It was sometime near the turn of the 20th century that Lucille Elizabeth Bishop Smith received her first cooking instruction courtesy of her grandmother. According to a September 1974 article in the Star-Telegram, Lucille recalled that her grandmother, who had been a slave prior to emancipation, wasn\u2019t particularly impressed. \u201cYou\u2019ll never learn to cook,\u201d she told her. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucille, it states in the article, likely used this criticism as motivation for her future vocational choices. Perhaps flexing an innate desire to prove people wrong, Lucille brushed off an abundance of barriers and would become a caterer, a program chairman for Fort Worth Public Schools, and a culinary innovator who became the first Black female business owner in the state of Texas.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Take that, Grandma.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, Lucille is just one of many Fort Worth women who have swung against the odds and managed to break through that proverbial glass ceiling, excelling in male-dominated fields that were once uncommon or even disallowed. And almost all who did so would say it was worth the trouble. After all, a job is more than a place to gather paychecks, say \u201cyes\u201d to a boss, and punch a clock at 9 and 5. For glass-breakers and world-shakers, a vocation is a big part of what gives a person purpose and helps shape one\u2019s identity \u2014 for better or worse. Outside of family, it\u2019s where one can build a legacy and leave a mark on their respective field or within their community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
So why not have a job that you love?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucille received her certificate in vocational education from Colorado State College, where she says, \u201cThere were 23 white student teachers and one fly in the buttermilk.\u201d While no statistics exist regarding the percent of Black women receiving bachelor\u2019s degrees in 1912, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, in 1940 only 1.3% of African Americans aged 25 or older had received a bachelor\u2019s degree. And, in the early 20th century, the number of college-educated men outpaced the number of college-educated women. Something that wouldn\u2019t shift until the 1920s.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucille moved to Fort Worth soon after graduating with her husband, Ulysses Samuel Smith, who would go on to have an impactful culinary career himself, opening North Side\u2019s iconic U.S. Smith\u2019s Famous Bar-B-Q. When they arrived, the two opened a catering business, and Lucille would pull double duty as a seamstress during the day and caterer at night.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 1927, Lucille became chairman of the vocational education program for Fort Worth Public Schools. And she soon became one of the district\u2019s most vocal employees, demanding the school provide 25% of the cost for supplies related to vocational instruction. Ten years later, Prairie View A&M recruited Lucille to create one of the nation\u2019s first collegiate commercial food and technology programs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In 1942, during a period of extended rest due to poor health, Lucille developed the first mass-produced hot roll mix, Lucille\u2019s All Purpose Hot Roll Mix. Though initially created as a fundraiser for her church, due to high demand, the mix would begin production in a North Side factory in 1944. According to a 2004 article in the Cleburne Times-Review, \u201cthe product paved the way for the convenience cooking we know today.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lucille died in 1985 at the age of 92.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was 20 years after Lucille first began mass producing her mix that Title XII under the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited potential employers from discrimination on the basis of sex, became law. And its passage in 1964 created more opportunities for women, as the predominately male workforce could no longer immediately dismiss or disallow female candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Today, women make up 47% of the country\u2019s overall workforce \u2014 up from 39% in 1973 \u2014 and account for 14% of our armed forces, 12% of local police forces, less than 5% of firefighters, and 16% of engineers and architects. In fields that remain typecast as male-dominated, women account for 38% of medical doctors, 25% of professional chefs, 41% of attorneys, and 22% of software engineers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While there exist logical reasons certain jobs are made up of predominantly men, other vocations simply retain a false stigma and have yet to attract an abundance of female candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But that doesn\u2019t mean women can\u2019t pursue these jobs, land them, and excel and rise through the ranks. Whether it\u2019s Joan of Arc, Marie Curie, or Lucille Smith, history is chock-full of women who defied all the norms and naysayers to perform the job they were born to do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\u201cIf you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n <\/p>\n\u2014 Katharine Hepburn\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Head of the Herd\u00a0<\/p>\n
