WEBVTT 00:00:02.766 --> 00:00:04.892 Welcome to the Growing Our Future podcast. 00:00:04.892 --> 00:00:19.969 In this show, the Texas FFA Foundation will take on a journey of exploration into agricultural science, education, leadership development and insights from subject matter experts and sponsors who provide the fuel to make dreams come true. 00:00:19.969 --> 00:00:22.344 Here's your host, Aaron Alejandro. 00:00:30.210 --> 00:00:38.037 Well, good morning, good afternoon, good evening or whenever you may be tuning in to the Growing Our Future podcast. 00:00:38.037 --> 00:00:39.465 Man, we're glad you're here. 00:00:39.465 --> 00:00:54.033 I'm so excited for y'all to meet today's guest, and we just enjoy bringing people on that are willing to share their time, their talent, their treasures, their testimony, their insights, expertise and experiences and to pour into our audience. 00:00:54.033 --> 00:01:02.409 You know, like we always say, if agriculture's taught us anything, it's taught us this If you want to know what the future is, grow it. 00:01:02.409 --> 00:01:08.265 If you want to grow a future, you got to plant the right seeds, and today is no different. 00:01:08.265 --> 00:01:18.900 I was hoping that, the time that we're doing this interview, I was really hoping I was going to be the first to get to say ladies and gentlemen, dr Sarah Sprayberry. 00:01:18.900 --> 00:01:29.006 But I understand that we're just on the cusp of the official title doctor, but we do have an incredible advocate here today. 00:01:29.006 --> 00:01:31.727 Sarah Sprayberry, thank you for joining us. 00:01:31.727 --> 00:01:33.444 Thank you for having me. 00:01:33.525 --> 00:01:34.367 I'm so excited. 00:01:35.981 --> 00:01:43.691 Well, I'm going to tell you a little bit more about Sarah and how I discovered her here in a second and why I wanted to bring her onto the show and talk about some things. 00:01:43.691 --> 00:01:55.248 But first, you know, sarah, we start off every episode, every episode of Growing Our Future, with a simple question, and that is what are you grateful for today? 00:01:56.070 --> 00:02:00.200 I love that question as we are on the cusp of reaching that doctorate degree. 00:02:00.200 --> 00:02:07.664 I've been very reflective lately and I'm just so grateful that I have the familial support that have gotten me to this point. 00:02:07.664 --> 00:02:15.550 It's been a decade of being in school and that takes a lot of support from those people who love me most, so I'm very grateful for them. 00:02:17.040 --> 00:02:18.383 Pretty cool when you think about it. 00:02:18.944 --> 00:02:22.983 It is, and not everybody gets to experience it, unfortunately. 00:02:23.705 --> 00:02:25.310 Well, it's funny that you said that. 00:02:25.310 --> 00:02:27.426 So I actually took a picture. 00:02:27.426 --> 00:02:39.147 I've got a picture it's on my social media pages of my family and I shared it with my kids one day and I said I know I'm going to sound a little bit sappy I said, but I want y'all to look at that picture. 00:02:40.140 --> 00:03:12.070 And I said, because this is our family and I said you've got to understand that the reason it means so much to me is I didn't grow up with that, and so when you hear people that share that appreciation, I appreciate the fact that you appreciate your family and obviously they are happy and I guarantee you, sarah I know, you know this they're proud of you, yeah, and because they know how hard you've worked to get to where you're at and this journey that you're on, that you're going to continue to do great things. 00:03:12.070 --> 00:03:15.868 So thank you for sharing that, of course. 00:03:15.868 --> 00:03:16.912 Okay. 00:03:16.912 --> 00:03:36.278 So years ago I remember there was this thing called MySpace and I started getting involved because I thought, well, this is kind of a neat little tool and then, all of a sudden, this thing called Facebook comes along, became a new twist on the old tool, if you will, absolutely. 00:03:36.741 --> 00:03:55.308 And as I became involved in the FFA and the foundation and my work with Texas Team Ag Ed, I was actually the one that set up the original Facebook pages for the FFA, the Ag Teachers Association and all of them, and I told them I said this is a communication tool that's coming, okay. 00:03:55.308 --> 00:04:01.227 And years ago, sarah, they would tell people that you need to have a website. 00:04:01.227 --> 00:04:04.099 Okay, so years ago we would say you've got to have a website, that you need to have a website, okay. 00:04:04.099 --> 00:04:10.811 So years ago we would say you've got to have a website. 00:04:10.811 --> 00:04:14.056 Today, you can't just have a website Today you have to have a web presence. 00:04:14.076 --> 00:04:15.929 Oh yeah, you have to have a presence across the web. 00:04:15.929 --> 00:04:29.913 It could be a website, it can be your social media, it could be a blog, it could be the podcast, but you really there's so much transfer of information that you want to try to do what you can to create a web presence. 00:04:29.913 --> 00:04:39.384 And early on in my role at the Texas FFA Foundation, I've always been a strong advocate for agriculture. 00:04:39.384 --> 00:04:45.194 People that know me know that's one of my projects is how do we advocate for agriculture? 00:04:45.194 --> 00:04:52.442 How do we promote our farmers and ranchers and the people that take care of our natural resources and help feed the world? 