciding that this was something you wanted to like go full force in, what were some of the, I guess, challenges when you first started? Because I feel like there's a lot of people that are listening to this, that look up to you and maybe they have, you know, dreams of doing something similar to you, advocating for something that that's important to them. What were some challenges that you were like, oh, I gotta figure this out. Yeah, it feels like so long ago. Social media has, how long ago was it? Um, well it was before TikTok I was sharing, right. I think we started our direct to consumer in 18. Yeah, I was gonna say, I feel like it's like five years since I've been, following Yeah. In the everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, yeah, just, the landscape of everything has changed drastically. Right. I think barriers were, confidence in myself for one. You know, no one likes to. I guess be quote unquote, an influencer, right. For even for as long as social media has been around. Mm-hmm. And as long as, as that has been a job and people have been, you know, monetizing different social platforms, I feel like even now you ask someone to. You know, share online the idea of being an influencer and they're just almost embarrassed to do it. You know, it's like this thing that you don't want your friends to know. You don't want your family to know. It's hard to explain what you're doing. You know, there's this whole kind of like emotional component to it. So that's why we feel like we're hiding on TikTok. Yeah, we're like, we're gonna go over to TikTok. No one knows about me over there. You know, just do my thing. Tell you it's our real self, your video off. Right. Our fake selves on Instagram are real self on TikTok. Exactly. I know. Geez. Yeah, so I think that's a barrier is like really believing in yourself and committing to it. And then my husband's always been super supportive, but I think at the beginning he was like, what? He just didn't see the vision I saw, or what I thought. I could do online. And so I think he was just a little like, what are you doing? Like, go do yourself, but what are you doing? You know? And so, right. I don't know. I think it was more emotional barriers than, like physical ones or, You know, mental, emotional for sure. Right. how do you figure out like what you decide you're going to share? Because a lot of people go into this and they're like, I just have to share everything. But the reality is, is the people that really know what they're doing picks certain like columns or categories, if you will, that they're gonna share about in their lives, that they've kind of decided, this is what I wanna go for. Yeah, I think you get really good at listening to your community and I also think clarity comes through action. And so for me, I had an idea of what I wanted to share about, and it was actually about like connecting with other ranch wives and really showcasing the western industry, the western lifestyle through a ranch wive's eyes. I just thought it was a really beautiful industry, which it is, and I just felt like no one online was showcasing in the way I thought I could capture it, like in photos and storytelling and, and so that's why I started out and then, You end up listening to your community and you're like, oh, they're actually interested in me talking about this, or they love it when I talk about this. And so I incorporate a little bit more of like motherhood that, you know, my community liked, and then I incorporated advocating, which became really big for me because my community enjoyed that from me. So I think you just have to pick things that are comfortable to you to start with. And then get really, really good at recognizing what people are drawn to you for. And it may be different than what you wanna share, but as long as it's still something natural to you, you could pivot and make that change. Cuz you know there'll be that connection point of that's what they want to hear. Right. I love that. in terms of like stepping into the role of speaking for agriculture in a way and being a part of that voice, were you intimidated to do that? Did you feel like, oh my gosh, like as you learned that your audience wanted more and more of that, were you like, ah, this is a, a big responsibility? I mean, I have a huge audience here and I'm gonna be sharing about things that, you know, can be touchy subjects. What was that like? I was absolutely terrified to shoulder that and I actually think I, held off advocating for quite a while later than I would've maybe if I wasn't so fearful of having my opinion the way I stated things. You know, my viewpoint being misconstrued as. That's what all of Ag believes, or that's what every single ranch wife believes, or every single rancher believes. And I still get really scared about some of my posts. I've obviously gotten a lot better about it, but I still think in my mind, oh gosh, I'm gonna say this, and there could be someone out there who then thinks that all ranching or again, all ranch wives, ranchers, whatever it is, Think this, and that's not true because we're a very diverse industry. We all, I mean, you could give, that's shocking to me actually, which I see on your page a lot of time is ranchers like arguing with each other or small farms, large farms like this. It all happens on your page, which I was telling you before we started that controversy alone, which is have me running for the hills, but you handle it so well and they kind of have it out on your page. Yeah, I mean, I'll stop some conversations if they're getting like derogatory or, you know, if they're negative towards each other. But I, you know, I believe people are obviously allowed to have their own opinions, and if people are having like a friendly dialogue or