Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Valerie Teal of Coffee County was recently elected by her peers to serve as the district III representative on the Tennessee Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee.
Amy Beckham: Teal Serving the Farm Bureau Women. Hello there and welcome to Tennessee Home and Farm Radio, I’m Amy Beckham.
Valerie Teal: Being on the Women’s Leadership Committee, it’s going to be a great time for me to be able to get out of my comfort zone and also to be able to represent women across our state and in district III as well.
Amy Beckham: Valerie Teal of Coffee County was recently elected by her peers to serve as the district three representative on the Tennessee Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership Committee. A little of what serving in this role means to her.
Valerie Teal: Very much of an honor for me to be of have been selected for this position. There’s so many great women and great leaders across our state that have served in this capacity before. Carole Willis is one that I’m following up and she’s been a great leader. So, it’s been great for her to give me an example of what I need to become. I’m hoping to reach out and become that leader that they’re expecting me to be but also that I’m hoping to be as well.
Amy Beckham: Valerie and her husband, AJ, farm row crops and dairy cattle in Morrison alongside their three children. The couple first became involved with the organization through Young Farmers & Ranchers and have grown in their leadership from there as AJ serves as county president and Valerie now on the State Women’s Committee.
Valerie Teal: We did start out with Young Farmers & Ranchers and found that it was definitely an organization that we wanted to be a part of because not only the connections that you make with other people across the state and in the nation, but you’re also becoming better leaders in your community. I became active on my county level with the women’s group there. I find that the goals that Farm Bureau Women have, they’re very similar to my own. We live in a rural community in our county and many of the kids don’t know where their food and fiber comes from. So, with the leadership skills that I have learned through Young Farmers and Ranchers, and now hopefully through the Women’s Leadership Committee, I’m hoping to step out more in my community and help those families and the kids learn about where their food and fiber come.
Amy Beckham: She looks forward to what this new position will bring and can’t commend Farm Bureau Women’s Leadership enough for developing her and other women into better leaders.
Valerie Teal: It opens up avenues for us to not only reach out to our communities and become leaders in our communities, but also to come together in the state level and also the national level and become better women, become better leaders.
Amy Beckham: For Tennessee Home and Farm Radio, I’m Amy Beckham.