00:04:52.442 --> 00:04:57.076 And so I've always been an advocate for agriculture. 00:04:57.076 --> 00:05:01.507 I've always tried to offer workshops on training people how to engage with these tools. 00:05:01.507 --> 00:05:09.625 But obviously I'm out there watching to engage with these tools, but obviously I'm out there watching. 00:05:09.625 --> 00:05:36.572 So I'm watching people on LinkedIn, I'm watching people on Facebook, on Instagram, on X or Twitter or TikTok, and one day I'm scrolling through and I saw one of the funniest videos that I have ever seen and here is this young lady doing a TikTok video dance to stock shows and how people show animals at stock shows. 00:05:36.572 --> 00:05:40.593 And I am rolling and I'm sitting there going. 00:05:40.593 --> 00:05:42.579 What a tool. 00:05:42.579 --> 00:05:48.360 This young lady is taking this topic that so many of us are familiar with. 00:05:48.360 --> 00:05:57.661 She's put it in a format that engages an audience that wants to have fun, that's still interested in learning. 00:05:59.122 --> 00:06:02.386 And lo and behold, I start following Sarah Sprayberry, the blooming advocate. 00:06:02.386 --> 00:06:10.774 I start following Sarah Sprayberry, the blooming advocate, and I just one day I thought you know, I've had the farm babe, michelle Miller, on here. 00:06:10.774 --> 00:06:22.603 I've been fortunate to have Dr Temple Brandon I've had people on that, I think represent advocates for agriculture. 00:06:22.603 --> 00:06:32.149 And, sarah, I just want you to know that, while you do it in a fun format, I want to say thank you, because we need people that are willing to step out there and do that. 00:06:32.149 --> 00:06:34.860 So why don't you take a moment here? 00:06:34.860 --> 00:06:37.728 Because I would like for you to take us on your journey. 00:06:37.728 --> 00:06:39.812 So take us through your. 00:06:39.812 --> 00:06:41.882 You know where you're from. 00:06:41.882 --> 00:06:50.985 You know your school, school experience to your college experience, to what led you to want to do this advocacy on this platform. 00:06:51.567 --> 00:06:52.930 Absolutely I would love to. 00:06:52.930 --> 00:07:10.391 So I'm born and raised in Berning, texas, so deep in the hill country, and like many other people, I did the FFA, I did 4-H, I showed hogs and so that led me to do animal science at Texas A&M because I think, like many other youth, I was like I'm going to be a veterinarian. 00:07:10.391 --> 00:07:26.321 And then I got to college and I was like no, I'm not side of things. 00:07:26.321 --> 00:07:27.764 So I really wanted to be with the farmers as well as the consumers. 00:07:27.764 --> 00:07:32.293 So I got knee deep into extension education as well as research, which are two of my big passions. 00:07:32.293 --> 00:07:41.088 So I was on the judging team and with that I really got into doing youth development and teaching kids about horses as well as judging. 00:07:41.088 --> 00:08:04.333 And then that led me eventually down the line to getting my master's in swine nutrition, so making people's bacon, as I always told people and then that led me into my first like true extension job with Texas Youth Livestock and Agriculture and so that's kind of what spurred the social media side of things is I got to do social media for them and I really was just. 00:08:04.333 --> 00:08:09.026 I got to do social media for them and I really was just. 00:08:09.045 --> 00:08:13.259 It was eyeopening to see how many people engaged in that, but then also were like, so like did not understand what it was. 00:08:13.259 --> 00:08:18.492 Like they would see the livestock shows that we would post and they'd be like, why are they whipping that pig? 00:08:18.492 --> 00:08:20.062 Like, why are they being aggressive? 00:08:20.062 --> 00:08:24.247 And so I was like whoa, and so that's kind of like hit the light bulb in me. 00:08:24.247 --> 00:08:25.949 I was like we got to do better. 00:08:25.988 --> 00:08:32.035 I think sometimes agriculturalists, we go on the defensive end, as I like to say with my football reference. 00:08:32.035 --> 00:08:46.155 We don't often take offense, and so I think we need to be better on the offense by just constantly producing educational materials on social media platforms to reach consumers so that they understand like we really are. 00:08:46.155 --> 00:08:52.804 Like farmers are the first conservationists and they are in the front line and they are the ones who care about the animals first. 00:08:52.804 --> 00:08:59.447 Listen, they if you have a dead animal, they're not making money right, so like they have to put animals first. 00:08:59.447 --> 00:09:22.605 They are the ones at 4 am breaking ice so that their cattle can get water, and so I think it's important that on social media, we can connect people to those farmers and understand that there's so many misconceptions and just really get the truth out there for them well, I appreciate the fact that you're doing that, and so you've probably crossed paths with dr bill Billy Zanellini. 00:09:23.047 --> 00:09:26.370 Yes, he was my boss. 00:09:27.373 --> 00:09:34.120 So Dr Zanellini and Dr Chris Bowman and I, we used to do a lot of along with Gene Hall when he was at the Texas Farm Bureau. 00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:36.166 We used to do a lot of ag advocacy workshops. 