Amateurs and Experts
Amateurs and Experts is brought to you by Erica Chin and Jessica Adanich from the Women’s Outdoor Media Association (WOMA). WOMA is dedicated to encouraging women in the outdoor endeavors of shooting sports, archery, fishing, and hunting. In this podcast, Erica and Jessica share their experience in outdoor sports as well as interview female experts. The goal of this podcast is to educate and empower women who are beginners, hobbyists, and competitors in a fun and relaxed setting.
Amateurs and Experts
Behind the Trigger and the Easel: The Inspiring Story of Lanny Barnes
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In this episode of the Amateurs and Experts podcast, hosts Erica Chin and Jessica Adanich highlighted the inspiring journey of their guest, Lanny Barnes. Lanny, with her extensive experience and achievements in shooting sports, offered valuable insights into the importance of quality equipment and the deep relationships she has built with companies like Staccato and Otis Technology. Her commitment to authenticity and dedication to representing only the best products truly shines through, making her a role model for aspiring shooters and outdoor enthusiasts.
Moreover, Lanny's diverse talents, from being an Olympian to a phenomenal artist, added a unique dimension to the conversation. Her stories of artistic endeavors, including her participation in the Olympic art program, and her dedication to detailed and expressive artwork were both captivating and inspiring. Lanny's ability to balance her competitive spirit with her artistic passion demonstrates her multifaceted nature and her relentless pursuit of excellence. As listeners, we are left with a profound appreciation for the hard work and dedication behind the scenes of both competitive sports and artistic creations. This episode of "Amateurs and Experts" not only entertained but also educated and inspired, making it a memorable addition to the podcast series.
A huge thanks to Otis Technology for generously providing us with booth space at Shot Show. They not only gave us a prime spot but also furnished us with a top-notch podcasting booth, allowing us to warmly welcome our guests and create some podcasting magic.
Welcome to Amateurs and Experts Podcast.
SPEAKER_01We are women who shoot, hunt, and fish. I'm Erica Kitty and I'm Jessica At Mitch.
SPEAKER_02Welcome to Shot Show 2024. We are in this booth that's amazing. Um, not only because we have Landy Lawrence here, but because Otis Technology has uh put us up in this little piece in the corner of 12,022,200 of uh Otis Boulevard. Calling it now. Otis Boulevard in a wonderful podcast booth. And um this is all all sponsored by them. And uh just you know, two chicks getting a micros microphone off Amazon and starting a podcast. But we do um have Lanny Barnes here, and we're talking to her today about staccato, about being a badass, about everything she's into.
SPEAKER_00Welcome, Lanny. Thank you guys. I mean, this is exciting. Being on your amateurs and experts podcast is absolutely amazing on Otis Boulevard. You know, I feel like I'm I'm home because I'm amongst my family, and you know, Otis is one of my first sponsors way back in the day. So amazing people, amazing company, and I love you ladies more than anything. Oh, we love you too.
SPEAKER_02We love you definitely. Um, well, we met at uh Basil Bullets 3 Gun way back in the day, and you were a part of Woma, and I think that for a couple of years you were just like, Yeah, come come do stuff with Woma. And uh wow, how far we've come, right?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, yeah. I mean, you and I have a wonderful history, and we've uh we've conquered a lot of uh things together, and it's just been fun.
SPEAKER_02It has been, and um, you know, now Jess and I were doing this podcast, and and we're so excited to have you on. And um, I know you're doing great things. I mean, as always, um talk about feeling like a slacker when you're next to Lanny, right?
SPEAKER_01Oh, not at all. And and you're just a genuinely amazingly nice person, and I'm not saying that at all.
SPEAKER_00Um you you probably haven't seen me when I'm hangry. You know, sometimes sometimes I get a little ornry just like everybody else when you know I get get hungry and I need a Snickers.
SPEAKER_02But Lanny, some of the times, like I feel like you're one of those go-to people where um, you know, I've learned so much from you, even in the wilderness and forests and walking through, you know, learning about uh poo and animal scat, yes, and flowers and what you could eat, not, and and all that stuff. Like you have such a world of knowledge. And um, I I know a couple years ago I said, hey, so when you're flying on a plane, what do you take? And you just rattled off all these things that you put in your backpack, including like a piece of cardboard if you get cold in the plane to duct tape on the on the the yeah, the air conditioning.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, I've been very, very fortunate to have experienced a lot of different things over my lifetime. A lot of people say that you know the the things that I've experienced in my lifetime kind of makes me like a 80 or 90-year-old.
