Standing His Ground
The best lesson Tyler Meyer, 26, has learned in his career is to be himself. That might sound trite, but as a gay man in Lake Geneva, Wis., which he describes as “ultraconservative,” he found it’s not that simple. His first supervisor encouraged him to hide his sexual orientation from potential clients. “It almost was enough for me to get out of the business. But I don’t give up, ever,” says Meyer, who grew up helping with his family’s cattle business. As soon as his second manager, Jan Alvey, encouraged him to embrace his identity as a cattle-trading, unapologetically gay, born-and-bred Lake Geneva area expert, Meyer’s business took off. “I love my agricultural hometown more than anything,” Meyer says. Relying on his experience, Meyer preaches “complete authenticity” to the three agents under 25 he currently mentors.