00:09:36.166 --> 00:09:51.756 One of the things that I like to talk about and I've shared this with Sarah before is and you alluded to this, sarah, by the way, this with Sarah before is, and you alluded to this, sarah, by the way there's a thing that we sometimes fail to recognize when we're promoting on social media, and that's emotional intelligence. 00:09:51.756 --> 00:09:59.831 And when you think about the statistics, I think it's 93% of Americans. 00:09:59.831 --> 00:10:01.520 Now let that sink in for a second. 00:10:01.520 --> 00:10:03.445 That's a pretty high number. 00:10:03.445 --> 00:10:11.245 93% of Americans see a cat or a dog every single day, every single day. 00:10:11.746 --> 00:10:21.413 So if you just do a simple web search, google, whatever your platform is if you just do a simple search of cats or dogs, look at what imagery's pop up. 00:10:21.413 --> 00:10:24.767 It's, you know, hold and fluffy, pet and fee-fee. 00:10:24.767 --> 00:10:30.126 You know it's the emotional intelligence is very loving, caring. 00:10:30.126 --> 00:10:43.245 And then, in the world of production, agriculture, of farming and ranching and animal agriculture, we sometimes don't post anything until we get to the stock show, right. 00:10:43.245 --> 00:10:48.543 So all of a sudden, when you start looking at our images, it goes back to what you said. 00:10:48.543 --> 00:10:51.511 It's an image of oh well, why are they whipping that pig? 00:10:51.511 --> 00:10:55.892 Why are they strangling that steer and poking it with a stick? 00:10:55.892 --> 00:10:59.000 Exactly why are they choking that goat? 00:10:59.000 --> 00:11:02.447 And, oh my gosh, they're holding those turkeys upside down. 00:11:02.447 --> 00:11:12.251 Yes, you know, but anybody that knows the care that that student put into that animal, they would be blown away Exactly. 00:11:12.471 --> 00:11:22.989 But what I appreciate and I've shared this with Sarah before what I appreciate about what Sarah's doing and we hope to encourage other advocates is let's tell this incredible story of food. 00:11:22.989 --> 00:11:36.523 People sometimes don't understand the word agriculture, but everybody understands the word food and it's a chance for us to help people understand where that comes from. 00:11:36.523 --> 00:11:42.234 And so, sarah, take us through why you've chosen this platform. 00:11:42.234 --> 00:11:46.350 How do you pick your topics of what you want to share? 00:11:46.350 --> 00:11:48.323 That's I'm really intrigued by. 00:11:48.323 --> 00:11:49.307 How do you? 00:11:49.307 --> 00:11:55.143 Just what is it that spurs a thought that you say this would be fun to do? 00:11:55.143 --> 00:11:56.184 Take us through that. 00:11:57.086 --> 00:12:15.270 So I think a lot of it also stems from my PhD research is ag literacy in youth, and so things that I've actually heard you say, that I've worked with, that they thought was true, have spurred a lot of my tech talks, but also things that, like people will just comment and say I'm like, oh man, that is like no. 00:12:15.270 --> 00:12:26.870 I believe that, like you know, cattle are ruining the planet, agriculture is killing the planet, all these things, and so I take that and often I think when people see that on social media, they'll share it and they'll say this is not true. 00:12:26.870 --> 00:12:32.493 However, they're not thinking that when you share it, you're helping their initiative and not agriculture. 00:12:32.493 --> 00:12:41.003 So for me, I read that comment and I go we're going to make a TikTok about it and then I'm going to do the facts and do it in like an engaging, fun way. 00:12:41.043 --> 00:12:55.293 I think sometimes it gets a little intimidating, especially somebody who's never interacted with agriculture if they see some like jarring things, but if it's very relatable and you know, just dance and being silly, they're like, okay, I can like relate with this girl. 00:12:55.293 --> 00:13:05.993 And then they see those facts and they're like, okay, and like some people have even messaged me and they're like you made me like want to go and like research more to really understand agriculture in general. 00:13:05.993 --> 00:13:06.734 I'm like that's good. 00:13:06.734 --> 00:13:16.549 That's what we should be doing is just having an open conversation about what it is and the industry, and then you can make your informed decisions by having the facts. 00:13:18.461 --> 00:13:19.085 Well, that's good. 00:13:19.085 --> 00:13:24.889 So your strategy sometimes comes from just conversations. 00:13:25.149 --> 00:13:26.933 Oh yeah, a lot of conversation. 00:13:26.933 --> 00:13:28.642 I also look up. 00:13:28.642 --> 00:13:30.466 I've done this several times. 00:13:30.466 --> 00:13:32.431 Is I look up like myths about agriculture? 00:13:32.431 --> 00:13:44.033 I'll just Google it myself, or sometimes I'll even look to see, like what PETA has like just recently put out, so that I can try to put something else out there that has the true narrative of what's happening in agriculture. 00:13:45.020 --> 00:13:50.961 So Sarah said something a minute ago and I want to make sure that we share this with the audience because this is good stuff. 