SPEAKER_02Yes, I believe that.
SPEAKER_00I sometimes I feel like that, like right now I've in my SHOT show. I'm tired. I feel like an 80 or 90-year-old.
SPEAKER_01But um well, and what year of SHOT Show is this for you?
SPEAKER_00Tracy and I came to our first SHOT show in 2001 with Otis. Wow. So you can do the math, it's a a lot of SHOT shows. And uh yeah, it hasn't SHOT Show itself hasn't changed much. It's uh you know about the same. Uh I love it because I get to see people that I only get only see once a year at the time. It's like a family reunion. Absolutely, yeah. I love it.
SPEAKER_02And you um represent staccato.
SPEAKER_00I have I do, yeah. I I started shooting for STI, which uh is now staccato, back in 2014, and um Amazing Man uh purchased the company in 2017 and they did a big rebranding and and changed it into staccato, and it's just turned, you know, instead of being solely focused on competition, they started focusing on uh law enforcement, uh concealed carry, a little bit of everything, kind of making uh you know handguns for the everyday person and stuff like that. Um and it it's just an amazing company. They they take a lot of pride in their in their firearms and the quality that they put in them. You know, everything in the gun is made and sourced in the United States of America, which is really hard to do for a company and hard to say these days, but they're pretty proud of that.
SPEAKER_02We just had um RJ from Kiki Holster, uh Kiki Products products, and um he was talking about the same thing, you know, sourced everything is is from the United States, and you don't hear that very often.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, another another great brand, um, amazing products, you know, they they take pride in what they do, and you know, to be all American made is you know, I think something that uh a lot of companies should strive for. And you know, especially these days with the state of the world, it it's it's hard to do, but companies like staccato and Otis and and uh Kickies and and Hoague, uh, you know, they they have a lot of American-made products, and you know, I stand behind that 100% because I think that's what we need absolutely.
SPEAKER_01And staccato, I with DesignPod, I've I've actually worked as a contractor as an extension of their design team in the past. And one of the things that in working with them and finding out more about deeply about the company is how many I'll say like high-end military use their firearms is extensive. I mean, you're talking about like the elite use their, and I don't think that people know that that the best of the best use their firearms because they're just that good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01I mean I mean you I mean you shoot for them, so obviously.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, they uh I mean there's a lot of high-end military, and people wouldn't know that because it's not like the military advertises what they do. It's not like they they market themselves, but um, they do some pretty amazing things and and they want the best of the best. And and that's what my twin sister and I did uh in 2014 when we retired from Olympic biathlon, we jumped into action shooting sports and three gun, where we knew that we needed some of the best equipment. You know, going from the Olympic level to you know, jumping into other shooting sports, we're like, we're gonna find out what what companies make the best products, and then we're gonna go talk to them and see if they'd be willing to partner with us. It wasn't something where these companies that that are still my sponsors to today from 2014, uh, they didn't come to us. We went to them and said, hey, you know, you you guys make the best products, they're made the United States of America, they run great. We actually tested them. We we went and we tested all different brands and companies and things like that, and uh said, hey, this is what we want. We love more than anything to represent your your company and your products, and is there something we can do to work that out? And and here, you know, all the almost 20 or excuse me, 10 years later, we're still with a lot of those same companies, including Staccato.
SPEAKER_01I love that you went to them. Like, talk about a badass move to be like, we're gonna do our research, we found what we want, and we're gonna come to you and say, hey, how can we make this work? Especially female, like I hate to say it, but now females are the number one growing segment in this industry. But 10 years ago, you know, that I think that that's amazing to have that happen.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, for my twin sister and I, it wasn't about the money. Like when you when you are so passionate about what you do and the the products that you represent, like I don't feel comfortable going to someone and saying, like, you can trust your life on this product if it's not something that I can trust my own life on that product. I'm not gonna take a paycheck just to just to you know say that that I represent a company. I I want to truly believe in everything behind the company and know that if if I'm gonna use it, if my family is gonna use it, it's gonna work when it when it needs to, and I'm gonna be able to hang my hat on that to be able to tell other people to do the same thing, that they they can trust their life with those products.
