Last year, I was selected as a Face of Farming and Ranching by the U.S. Farmers and Ranchers Alliance. As I spent the year communicating with consumers by print, radio and in person, I thought a lot about my ancestors.

We can all identify examples of great brands, like Disney, Nike and Apple. Each offers unparalleled customer experiences, of course, but there’s something else at play.

There’s been a quiet revolution in the dairy industry that has more to do with people than dairy cattle. Over the past 50 years what had been a male-dominated profession has welcomed an increasing number of women.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts.” —Winston Churchill

For more than 16 years, Laurie Fischer walked the halls of Wisconsin’s capitol building, lobbying for legislation that favored the state’s dairy farmers.

“Not only do I know how to milk a cow, but I know how to herd a bunch of cows, too, which is a life skill that I think may come in handy someday.” —Martina McBride

Women in dairy are a diverse group with one common passion: dairy. These women are leaders and, like every good leader, they have people they look up to who challenged and inspired them to be who they are today.

Some little girls grow up playing house and dreaming of their wedding day. But not Cassie Zirbel. She was much too busy making up charts and breeding dates for her herd of imaginary cows.

Dodge wowed the nation two-and-a-half years ago with its Super Bowl commercial “So God made a farmer.” While many producers appreciated the recognition for the hard work and dedication they put into their profession, this salute to American agriculture showed only a few female producers.

It was a different era in 1956 when a young couple from Brome, Quebec, pulled up stakes and moved to Illinois to begin a career in the dairy business.