00:13:50.961 --> 00:14:06.500 It's real easy to see something that we find offensive, that we grow up in a world of food and agricultural production, whether it be plant or animal production and we see something that we don't like and so we immediately want to challenge it. 00:14:06.500 --> 00:14:30.394 And the unfortunately with the algorithms and the way technology works, if we're not careful in challenging it, we actually promote it absolutely and I kind of go back to what I was saying about emotional intelligence is that we've got to take charge of the message, as you have said, and start sharing the positive of what we do. 00:14:30.394 --> 00:14:37.874 I've not posted this yet, but a friend of mine years ago his youngest son, told me a story. 00:14:38.761 --> 00:15:04.465 It was about the day there was a blizzard and a snowstorm and ice in east texas and their cows were calving and they were driving around on their four-wheeler going around checking on the cows and they saw a little nose sticking out of the water at the tank and they rush over, jump in the frigid water and pull a baby calf that had just been born out. 00:15:04.465 --> 00:15:07.841 That was just barely hanging on, and what do they do? 00:15:07.841 --> 00:15:10.865 They immediately, they all take their jackets off. 00:15:10.865 --> 00:15:16.181 They wrap this baby, this newborn, in their jackets. 00:15:16.181 --> 00:15:24.322 They let the cow come on over to see her baby and then they very slowly drove that calf to the barn. 00:15:24.322 --> 00:15:33.006 They took the calf inside, they got it into hay, they got it where it was warm, the mom, and they nurtured that animal. 00:15:33.729 --> 00:15:34.211 Absolutely. 00:15:36.224 --> 00:15:39.392 And I think sometimes we don't always share those stories. 00:15:39.392 --> 00:15:42.046 And those are the stories. 00:15:42.046 --> 00:15:51.138 As the development officer for Team Ag Ed, I've been doing this for 24 years and we've raised millions, of dollars, millions. 00:15:51.138 --> 00:15:54.662 And they say, aaron, how have y'all raised those monies? 00:15:54.662 --> 00:16:02.350 And I tell them a very similar story is I remember when I was growing up at Boys Ranch and my dorm parent, mr Chandler, gave me a sledgehammer. 00:16:02.350 --> 00:16:07.346 He told me to drive to the other side of the ranch and bust the water trough for the horses. 00:16:07.346 --> 00:16:16.434 It was five miles, it was in a snowstorm, five miles. 00:16:16.434 --> 00:16:16.956 It was in a snowstorm. 00:16:16.956 --> 00:16:21.745 And I remember driving over there and, and mr chandler and his old country wisdom, he just said, darling, do you get thirsty when it's cold? 00:16:21.745 --> 00:16:23.668 And I said, yes, sir. 00:16:23.668 --> 00:16:26.240 He said, don't you think those horses get thirsty too? 00:16:27.182 --> 00:16:28.024 yeah yes, sir. 00:16:28.024 --> 00:16:40.154 So I drove over there and I busted the water trough for the horses and companies that have nothing to do with agriculture, people that did not grow up in FFA or agriculture, like you or I did, sarah. 00:16:40.154 --> 00:16:52.721 I always tell them, I said, the thing that separates our kids from everybody else is that in the world of agriculture, if we don't do our job, something does something does yeah. 00:16:52.721 --> 00:16:58.307 Think about that and what an incredible intrinsic value system. 00:16:58.866 --> 00:16:59.086 Yeah. 00:16:59.687 --> 00:17:04.051 That we're putting in young people to know that what they do is important. 00:17:04.051 --> 00:17:09.515 Look at you. 00:17:09.515 --> 00:17:10.396 I mean you're a great example of that. 00:17:10.396 --> 00:17:14.765 I mean I'm proud of what you've done, I'm proud of where you're going, I'm proud of this incredible voice that you're sharing on technology platforms. 00:17:14.765 --> 00:17:23.663 But it's because somewhere along the way, you got something instilled in you that your fellow man depends on you. 00:17:23.663 --> 00:17:36.808 The things in your care, depending the natural resources, depend on you, and you've taken it seriously yeah is that fair to say absolutely? 00:17:38.069 --> 00:17:48.940 yeah so let's talk about this, because I'm hoping that you can inspire which I know you will somebody else that may decide. 00:17:48.940 --> 00:17:54.815 I want to go online and I want to be positive about decide. 00:17:54.815 --> 00:17:56.499 I want to go online and I want to be positive about agriculture and food production. 00:17:56.499 --> 00:18:05.961 And if you were going to give some ag students tips on being online and sharing positive messages, what would those tips be? 00:18:05.961 --> 00:18:06.704 What would you tell them? 00:18:08.215 --> 00:18:10.561 So this actually makes me go back to. 00:18:10.561 --> 00:18:14.603 I was just at a conference for ag educators and they were talking about NIL. 00:18:14.603 --> 00:18:23.886 I'm a big sports girl, so your name, image and likeness that we see with these athletes they talked about it with your department, but I thought about it in the way of agriculture. 00:18:23.886 --> 00:18:30.615 What I would say to youth is you have to remember that your name, image and likeness is connected to the ag industry. 00:18:30.615 --> 00:18:42.662 You are probably maybe the one person that is going to interact with agriculture, so one person who's never experienced agriculture and then you are the person that they are going to do. 00:18:42.701 --> 00:18:49.778 So you need to make sure that your name, image and likeness is representing agriculture well, so you want it to be a positive interaction. 00:18:49.778 --> 00:18:51.402 You don't want to be negative. 