SPEAKER_02And I and we've talked about sponsorships before, and not only did you talk about you know really backing that product, but also becoming part of that family, you know, and it's not just a one-way of I want product, it's also saying, hey, listen, let's build a relationship. And I think that you have done that well with in so many years of um, and it kind of shows because you've been with the same products, you know, it's it's backed by Lanny Barnes, which is and Tracy, which is amazing in itself, but for so long, because sometimes people hop from this to that to that, and um you really have done your research, and and I mean you're sponsored by some really great people.
SPEAKER_00Great people, great products, and you know, like you said, it for us it it was important to to make them a part of of my family, you know. Um Welcome to the family. Welcome to the family. Yeah, family's so important. I mean, you guys are are my family, and you know, being a twin, I think it it makes it um even more important to have close connections around you. You know, I came out of the womb thinking about someone, putting someone else ahead of myself, and I've always done that my entire life, and and so it's the same with sponsorships. Like a lot of people in the industry, they're like, What can I do for a free product or this and that? And like they'll do anything for just something free. They don't care who it comes from and you know, whatever. And it's it's like, no, you you know, it doesn't matter, you know, if you have two followers or 200,000 followers, you know, you should take pride in what you do, what what you represent, and um think of those people that are working hard every day to make those products and them going home to their families and how you can support them to lead better lives, you know, because what you do matters.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. That is so authentic and deep. And I mean that in a really positive way. I mean, we've been talking a lot this week about all of this stuff just doesn't get here at shot. Everything from the booth setup to the advertising, the products that people are launching this week, there's so much that goes behind it. And to be someone that's representing a brand, to say, no, I do what I do when I think about the people that are actually making what I'm using, that's that speaks volumes to your character.
SPEAKER_00Well, you I think it's one of those things like I when I either work for a company or represent a company, I think of every single person and their role in that, and how if if they weren't there, the company wouldn't succeed. You know, whether they're even um, you know, maintenance or or you know, cleaning the bathrooms or anything like that. Everything matters, like every everybody's role and everybody responsible everybody's responsibility matters in a company to help it succeed. So it's not like the engineers are more important than you know the the guys that are are uh keeping the place clean because it all it all matters.
SPEAKER_02One without the other is not gonna be as successful.
SPEAKER_00Correct, yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um you talked about hogue knives. And I remember a story uh about knives with you and your dad. So can you kind of talk about that?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so uh my my dad, uh awesome guy, he's the one that taught my sisters and I how to shoot and everything, and kind of helped prepare us for the for the world, taught us a lot of things about, you know, like scat we were talking about earlier, a lot of things that I've passed on to a lot of different people. But one thing that he was very adamant about was, you know, if if if we were so I grew up in a family with three girls. So if we uh if we ever brought home a guy, my dad would uh pull him into the garage and test him and say, and say, uh, you know, pretend like he was working on something, and he'd ask the kid, you know, hey, can I borrow your pocket knife? And if the kid didn't have a pocket knife on him, he immediately got kicked out. My dad's like, nope, he's no good, he's not prepared, you know, he's not gonna be able to get away. That is epic. Yeah. So uh and it I appreciated that because it's it's one of those things like you know, it may be just a small little thing. People don't think about that, but I mean a pocket knife is something that I utilize every day. I mean, I've got one in my pocket now, and usually I have two on me, but um they're so useful for everything, you know, and it it just it kind of I guess speaks to your character and like how well prepared you are if you um use something like that and you think ahead of like what do you need? But yeah, so Hogue is is an incredible company, and uh you know they uh um again made in the United States of America, their their products are incredible. Um yeah, and you could get it customized. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02I um after hearing that story and everything, I thought, ooh, that's a great anniversary gift, and I got a customized knife for Arnold. For uh uh a hog knife customized for Arnold, but I also got one for myself because he figured I mean I would have too.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well he needed an anniversary gift for me.
