Mariann Holm of Holm Boys Dairy talks about the turning points in her life that cultivated grit—the courage and resolve to be a farmer. From taking the risk to leave a cushy corporate gig in California to start their organic dairy in Wisconsin to successfully battling thyroid cancer when the odds were not in her favor, Mariann inspires us all to change life’s curveballs into opportunities to make us stronger farmers and women.

Mariann and her husband, Doran, own a grass-based organic farm in Dunn County, Wisconsin, where they raise organic dairy heifers. Mariann is an organic crop and livestock inspector and serves on the Wisconsin Organic Advisory Council and the Menomonie Market Food Co-op Board of Directors.