00:18:51.402 --> 00:19:01.863 We don't want to put them down for not understanding something Because listen, I mean, not everybody gets the beautiful opportunity of being an FFA and really interacting with our industry. 00:19:01.863 --> 00:19:09.866 That is so wonderful, and so I think when we're online sometimes we tend to make fun of people who don't understand things. 00:19:09.866 --> 00:19:10.188 But what. 00:19:10.315 --> 00:19:22.560 I've learned is that when you come at a level head and you just really try to make it engaging and fun and positive, that people are going to be more swayed to understand or listen to your side of things. 00:19:24.824 --> 00:19:27.007 Wow, okay. 00:19:27.007 --> 00:19:33.378 So I want every listener I know every listener knows this because you hear us talk about almost every podcast be a lifelong learner. 00:19:33.378 --> 00:19:36.048 Yeah, don't ever quit learning. 00:19:36.048 --> 00:19:37.814 Go back to agriculture. 00:19:37.814 --> 00:19:41.967 I always tell people, when you're green you grow, when you're ripe, you're ripe. 00:19:41.967 --> 00:19:46.000 So don't quit growing, just always be listening. 00:19:46.000 --> 00:19:48.185 And Sarah just gave me something I'd never heard before. 00:19:48.185 --> 00:19:50.155 So I'm learning today. 00:19:50.155 --> 00:19:50.855 I love it. 00:19:50.855 --> 00:20:05.205 Sarah shared N-I-L yeah Name, image and likeness and everybody that knows me, sarah, on social media platforms knows that one of my handles most people know me by my handle Live your Brand. 00:20:05.767 --> 00:20:06.007 Yeah. 00:20:06.967 --> 00:20:27.058 And so what I tell young people is that what you share, what you comment on, what you engage in, that becomes your brand, and when people start looking at you for a job or people are starting to scrub your character or who you are, they're going to look at that platform and they're going to say what are you an expert in? 00:20:27.058 --> 00:20:39.724 And so I like to tell young people that what you share like comment on, shows me the three areas that you're an expert, and I don't know if you know the story or not, but I'll share it very quickly. 00:20:39.724 --> 00:20:43.040 But where Live your Brand came from is. 00:20:43.060 --> 00:21:08.740 There was a young man from Jacksboro, texas, named Johnny Callen, and Johnny Callen was a Ford leadership scholar and Johnny Callum is one of the sharpest young men I think I've ever met and he unfortunately died in a tragic automobile accident on a way to a stock show, and executives from Ford Motor Company, people from all over the country, came to Johnny's funeral. 00:21:08.740 --> 00:21:43.915 I was actually keynoting a speech out in Las Vegas and I remember, in front of an empty room full of chairs, I talked about Johnny Callen and I said, if you pulled up that 17-year-old boy's social media, he always talked about FFA, agriculture and leadership, and I said Johnny Callen was an example of how to live your brand, and so from that point on, I just said it's time to start talking about live your brand. 00:21:44.416 --> 00:21:45.098 Absolutely. 00:21:45.419 --> 00:21:51.028 So the live, your brand icon, came from the legacy of Johnny Callen. 00:21:51.028 --> 00:21:53.907 So Sarah is an example of that. 00:21:53.907 --> 00:21:58.843 If you follow Sarah on her social media, it's not going to take you long. 00:21:58.843 --> 00:22:01.327 Number one she's got a sense of humor. 00:22:01.327 --> 00:22:15.304 Number two, she's got a passion for all things agriculture, and she also wants to be helpful, and all that comes out in what you share, sarah. 00:22:16.215 --> 00:22:22.548 So I think it's important, like you said, for young people to know that on your platforms. 00:22:22.548 --> 00:22:34.435 I mean, you know, think about it, and I think you would agree with me if we, if you and I, could go sit down with every eighth grader, every middle school eighth grader, and say listen, you're fixing to go into high school. 00:22:34.435 --> 00:22:46.087 Do me a favor, find three things that you really want to be good at, three things that you really care about, and for the next four years, share a lot of stuff about those three things. 00:22:46.087 --> 00:22:50.726 And then, when you go to college, I want you to do the same thing. 00:22:50.726 --> 00:22:54.925 I want you to find those three things and I want you to share as much as you can about those three things. 00:22:54.925 --> 00:23:00.883 Would you agree that when they get ready to look for a job, they're ready yeah. 00:23:01.796 --> 00:23:02.900 Pretty easy, don't you think? 00:23:03.382 --> 00:23:03.903 Absolutely. 00:23:05.676 --> 00:23:06.761 Why do you think it would be easy? 00:23:08.076 --> 00:23:27.305 Well, I mean, I'll say from personal experience that I'm looking for faculty positions right now and I guarantee they have looked at my TikToks and so when they look at that, they do see that I mean I present myself as an ag literacy person in youth development and so when they're actually looking at social media, like oh, she actually is living out what she says, that she is. 00:23:27.305 --> 00:23:35.376 So it's just shows and it's kind of an artifact to be like, yeah, no, she really stands by her word, because actions speak louder than words and we know that. 00:23:35.376 --> 00:23:38.645 And so an action on social media definitely says a lot about you. 00:23:39.575 --> 00:23:42.464 Wow, that's good, yeah, yeah. 00:23:42.464 --> 00:23:45.681 So I hope that young people hear this. 00:23:45.681 --> 00:23:50.717 That it's this is a key takeaway is that you know another way of putting it. 00:23:50.717 --> 00:23:57.587 That I sometimes put, like if I were talking to your FFA class back in the day at Bernie, is I would always ask them. 00:23:57.587 --> 00:23:59.089 I said, tell me about your business. 