Have you ever wondered how to become an author and podcast host? We caught up with Abriana Johnson, host of the Black in the Saddle podcast and author of the “Cowgirl Camryn” children’s series, to learn about her path.
Getting Into Riding
“I first started riding when I was 7,” Abriana says. “I remember riding a crotchety old pony that took forever to get to do anything.” She didn’t enjoy riding at first, so stopped. Fast forward to 2008 when Johnson was in high school.
“I was asked if I knew how to ride a horse,” she says. A friend was planning to go on a trail ride and wanted to know if Abriana was interested in coming along.
“I’m like, ‘Yeah, I mean I rode when I was 7, can’t be too hard, right?’ I didn’t realize what a trail ride was or that it was completely different. I was hooked.”
Abriana then got involved in her local trail riding community, which is primarily made up of Black cowboys and cowgirls around North Carolina.
“They travel all over the state and host trail rides; it’s a really tight-knit community,” she says.
Path to Podcasting
After high school, Abriana went to North Carolina State and got her undergraduate degree in animal science; she wanted to be a veterinarian.
“However, there were not a lot of people who looked like me in that program,” she says. “I started to see that everything was so competitive and there wasn’t a community-like energy and representation in that industry.” She graduated and started an equine public health program. “[But I] always felt like there was a need to paint a better picture about what’s possible in this industry. Who is already doing the thing you might want to do?”
Enter podcasting. In 2019, she launched the Young Black Equestrians podcast, now called Black in the Saddle. Her mission? To tell the stories of Black people in the horse industry.
“It started off as having conversations about what I knew and wanted to share with the larger community about horses, veterinary medicine, [and those who were] already doing the things [that kids say they want to do],” Abriana explains. “But it turned into amplifying people’s stories, the impact they’re making, the challenges they’ve had to overcome, and seeing what vision they have.”
Next Step: Author
As the podcast took off, Abriana recalls thinking, “Why stop there?” She began working on the first “Cowgirl Camryn” book, Cowgirl Camryn and the Crazy Hair Day.
“I didn’t even tell anyone I was writing a book,” she says. Abriana made a Facebook post asking her followers if they’d buy a book if she wrote one. The response was very positive, so she decided to go for it. She didn’t post about the book again until it was published.
“I was like, ‘Hey, y’all, so I did a thing, and you can get it on Amazon,” she says. Her followers reacted, asking why she didn’t say she was writing a book.
“I realized I had some imposter syndrome where I thought, ‘Who am I to write a book?’ But, who am I not to?”
She had a strong reasoning for writing Cowgirl Camryn.
“The current books out on the market about Black cowboys and Black cowgirls really have a historical lens—and there’s nothing wrong with that!” Abriana says. “But when you’re trying to empower kids and say, ‘This is what you could be, look at this amazing person’s story,’ I believe not every story has to be dripped in struggle or in slavery. I want it like Dora the Explorer: How can we have adventures?”
That search for realistic adventures led to the second “Cowgirl Camryn” book, Cowgirl Camryn and the Great Escape, where Camryn has to catch her horse, Encore, and repair the fence.
“[The book is about] real-life things that happen to people on the farm,” Abriana explains. “We talk about all the lessons farming teaches kids, but those lessons aren’t always put in books, like teamwork and being resourceful and figuring things out. I wanted to create a book series that tied in this [Black equestrian] identity, [but also] lessons we all say we get from being on horse farms and doing horsey things.”
Overcoming All
Abriana muses on the biggest obstacle she’s had to overcome as she’s moved through her career.
“[It’s] thinking that there’s only one way to do something,” she says, describing a veterinarian mentor she’ll never forget. “We were riding in his truck, and he asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I really wanted to teach somebody how to do something, but I didn’t want to be in a classroom. I didn’t want to be a teacher. He said, ‘Who told you that teaching only happens in the classroom?’”
Abriana has also had to learn what to say no to.
“I had to develop that [to] be more discerning about the relationships I cultivated, making decisions but not losing track of the vision,” she explains. “Right now, I’m figuring out how to get back to the personal vision I have, getting more ‘Cowgirl Camryn’ books out, supporting the community, and not burning myself out.”
Abriana’s Advice for Young Riders
Abriana has some great advice for young equestrians who want to pursue their own equine careers.
“Nobody knows what they’re doing,” she says. “We’re all doing our best and making up the next step. You don’t have to know the next step—you just have to choose it! If you want to be a top-level equestrian, if you want to create a career in this industry, just make a decision and continue making the hard decisions over and over. Even if you get mentors, knowing yourself and knowing what it is you really want to do is more important than knowing exactly how to do it. There is never just one way to do anything. Be creative and make decisions as best as you can!”
This article about Abriana Johnson appeared in the July/August 2023 issue of Young Rider magazine. Click here to subscribe!
