From a Farm Kid to CEO An Interview with Kat Mische Elle
Randy, tell us about who you are. n a nutshell, I’m a farm kid from Northern California. And when I say farm kid, I mean farm kid. You know, the kind that grew their own food. My dad was a contractor and my mom stayed at home. We didn’t have a lot of money, but we never were hungry. I was raised where you got up, you fed all the animals first thing. The rest of the day would include anything that involved the upkeep of the property like plowing a field and baling some hay. When I was entering my teen years, I also worked full-time as a farmhand on a real farm. It was a farm called Sodaro Orchards in Northern California that farmed peaches, almonds, and walnuts. It seemed like I worked nonstop on that farm. I was good at it, but I didn’t like it. I worked there from when I was thirteen until after my second year of junior college when left and transferred to a university. I didn’t think about it at the time, but it shaped everything I’ve ever done in my life after leaving farm work. A typical day could consist of getting up at 4 am, moving sprinkler pipes, getting to school by 6 am, asking the football coach to get to the school early so I can get into the gym, work out, then go to class all day and then go to football practice after school. After practice, I would go back and work a couple more hours on the farm. That was my daily routine. I didn’t have a grudge about it. It’s just what I did. It was the type of home I was raised in, so it was normal. The excitement came on payday, especially after the wage got increased to $4.25 an hour. Once I got into high school, I was a goody-two-shoes type of kid and stayed out of the party scene, I was borderline a nerd. But because I was a very good wrestler and a captain on the football team, I had a rare spot in the lunchroom. I wasn’t picked on, but I wasn’t the super popular kid either. I was just right down the middle of the road. I am the first person from my family to go to college, which was received with some ridicule from some members of my family because we were a family that worked. You go to work, and you use your hands. I could do it and do it well, but I didn’t want to anymore let alone the rest of my life. I have a green thumb and I can turn a wrench. But it wasn’t my thing. I’d rather write or inspire somebody or lead a team. My coaches were the driving influence behind everything I did, both football and wrestling. Their encouragement helped push me further with school so I could keep playing those sports. Not that my family wasn’t supportive about my sports, it just didn’t resonate with them. As an adult, my tolerance for laziness or excuses is very little. It’s because I never saw laziness or entitlement when I was growing up, you had to earn what you wanted. I went to college, and I paid for it, (literally). I didn’t take a loan. I worked full time, played two sports, and managed to get through college. I rode a bicycle everywhere I went. On the rare occasion, if I needed a little help my father always knew just when an extra hundred dollars was needed. Was Top Ramen your only food source for a few months at times? I have lived that reality before. Yes. I’ll never eat it again, (laughs). While in college, football and wrestling were the driving force. Being a competitor and an athlete was all that mattered and the clarity that I was going to be a coach someday. I completed school and finished with a master’s degree in Education.
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I N S P I RE D S U CC ESS MAGAZINE | SP RING / SUMME R 2022
RANDY TAT E
TE C H Z EN
