Kristin Titov she started modeling for Hobby Horse, Inc. and eventually began helping them out with their marketing. As the previous owner was on their way out, Kristin had the opportunity to step in as CEO, and she was more than excited. “I love fashion and I love horses so it just felt like the right opportunity,” says Titov.

With the sudden onset of COVID-19 across America, the impact throughout the entire Western industry has been substantial. From closed doors to cancelled events and exploded marketing plans, the crisis has had an effect in every far reaching corner. COWGIRL wanted to explore the impact by asking three simple questions to women who not only live, but work the Western way of life:

  • What did you do to continue being productive in the face of COVID-19 shut downs?
  • What is the most positive effect of your efforts to adapt to the restrictions?
  • What is the most negative result these shut downs had on you?

KT: “We tried to focus on building community and promoting positivity. We ran several fun social media contests that had people thinking creatively and hopefully laughing, too! We also did a video and blog post featuring woman-owned businesses in the industry. I believe that we rise by lifting up others. There really are so many amazing businesswomen, entrepreneurs, and boss babes in this industry! We have been able to build even stronger relationships with our vendors and industry partners. Although these are hard times, knowing you are not alone definitely helps, and these relationships will continue long after the effects of COVID-19 have passed. If we can all help each other through it, we will come out of it better off! Surviving sales coming to a crashing halt followed by three weeks of negative revenues was the most negative effect. To give you an idea of the degree of impact, April 2020 was actually 87% down compared to April 2019! Just figuring out how to juggle cash flow was quite a feat! Super grateful to our vendors and partners for being so understanding and patient with us.”