Podcaster & Author

Abriana Johnson followed an unlikely path from dreams of becoming a veterinarian to creating content in print and over the airwaves

- NOELLE MAXWELL

Have you ever wondered how to become an author H and podcast host? We catch 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?"