Georgia Cartwright applied in 1998 to become the first trail boss of the Fort Worth Herd, the world\u2019s only twice-daily cattle drive. \u201cI didn\u2019t get an interview,\u201d Cartwright says. \u201cBut I\u2019ve done a lot more living and a lot more learning since then.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Despite the rejection or, should we say, ghosting, Cartwright had found her dream job. It\u2019d just take another 27 years to get there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Following in the footsteps of Kristin Jaworski\u2019s 23-year stint as trail boss of the Fort Worth Herd, Cartwright came on board only \u201cone month and seven days\u201d before we sat down to chat. Yeah, she got the gig and is still pinching herself to make sure her current state of living the dream isn\u2019t, like, an actual dream.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
And one would be hard pressed to find a hire that makes more sense; she checks all the proverbial boxes for what makes an excellent trail boss. She showed horses as a youngster; roped calves in the rodeo \u201clong before breakaway roping was cool\u201d; worked as a day-working cowboy, which I learned is a freelance cowboy whose horse and personal herding experience are for hire, on a bevy of East Texas ranches; toured with horses and stage coaches representing Wells Fargo at events across the country; and clocked 11 years at the Tarrant County Clerk\u2019s office, where she gained management and budgeting experience. She even used to chew on saddle reins as a toddler during lead line classes \u2014 not a prerequisite, but it doesn\u2019t hurt, either.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Almost every one of the above experiences, Cartwright will put to good use as the leader of the Fort Worth Herd. And we should remind you, this is a legitimate herd.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though it seems like a simple task of walking 17 longhorns down East Exchange,\u201d Cartwright says. \u201cIt\u2019s not. And our prime responsibility is the care of the animals. Every morning, we assess all of our horses and all of our cattle to ensure they\u2019re healthy and in the best possible shape. We have a great herd of cattle here, and we have very well-trained horses here. The very least I can do is make sure that their every need is met.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The thing that makes the Fort Worth Herd so dang majestic is its authenticity. These folks \u2014 the drovers, the trail boss, the equines, and the bovines \u2014 they\u2019re the real deal. They aren\u2019t actors putting on a show. They look good doing what they do because, well, it is what they do.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That said, the trail boss and drovers are some of Fort Worth\u2019s most prominent and accessible ambassadors, which brings Cartwright to the Herd\u2019s other main responsibility: the visitors. \u201cI want to ensure that my drovers, they go out on the street before the cattle drive to visit with our guests, to answer questions, to take photos, to make someone\u2019s trip to the stockyards a memorable one.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And leading a crew of legit drovers, albeit with her as the lone cowgirl in sight? Well, it seems it hardly occurred to her. \u201cThe wonderful thing about cowboy culture is you gain your merits on your ability, your knowledge, and your work ethic,\u201d Cartwright says. \u201cJust like when I was a day-working cowboy and I would be the only woman in the pasture, I still had the same responsibilities as anyone else that was on horseback. And I was welcomed because you\u2019re there on your merit. If you don\u2019t have the skills, you\u2019re not going to get the phone call.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
She\u2019s a Landman\u00a0<\/p>\n
When one thinks of West Texas, wind, dust, and gas stations that double as cafes are likely to come to mind. We\u2019re also willing to bet oil, gas, mineral rights, and pumpjacks as far as the eye can see will pop into that noggin, too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, when landman and PlainsCapital Bank senior vice president Kathy Robertson told me she was born in Fort Worth but grew up in a West Texas town called Dell City, I figured her vocation was a return to her roots. But it turns out, Dell City is in what Robertson dubs \u201cfar, far West Texas \u2014 on the west side of the Guadalupe Mountains. Population: 500. It\u2019s in the middle of nowhere.\u201d But it\u2019s no doubt beautiful country, and it\u2019s an area Robertson continues to regularly visit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She\u2019d make her way to the South Plains and attend Texas Tech, where she studied animal science and eventually found her way back to where it all began: Fort Worth.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Of course, anyone who keeps up with what goes on below ground in Cowtown knows that Fort Worth was one heck of a place to be circa 2002, thanks to the Barnett Shale boom. Working in real estate at the time, the boom saw Robertson transition to becoming a landman after being convinced by a local developer to work for him under that capacity.