00:23:59.089 --> 00:24:03.846 And they all look at me puzzled and they say, well, mr Alejandro, I don't have a business. 00:24:03.846 --> 00:24:06.221 I said, yeah, you do, you're it? 00:24:06.221 --> 00:24:11.820 Do you get to work on time, customer service, friendly? 00:24:11.820 --> 00:24:13.819 Can you communicate well? 00:24:13.819 --> 00:24:15.517 Do you get along with other peers? 00:24:15.517 --> 00:24:18.207 You see, I think to your point what you were saying. 00:24:18.307 --> 00:24:39.807 Your your nil, your name image likeness that, that's it is so not only are you living your personal brand, but hopefully, maybe somewhere along the way, whether it's agriculture or the company that you work for, maybe you find something that spurs your passion to say I want to share more about this. 00:24:39.807 --> 00:24:44.028 Just you, you've become passionate about sharing for agriculture. 00:24:44.349 --> 00:24:44.791 Absolutely. 00:24:46.656 --> 00:24:57.700 What are some of the challenges that you've found in communicating and challenges that you've found in advocating challenges that you've found in advocating that's a fantastic question. 00:24:58.381 --> 00:25:12.920 I think, regardless of what you do, you're always going to find somebody that's going to want to put you down and somebody that is going to you know, people are very confident when they're behind a screen, right, and so they really going to be those keyboard warriors that are going to come for you. 00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:14.369 And people have really going to be those keyboard warriors that are going to come for you. 00:25:14.369 --> 00:25:26.439 And people have told me that, like you're like wow, your PhD must not mean anything because you don't know anything, and I'm like, oh, wow, that's so that's a heavy thing, and so I mean that's going to happen in life. 00:25:26.499 --> 00:25:40.498 I mean, regardless on social media, it's going to happen in real life and I think it's important that you don't let that get you down and you just have grit and just keep going and know that what you're passionate about is important, and take that and just keep running with it. 00:25:40.498 --> 00:25:43.426 I mean you can't let the haters get you. 00:25:43.426 --> 00:26:00.090 And that's probably the biggest thing that I've had to overcome on social media is because, especially as you continue to get followers, you also continue to get to more views and then more people see it and then I get more negative comments that's awesome. 00:26:01.376 --> 00:26:02.199 That's really good. 00:26:02.199 --> 00:26:03.882 Um, I like what you said. 00:26:04.001 --> 00:26:13.742 I a lot of times people hear me talk about the three r's yeah and I had people tell me that to put this country back on track, we need to get back to the basics. 00:26:13.742 --> 00:26:21.941 You know reading, writing and arithmetic and I'm like you know, before I took the foundation job, I used to work in a boot camp. 00:26:21.941 --> 00:26:29.467 I worked with true and offenders and I worked in a prison and everybody that I worked with could read, write and do math at a functional level. 00:26:29.467 --> 00:26:41.249 I said but you're right about the three R's, but I believe the three R's are respect, responsibility and resiliency, and I think that holds true on social media. 00:26:41.249 --> 00:26:45.246 I think it holds true in our families and our communities and our life. 00:26:45.246 --> 00:26:50.423 We can disagree with somebody, but you can still be respectful. 00:26:50.423 --> 00:26:53.288 You can take responsibility for your own actions. 00:26:54.411 --> 00:27:03.208 Yeah, you can also be resilient, but absolutely I love it, have a grit it, have some grit it. 00:27:03.208 --> 00:27:10.138 Yes, you know god, god did not create failures, god did not create flops. 00:27:10.138 --> 00:27:15.946 He created us all for greatness, just by design alone. 00:27:15.946 --> 00:27:25.786 You have everything to stand firm on and you know people can disagree, and but do it in a way that's respectful and you don't. 00:27:25.786 --> 00:27:28.825 You don't have to be hateful or mean and being disagreeable. 00:27:31.776 --> 00:27:41.319 Agree, say that again yeah let's talk about leadership for a minute, because we're planting seeds, right. 00:27:41.319 --> 00:27:43.443 So let's talk about leadership. 00:27:43.443 --> 00:27:49.001 You're, you're about to get your phd, you're working your way through. 00:27:49.001 --> 00:27:50.605 You're going to have an incredible career. 00:27:50.605 --> 00:27:52.016 You're going to have an influence. 00:27:52.016 --> 00:27:56.968 You know one of the statements that I like to share and I need to make sure you hear this because this is you. 00:27:57.976 --> 00:28:01.768 The essence of leadership is to plant trees under whose shade you may never sit. 00:28:01.768 --> 00:28:11.044 You have no idea the impact that you're having on other people's lives and how. 00:28:11.044 --> 00:28:17.191 What you do, sarah, could be that you know you might inspire my granddaughter's mentor one day. 00:28:17.191 --> 00:28:26.481 You know you may be the one that gives information to my grandson's president one day, you never know. 00:28:26.481 --> 00:28:30.135 So the essence of leadership is to plant trees under whose shade we may never set. 00:28:30.135 --> 00:28:42.815 If you were also having the opportunity to talk to kids, what would be some leadership tips you would give them in terms of you know, if you want to be a better leader, do these things. 