Conversations at The Cowgirl, Season 3, features each of the 2024 Cowgirl Honorees and Special Award Winners. Tune in with host Madison Ward for exclusive interviews as she discovers the inspirations, struggles, and defining moments that led these women to the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. Be sure to support Conversations at the Cowgirl by subscribing, rating, and reviewing.
This podcast is made possible by the support of the Nadine and Alan Levin Foundation and the Mary Potishman Lard Trust. Thank you to Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center and Adam Levin for providing equipment to record and produce this podcast. View episodes below.
Listen to the podcast at the links below (Spotify and Apple Podcast) or right here on our website.
This week, listen to Madison’s exclusive interview with 2024 Cowgirl Honoree, Beth Cross, the Co-Founder and CEO of Ariat International. Beth shares her unconventional career path from working as a cook on a salmon processing boat in Alaska to becoming CEO of an international western apparel brand, and at what point she and her team knew they had created something really special with Ariat performance boots. Beth reveals Ariat’s namesake, the company values that have contributed to over 30 years of success, and a quote that inspires her to take every setback as an opportunity: “I’m either winning or I’m learning.”
Connect with Ariat on social media @ariatinternational and visit ariat.com.
Be sure to follow the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame @cowgirlmuseum and rate and review Conversations at the Cowgirl.
Welcome to Season 3 of Conversations at the Cowgirl! This season, host Madison Ward sits down with each of the 2024 Cowgirl Honorees and Special Award Winners. First up is Kaila Mussell- the first woman to become a professional saddle bronc rider since the formation of the PRCA in 1993. Tune in as Kaila discusses the mechanics of bronc riding as a woman, 101 Ways to Break Your Neck by Frank E. Dean (which Kaila dubs “the best book ever”), and her experiences opening up about her mental health. Kaila Mussell possesses incredible talent on horseback and outside the arena, and we are honored to welcome her into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame!
*Content warning: mild language*
Diana and Ashley share highlights and challenges they experienced in the creation of this exhibition and explain how Soldaderas to Amazonas: Escaramuzas Charras is different from any exhibition they have created before.
If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to visit the Museum’s newest exhibition, Soldaderas to Amazonas: Escaramuzas Charras, on display until December 31, 2024. Learn more at www.cowgirl.net.
This project combines original portraiture and ekphrastic poetry to delve into themes of family, identity, and gender within the escaramuza community. The exhibit will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog that can be purchased in the Museum gift shop.
Escaramuza, the Poetics of Home is currently on display at the National Cowgirl Museum as part of the newest exhibition Soldaderas to Amazonas: Escaramuzas Charras. For more information, visit www.cowgirl.net
Jaeggi has studied at the New York Film Academy and most recently completed a Master of Art History and Art World Practice at Christie’s in London. Her work has been internationally exhibited and published. In 2021, she was shortlisted for the Critical Mass Awards and has been published notably by The Guardian and The Washington Post.
The principal investigator, researcher, and curator in collaboration with Constance Jaeggi is Diana Vela, Ph.D, Associate Executive Director of Exhibits and Education at the National Cowgirl Museum. Her tie to the subject is organic with ancestors being recipients of a Spanish land grant, Laguna Seca in the Rio Grande Valley.
Join Diana and Constance as they sit down with host Madison Ward to discuss their partnership in researching and creating the exhibition and the aspects that set it apart from any project either of them have done before.
Join Paola as she sits down with host Madison Ward to reflect on her time serving as Ambassador and Queen and discusses how charrería has shaped her life.
“There’s something about getting to share your knowledge and passion with another that is a gift.”
Hear 2018 Cowgirl Honoree Camilla Naprous talk to Dr. Diana Vela about the process of matching horses and actors, how her family got into the entertainment industry, and a few of her plans for the future.
In the final episode of the first season of the Museum’s podcast She Said What – Conversations at The Cowgirl we chat with the new 2021 Women’s Professional Rodeo Association President Jimmie Gibbs-Munroe. She is a 1992 Cowgirl Honoree and was born into the heritage of the 101 Ranch. She has recently been elected as the current WPRA president for a 3rd term. During her previous terms as president, she led the association in acquiring equal prize money, obtained national sponsors, advanced the use of electric timers, and better arena conditions. An all-around cowgirl, she has made 11 trips to the National Finals Rodeo and won the WPRA world titles in barrels, all-around, tie-down roping-all in 1975. We hope you enjoy this episode discussing her goals as the WPRA president and the legacy she has paved.
In today’s episode we talk with 1995 Cowgirl Honoree Barbara Van Cleve at The Resort at Paws Up in Montana for the Cowgirl Fall Roundup. Her photography work is renowned for realistically portraying ranch life in the modern West. Raised on the family’s Montana ranch, she learned ranch life as a participant, with photography as an avocation. Van Cleve taught English Literature and Photography at DePaul University in Chicago, becoming the youngest Dean of Women in the U.S. She later pursued photography full-time and had her first major exhibition in 1985. Van Cleve has had more than 50 solo photography exhibitions and a lifetime of experience in the West through photography and ranching. You may recognize her from her feature on CBS Sunday Morning that premiered in 2019.
Episode three of She Said What – Conversations at The Cowgirl podcast is formatted differently than our other interview episodes. We discuss both the public and private life of one of the most well-known cowgirls ever – 1984 Honoree Annie Oakley. In this conversation, we talk about aspects of Oakley’s life, beyond her world-acclaimed sharp shooting skills, which most listeners are not familiar with. If you want to see some of the Annie Oakley artifacts we have and you can’t visit in person, check out our OnCell digital tour at cowgirl.oncell.com. This episode was recorded during the pandemic.
In today’s episode we talk with incoming 2021 Patsy Montana Award Recipient Christina Voros, who is a cinemaphotographer. She has worked on the hit series “Yellowstone,” being the only female director and director of photography. She has also worked with industry leaders such as filmmaker Tate Taylor and producer Oprah Winfrey. We are excited for our listeners to learn who Voros is and how she went from being a bartender and fencing competitor to a cowgirl and cinemaphotographer.
In our first episode we talk with cutting horse champion, 1997 Honoree Lindy Burch and western artist, 2007 Honoree Donna Howell-Sickles during Cowgirl Spring Roundup at The Resort at Paws Up in beautiful Montana. Burch holds the distinction of winning the National Cutting Horse Association Futurity in 1980, and the first female to do so, the first female president of the NCHA, and she continues to promote cutting internationally through clinics and competitions. Howell-Sickles has over 40 years of experience exploring the layers beneath the cowgirl’s engaging exterior, she was chosen as the first woman artist to create the collectible poster for the Pendleton Roundup, and her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions and publications. While both Honorees come from different backgrounds of the western industry, they both draw similarities that unite all of the women in our Hall of Fame.
The Cowgirl Roundup events in the fall and spring are in partnership with The Resort at Paws Up in Greenough, Montana. If you are interested in attending a future Cowgirl Roundup visit Pawsup.com.