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, if you have yet to watch an episode of Taylor Sheridan\u2019s Fort Worth-filmed show \u201cLandman,\u201d don\u2019t sweat it. If you have, Robertson suggests not using it as your textbook for understanding the role of the show\u2019s titular vocation. And, though women making up on only a quarter of landmen, the work itself isn\u2019t laden with machismo energy. A landman is a mineral rights deal maker, someone who, through hours of arduous research of public and private records to determine property ownership \u2014 which can sometimes evolve into studying multipronged, multigenerational family trees \u2014 to ensure the right people receive the right compensation when the drilling and fracking begins.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But after the Barnett Shale cooled off and the price of natural gas dropped, companies headed for the hills \u2014 or, Pennsylvania, toward the now-booming Marcellus Shale, to be specific.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a young daughter in junior high, so I didn\u2019t want to leave and go to Pennsylvania,\u201d Robertson says. \u201cSo, I sent my resume out to a few companies, and Petrodata Systems out of Arlington picked it up.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
A niche accounting software for managing oil and gas assets, Petrodata Systems gave Robertson experience on the accounting side of the industry, while also providing her account management experience after the company \u201cdumped seven banks into my lap\u201d during a coworker\u2019s extended absence. With this welcomed responsibility, Robertson was now getting experience in every aspect of oil and gas property operations.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Taking on more banks as clients, Robertson would eventually parlay this job into her current position. \u201cI found out that PlainsCapital Bank acquired the software and started the department. So, I applied for and got the job,\u201d says Robertson, who now serves as the company\u2019s senior vice president and manager of oil and gas property operations. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve built the department from the ground up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Robertson now manages 105 clients \u2014 of whom she could tell 105 fascinating stories about \u2014 and is a respected voice and veteran leader within the industry. As she and I were leaving the breakfast joint where we chatted, she mentioned speaking at a conference and having young women approach her, telling her, \u201cYou\u2019re a badass.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Robertson then tells me, \u201cI never thought I\u2019d be a badass at 62.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
A League of Her Own\u00a0<\/p>\n
Perhaps not a widely accepted fact that would rival Isaac Newton\u2019s second law \u2014 or even his third, for that matter \u2014 but coaches, especially those in the realm of gridiron football, have a specific air. Sure, it\u2019s an aura of confidence, authority, and a dash of intimidation. But there\u2019s also a je ne sais quoi that I can only define as empathy and genuine, heart-on-his-or-her-sleeves caring for their players.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In what might be one of the most male-dominated career paths, it\u2019s incredible how Kylie Johnson, coach and athletic director at Southwest High School, embodies all of the above. She was born for this stuff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One doesn\u2019t even have to mention that the football she coaches at Southwest, while still on a gridiron, played with an oblong ball made of swine skin, has the same positions, and includes metal bleachers for fans, is actually flag football. The main differences become apparent when one realizes it\u2019s an all-girls team and tackling is supplanted with stripping flags from a waist band. But the games, they\u2019re just as an intense, strategic, and dare I say physical \u2014 but not I-was-just-in-a-car-crash physical.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Johnson says, \u201cFort Worth was the first district in Texas to initiate flag football, and now Dallas and Houston and all the other metroplex schools are getting involved, too.\u201d Kicking off play in 2022, Johnson was at the forefront of the establishing the new sport in the district, starting at Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School during the sport\u2019s inaugural season before moving to North Side High School, where they made it to the district championship and the Final Four the following year. Last year served as her first year at Southwest, and the team finished in the Elite Eight in district.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And, according to Johnson, who also coaches women\u2019s volleyball and serves as the school\u2019s athletic coordinator, the sport has continued to increase in popularity, and past team members can\u2019t wait to get back on the field for the 2026 season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI think girls being able to play a \u2018boys sport\u2019 is just so empowering,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cI think that it really brings a lot of confidence that maybe other sports don\u2019t. And everything [these girls] are learning is beyond football. They\u2019re learning work ethic, dealing with hardships and adversity, all those things that will help them in the future. The fact that they can now see themselves as a football player \u2014 something none of them ever even dreamed was possible just a few years ago. It shows them there\u2019s nothing they can\u2019t do. It\u2019s making them better women. It\u2019s making them better human beings.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not as if Johnson\u2019s green to spread offenses or calling audibles, her football experience is extensive. She played in the first All American Flag Football game and played in the same game the followed year. She also played intramural flag football while a student at UNT, which is where she would graduate with a degree in kinesiology.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cAnd my [intramural] team was really, really good,\u201d Johnson says. \u201cAnd we went to Texas Tech and played in many different leagues. So, I\u2019ve been playing, but I\u2019m always learning.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
