4 High-Powered Women You’d Never Guess Grew Up in the Country Life
By Marney Andes
A lot of people think they need every possible advantage for them to thrive, one of which being access to a big city, with big professionals, big connections, and big companies. But not all women need to start from the city of angels or the city that never sleeps to let their talents shine.
In fact, I think a lot who grow up in the country life tend to have lasting gratitude to their hometown, much like I do with mine, so much so that they've publicly voiced their successes to their towns.
Though I'm sure there are far more than four notable figures who've gained great life lessons and values from their hometown, there's a list of four powerful women who grew up in a small town and whose success stories have a direct nod towards their humble, homegrown upbringings.
Melissa McCarthy: from textiles to the stage
Something that particularly struck me, and even surprised me, about Melissa McCarthy was her upbringing. Watching her hilarity on the big screen made me almost forget that she had her beginnings in a small town. Melissa grew up on a corn and soybean farm in rural Illinois, surrounded by farm animals, pet cats, and her goody-two-shoes sister. (I had barn cats too when I was younger, and remember my mom and dad letting them inside the house for a few weeks at a time. I’ve grown to love them so much that I have them in my own home, today.)
Melissa’s grandmother was a seamstress, and for a long time, it’s what Melissa thought she’d wanted to be, too. She was always entranced by the ability to create clothes out of simple cloth, and especially since she lived in a rural area with no big department stores nearby, she appreciated her grandmother's skill of making clothes all on her own, so much so that she attended college to study textiles.
Soon after, she'd dropped out, after having many disagreements with her teachers, and she later moved to New York City in the hopes of pursuing a career in fashion through attending the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT).
One night, her friends urged her to perform at a stand-up show. So, she gathered her favorite costume pieces and wigs, inspired by her grandmother’s incredible fashion sense, found the perfect get-up, and let herself go wild on stage that night. This was the birth of her career in acting and comedy.
My favorite part about her country life was her seamless transition from farm to city. Her parents, though they knew nothing about New York, continued to encourage and support her throughout her process of becoming a professional performer. She always felt supported by them, even though they were many miles away back on the farm. Their values of supporting their child and pushing her towards her dreams certainly showed, and Melissa voices so much appreciation for them when speaking of her journey to the screen.
Tory Burch: a farmhouse mom-turned fashion icon
Tory Burch, the world-renowned fashion designer, had humble roots, as well. She grew up in the country life, in a 250-year-old Georgian farmhouse on a horse farm in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. When she was a child, she was a huge tomboy. Her go-to style was “tennis whites,” as she was always found outdoors riding horses and playing tennis. “I don’t think I had a dress on until my senior prom," she said in an interview.
So, what brought her the inspiration for her fashion line? Well, for one, her parents loved to travel and had a keen fashion sense that could inspire most anyone. You can find pictures of her parent’s iconic fashion in some of her stores, and with further investigation, you can see that her famous ballet flats were named after her mom.
One of the biggest homegrown influences I saw was her attending Agnes Irwin School, an all-girls school in Rosemont near where she lived. When she started at Agnes Irwin, she believes she felt more empowered to embrace her femininity and thinks her time there started making her into a “girl’s girl; supporting women, not being jealous, and having an environment that is supportive.”
Her small-town girl’s school had a huge impact on her; so much so that after creating the brand she has today, she founded the Tory Burch Foundation (which she did after having three sons and three stepdaughters and working out of her apartment for two years), which helps educate female entrepreneurs early in their careers, whether through legal advice, networking opportunities, or general business guidance and support. She even reaches out to fellow celebrities to help run these programs to create more value for the participants.
Everything she does now draws back to the lessons she was taught in her small-town girl’s school, which was to always communicate and not have a drama-filled environment as she saw often at fashion companies. When asked what her number one employee pet-peeve was, she answered when women are catty. “When I started this company, I said to people that I don’t want a bitchy fashion environment, and I like being straightforward, and I think that we can deal with anything as long as it’s on the table.”
Growing up on a farm, coming from a sports-minded background, and finding her fashion style from her all-girls school and her traveling parents was certainly a story I didn’t expect when learning about Tory Burch’s background, but I love that her upbringing resonates so much with what she does today within her brand and beyond.
