Although it may seem like a simple question at face value, for Melanie Langley, it’s not. With roots in two different continents, Langley says she’s never liked having to answer that one.
Born the daughter of an American father and Spaniard mother in London, Ohio, Langley lived there for a number of years before moving to Washington, D.C., when her father got a job with USDA Foreign Agricultural Service. They eventually moved to Mexico City and then to Brazil before returning to Ohio.
“I feel very connected to the United States – I am half American. But I’m also connected to Spain, and to Mexico and to Brazil,” Langley says. “That experience of constantly having to define what that is has taught me how to come alongside folks who are from those areas very easily, but also with people who aren’t from a country I’m familiar with.”
Experiencing other countries in such an immersive way teaches certain traits that help shape and give you the ability to put yourself in somebody else’s shoes, she adds. She watched her father come alongside farmers internationally to build programs and make sure the exports and imports of the United States were flowing well.
“While I may not have originally intended to end up in agriculture, my childhood gave me a vision and a heart for people who are from other places,” Langley says. “It helped me to learn how to navigate systems that weren’t mine.”
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