(uplifting piano music)
- [Narrator] While Mindy Brashears may have led the USDA
through one of the most difficult times
in the country's history,
it was FFA that changed her life forever.
- [Mindy Brashears] I actually met my husband
in high school showing lambs.
And you know it's one of those things
that you know we never did win a major show or anything,
but I always tell people:
well, I've got a husband, and I got a career.
So, you know, that's better than a trophy, I guess.
- [Narrator] Born in a small town in west Texas,
this bright young lady went to Texas Tech,
before receiving her doctorate in Food Microbiology
at Oklahoma State University.
- [Mindy Brashears] I worked with Stan Gilliland there
and one of the most renowned microbiologists, still today.
He had a lot of things commercialized
not only in the US but also internationally.
And he really trained me well
as a very traditional microbiologist,
how to culture bacteria, how to identify them.
It's really an art.
- [Narrator] She would later extend the research
she started with Dr. Gilliland,
using probiotics to reduce E. coli in cattle
by as much as 30%.
- [Thomas Coon] Her research here at OSU
had a really tremendous impacts on the beef industry.
And particularly in helping
kind of looking at the feedstuffs
as a way of controlling food safety problems downstream
in the actual product.
- [Narrator] In 2001, she accepted a faculty position
at Texas Tech,
eventually becoming director of
the International Center for Food Industry Excellence.
It was there she was asked to be
the Undersecretary for Food Safety
at the U.S. Department of Agriculture
under the Trump administration.
- [Mindy Brashears] I'm not a politician.
People would say how did you get in this job
and I'm like, "I'm not really sure.
I'm a scientist, I study food safety."
But I didn't do anything on the political side.
- [Narrator] Within a year of confirmation,
Dr. Brashears would be faced with a historic crisis.
- [Mindy Brashears] Then March of 2020 kind of exploded
and we started facing COVID.
- [Narrator] Dr. Brashears not only had
to keep USDA inspectors operating,
but also figure out
how to keep food processing plants open
as eventually workers began falling ill.
- [Mindy Brashears] Whenever, you know, you wake up everyday
and you have the responsibility to make sure people eat.
That is a huge responsibility.
And that is not anything I signed up for.
But no one signed up for
what you were doing during COVID.
- [Narrator] Through her expertise,
Dr. Brashears was able to help keep the plants operational
and maintain the country's food supply.
- [Gretchen Mafi] And especially her leadership
through COVID-19
and all of the ways she was able to help
keep that meat supply chain running.
- [Thomas Coon] She was the one at the helm
in all of that chaos and confusion.
And today, we have a meat industry that is working,
that functions, that's still safe.
- [Mindy Brashears] I owe so much gratitude
to Oklahoma State university
for just giving me the foundational principles
to be a strong scientist, to be a good communicator,
to know how to build relationships,
to help me to find my first job,
and to actually give me the skills
that have led me to develop commercialization
in innovations and new technologies
that are used in the industry.
- [Narrator] And while OSU
holds a special place in her heart,
she is still a Red Raider through and through.
- [Mindy Brashears] I always cheer for Oklahoma State
except when they play Texas Tech.
- [Narrator] Celebrating Dr. Mindy Brashears.
2021 Ferguson College of Agriculture Distinguished Alumna.