00:28:42.815 --> 00:28:43.836 What would you say? 00:28:45.957 --> 00:29:14.405 I think the first one would be kind of, what you were talking about is kindness, because I know that in academia, often when people kind of get up in the ranks and they start to get to tenure, they kind of saying if I can impact one person, that person still matters right, because we don't know where that person's going to go and they could impact even more people. 00:29:14.405 --> 00:29:21.188 And so I think that is probably step one is just always be humble, stay humble, stay kind. 00:29:21.188 --> 00:29:23.459 And then another one is adaptability. 00:29:23.459 --> 00:29:39.842 I think, especially in this world today, you have to learn how to be adaptable and be able to take those hits and just keep rolling with it and be able to, even if somebody tells you no, adapt and pump yourself up and then go again and that kind of goes back with. 00:29:39.842 --> 00:29:40.022 That. 00:29:40.022 --> 00:29:47.982 Grit is just, somebody may tell you no, but somebody may also tell you yes, and you just have to keep going and just try to strive. 00:29:47.982 --> 00:29:50.025 And if you have that passion, you just got to follow it. 00:29:53.048 --> 00:29:53.750 Making notes. 00:29:53.750 --> 00:29:54.290 That's good. 00:29:54.290 --> 00:30:01.392 If you have not already read it, I'm going to recommend a book for you. 00:30:01.392 --> 00:30:04.358 Yeah, so one of my board members. 00:30:04.358 --> 00:30:10.282 There was a late, great motivational speaker named Zig Ziglar, and Zig Ziglar was famous. 00:30:10.282 --> 00:30:13.183 I mean, he's one of the world's most famous motivational speakers. 00:30:13.183 --> 00:30:44.403 His son, Tom Ziglar, is on the Foundation Board of Directors, and so Tom and I have a lot of conversations and he wrote a book that hit coming right out of COVID, called Ten Leadership Virtues for Disruptive Times of COVID called 10 Leadership Virtues for Disruptive Times 10 Leadership Virtues and kindness is one of those, by the way and he bases leadership on virtues and when you put virtues in place in your life, they come out in the way that you lead. 00:30:45.644 --> 00:30:47.878 They become empathetic when they need to be empathetic. 00:30:47.878 --> 00:30:49.028 They become coachable when they need to be empathetic. 00:30:49.028 --> 00:30:50.938 They become coachable when they need to become coachable. 00:30:50.938 --> 00:30:54.068 They're kind when they need to be kind, they're humble. 00:30:54.068 --> 00:30:56.195 So you said something there. 00:30:56.195 --> 00:30:59.784 I just wanted to share that with you because that was really good. 00:30:59.784 --> 00:31:02.759 He also says this you know we talk a lot about like. 00:31:02.759 --> 00:31:08.882 A lot of times when I talk to businesses and organizations, I ask them I said did anybody see COVID coming? 00:31:10.766 --> 00:31:11.528 No, we didn't. 00:31:12.996 --> 00:31:13.657 So what do we do? 00:31:13.657 --> 00:31:20.195 We expect the best, we prepare for the worst, but we capitalize on whatever comes. 00:31:20.195 --> 00:31:22.059 I like that. 00:31:22.059 --> 00:31:22.961 That's what Ziegler said. 00:31:22.961 --> 00:31:27.179 He said you expect the best, prepare for the worst, but capitalize on whatever comes. 00:31:27.179 --> 00:31:30.797 And so I love when you said be adaptable. 00:31:30.797 --> 00:31:33.844 And so I'm going to show you how timeless that is. 00:31:33.844 --> 00:31:46.721 Anybody that will go back in time and find any of my old ICEV videos, all the way back into the 80s you will find that one of the three tips that I give young people is to be adaptable. 00:31:46.721 --> 00:31:54.144 If there's one thing that we can count on is there's going to be more disruption coming. 00:31:54.144 --> 00:31:56.142 Disruption is not going away. 00:31:56.142 --> 00:31:58.784 There is more disruption coming. 00:31:58.784 --> 00:32:02.282 We're going to have to get comfortable being uncomfortable. 00:32:02.904 --> 00:32:03.307 Absolutely. 00:32:04.576 --> 00:32:09.304 And through that uncomfortableness we're going to pick up Sarah's wisdom right there. 00:32:09.304 --> 00:32:12.364 It's going to be uncomfortable, but we're still going to be kind. 00:32:12.364 --> 00:32:16.204 We're going to be uncomfortable, but we're going to learn to adapt. 00:32:16.204 --> 00:32:21.506 We're going to be uncomfortable, but we're going to remain positive and look for the best. 00:32:21.506 --> 00:32:26.685 We're going to be uncomfortable, but we're still going to stay focused on our goals. 00:32:26.685 --> 00:32:29.540 That target that beckons. 00:32:29.540 --> 00:32:31.026 We're still going to push forward. 00:32:31.026 --> 00:32:35.325 This lady right here is a great example of it. 00:32:35.325 --> 00:32:39.125 So you lived through the COVID years. 