Emmie Sperandeo, a native of Florida, shares a unique, harrowing, and even enviable story of uprooting her life from her steady city job to moving “out west” and starting a career in ranching. That decision led to a co-mingling of passions with cinematography and a passion for sharing the beauty of rural landscapes around the globe. She specializes in agricultural, equine, and nature videography, and over a million people have fallen in love with her, her content, and her circus of animals on TikTok.
Emmie’s life isn’t out of the ordinary, but her authenticity and dedication to living a life she loves make her different from so many. She currently (and has for the last three years) travels full-time, living out of her truck and trailer with her adorable dog as the best sidekick, and has recently added three horses and a buffalo calf to the mix. She has traveled and documented numerous locations in the US and abroad, including Mexico and on her most recent over-water adventure, Namibia, Africa.
Q: Can you tell me a little bit more about your background and how you grew up?
A: I grew up on a little homestead in central Florida with a ton of animals to care for on our property, surrounded by the outdoors. I went to college, where I studied cinematography video, then after graduation, I moved to Oregon and started working for a tech startup company. It was the first job I could get out of college, and I took it because I was nervous about landing a job. I went from spending a lot of my time outdoors and caring for our animals to living in the city. I often asked myself, “What am I doing wrong?” Sitting in traffic and working an office job was so out of my element so I started working at horse barns after work to alleviate some of that stress. That was okay for a while, but to get there, I had to sit in traffic for an hour, one way. While sitting in traffic one of those days, I decided this wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to get back to having horses right outside my door, so I left. I have always wanted to be out west on a ranch but was never sure how to do it. I found an opportunity and took it because I knew I would chicken out if I didn’t. And I’ve been on the road ever since!
Q: How did you get started on your TikTok account?
A: I didn’t start sharing anything on social media until I started working on ranches about three years ago. I’ve never been big into sharing my life online as it always felt unnatural to me, but once I started working on a ranch, it felt more like I was at home and it was more natural to share that day-to-day life. Sharing my world on social media has led to cinematography and photography work with nonprofits focused on ranching, agriculture, and regenerative agriculture. I’ve also done jobs for documentaries, one of which will come out on Netflix soon!
Q: What have you learned from this process?
A: To keep learning. Through this process, I’ve learned what I want to do in life and what I don’t want to spend my time doing. I’ve learned there is value in time. No time spent doing what you like is wasted, so I only want to do the jobs I like. I’m fortunate that my client base has grown to include mostly work I love doing, and I’m very lucky. I had to get a lot of bad jobs and spend a lot of time doing stuff that I hated to get to that point. I think that’s the biggest thing I’ve gotten out of this journey. Other things include my progression in my horsemanship by learning from different people in different regions. Everyone has a different style. My videography skills are constantly improving, whether it’s a setting on my camera or catching a different angle.
Q: What do you hope to achieve with your platform?
A: My only goal is to just help inspire people to pursue things that are a little out of the box. So many people have messaged me over the years and said they don’t know how I did it. A single woman who left the city to ranch with no background. They had no idea they could even start because it seemed so daunting. The only good thing about embarrassing myself on the internet is that other people see it, giving them the confidence and permission to try and maybe even fail. I want people to try the hard things, not give up, and not worry about what others might say. Also, to go through the struggles of something new. There’s so much trial and error and so many dumb mistakes that I’ve made, but you have to get through that to get somewhere good. I don’t think anyone ever feels ready to make a significant life change, it’s just something that you have to do, and you have to learn how to fail. Learn how to get out of your comfort zone and deal. Nothing is permanent in life so just do it!
Q: What advice do you have for other creators?
A: Be your authentic self. I think people gravitate toward authenticity, which brings the type of people you want to your social media audience. I try to keep things authentic and share the ups and downs to an extent. The balance is tricky as I’m actually a pretty private person. I struggle with sharing a personal struggle or skipping over that on my social media. Sometimes it feels wrong to be in a bad place but share on social about how much I love my life. So I try to share even if I don’t go into great detail. For example, I’ve struggled with mental health my whole life, and I still do even though I am doing something I love and love my life. I still have anxiety and depression, and I still take antidepressants every day.
This Q & A with Emmie just goes to show that you that can do anything you put your mind to. In addition, if you’re someone who has thought about getting into the western or agricultural lifestyle, there isn’t anything stopping you. I appreciate Emmie being so forthcoming about her journey. If you want to learn more about her journey and life you can visit her website at SteadyRein.com.
This article was created for the Fall Issue of the Cowboy Lifestyle Magazine which was released in early July. You can catch this article and many more by checking out the full issue. For more information on Cowboy Lifestyle Magazine, visit the website here.
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