SPEAKER_02Girl man, you need free shipping, yeah. And they're they're great knives, they're they're really great, and he he was excited. He's he's a knife guy too. Yeah, he likes to carry a pocket knife and um you know cutting boxes, quote unquote. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_00But um, you know, it's just nice to have it and it's yeah, I mean I I recommend everybody carry a pocket knife because you never know when you need something, and and you know, besides uh obviously a good self-defense tool, you know, get get training just like anything, but um, you know, boxes, uh rope, anything, you know. Uh steak. Steak. I was cutting, I was at the uh a rest restaurant earlier today, eating some lunch, and and uh it was plastic silverware, and I'm like, I can't cut through this thing that I'm eating, so I pulled up a pocket knife and I was able to eat it instead of looking like a Neanderthal picking it up and gnawing on it. I I was able to, you know, be ladylike and use a knife and and uh you know I love that.
SPEAKER_01Be ladylike and use a knife that I pulled out of my pocket.
SPEAKER_00Well otherwise it would have been, you know, gnawing on it like a Neanderthal.
SPEAKER_01No, I totally dig that though, but I that's an awesome sentence. Like that should be a sticker. Like it should be we should make a sticker like that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it should be your next one. Yes. Um, but yeah, Hogue is amazing. It's it's three generations uh here in the United States and and you know, in the same family, and and they're just incredible people. Um you know, and they they really care about their products. They they make more than than knives. Hogue, obviously, everybody knows Hogue for their grips and their stocks and and you know, all sorts of things like that. But they have a a wide variety of of products and they're you know made in the United States and in California, but they're now here in in uh uh Nevada a lot more, and and so it's it's great to just see families carry on those traditions of of making things United States and then keeping the quality of their products as high as possible. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02So Lanny, you're Olympian, you um badass, still you know, competitive shooting. Um, and I don't know, I I'm sure most people know, but you're also an artist.
SPEAKER_01A phenomenal, wicked amazing artist. Like yes, so incredibly talented.
SPEAKER_02Really, attention to detail, and you went back to the Olympics, right?
SPEAKER_00To I did in in 2018. So a lot of people don't know this, but um in the Olympics, way, way, way back in the day, you know, not modern Olympics, but um they had art, uh I think architecture, and one other thing in in the the Olympics. Oh, and they they were actual Olympic disciplines. And so the International Olympic Committee was like, hey, maybe we should bring those back for the uh intellectuals out there and the people that aren't you know athletes, but they want to want to do something that really showcases their skills and things like that, because you know why why not? And um, so they they started the Olympic art program in 2018 and they selected uh three artists around the world to do this program as kind of like a test run to see what it would be like to reintroduce art into the Olympics. And and uh I was selected and I went to uh uh Pyongcheng in South Korea and for this Olympic art program with uh two other artists, and we worked on a uh piece of artwork. It was actually so much fun. Um, we created uh a world record for the most number of Olympians to complete a painting. That's so cool. Yeah, it was one panel for each sport at the Olympics, and you put them together and it it created the Olympic rings. And so we that piece of artwork is hanging in the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. Um I love I love artwork, it's the only thing that actually gets me in a seat long enough to focus on something, obviously, besides you ladies in this podcast.
SPEAKER_02Oh, we better talk quick. Well, you I gave you a photo of one of my friends' horses, and um she was so excited because you have such attention to detail. Um, she said, My husband doesn't believe that the horse had a lazy eye and Lanny captured it, you know, and it was just one of those things that um is is awesome just because it's from you, but the fact that you have such attention to detail, it's beautiful work. Um something that is you could be proud to to put anywhere in your house. And I really appreciate that because um you know you just bring bring out those things, you know, things um, you know, the details of maybe uh nature or animals, people. And it's amazing your work.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you. I uh horses was the first thing I started doing when I was a kid. Uh I had a horse obsession. Uh my dad was not a horse person. He had a very unfortunate incident with horses with his buddies out hunting when he first got out of college and moved to Colorado. So he he actually kind of hated horses, and and uh my mom was a horse girl, she grew up with horses, and I kind of knew that um the only way of me actually having a connection with horses was to draw them because I knew my dad wasn't gonna allow me to get one. So I spent a lot of time drawing horses, and and that was kind of what kicked off my art career. And then in uh when Tracy and I, my twin sister and I were training for the Olympics, uh, you know, money's really tight as an Olympian. And so uh one way of us paying the bills was uh I would create artwork, and then we were living up in in Maine at the time, and my twin sister and I would drive up to Quebec, Canada, and we'd sell my artwork on the streets just to make money. Are you serious? Yeah, so that helped us uh pay for um my Olympic career and also uh our schooling as well. We used the money from my artwork to uh pay for our college.