conversing, especially if it's like an intellectual one where they're bringing different viewpoints about, their feelings, um, I, I kind of let it roll, but I definitely curb'em if I feel like it gets, nasty right. and like I said, I was telling Nicole I just can't believe sometimes on there people are just like, whew, they're cutthroat. Yeah. I mean, they're Hammonds. I always say that food and agriculture It's a very unique industry cuz it's the one industry where emotion and science are on the same playing field. And I think that's really, really hard for people to come into conversations where you're bringing maybe statistics about, you know, farming and ranching and whether that's like greenhouse gas emissions, or you know, practices people use. So if you're bringing a very science site into it normally, and a lot of times. Science will overrule, right? But when it comes to food and what we're putting into our bodies and caring for our family, I feel like no matter what science you have, people just have this emotional connection and tie to food where they're like, honestly, they're almost like, I don't care what you, you're telling me, I don't care what the stats say. Like, this is how I feel about the practice you're doing. Or This is how I feel about the way this food is raised and nothing is gonna change my mind. And so it's, it's a very complex, industry because of the emotion and the science that goes into it. Yeah. I love that you said the emotion part cuz it's like that's why I'm so invested into it as well. It's like that's what we do, that's our livelihood, that's how we, I mean, Put clothes on our children. That's how we buy our diapers is because of ranching. That's how I grew up my father's farmer. I mean, the emotion part can just get the best of you at the end of the day. So I love that. Yeah. Not just on like the producer side, but on the consumer side too. You know, they're just as emotional. I actually got sent a real today, By I would say like a rural, removed person from agriculture, but in a very small rural community cuz she talked about how she's in like farmland now. and she had very emotional opinions about driving by and seeing what these farmers were doing stuff. And so it's just coming from both sides. People have very strong feelings about how food should be raised and produced and oftentimes They're not on the same level with, I guess, knowledge, you know, or, mm-hmm. Familiarity with the industry. So a lot of times that can, turn into kind of just, a very, emotional thing. this leads me to wonder, as someone who I am not in ranching or farming. I mean, we raised bucking bulls. We're in rodeo, so it's a whole nother ballgame. And I just feel like as someone who's probably just. Like a lot of people in your audience doesn't really know a lot about farming and ranching wasn't brought up studying food and where it comes from. just liking to eat. And now here I am where I have two children and I'm like, okay, I need to really figure out what am I feeding my children here? Because things that I grew up with now have become like taboo as we know. We've been discussing, like mac and cheese, dyes, lucky Charms, all the things which we don't do that, thank goodness. But for someone like me who really, I mean. I could listen to kind of anyone, give me some stats and some background and be like, oh, okay, I get that. And then even get sucked into maybe some things that aren't true or, you know, how do I find, like what type of education is real and who should I be listening to? Who should I not be listening to? Like, there's a lot of information out there, I feel like in social media. Yeah, that's the crazy thing about social media is I feel like it is information overload and you can pretty much find anything to support your viewpoint. So if you wanted to say, you know that X is whatever it is, you know, negative, bad, terrible, or positive, on the opposite end, you can find data, someone out there who is, you know, streaming that narrative and then you have your support and you could literally go to the internet and find the exact opposite thing. Yes. And you still have support for it. It's so powerful. Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's really crazy. I think lumping all of society as a whole, I do think we are, like a headline society. And so we take a lot of value. we just ingest it from the headline alone. Right. And I think we need to learn to read the article and then maybe the citations below it, or, you know, I think we have to learn to go two to three layers deep anymore because we're in such a nine second reel, you know, 15 second TikTok, you know, a Facebook post. And it's the headline of the news that way, like we're just. Consuming in very, very short bits and we're really losing, a lot of the information and the conversation that goes with that. And so I think we have to retrain ourselves For ourselves, go a layer deeper cuz the, the news and the outlets and the influencers and the, famous people, the celebrities, they're not gonna do that for us. Like, it's up to us to take it the deeper have to research deeper. You have to research for yourself. Mm-hmm. Well, and that kind of leads me to, I was listening to your podcasts, some of your most recent ones, and you talked about the appeal story. Is that I was one of those people that totally fell hook, line, and sinker for the big flashy headline. I saw the picture. I actually had a friend that shared it on her story, and so then I went down the rabbit hole, which if y'all don't know it was put out there that there is this company that is putting like some kind of, preservative on the outside of fruits and vegetables to help them last longer on store shelves. It's kind of like the gist of it. Is that correct? Yeah. Yeah. it's, I