Carrie Underwood: She Ain't In Checotah Anymore
After her first pass to Hollywood in what would later become her winning title in American Idol, Carrie Underwood was asked what she expected out of the city of Angels. “All I know is what I’ve seen on TV,” she replied excitedly. “I don’t know what to expect from Hollywood at all!”
That’s because Carrie Underwood grew up on her family’s farm in a small town in Oklahoma with a population of around 3,500 people. She’s very open about her adoration towards her hometown; in fact, you can see a lot of nods towards Checotah and the meaning of her hometown in many of her songs.
Through her busy career, she loves taking the time to go back home and visit her old spots, one of which is her former high school, which named its fine arts wing after her.
You can listen to her song, “I Ain’t In Checotah Anymore,” to hear her sentiment towards her nostalgic country life while she’s living large in Hollywood:
I’m in a world so wide
It makes me feel small sometimes
I miss the big blue skies
The Oklahoma kind
Where the Wildcats beat the Ironheads
Old Settler’s Day and the Okra Fest
After prom, down at the bowling lanes
I ain’t in Checotah anymore
Carrie comes back to her hometown frequently for different causes that are close to her heart, one of which being CALIA, her fitness apparel brand through Dick’s Sporting Goods. Through Carrie’s work with Dick’s’ foundation, Sports Matter, they've donated $500,000 to different girl’s sports programs, the first being $100,000 to her high school, Checotah High School. She’s also worked with Samsung Hope for Children, which donates necessary equipment to schools. “I owe so much to where I’m from and the people that are there,” she says at the Gala.
You can also see in her lyrics to “Thank God for Hometowns,” her outward love for her country lifestyle, even during the times she thought she wanted to get out. They’re commonalities that anybody with a small town can relate to:
Yesterday I got a call
Someone I didn’t know at all passed away
Mama said ‘yeah, you know him,
You went to school with both his kids.
They lived out on Prescott lane.’
She said ‘you should’ve seen the line,
Mrs. Johnson said to tell you hi.’
Thank God for hometowns
And all the love that makes you go round
Thank God for the country lines that welcome you back
When you were dying to get out
Thank God for Church pews
And all the faces that won’t forget you
Cause when you’re lost in this crazy world
You got somewhere to go and get found
Thank God for hometowns
Eva Longoria
Eva’s story is the first time I’ve heard of the “secret pizza” concept.
Eva grew up on a ranch in Texas, surrounded by chickens, pigs, and cattle. Her dad had an unending passion for using everything that land could provide them and didn’t believe in fast food, so much so that the rest of the family would order “secret pizzas'' to eat when he was working, leaving the box in their neighbor’s trash can. “If it was squash season, we’d eat squash for three months,” she describes in her Food & Wine chat with Ray Isle. “Watermelon season, we’d have watermelon salad, watermelon everything.”
Yet, her father’s staunch passion for homegrown foods didn’t stop Eva from her sentimental outlook on her unique childhood country life.
After she started acting, she was introduced to the United Farmworkers Union and began advocating for farmworkers through Tillamook, a farmer-owed and farmer-led organization that’s dedicated to the livelihood of farmers. Her support became more fervent during the pandemic as food industry workers were getting crushed under stay-at-home orders and strict capacity limits.
“The pandemic deemed farmers and farmworkers essential, [but] they’ve always been essential. They’re the backbone of the food supply.” I love that her connection to her hometown spreads far beyond her town in Texas, and seeks to help farm towns and farmworkers across the entire country.
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All four of these powerful women lean on the lessons and values they’ve learned from their hometowns to create a difference and continue influencing their careers. It’s interesting to think about where Melissa McCarthy would be without her adoration towards dressing up in her grandmother’s clothes, Tory Burch’s connection with her small-town girls' school, Carrie Underwood’s upbringing in Checotah, or Eva Longoria’s ‘secret pizza’ moments in Texas.
With some self-reflection, we can also find lessons within ourselves that we've gotten from our hometowns with some reflection questions:
What did your hometown bring you?
What are you grateful for from your hometown that you wouldn’t have found without it?
What lessons can you instill in your life that you learned from your hometown?