SPEAKER_02Wow. So you've been you've been doing art basically since you were a baby.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. I didn't I didn't formally a baby. I got a really great visual in my head. Yeah, finger painting horses and stuff. Um that's a good visual. Uh but yeah, I um definitely uh you know really, really enjoyed it, and um I just have a passion for trying to create as a detail of artwork as possible. What's your favorite medium? Probably white charcoal on um you know black uh paper and stuff. It it when you do that, it it uses the opposite side of the brain, it forces you to do everything you would normally do. So it's me if it's if it's hard, I like it, which is you know, kind of one of my greatest strengths, but also my greatest weaknesses as well. But um I like it because it creates a really dramatic effect and it's very hard to do because it it forces you to not do what you normally do.
SPEAKER_02And Lanny, it it seems like you have, I mean, the the world is you know just an open to you. You never box yourself in. You always have something going on. Um, you're always blowing the top off whatever box somebody puts you in. And um, so how many medals do you have? Do you know? Have you counted?
SPEAKER_00No, I've never counted.
SPEAKER_02What what was your last uh accomplishment?
SPEAKER_00Uh I put my clothes on this morning and came to SHOT Show.
SPEAKER_01Hey, on day three.
SPEAKER_02Definitely. Um, Thursday, SHOT Show. I think we're all kind of like, let's rally, right?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Is there anything that you know you you do so much? Is there something that you haven't done yet that you do want to do? Splunking. How how much time do you have?
SPEAKER_02She's probably already been splunking.
SPEAKER_01Okay, something in 2024 will narrow it down. Okay, the next three months.
SPEAKER_02Next week.
unknownNext week.
SPEAKER_00Well, I'm going on to next week, but it hasn't been in a while. But I the problem is I enjoy almost everything, and I can be happy doing a lot of different things. And I I'm very adamant that you can do anything you put your mind to, but you really have to put your mind to that. And you you and I have talked about that a lot, where um, you know, as long as you put your mind to it, the sky's the limit. You can do anything. So, you know, I of course there's a lot more artwork I want to do. I have the the rifle world championships coming up in August that I'm really excited about. And uh, you know, just came back, won the shotgun world championships as an open lady in Thailand in December. Uh so there's just you know, there's a lot of things I want to do. I I really want to get back into training and helping people, especially women and things like that. And and you know, that's that's where my passion lies, is in teaching and training people.
SPEAKER_02And you always give to Woma. Like you come out, she never quit, um, you help with our event, and uh you're on the board for a while, and we really appreciate that because the ladies absolutely love you. You're great with training, you you bring staccato out there, and um of course staccato is amazing to shoot anyway. Um, but to be I have have Lanny next to you shooting a staccato, you know, telling you, okay, what about this, what about that? Um, it's even better, you know, it makes that experience, and uh we really appreciate it. So is there um if anybody wants to see you and um get to get to see your artwork, get to see you, um I know you have the the Lanny Oakley and and Sharpshooting and stuff like that. Um, how do they find you on social media or or um websites?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so uh social media uh Lani Oakley, um find me find me there. And uh also I have uh art business called The Olympian Artist. And uh the last couple years I've been so busy that I let my websites kind of fall to the wayside, but um here in the next couple weeks I'm gonna revamp those and so people can find me at lannyoakley.com and theolympian artist.com uh here in a few weeks. So give me a few weeks and it'll be up.
SPEAKER_02Nice. Well, thank you very much for being on our podcast. It's been a pleasure.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Thank you, ladies, and this has been so much fun to thank you for listening to Amateurs and Experts Podcasts.
SPEAKER_02Like and follow the Woma on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more information and podcast updates.
SPEAKER_01We'll see you here again soon on Amateurs and Experts.