mean, it's a perfect example of how things just really get blown up on social media. I mean, bill Gates, his foundation, offered that company a research grant in the very beginning. And so there was a lot of tie of like Bill Gates in our food system. I think that scared a lot of people, cuz anytime you put Bill Gates with our food, I know people automatically just panic. right. And then, yeah, there was a lot of concern about, You know, the mechanism of action got construed. So this company really, was doing a pretty cool thing there, taking the natural lipids, from the fruits and vegetables themselves, and then coat that and it would help keeping the moisture, and reduce the oxidization, I think. And so it was a pretty cool, way to, like you said, preserve food for longer so that, you know, we can ultimately cut down a food waste. Food waste is a huge problem. not just in our nation, but globally. We have a really big problem with food waste. And, you know, they were doing a really good job to combat it. And then, I don't know where the original, you know, pinpoint started, but it was like a snowball that just grew on social media about how if that has the APL sticker on it, do not eat it. You should be very afraid. Like you don't wanna put those chemicals in your body. Right. and it was just really a big bummer because I just thought the company was doing a really good job to help combat food waste. Yeah, it was, it was crazy because, when I listened to your podcast, I was like, Oh my gosh, like I am part of the problem because I definitely like Nicole, I probably called you, I definitely told Brenda, my office manager. I was like, you guys, when you're at the supermarket, you gotta be careful. And then you realize okay, this was a whole misinformation thing. And it was like eye-opening for me to say, Hey, I need to be careful because now that I've newly stepped into this, being cautious of what we're eating and. What's out there? I think it's, we're moms now and so we're just more freaked out. Cause I feel like before we were just like, whatever, just eat whatever you want. But the being your mom, I would've been mom and give children. Right, exactly. It's like, no, they will not touch any of this. We talk a lot about this on the podcast that, um, it's no one's fault, right? It's no one's fault that you guys have like questions or you have concerns or like you're a little bit of apprehensive about picking up the fruit that has this label that you don't understand what it means on it. You know, that's what comes with being removed from our food system. And for better or worse, that's just where we are. We're at a place in society where we are, three to four times removed from how our food has grown and. With that distance, it's only natural that people would have questions. I mean, I would have a lot of questions about how, I mean I do, about how I get electricity. I don't think about it. And if you were to ask me or if there were more concerns about that, I'd, I would be apprehensive too about all these other things in our lives that we just kind of, we don't think about cuz we don't have to, you know, it's just, it's hard. I think we need get back into a place where we're reconnected to who's growing our food. Right. I wish I had a green thumb because I would be growing all of my own fruits and vegetables. That's what we want. One tomato, tomato plant. Yeah. One tomato plant. This year, Corey, my husband's like, oh gosh, what are you doing? I'm like, listen, let me just try the tomatoes. Okay. If I can get the tomatoes, I put it in the ground and figure out there's, I want a salsa garden so bad. I wanna have my own salsa. I am more's most delusional gardener every year. I think I'm going to just. You know, I'm gonna be the next Martha, this is the year right At the end of the year. I'm like, next year we're cutting out this I'm not doing again. And then you black out over the winter and you forget what it was like. And you are delusional again. Come May when it is time to plant. I know. So I'm in that place right now where I'm like looking at gardens on Pinterest and I think I'm gonna build like this great raised cedar garden and yeah, it's never happening. but do tell us more about your podcast without me ex. Explaining what it is, because if y'all don't know, she hosts an amazing podcast, discover Ag, and I'm just obsessed with it. I have long commutes back and forth to Dallas all the time, and I'll turn it on because you're almost always talking about the stories that I have just been talking about in the office with my employees or with Nicole or my friends, and I'm just like, how are you in my brain? So tell us more about your podcast and what goes on in that. so we are a Thursday podcast, like you said. We're called Discover Ag and we do exactly what you said. That's, I'm glad we're, you know, hitting the nail on the head there because we try and source, You know, headlines, topics, things that are kind of trending, whether it's, you know, via the Washington Post or the New York Times, or on TikTok or Instagram or wherever it is. and the way we consume our news nowadays, we try and pull the top three kind of most, interesting ones, controversial ones, the ones we think people have the most questions about. And then we discuss them. I'm a rancher. My co-host is a dairy farmer, and so we are able to give more of a, farming, ranching expertise into the food system rather than taking, what the opinion article by the New York Times writer who lives in, you know, upper West Side, had to say about what he wrote. You know, it's like, I just think, yeah, the horse drawn carriages. Woo. That was a, yeah, that was a fun one. That was a good one. Yeah. so yeah, we just try and give people who have those questions, another source that maybe has a different perspective on it and kind of bring some viewpoints to the topic that, no one else is. Yeah. You guys gotta listen to it. it's on everywhere, right? Yeah. Anywhere. Spotify available all the places. Yeah. You can't, you can't hide from us. We'll find you, you know? Oh, and YouTube, right? Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah. That's great. cause if you guys are interested in like a more visual thing, you can catch'em on YouTube, but you also have that really cool Elevate ag, which is, if you wanna talk a little bit more about this, because there's a lot of people out there that you know, want to kind of. Be in a position that you're in, and I feel like you've put together some good trainings, right, for people in the ag industry to learn how to share their voice and share their story and maybe help it improve their profitability and their businesses. Yeah, exactly. So like I said in the very beginning, I really believe social media is a very powerful tool, and that's what it is. It's a marketing tool. And if you have a small business anymore, and you are not, you know, implementing some form of social media to, you know, Basically ramp up your, your marketing. I really think you're missing out on something. And so my, business partner and I, we created a online course. we also have a Facebook community that's free. And we also have like, you know, some mini courses and just a lot of good freebies, just downloads, just a lot of educational, pieces and information that if you are in, you know, agriculture, you're a rancher, you're a farmer, you're a producer, you are in an allied industry, you know, you believe in agriculture, our course can help you really. Implement social media for your marketing. so you can really share your ag story and then if you wanna take it to the next level and monetize, we teach you how to do that too. Can you give us like a little, maybe baby first step on what to take? If you're someone out there and you're in, you know, middle of Texas, somewhere in a rancher and you wanna hop in to social media, just like, what's your like baby basic first step to kind of get'em going? well, I always recommend just picking one platform. I think a lot of people mess up trying to be everywhere at once. Yeah. And so I always, when I, am invited to give presentations or speaking on social media, I always say just like, make the entry to barrier, really small and easy. So pick one platform that you maybe have a strength on you spend time on, like you enjoy, you know, showing up on there, whether that's YouTube, TikTok, you know, Instagram. I mean, they seem the same, but they're very, very different for like, the inputs into them, even Twitter, you know. So pick one platform that you feel like you could excel at. and then try and grow there. Like, just don't overcomplicate it. You make Instagram look so easy. I mean, It's been rough over there lately and you make it look so easy. Platform. I, I do love it. Yeah. You're hanging in there even through this tough time in Instagram where people are struggling with engagement. Mm-hmm. And getting new followers, getting new traction, building awareness for their brand. You're like hanging in there and continuing to grow. Yeah. I just, I'll never give up, you know? Yeah. I love that. Natalie, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today, one of our 30 over 30 winners. You have just brought so much to the industry. So tell us what you have coming up. Where can we find you? What's new in your life? Yep. So the podcast is actually fairly new for me, so that's where I'm spending a ton of my like 2023 Energy is really building that community over there. So everyone tuning in, you guys are probably podcast people I'm assuming, so I'd love it if you'd hop over to discover Ag and give us a follow there. And then you could always find me, like I said, at my home base on Instagram, which is just my name, Natalie Cavor. I still do share a ton there. I cannot kick the habit, you know, it's like a vice and so you can always find me there. showing up, branching and family. Thank you so much for joining us today. Wow. I am so excited. We got to talk to Natalie on our podcast. I know she was definitely high on our list of somebody that we wanted to pick their brains and talk about how they handle everything that goes down on social media, especially you being a social media manager. Yes. Loved getting to hear her stories. Loved getting just to even see her face. I mean, I'm a fan girl completely when it comes to her, and I always wanna get educated whenever it comes to utilizing social media for your business, so it's very awesome to speak to her. Yeah, and not only that, but for me, being educated on all things like food and like we talked about in the interview, getting, you know, more comfortable with the education side and knowing what I'm feeding my children on a daily basis is just so important. So I'm grateful to voices like hers being out there and helping educate of us that are just kind of waffling a little bit and trying to figure it out on our own right as moms. Agriculture is so important to thank your local farmer. Thank your local rancher for feeding you. Absolutely. All right, well thank you guys so much for listening to us here on the Western Life and Style Trailblazers podcast. If you are wondering how you can help, the best thing to do would be to leave a five star review because we're awesome and we really want the five stars, so listen to us. write a review, share our podcast on social media. That's the best thing you can do. We're also on all the social media platforms at Western Life and style, so you can follow us there. Thank you so much for joining us, and we will see you next time. Bye-bye. Bye.