00:32:40.316 --> 00:32:52.819 You push through your dream your target and through that process you've practiced these things and they show which is why you've got this branding that you have. 00:32:53.520 --> 00:32:53.800 Yeah. 00:32:54.482 --> 00:33:00.838 So well, sarah, I just want to say thank you for taking time. 00:33:00.838 --> 00:33:05.107 Do you happen to know she's been a guest on this show? 00:33:05.107 --> 00:33:07.859 By the way, do you happen to know Madeline Bar? 00:33:07.859 --> 00:33:12.396 I don't she's from bernie is she really? 00:33:12.457 --> 00:33:15.746 I should look her up madeline um. 00:33:16.807 --> 00:33:28.159 She sold a pig at the county stock show for, I think, thirty thousand dollars yeah and then she turned around and donated it all to saint jude's children's hospital that's amazing. 00:33:28.159 --> 00:33:34.209 And she herself was a child with cancer and they cured her. 00:33:34.910 --> 00:33:35.109 Yeah. 00:33:36.057 --> 00:33:38.095 And through FFA and through her project. 00:33:38.095 --> 00:33:40.000 She said I want to help somebody else. 00:33:40.903 --> 00:33:44.355 I love that, so I've had two guests from Barney Texas. 00:33:44.698 --> 00:33:46.493 On the Growing Our Future podcast. 00:33:46.674 --> 00:33:47.941 They raised some good kids. 00:33:48.615 --> 00:33:52.641 Let's do something right, madeline. 00:33:52.641 --> 00:33:53.281 Thank you, hey. 00:33:53.281 --> 00:33:58.017 By the way, before you leave, we always like to have one last fun final question. 00:33:58.017 --> 00:34:03.067 I'm just curious what is the best concert you've ever been to? 00:34:04.298 --> 00:34:06.461 oh, that's gonna be hard. 00:34:06.481 --> 00:34:20.139 I feel like you're gonna judge me I'm talking to a social media influencer who's putting content out all the time and she's afraid I'm about to judge her. 00:34:20.139 --> 00:34:23.414 That was the most classic comment of this entire interview. 00:34:23.414 --> 00:34:25.619 Go ahead, sarah. 00:34:25.619 --> 00:34:27.043 What's the best concert you've ever? 00:34:27.063 --> 00:34:27.525 been well. 00:34:27.525 --> 00:34:31.297 I'm a swifty, so it's gonna have to be the taylor swift concert. 00:34:31.297 --> 00:34:35.103 I know really, yeah, which one. 00:34:35.103 --> 00:34:38.630 So I went back in like the og days. 00:34:38.630 --> 00:34:45.143 So when I was 15 I went in san antonio and that was probably one of the best experiences. 00:34:45.143 --> 00:34:53.036 I went with my mama so I think that's great by the way memories um. 00:34:53.317 --> 00:35:18.663 So everybody that knows me knows I am a diehard, diehard bruce springsteen and jimmy buffett fan oh so I'm diehard bruce jimmy yeah and so I had a friend of mine who was helping me understand the, the genre of swifties of taylor swift. 00:35:18.663 --> 00:35:27.483 And he told me, and all he had to say was this he said aaron taylor is the bruce springsteen of this generation. 00:35:27.483 --> 00:35:28.784 And when. 00:35:28.885 --> 00:35:33.943 I know how big Bruce Springsteen is, and then I see how big Taylor is. 00:35:33.943 --> 00:35:41.804 Even though it may be a different genre of music for me, I appreciate it out of respect for the talent. 00:35:42.286 --> 00:35:42.505 Yeah. 00:35:43.215 --> 00:35:44.882 So I think that's great, by the way. 00:35:44.882 --> 00:35:48.543 So I can only assume you watch the Super Bowl. 00:35:49.344 --> 00:35:54.778 Well, yeah, of course I did. 00:35:55.762 --> 00:35:56.385 That's great. 00:35:56.385 --> 00:36:03.394 Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us for another episode of the Growing Our Future podcast. 00:36:03.394 --> 00:36:08.045 We appreciate you stopping by and we appreciate Sarah. 00:36:08.045 --> 00:36:33.219 Sarah, thank you, sarah, thank you, yeah, thank you Coming on and sharing with us and kind of giving us an example of what it's like to get out there and share your brand and your NIL and how you can use that to promote where our food comes from, and we just appreciate you for taking some time to come on and share that and we wish you the best. 00:36:33.219 --> 00:36:37.762 I hope that the next time we talk you'll officially be Dr Sprayberry. 00:36:38.585 --> 00:36:38.806 Yep. 00:36:40.382 --> 00:36:45.597 And that we all get a front row seat to your career, because I suspect you're going to plant some incredible trees. 00:36:46.219 --> 00:36:47.965 Thank you Appreciate that. 00:36:48.715 --> 00:36:55.085 So, until our paths all cross again, everybody remember, if you want to know what the future is, grow it. 00:36:55.085 --> 00:37:02.056 That means you got to plant the right seeds, you've got to take care of those seeds and then one day, god will bless you with the harvest. 00:37:02.056 --> 00:37:05.507 And when you get that harvest, we want you to share it with others. 00:37:05.507 --> 00:37:11.701 So until we meet again, everybody, go out and do something special and great for somebody else. 00:37:11.701 --> 00:37:21.000 You're going to feel better about it and when you do, our homes, our community, our state and country will be a better place to live, work and raise our families. 00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:22.746 Everybody take care. 00:37:27.215 --> 00:37:30.806 We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Growing Our Future podcast. 00:37:30.806 --> 00:37:45.085 This show is sponsored by the Texas FFA Foundation, whose mission is to strengthen agricultural science education so students can develop their potential for personal growth, career success and leadership in a global marketplace. 00:37:45.085 --> 00:37:47.822 Learn more at mytexasffaorg.