You can catch Southwest High School\u2019s flag football team when they begin competition in spring 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Fire Inside\u00a0<\/p>\n
When one is attempting to become a Fort Worth Firefighter, the first test they require potential candidates perform is a climb up a 135-foot ladder \u2014 the tallest ladder in the city \u2014 just to ensure one is able to do it. To put this in perspective, this ladder is still taller than the tallest building in Vermont by nearly 20 feet. The department also makes one perform a black-out challenge, where a trainee is wearing a mask in a pitch-black darkness,\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s facing and overcoming fears,\u201d says Abigail Sanchez, a firefighter who\u2019s been with the Fort Worth Fire Department for eight years. \u201cFear of heights, claustrophobia, disorientation; these are legit phobias that can cause panic, which is never ideal for our job. If they want to join, they better get over them quick.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The training is nonstop, Sanchez says, because they\u2019re never sure when they\u2019re going to get a call that will be something extraordinary; and they need to remain as prepared as possible for any scenario. Every day, you have to be in the best shape of your life, \u2019cause you never know when someone in need might depend on you.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Firefighters typically work 24-hour shifts and receive 48 hours off. Their days-on consist of making breakfast, cleaning the firetruck \u2014 it\u2019s emaculate \u2014 regularly scheduled PT, and answering any calls that happen at the drop of a pen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sanchez was in an early college for high school students when she found out was precisely what she wanted to do for a living. With firefighters and EMTs offering courses she started easily seeing herself donning their sharp uniforms one day. \u201cI feel like people love a man in a uniform,\u201d Sanchez says. \u201cAnd I was like, man, screw that. I think I would look good in that uniform.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking around Station 45 near Harmon Ranch, where Sanchez is assigned, it\u2019s not difficult to deduce that she\u2019s the only woman in the station. Women make up less than 5% of all firefighters. But when I bring up this obvious observation, she seems unphased.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t feel like I have to take on a certain role,\u201d Sanchez says. \u201cI think they treat me as their equal; I don\u2019t feel like I\u2019m any different. We know that I\u2019m a female, and I know that they\u2019re men. But we joke around. We have fun. I\u2019m just one of the guys, and I don\u2019t feel like I get treated any differently. I\u2019m very glad that\u2019s the case.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Echoing something similar to what Georgia Cartwright said earlier, whether it\u2019s drovers, firefighters, mechanics, etc., yes, it\u2019s likely a woman will have to contend with a certain amount of prejudice. But, once one proves themselves capable, they\u2019ve earned respect based on skill and merit. When it comes to jobs like these for women, there\u2019s no room for feelings of imposter syndrome, no time-to-get-your-sea-legs moment, and no \u201ccan you show me that again but slower?\u201d When a woman has a job like this, one can be assured she\u2019s earned it; and she\u2019s damn good at it, too. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was sometime near the turn of the 20th century that Lucille Elizabeth Bishop Smith received her first…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":207041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5138],"tags":[5229,29751,29750,7371,7372,35556,13813,358,7453,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,16966,73758],"class_list":{"0":"post-207040","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-worth","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-brian-kendall","10":"tag-cover-story","11":"tag-fort-worth","12":"tag-fortworth","13":"tag-longform","14":"tag-people-of-influence","15":"tag-texas","16":"tag-top-story","17":"tag-tx","18":"tag-united-states","19":"tag-united-states-of-america","20":"tag-unitedstates","21":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","22":"tag-us","23":"tag-usa","24":"tag-women","25":"tag-women-in-business"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=207040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/207040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/207041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=207040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=207040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=207040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}