WWIA keynote encourages women to find alignment and live authentically
Keynote Speaker Andrea Flemming, a Minnesota producer and content creator behind “That Fit Agvocate,” provided a powerful speech to kick off the 31st Annual Wyoming Women in Ag Symposium, held in Laramie Nov. 7-8, 2024.
While growing up, Flemming shared she was looked down on as the “weird farm girl” who didn’t fit in with her peers and was bullied up until the day she graduated high school.
After some other hard knocks and failed dreams, Flemming returned home to her family’s farm in smalltown Minnesota and has made it her mission to bridge the gap between producers and consumers by sharing her raw and honest story and to empower other women to be confident, live authentically and find alignment in life.
Embracing roles with confidence
“As women, it is really easy to compare ourselves to those around us,” Flemming began. “But here’s the deal – our worth is not determined by anyone else. We are the only ones who can determine our worth.”
To increase self-worth, Flemming encouraged women to speak up for what they want, step outside of traditional roles and embrace these roles with more confidence.
“I firmly believe you should all be in roles – notice I put an ‘s’ on the end because it can always be more than one – you want to be in, not ones you feel like you should be in or are shoved in to,” she stated. “These should be roles you are valued in, you thrive in and that you love. Roles that challenge you to grow and learn, because if we are not learning and growing, we are not really existing as humans.”
She added, “And, I firmly believe we should be constantly evolving in a role that lights our souls on fire.”
In a historically male-dominated industry, where women might have a harder time speaking up for what they want, Flemming emboldened the crowd to do just this, noting women bring a lot more to the table than many believe – even the women themselves.
She encouraged women to look past the limiting beliefs that keep them from speaking up and make note of what they can do or are currently doing to make a positive impact on their operation – in their current roles or in other roles they would like to possess.
“Speak up and use your voice,” she said. “We have a lot to offer. We bring a lot to the table. We think differently. We have unique way of doing things.”
Whether women are happy in their current roles or seeking something more fulfilling, Flemming urged them to embrace these roles with more confidence.
“There is this lovely word in our vocabulary – it’s the word ‘just,’” she stated. “So many times I hear women say, ‘I just feed the crew during harvest. I just take care of the cows. I just do the books.’ And they are selling themselves short every single time they use this word. It is doing so much more damage than any of us think possible.”
Finding alignment, living authentically
Along these same lines, Flemming said, “If you look at your current life and think ‘I’m happy, but there is something missing,’ it’s okay. It is honestly just part of being a woman.”
She reassured women it’s okay to pursue other roles and passions, regardless of how quirky or random. She believes this is the key to finding alignment and living authentically.
“What makes you, you?” she asked. “Your quirks, your passions. Whatever they are, it is what makes you, you and this is a gift to everyone around you.”
She also asked meeting attendees to reflect on their natural gifts and talents.
“We are really terrible as women about giving ourselves credit for things we are good at or naturally gifted with,” she noted. “I’m really good with data and excel spreadsheets, and I never used any of it to my advantage until I automated all of our calving records. I am also much better at reading cattle and watching for sickness than my dad, and he eventually had to admit he is not patient enough to notice these things when he feeds the cattle because he is focused on driving the truck down the alleyway.”
These realizations can help women fit into roles on the operation which are better aligned for them.
Flemming further noted passions and roles may pivot and change with the seasons, which is also okay.
“There might be years of trying to figure things out, finding out what works and running into some failure,” she said. “Failure is not always a bad thing, neither is reassessing and pivoting. This is how we find alignment, and alignment is not a permanent destination.”
Further advice
To wrap up her presentation, Flemming offered a few more bits of advice.
On days when it’s hard to feel worthy or brave, she suggested borrowing confidence from someone else.
“Borrow the confidence,” she stated. “I know it sounds silly, but it you think about physically taking confidence from me and using it to do the hard thing, it will help. I promise.”
In addition to using their voices to speak up for themselves, Flemming also encouraged women to learn to say no.
“Nobody is literally going to die if you say no,” she said. “You might feel like you’re letting everyone down, but if you say yes to something you are not fully invested in, you’re not going to give it your all anyway. So do the right thing and say no. Don’t overwork yourself.”
She continued, “And, when you say no to one thing, it usually leaves space and energy for something that better aligns with your life to come along.”
Flemming also noted, “Third, fill your own cup. It’s super cliché, I know, but you cannot pour from an empty cup.”
Lastly, Flemming encouraged the crowd to create more connections with the people around them and build up a support system to lean on when things get tough.
“Connection is key to human existence,” she said. “Connect with others. Find your people and lean into them.”
Hannah Bugas is the managing editor of the Wyoming Livestock Roundup. Send comments on this article to roundup@wylr.net.
